I had a inquiry from Jay Cox about KC area transfer cabooses and I found my only two photos (attached). The first photo shows two units at Rosedale just west of the car repair shed. I believe this photo was taken in the summer of 1980 with my trusty Canon AE1. Not sure of the entire KC roster of transfer cabooses but 1337 and 1341 were certainly assigned to KC. Sorry the light and my photgraphic skill were not better at the time. The second photo is BN 11626 on a spur in the West Bottoms. I think this photo was shot either in 1981 or 1982 at the latest. I don't have the SLSF number for this cab but maybe someone out there has the number and can let us know. This photo is a better shot showing the details on the caboose.
Very interesting! This means that these were being used much later than the research in the appropriate section on this site would indicate! Being ostensibly a BN modeller modelling the period 1978-82 this is very welcome news
Rick, Thank you for posting these photographs. In the first image it looks like the days are numbered for SLSF 1341. It has been marked with the dreaded X999. A trip to the scrap yard and the application of the cutting torch are not far away. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Colin, That's some mity fine railroading in your photostream. That steel trestle is magnificent! Very nice touch of weathering on the rail as well.
Rick, It is a safe bet that that the renumbered caboose for that other railroad is SLSF 1337. Another post on this site lists the dispositions of these cabooses. It indicates three were assigned renumbers, including SLSF 1337 to 11626. Your photographic evidence supports this as accurate. The lettering placement look to be identical. Both are in Kansas City within a short time frame of catching them on film. They tended to stay near the assigned terminal as opposed to other type cabooses. Also it has the same cabin bracing to the flat. Not all of the transfer cabooses of this style had this so that cuts down the number of candidates. The time frame further limits the number of candidates as many of the class had already been retired. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Transfer cab BN 11626 was indeed SLSF 1337. The others: BN 11627 was SLSF 1340; BN 11628 was SLSF 1341. Ken
Tom, The terminal and transfer cabooses on flat cars were constructed in 1968. There were several single units of various designs that predated the 1300 series cars. These were retired around this time as the more standard car was brought on line. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Tom, If the 1300 series transfer cabooses are outside your era, consider some of their predecessors. On this site check out photographs of cabooses SLSF 45 and 375. You can use the search option and look by the car number. These are also transfer cabooses with images that date (11/66 and 7/67 respectively) closer to your profile's target time frame of 1964 and before. In Model Railroad Planning 2002, page 72, there is a photograph credited to Arthur Riordan of caboose SLSF 150. This home build car similar to the 1300 class but is one that has a smaller crew cabin on a shorter frame (former tender?). Another resource is Mike Condren's Frisco site. He has a photo of SLSF 73. This is a slightly different design with a full car body width cab with roof overhangs toward the car end. It too falls into the same general design. That photo is dated 5/66. Please see http://condrenrails.com/Frisco Catalog/Caboose.htm. Each would make a great scratch building project. And there are sure to be others. Hopefully this will prod folks with other caboose photos to add them to this site. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Thanks--I have all the caboose data I'm needing. In the 1959-1960 period at Springfield, the "transfer" (The only one around Springfield that I'm aware of) from the North Yard to the South Yard beside the passenger station was achieved by pulling the string of cars (I've seen them do it with 75) with a single Baldwin VO and no caboose of any kind. They had another switcher push until they started downhill. It was all downhill from the east end of the North Yard (Pacific St. Jct. near the intersection of National Ave. & Commercial St.) until way down in the middle of the South Yard. BTW, the passenger station would usually be disrupted for a few minutes. The time I saw them pull 75 cars, they were trying to load and unload trains 106 & 10! Tom
Tom - Great story. I hope the passengers on 10 and 106 had some patience! The Baldwin VO's could really get down and dirty and pull! The Frisco loved them for that. Their weakness was in being different than an EMD and, ultimately, VO engine maintenance issues. Ken
I think that happened about 2:30 AM, they usually sent the transfer down around 9 or 10PM. And it actually only took a few minutes, but the tractors pulling the express and mail wagons had to wait to cross over because the South Yard lead track was accessed by a switch from the station's main track ("Track 1"). Tom
