Coal for the caboose stove.

As this big locomotive takes on water, the brakie adds a couple of buckets of coal to the storage bin in the caboose. The stove in the caboose was used to warm the frigid mountain air as well as to fry up a mess of eggs for breakfast. Woe to the crew member who didn't fully stock the caboose. On my interpretation of the GN, NP, and SP&S, the caboose is assigned to a crew. Logistics permitting, the caboose always stays with the crew. This policy sometimes causes problems with the union, but the crews seem to enjoy having their own crummy and not having to clean up someone else's mess just because they happen to be higher up on the seniority totem pole.