Hot Water posted:Back in the "steam days", and depending on the state, a normal "full crew" for a main line road freight would have been:
1) Conductor, on the rear in the caboose.
2) Engineer
3) Fireman
4) Head Brakeman, in the cab of the steam locomotive.
5) Rear Brakeman, on the rear in the caboose.
Depending on the state, as some states required an "extra Brakeman", who could have been in the locomotive, or on the caboose. In such instances, that "extra Brakeman" would have been picked-up at the state line of said state requiring such, and then dropped-off upon leaving that state.
I recall seeing a magzine were trains pick up a caboose at a state line.While others were dropping caboose off and putting on a fred on the rear.I once saw a fred on the rear of a freight train.Thing is it was on the coupler of a caboose.
