The current issue of the GM&O Historical Society's GM&O News (Issue #125) has a nice article about when and why the GM&O started buying International Car Company (Kenton, OH) extra wide vision, all steel, welded caboose's in 1964. The Frisco, of course, had a bunch of ICC cabs - 75 bought in 1957 (SLSF 200-274, later r/n to SLSF 1200-1274), 10 more in 1968 (SLSF 1275-1284), and a final 8 in 1969 (SLSF 1285-1292). These cabs were highly successful on the Frisco, and popular with the crews. The GM&O had a similar experience with their ICC fleet. But - back to the article - in it, the GM&OHS authors say "When International commenced all-welded operations in 1955, the average cost for a new caboose was $10,000, but by the end of operations in 1983 the average price had risen to $40,000, with a few special cars built for the Frisco costing nearly $100,000." Anybody know what these "Rolls Royce" $100k cabs the Frisco supposedly bought were? I don't think the SLSF bought any more ICC's after the third order in 1969, but I'm not a caboose expert. Ken
The "List of Specialties" from the Freight Car Diagram book shows very little difference between the 1275-1284 class cabooses and the 1285-1292 class cabooses. These were the last of the store-bought cabooses for the Frisco. The home-made 1700 class road cabooses and the 1400 class local cabooses followed.
Karl - Yep. I think the main differences in the Frisco's ICC's are that the last two groups (1275-1284 & 1285-1292) did not ride on the fancy GSC trucks, and that the last group (1285-1292) had a slightly lower cupola and stack to fit within eastern clearances for run-through use. I think the GM&OHS article might have a bit too much "Rebel Yell" in it regarding the SLSF $100k ICC's. Even so, it's a good article about the GM&O ICC's. Ken
