Here in Oregon, There are still a few SP cabooses around, and sometimes active. On a dead-end spur, with no siding to run around, or balloon track to turn the train around, the train is backed up from the main. The conductor will stand on the rear platform of the caboose, with radio, and direct the engineer. A fair amount of the road crossings have no automatic gates, lights, or anything, so the man on the 'shoving platform' will tell the engineer when to stop and go. On short switching backings, standing on the last car's ladder will do, but for most of the longer back-ups, the caboose is used for safety of the conductor, whether they go inside the caboose or not. A lot of the ones I have seen lately have had windows and doors welded, to keep out the vandals and homeless, as they tend to sit in the yard a lot more than they run. They are mostly obsolete, as the FRED - flashing rear end device - has taken over the task, sortof. Look at the end of the next train you see, and see how it is hooked up for the head end crew to monitor their train. A caboose is special to me, having seen and rode in many. It is one of those things that, if I have to try to explain it, it would not be understood anyway. I just remember the guys waving back to me, as I stood out in the pasture, as a kid.