Steve'sDigicams

daz · Jul 5, 2010, 6:41 PM

This ones for you calr. Just driving through the country side and there it was.

DAZ

calr · Jul 5, 2010, 7:46 PM

Well, the railroads don't use them anymore so somebody might as well get some good use out of them. The caboose has been replaced by a small electronic box with a flashing red light that is mounted on the coupler of the last car in a train.

Cal

daz · Jul 5, 2010, 8:16 PM

Yes, no more Cabooses. All that is left is FRED. All the romance is almost gone, someday (probably sooner than some think) even the engineer will no longer be there. I can remember as a kid waving to the engineer (and getting a horn honk from him) and then waving to the people in the caboose. Now kids don’t even know what a caboose was.

DAZ

thkn777 · Jul 6, 2010, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daz

...Now kids don’t even know what a caboose was...

Hm,
I didn't know about the caboose, in Europe there's a special section in one wagon mostly for staff people. You learn something new every day!

And thanks for sharing - nice image!

Th.

calr · Jul 6, 2010, 9:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daz

Yes, no more Cabooses. All that is left is FRED. All the romance is almost gone, someday (probably sooner than some think) even the engineer will no longer be there. I can remember as a kid waving to the engineer (and getting a horn honk from him) and then waving to the people in the caboose. Now kids don’t even know what a caboose was.

DAZ

Commuter trains in Vancouver, BC and San Francisco (BART) are run entirely by computer and the central dispatcher. There may be a human in the control cab of the trains but he doesn't do anything. He/she is just there because people get scared when nobody is up front "driving". That FRED unit used on freight trains does more than just flash a red light. It also monitors the air pressure in the brake lines and radios the information to the engineer up front. That way, the engineer always knows whether or not there is adequate air pressure at the rear of the train.

Cal

daz · Jul 6, 2010, 8:41 PM

Yes the FRED is more than just a flashing light, like the caboose was more than a place to hang the lantern and a place for the conductor to ride. The brakeman gone, fireman gone, conductor all gone and with them some of the history and nostalgia of how the world was built. The engineer’s primary job now is to push a button to say they are still awake. Yes they are to keep the speed of the train to a given speed by braking or applying power but if they don’t the system will first tell them to do that and if they don’t do it for them. They could be replaced now making the system cheaper and safer like replacing the others has made the system cheaper and safer now. I am not a train fan I just lament how many don’t know how the world works now let alone how many don’t how the world use to work. The problem with this is many now making the decisions now not only don’t know the sacrifices made for them (and thus the sacrifices that may be still needed to be made) but end up rewriting history to some PC standard (and then losing the lessons of history). This doesn’t bode well for making good decisions about the future.

All off topic so now back to importune things like photography.

DAZ

selvin · Jul 7, 2010, 4:31 AM

That's an appealing composition and the colors really go together nicely.
Aloha

Jul 5, 2010, 6:41 PM	#1
daz Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 436	Got Cell? Caboose Farms This ones for you calr. Just driving through the country side and there it was. DAZ Attached Images __________________ Painting is an additive art. The artist adds to the canvas until they stop with their version of reality. Digital photography is subtractive art. First we throw away 90 percent of reality then remove what is left bit by bit until we have only the reality we wish to show. Flickr is like fun. PPG is like work. A camera is a machine of light and time with the purpose of capturing a luminous moment. Like the eye it is a tool of the mind.

Jul 5, 2010, 8:16 PM	#3
daz Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 436	Yes, no more Cabooses. All that is left is FRED. All the romance is almost gone, someday (probably sooner than some think) even the engineer will no longer be there. I can remember as a kid waving to the engineer (and getting a horn honk from him) and then waving to the people in the caboose. Now kids don’t even know what a caboose was. DAZ __________________ Painting is an additive art. The artist adds to the canvas until they stop with their version of reality. Digital photography is subtractive art. First we throw away 90 percent of reality then remove what is left bit by bit until we have only the reality we wish to show. Flickr is like fun. PPG is like work. A camera is a machine of light and time with the purpose of capturing a luminous moment. Like the eye it is a tool of the mind.

Jul 6, 2010, 8:41 PM	#6
daz Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 436	Yes the FRED is more than just a flashing light, like the caboose was more than a place to hang the lantern and a place for the conductor to ride. The brakeman gone, fireman gone, conductor all gone and with them some of the history and nostalgia of how the world was built. The engineer’s primary job now is to push a button to say they are still awake. Yes they are to keep the speed of the train to a given speed by braking or applying power but if they don’t the system will first tell them to do that and if they don’t do it for them. They could be replaced now making the system cheaper and safer like replacing the others has made the system cheaper and safer now. I am not a train fan I just lament how many don’t know how the world works now let alone how many don’t how the world use to work. The problem with this is many now making the decisions now not only don’t know the sacrifices made for them (and thus the sacrifices that may be still needed to be made) but end up rewriting history to some PC standard (and then losing the lessons of history). This doesn’t bode well for making good decisions about the future. All off topic so now back to importune things like photography. DAZ __________________ Painting is an additive art. The artist adds to the canvas until they stop with their version of reality. Digital photography is subtractive art. First we throw away 90 percent of reality then remove what is left bit by bit until we have only the reality we wish to show. Flickr is like fun. PPG is like work. A camera is a machine of light and time with the purpose of capturing a luminous moment. Like the eye it is a tool of the mind.

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Jul 5, 2010, 7:46 PM	#2
calr Moderator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Beaverton, OR Posts: 8,466	Well, the railroads don't use them anymore so somebody might as well get some good use out of them. The caboose has been replaced by a small electronic box with a flashing red light that is mounted on the coupler of the last car in a train. Cal

Jul 7, 2010, 4:31 AM	#7
selvin Moderator Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 7,204	That's an appealing composition and the colors really go together nicely. Aloha