You say Cabooses - I say Cabeeses

[AZ Rail Rat]

What say yee???

[JSS]

Just a waste of space, or?

[JayEff]

I picked never because seldom is not a choice. I haven't noticed any difference in reliability, though I will add a caboose to rare or valuable cargoes for a little extra safety.

[Hawk]

I picked 'never'. It certainly made sense in real life but in RRT it's just dead weight. I'd rather take my chances, if they really do add to safety, and get the money of additional freight, or the extra speed if it's not a full consist.

[canis39]

I almost always use them, and I chose "C", because my reasoning is half "I like the extra reliability" and half "a train should have a caboose, dammit!".

:)

[Lama]

I'm with canis on this one.

[acorn_farmer_84]

i'm with Hawk, i never use them.

[Wolverine@MSU]

Me either, except once in a very long while on valuable cargo.

[davey917]

I guess I'm on my own here. A freight train just don't look right with out one. Although I never use one on a passenger only train.

[thegrindre]

I'm old and have always loved the caboose. It should be on every train. :D

[WPandP]

I always add a caboose to my freight and mixed trains, and a diner to my passenger trains. It sort of serves as a declarative, reminding me of what types of engines those trains should use as well. But my main reason is that it was a LAW and a critical safety feature to pull a caboose!

I just wish that there was a way to enforce cabeese in a given scenario, so that the AI would use them too. I'm prebuilding some AI railroads in my scenario, giving them an assortment of trains to begin with, but it doesn't take the computer long to replace all my hand-crafted consists with caboose-less trains.

[Hawk]

If you take control of an AI and set up all their trains and routes, then go back to your company, they'll change everything and screw it all up.

[Gwizz]

While this is an old thread, I did not reply to it then, so I will now.

I only use a caboose when I'm playing to win. Since a caboose only reduces the modifier in the random generater for a break down a small amount, (I believe it is 10%, but I'm not sure) It is really not worth pulling that extra weight. The more cars the slower the train and the less the delivery payment. But when a train does break down in traffic it can sure cost in delivery dollars if a number of trains are affected. This was true in RRT2. I don't think it is as big a problem in RRT3. Something seems to work differently (have a different affect) in RRT3.

[Hawk]

In RRT2 the caboose also helped cut down on robberies, which wasn't implemented in RRT3.
I agree, I don't think the caboose is near as valuable in RRT3 as it was in RRT2.

[Orange46]

I would use cabooses more often if they didn't count as one of the eight cars when the AI is loading the train. Sure, you can always add the caboose as a nineth car manually, but that just isn't worth it most of the time.

[ChrisW]

I only use a caboose when I'm playing to win. Since a caboose only reduces the modifier in the random generater for a break down a small amount, (I believe it is 10%, but I'm not sure) It is really not worth pulling that extra weight.

The game claims a caboose reduces breakdown chance by 50%, which seems pretty worthwhile to me. I do notice that when I take over AI companies that have been running cabooseless for a while, the breakdown rates on their engines (the figures that show when you hover over the red line) are a lot higher than what I'd consider acceptable. (Especially in the 19th century, when the trains aren't very reliable to begin with.)

The more cars the slower the train and the less the delivery payment. But when a train does break down in traffic it can sure cost in delivery dollars if a number of trains are affected. This was true in RRT2. I don't think it is as big a problem in RRT3. Something seems to work differently (have a different affect) in RRT3.

Does a caboose count as an express car, a freight car, or something else entirely? They don't seem to slow my trains down very much, so I'm wondering if they're even lighter than express cars.

As for breakdowns in traffic, they certainly can muck things up for several trains if they break down on a busy line. I've seen trains that got no revenue for a whole year because they broke down or got stuck behind a breakdown. Depends on just how busy the line is, I'm sure.

[Gwizz]

Rather then using a caboose I use an empty log car. It weighs less than a caboose and seems to give the same protection against breakdowns and a bit more speed.

The problem with break downs is each locomotive has a mutiplier that gives it a reliability rating, a factor from normal. A caboose may reduce the normal ratio of breakdowns by 50%; But the individural locomotive multiplyer seems to increase the chance of a breakdown way too much.
I'm not sure if it is an order of operations problem or values set too high.

[Canadian Viking]

I always add a caboose to my freight trains, but not to my passenger trains. I assumed the caboose added significantly to the engines reliability, but I've never tested that. I would like it if the game automatically added a caboose at the end of the train instead of taking one of the 8 car slots available.

WPandP makes an excellent point that a caboose was required by law because it did make a big difference in safety. It also improved the working conditions of the railroaders in the days of steam, and in some places served as their bunk house when they laid over between runs at a terminal away from home. But my crews get no sleep. I often expect them to do 4 years work in just one hour!

[ChrisW]

How exactly did a caboose improve train safety, anyway? :? I don't know enough about train operations to see a connection there.

[Orange46]

A caboose allowed someone to ride in the last car and watch the train, thus making it possible to see problems early, such as smoke. If brakemen were allowed in the engine cab on long trains, it would also provide a second plce for the brakemen to be, which would help braking and increase brakemen's safety (it's dangerous to walk on top of cars in bad weather). But, is this worth 50%?