The End with the Cabooses....

 The caboose was an essential part of the train in the past. There was no cell phones, no line of communication, other than flagging or holding out a sign that an engineer could see from the opposite end of the train. In early times it was also a mail car where the guy sorted mail and packed the pieces in different bags to be dropped off at various towns.  I had relatives that would put mail in the box and it would go out to the relative to the next town the same day. That left the man who grabbed the mail bag off of the post, scrambling as they traveled to the next town and get it in the next towns bag. The mailbags were hoisted by a pole to the hook and the man would have a hooked shape tool to grab it as the train passed by.  I remember seeing them tossing the bag out on the ground to deliver mail and the postmaster would walk along the track to pick it up wherever it had landed. 

This is the smaller scaled caboose from one of the two small trains. The raised top part of the caboose would be used for the train man to look out forward.

This larger one is from the train set that  my brother and I shared in ownership. I have seen photos of the interiors of them and there was a small potbelly stove inside for the heating system. You can see the smokestack on this mode. The ladder is an interesting part as well as the break that was used by turning the wheel. If the caboose would need to be held in place individually when it set on a tack by itself. 

My first train set as a kid when I was 3 or 4 years old is pretty much shot.  It lost its one set of wheels after all those years being thrown into a cardboard box filled with other toys. I can still see my kids as well as nephews and nieces just dumping all the boxes of toys at grandmas house. Things might have been walked on or banged around.  It is just a very distant memory of its original condition and it still looks good on my train display.

We are cooler again today but the sun has shone all day.  It looks like spring.  I saw neighbor kids out playing hide and seek while wearing their winter coats and stocking caps.  I am sure they just wanted to get outside.  I walked out this morning taking pictures and I had my warm coat on too.  Thanks for stopping by today.