Where did crew ride if there was no caboose?

While researching several eastern Pennsylvania shortline railroads (Ironton, Northampton & Bath, Chestnut Ridge), I learned that these lines rostered no cabooses until the late 1940s at the earliest (about the time they came under national union contracts requiring cabooses).

I am aware that in the early part of the century, prior to automatic air brakes, the brakemen would ride the freight cars and move from car to car, manually setting the brakes on each. But after the introduction of automatic air brakes, where did these brakemen ride if there was no caboose? Were they constantly exposed to the elements year round? Or did the engineer, fireman, conductor and brakeman (or brakemen) all crowd into the cab of the locomotive???

Part of the reason for the caboose was for a place for the flagman to ride. If a train slowed or stopped, there was a possibility that a following movement could rear end the preceding train. The flagman would have to go back a sufficient distance to signal the following train to stop, so that there was enough distance for it to do so.

On the shoreline, there may have been only one movement at a time, so it was redundant to flag against following trains.In this case the whole crew may have risen the head end. Some shorelines were small enough to preclude dedicated passenger trains. They may have had a coach or combine on the tail end. This may have been where the hind end crew rode.