Reply to "Switchers with Caboose?"

I am VERY old school. I think that every freight train short or long-distance should have a caboose, including yard work. My grandfather was a freight conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). Though he did get long distance assignments but, spent most of his time working the Bay View yards around the Baltimore waterfront. In his tenure with the PRR (1911 - 1953) ALL trains had cabin cars on the PRR and cabooses on the other railroads. The conductor was responsible for the whole train and its crew. The cabin car was the conductor's office to take care of any necessary paperwork and house any rear-end brakemen. On long trips, if the train had any trouble and had to make an unscheduled stop, the rear-end brakemen would have to walk the track behind the train and light flares to guard the rear of the train. On yard work where the yard train had to pick up loaded cars and deliver them to many stops in East Baltimore, the conductor had to plan the order of the stops and pick up the cars in reverse order of stops so that the last car on his work train were the first stop of the day. The rear-end brakemen and front-end brakeman (if the yard train carried one) on the engine cab with the two engine men (fireman and engineer on the PRR) were responsible for cutting the cabin (if it was at the end of the train. In yard work, sometimes the cabin car would be directly behind the engine's tender to make cutting cars on delivery sidings easier) from the train and cutting the cars being delivered from the train on the siding. Now, Cabooses are no longer used because there is some sort of transmitter that that is now put on the rear car of the train that sends a signal to trains approaching from behind that a train ahead is stopped. However, for modern yard work, though much of the switching and sorting of freight cars is done by computer, I cannot imagine how making up trains cannot be done without a conductor who knows the delivery area and brakemen to cut cars when put on their destination sidings. Cabooses are now not used anywhere to my knowledge.