The TRRA has started using transfer cabooses again. Reportedly for the safety of the crew. North St Louis, by Mallinckrodt. Trains just look better with a caboose. ;-)
I wholeheartedly approve, both from a safety and from an aesthetic standpoint. Do you know - or can anyone tell - if this is new construction or if it's a refurbished piece of older equipment? Best Regards,
Nice to see a caboose going back in active service rather than the other way around. Do we know - is this the only cab TRRA will be using, or are there a few more? Larry Thomas would know. Ken
I agree. Looks like a MoPac caboose made in DeSoto ~ 1979. ?? Then next they shipped it else-ware to outfit it . I do not see safety hand rail. ?? In north St. Louis I hope those rail workers have a few guns and some wasp spray to put into the eyes of any attackers. My son works for the gas company and there was a gun in is face as he got out from a man-hole. Thanks for the Roulon spelling and meaning. Roulon is so high up on the ridge I do not know how they would dig a well, as well find any water. mountaincreekar
There was a tv show many years ago I think 60 minutes, where a reporter said a train without a caboose is like a sentence with no period
The Union Pacific in Tulsa still uses a transfer caboose that has Missouri Pacific logo on the side, along with a lot of graffiti. They use it between Broken Arrow and Cherokee Yard near downtown Tulsa. Part of the way the tracks run between the lanes of a major highway, US64, better known as the Broken Arrow Expressway. A lot of times the caboose is parked on the stretch of the above mentioned highway. Will try to take a photo next time I'm in the area. Joe
I’ve also seen the BNSF use one out at the Port of Catoosa. A BN green one and recently saw an ATSF platform out there as well. So we are seeing them used in Tulsa intermittently.
Most of the time they are used as shoving platforms, most even have the doors welded shut so you cant even get in out of the rain and cold. There are very few that are used as actual cabooses. Too bad cause they can sure come in handy on occasion. Not surprising some see them a a switching nuisance.
I know where 13882 & 13797 ( is & used by. .... in a later post). Those never get worn out. Something like this; DeSoto built / Sedalia outfitted Series 13542, 13715-13814, 13815-13965 & 13000-13099 - Short Bay Window Caboose Plate - AAR Class - RR Class - Former Series none Built 1977, 1978 Rebuilt - Car Manufacturer Missouri Pacific RR @ DeSoto & Sedalia Shops Out. Lg. (ov. strikers) 39' 1-1/4" Outside steel (no wood) (side plts) 9' 7-3/8" Outside Ht. 14' 4" Body Lg. 17' 10-1/8" Body Wd. 10' 7-1/4" Outside Ht. to Roof 10' 11-5/16" Cubic feet - Load Limit - Lt. Wt. - lbs. Truck Barber Swing Motion Wheel Diameter - 33" I-W Stl. Hand Brake Ellcon-National 1600 Heating Vapor "Caban" Smokejack - Radio Motorola Micor Axle Driv. Dayco Drv.
Thanks for the insights. I was going by what my coworker said regarding the usage. We are part of the "cleaming up of the Manhattan Project waste recovery residue" from Mallinckrodt properties, and some of the low level waste is shipped out in covered gondolas. My coworker is a rail fan too, so he was talking to the crew about it. Though, they could be pulling our leg. Lol. Its all good.
M&NA RR: MoPac caboose # 13797 (MoPac red. I hope that gw-rr does not paint it orange). Series 13715-13814 1977-1978 Compact body, bay window with large open platforms on each end. 101 were made in this series. ( M&NA MOW, any other odd services, to watch hazard waste & dangerous cargoes, Christmas train, as a business car, etc. ) # 13797 Pictures @ http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=41786 M&NA Web page; https://www.gwrr.com/railroads/north_america/missouri__northern_arkansas_railroad#m_tab-one-panel Originally tracks constructed 1905 by St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern RR, White River Division, Diaz, AR to near Kansas City ( it operates as a "block system" ). UP loco's also travel on these tracks when they are not in a hurry to stay off the very busy UP mail-lines. M&NA; * Batesville, AR - Cotter, AR all ROW borders the White River. * Cotter, AR - Reed Springs, MO is the Mountain Route, with ~ 5 very tall trestles, many others. 5 tunnels. ( also ROW is along the Crooked Creek from Summit to Pyatt, AR ). * One of the most scenic railways in the Midwest. * 1905 "swing bridges" are over the Black River ( west of Diaz ) and over the White River ( at Cotter, AR ). * Rail-yard, old station & Historic RR Park @ Cotter. Round-house is no longer. * M&NA headquarters in Carthage Station at the interchange with BNSF (Frisco). joe-lovett grew-up nearby. He knows all about these rails. Pass on all the conversations above to other members interested. .
