It may have been spotted before, but I saw an old B/N caboose today. 12115 is in a "junk" yard in Northview, Mo. It is along the old Highway 66 r.o.w. I checked the records of Frisco to BN numbers, it doesn't look like an old Frisco unit. Darn!! Photos to follow. Dan Sorry it took a few days! Had to pack to head to Buffalo, Mo. for the Scottish Festival! Enjoy!
Found another old BN caboose. No number, fresh GREEN paint. In Buffalo, Mo. behind a Frontier cabin museum on Highway 65.
Non-Frisco; Note that the cupola windows are set together in the center, not spaced out to the ends of the cupola.
These cabooses that don't have BN numbers would need closer inspection as after the merger the BN welded a blank metal plate over each side of the cupola and then plugged in a center window thus making them like all of their other cupola cabooses. If you can get close enough look at the truck side frames and see if they have SLSF cast into them. The caboose at the Baxter Springs Historical Museum was a classic example of this modification and if visiting there check it out.
SLSF 11631, ex SLSF 1401 If you google SLSF 11631 you will pull up a picture of this caboose and the details. It was constructed from SLSF boxcar 18434 in 05/1973 by Frisco forces in Springfield, MO. The triangle emblem shown on the side is an interesting item in itself. It goes back to WWI and something to do with the war in Europe. Inside the triangle are some numbers and I think meant it contained a certain number of troops and horses. These details are available however I am reciting from memory. Note: The triangle has 40/8 inside; this was the number of men or horses that the French WWI boxcars would carry. The numbers 40/8 were stenciled on the old boxcars to designate their carrying capacity. The triangle emblem is for La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux which is French for "The Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses" which is a US Veterans organization.
This is the cboose that is/was ? located at the Republic, MO American Legion Facility on the outskirts of Springfield. As previously mentioned, it was for sale earlier in the year.
Way to go Dan! And Bob that is good info on what the BN did to our Frisco Cabooses, I had not known that. BTW that BN 12575 I think was B/O right here in GJ, the result of a collision. I think I was at an investigation about that caboose.
