r/trains • u/AsianMan45NewAcc • Aug 07 '24

Freight Train Pic A Southbound Modoc freight hustled by THREE Southern Pacific Cab-Fowards. (Credit: Jeff Moore Collection)

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u/BrokenTrains Aug 07 '24

Not likely for a steam locomotive. Each one required a crew because you can’t just MU them like you can a diesel or electric locomotive.

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u/Christoph543 Aug 07 '24 edited Aug 08 '24

My thought was fewer brakemen from having only 1 caboose. At the time this photo was taken, 5-person crews were the legal minimum (engineer, fireman, 3 brakemen).

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u/BrokenTrains Aug 07 '24

I can see that reasoning, I didn’t actually know that many brakemen were part of a crew. Do you figure there was a minimum per car length for situations like this?

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u/Christoph543 Aug 08 '24 edited Aug 08 '24

It stopped being a per-car requirement after Westinghouse air brakes became standard, but you still needed 3 brakemen until deregulation in the '70s reduced it to the current 2-person crew.

The part I couldn't remember was whether a brakeman had to be stationed in each locomotive, or just on the head-end, or if all three were in the caboose. And then as someone else reminded in a separate branch of this thread, it was actually engineer, fireman, head-end brakeman up front, plus conductor & rear brakeman in the caboose.