Telegraph poles along railroads

[bugo]

It's probably random, since there's no need to turn an engine around.

Why don't North American locomotives have a cab at each end like those in Europe?

Many of them do.  Some even have engines at the front, in the middle, and at the back.

[hbelkins]

Around here, they will use engines at the back to help push a loaded coal train up a grade. Once the train makes it to the top of the grade, the rear engines disengage and go back to the siding, ready to push the next train up the grade.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I believe some railroad subdivisions in Canada still use the telegraph poles to carry CTC communications. I'm pretty sure this is the case with the CP's Adirondack Sub from Delson to LaSalle. (Trivia: The City of Delson was named after the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, the owner of the tracks at the time.)

Regarding cabooses, I still see those sometimes. I know the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railroad still uses them quite often. I've also seen them run on some switcher trains between Delson and the Sainte Catherine industrial park, probably because they can't turn the train around there.

[cpzilliacus]

Around here, they will use engines at the back to help push a loaded coal train up a grade. Once the train makes it to the top of the grade, the rear engines disengage and go back to the siding, ready to push the next train up the grade.

That is pretty common practice among railroads to get heavy consists up a steep grade.

Curiously, one of the steepest grades on the mainline CSX network is in (relatively flat) Montgomery County, Maryland on the Metropolitan Subdivision between Germantown and Dickerson.  The tracks cross the Parr's Ridge in the Maryland Piedmont (passing the small town of Boyds near the crest of the ridge), and "helper" locomotives are often seen for trains hauling coal and crushed stone.

Maryland's I-270 runs somewhat parallel to the Metropolitan Sub at this point, and it too has remarkably steep grades (more noticeable southbound) to the crest at Md. 121.

[NE2]

The B&O's original main line west from Baltimore featured four externally-powered inclined planes at Mount Airy. This was before we knew what locomotives could do and the B&O had established the standard average 2.2% grade.

[adt1982]

It's probably random, since there's no need to turn an engine around.

Why don't North American locomotives have a cab at each end like those in Europe?

Many of them do.  Some even have engines at the front, in the middle, and at the back.

He meant cabs on the locomotives, not location of locomotives in a train consist.

[cpzilliacus]

The B&O's original main line west from Baltimore featured four externally-powered inclined planes at Mount Airy. This was before we knew what locomotives could do and the B&O had established the standard average 2.2% grade.

Correct. 

And Mount Airy is at the crest of the very same ridge in the Maryland Piedmont that I mentioned in reference to the B&O's Metropolitan Subdivision.   

Of course, the difficulty of crossing that ridge has been lessened by the tunnel that carries the CSX Old Mainline Subdivision tracks under Md. 27 (Ridge Road).

[kphoger]

It's probably random, since there's no need to turn an engine around.

Why don't North American locomotives have a cab at each end like those in Europe?

Because the other end is often facing a smooth-sided grain hopper, TOFC, gondola, or other perfectly rideable freight car.
(not)

[amroad17]

Many of the Norfolk Southern tracks still have them in good working order.  I have seen them along US 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk, VA (and presumably to Norfolk), in West Virginia winding along I-64 between Huntington and Charleston, and by OH 32 east of Cincinnati.

[mgk920]

It's probably random, since there's no need to turn an engine around.

Why don't North American locomotives have a cab at each end like those in Europe?

Well, cabs cost money to buy and maintain.

Also, because the couplers used in North America (the familiar 'AAR' knuckle couplers, also the standard in China, Australia and many other places) are much stronger than those used in Europe - eight times the rated strength of European 'buffer and chain' couplers - much, much heavier trains can be run, much heavier than can be handled with one locomotive.  'AAR' couplers are, in fact, the strongest currently in use anywhere in the World.

Since only one locomotive unit is needed to handle most of the much lighter freight trains that run in Europe, a cab is used at each end of each locomotive to simplify the reversal of its direction at the end of a run.  With multiple-unit locomotive use in North America, it is easier to have at least one unit facing each way in a consist.  One of the big cost problems with steam locomotives was the hassle of having to physically turn the locomotive around at the end of each run, requiring either turntables or 'wye' tracks in nearly every yard, no matter how small.

Also, diesel-electric and straight electric locomotives run equally well in either direction.

As for the loss of that mass of wires along the side of railroads, nowadays that duty is done with either buried cables or with CTC signals that are sent through the rails themselves.

As for cabeese, they are often used by local switching crews while serving customers - they make long backup movements much safer.  Several locals here in the Appleton area still use them.

Mike

[deathtopumpkins]

Also, work trains frequently use cabooses. Saw a work train on an MBTA commuter rail line the other day with a caboose. Apart from that, the only ones I've seen in recent memory were either on tourist/scenic railroads, at museums, or abandoned.