Posts
the clacking caboose
rocks the flagman off to sleep
his coffee grows cold 🦊❤️
In case you haven’t noticed, there are no more cabooses on trains. They have been replaced by a blinking red light for other trains to see. As a child, I loved watching the coal trains grind through my hometown. When the caboose finally arrived I hoped that the flagman (rear brakeman) who rode in it would be visible. They would be standing there in their greasy, pinstriped overalls and cap. Often leaning on the railing smoking cigarettes or drinking coffee from their thermos cup. I often thought about what it must be like to be in the caboose in the dark of night as the train wound its way through the coal and steel towns in western Pennsylvania. Such good memories. 🦊❤️