# 13882 MP double platforms caboose has been doing the same things for decades. At night it switch cars and makes up trains. Within private rail-yards the mfg. plants do not wish for railroad switch-men to hang on to a rail car. "Safety First", use the transferring caboose. From a UP wye junction it travels down the 9 mile long Chocolate Bayou Branch-line. At the end of the branch is @ lyondellbsell Chocolate Bayou Polymers Plant and the Ascend-Solutia Chocolate Bayou Chemical Plant (where I worked numerous times. My fellow engineers call it the "Charlie's caboose" ). The polymers plant has massive rail yards for ~ 200 ACF Center-flow hoppers. The chemical plant has ~ 40 tank cars at any given times. # 13882 is always working long hours. # 13882 MP is still MoPac red, and the doors are always open. pictures: MP 13882 (Copy) (1).jpg MP Cab 13882 FTW 890923 (1).jpg 13882wye.jpg MP 13882 (Copy).jpg # 13882 made 1980 Series CA-35 / MP 13815-13964 Compact body, bay window Constructed at MP shops DeSoto, MO, MP constructed 150 cabooses in this series. These MP 13000 class cabooses were used in road service. The wye is on the UP line going southward along the Gulf of Mexico. BNSF also uses those tracts. View by zooming-in on google-earth-pro. Locations: wye 29 deg 19'23" N 95 deg 14' 56" W elev 17' polymer plant 29 deg 14' 39" N 95 deg 11' 26.5 W elev 14' chemical plant 29 deg 15' 24.1" N 95 deg 12' 14.5" W elev 14' To the WNW is Liverpool, TX ~ 18 miles. To the north is Alvin, TX ~ 26 miles. To the east is the interstate, ~ 35 miles. =========================== Here is another pic of M&NA 's Caboose 13797 M&NA-RR has ~ 524. miles of tracks http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4968078 pic is at Norfork, AR Christmas Train. Photo by Chuck Zeiler attachments below,
mountaincreekarMember # 13882 MP double platforms caboose has been doing the same things for decades. At night it switch cars and makes up trains. Within private rail-yards the mfg. plants do not wish for railroad switch-men to hang on to a rail car. "Safety First", use the transferring caboose. From a UP wye junction it travels down the 9 mile long Chocolate Bayou Branch-line. At the end of the branch is @ lyondellbsell Chocolate Bayou Polymers Plant and the Ascend-Solutia Chocolate Bayou Chemical Plant (where I worked numerous times. My fellow engineers call it the "Charlie's caboose" ). The polymers plant has massive rail yards for ~ 200 ACF Center-flow hoppers. The chemical plant has ~ 40 tank cars at any given times. # 13882 is always working long hours. # 13882 MP is still MoPac red, and the doors are always open. pictures: MP 13882 (Copy) (1).jpg MP Cab 13882 FTW 890923 (1).jpg 13882wye.jpg MP 13882 (Copy).jpg # 13882 made 1980 Series CA-35 / MP 13815-13964 Compact body, bay window Constructed at MP shops DeSoto, MO, MP constructed 150 cabooses in this series. These MP 13000 class cabooses were used in road service. The wye is on the UP line going southward along the Gulf of Mexico. BNSF also uses those tracts. View by zooming-in on google-earth-pro. Locations: wye 29 deg 19'23" N 95 deg 14' 56" W elev 17' polymer plant 29 deg 14' 39" N 95 deg 11' 26.5 W elev 14' chemical plant 29 deg 15' 24.1" N 95 deg 12' 14.5" W elev 14' To the WNW is Liverpool, TX ~ 18 miles. To the north is Alvin, TX ~ 26 miles. To the east is the interstate, ~ 35 miles. =========================== Here is another pic of M&NA 's Caboose 13797 M&NA-RR has ~ 524. miles of tracks http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4968078 pic is at Norfork, AR Christmas Train. Photo by Chuck Zeiler attachments below, Attached Files: MP 13882 (Copy) (1).jpg MP Cab 13882 FTW 890923 (1).jpg 13882wye.jpg M&NA#13797-A.jpg MP 13882 (Copy).jpg
In my younger chemical engineer days, 1964-1969, I spent quite a bit of time at Chocolate Bayou, then a Monsanto plant. And a very neat plant it was, state of the art for the times, first class. I worked with the linear alkyl benzene unit, LAB or SAB, depending on your preference. The "S" stood for soft, meaning that the end product was biodegradable. It was Dept 50 and 51. I worked mainly in Dept 51, which was the refining unit. Dept 50 was a reaction unit, where linear paraffin was made into an olefin, then stuck on to the benzene. LAB was the material that the surfactant was made from by the soapers for use in laundry detergents. A surfactant is a synthetic soap so to speak. Those were good times. I remember the drive out to the plant at night (young engineers often got stuck on the graveyard shift!). As you approached the plant at night, off in the distance it looked like a city skyline with all the lights on the towers, etc. Beautiful. In fact, as I just realized, today is an anniversary. I first came to the Chocolate Bayou plant on October 31, 1964. Wow, time sure flies! I also remember my first meal that night at the Alvin, TX Holiday Inn, where we stayed. A bug crawled out of my salad! We were served by the old Mopac then. As was noted above, lots and lots of tank cars! K
