[jy8z]

They use to have a Caboose with a BRAKEMAN just for watching for this very thing...sometimes the old way is the best solution

That's what my grandpa did for forty years until he retired. This was in west Texas.

[V1Rotate]

My grandfather hired on with the railroad when he was 13 years old. It was around 1915, he told them he was 17. Because WW1 was in full swing he got hired.
The tough old bastard was shoveling coal on a steam engine at the age of 13. By the time he turned 17 he was an engineer.