Crummy aka Railroad Caboose

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The crummy
No one could ever give a definite explanation as to why the caboose was called a crummy. There are lots of good explanations that fit, but nothing definite.

The crummy wasn't too uncomfortable as long as it was sitting still, but hang it on behind a train and it was kind of like being the last person on a 'crack the whip' line.

In my younger years I was a railroad telegrapher. I started with the Great Northern and was included in the merger with the Northern Pacific and the Chicago Burlington and Quincy to become the Burlington Northern.

When I first started there were times that I rattled from pillar to post with a day or two in one town and on to another town for a day or two, so it was easier to take the train and leave my car behind for a while.

There were a few times that I got 'luxury' accommodations on a caboose. Which meant while attempting to sleep on a very hard surface your knuckles were white from hanging on tight enough to stay in the bunk while the crummy swayed back and forth like a small boat in rough ocean waves.

Nostalgia, 45 years later, can make it into a cozy little cabin, well . . . maybe.

Once a year we had to take a rules examination. The book of rules was about 5"x7" and 1/2" thick with very light weight pages and we had to memorize the rules and weren't permited even one mistake on the test. One rule that still sticks in my mind was one that said that the end of a train, generally the caboose, was required to display two red markers (lanterns) on the end, BUT IF THERE WAS ONLY ONE LANTERN IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED THE SAME AS TWO. So goes the railroad. Sounds like politicians, huh?!

For more caboose information visit Wikipedia - Caboose, Trains Magazine and San Diego Railroad Museum copy of Southern Pacific Bulletin January, 1962.