UP still using cabooses (or cabeese)

[broncoman]

I was on my way home the other day and spotted the tail end of a UP train going through Auburn(CA) headed for Roseville. It had one of those things on the end .....I forgot what you call them....oh yeah that's right a caboose. It was a S.P. bay window. It didn't have return to shop for repairs or anything on it. Has anyone else seen this on the UP?

[Anonymous]

Sometimes they are still used on locals, or in areas where long reverse movements need to be made.

[ericsp]

I also see them on work trains.

[broncoman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ericsp

I also see them on work trains.

It wasn't a work train. Thanks though. There are no industries from where it was eastward until Truckee, which I think Reno takes care of. Do they use them when they attach helpers if the helpers don't go with them down the hill from Donner?

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by broncoman

QUOTE: Originally posted by ericsp

I also see them on work trains.

It wasn't a work train. Thanks though. There are no industries from where it was eastward until Truckee, which I think Reno takes care of. Do they use them when they attach helpers if the helpers don't go with them down the hill from Donner?

Maybe the were moving it for some reason other than repair and they just tacked it onto the end (what better place for a caboose?). I am assuming it was a mixed freight. How long was it?

Is this industry a lumber mill or something else? It seems like a few years ago there was a fiberboard plant that shipped by rail somewhere in the Auburn area. Do they still ship by rail?

[fuzzybroken]

I regularly see C&NW cabooses on locals here in Milwaukeeland. The Marsh job that runs down to Jones Island always has a caboose, and I also recently saw a "CGW" caboose on the local that runs across Kenosha. I think they usually use cabooses on the locals that require a lot of backup moves -- a lot safer than hanging off the side of a freight car!

-Mark
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[MP57313]

Saw one in Oxnard, CA on Saturday 11/20, at the end of a cut of cars. It had multiple layers of graffiti, and the springs were compressed (are they that heavy?)

[halifaxcn]

Last trip to Chicago last year saw a former CNW bay window on UP at Dolton. Also on the molton steel train had a IHB transfer caboose.

Here in Massachusetts saw on on the Houstonic RR in July it was on a yard job.

[Anonymous]

I whi***hat there Caboose's on Coal Trains[:D]!
That would look so cool.

[DPD1]

I saw an SP bay window in pretty good shape sitting on the old track that runs along the South edge of Vandenberg AFB last month. Think it was coupled up to some side dumps. I believe a UP local out of Long Beach/L.A. Harbor uses a UP bay window too but that thing has been covered with paint every time I've seen it.

Dave
Los Angeles, CA
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline

[cpcolin]

The UP by me still uses cabooses on its local frieghts by my house in Chicago. A UP local comes out of a yard at North Ave with the caboose at the end in a sense it is a long backing movement. The train goes up the Northwest line till Mayfair junction where it performs work on the Weber industrial spur. At this point yard rules are in effect. On the return trip the caboose can either be on the rear of the train or directly behind the locomotive.