Our Adventure Cycling-designated bike route has been close to the Union Pacific Railroad's main line between Los Angeles and New Orleans. At times trains would pass hourly.
The highest point on the entire train route is near Alpine, TX. In order to provide an extra boost, one or several helper engines were and still are added to the back of the train. We often saw three locomotives in front and two more at the end.
Today cabooses are no longer used. The older wood-framed cabooses had to be coupled behind the helper engines, since they could not take the force and might break. The solution was steel-frame or all-steel cabooses.
Whistle toots were used to coordinate between engineers in the front and helper engines (this was pre-radio or phone days). Two long blasts from the lead engineer might tell the helper to release his air brakes and push ahead slowly to take up slack. The helper would acknowledge with two long toots.
It's fun to hear the history of this colorful area, as we continue rolling east. Thanks to the Terrell County Memorial Museum in Sanderson for the background!
Bruce
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