Okay… what’s the difference?[?]
It depends on the railroad. Most roads called them cabooses, Santa Fe called them waycars,Pennsylvania Railroad called them cabin cars.Other roads may have used different names.
Sometimes they are called “vans” in Canada, never heard the reason why. I prefer caboose myself, or the plural cabeese! [:D]
Bob Boudreau
I used to hear the term “crummy” for a caboose, never heard “van” I would assume that all the different railways referred to cabooses with very individual names, along with hundreds of other terms.
The CB&Q also called them waycars (short for way-freight car, which is essentially what a caboose is), others nicknames for cabooses included crummies and hacks.
Why are they called waycars. For, there cars way in the back.
Vans comes from England, as did Canada.
They also have the nickname of hacks.
You might try posting on this on the Trains forum.