MoPac Cabooses - SCREAMING EAGLES

Cabeese, Crummies & Hacks
Part Three, 1970s

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Cabeese, Crummies & Hacks
Part Three, 1970s - Bay Window and Extended Vision Cabooses
In the 1970's MoPac decided to renumber all cabooses from three and four-digit numbers into the 13000 series. For example, the transfer cabooses were in the 13900 series. After a time, the railroad decided to refine its three groups, each into their own series. All of MoPac's road service cabooses were numbered into the 13000 -series. Generally, as a rule, when a caboose reached the age that it was too old for the rigors of the road, a single digit could be changed to demote it to the appropriate series. It usually would be reassigned to local (also called dodger) service and renumbered into the 12000 -series by simply replacing the "3" with a "2". Finally the 11000 -series was reserved for transfer cabooses, and these were often times the oldest on the roster. In 1980, toward the end of the era, MoPac had over 600 cabooses in service. The company also pooled cabooses with other roads such as Union Pacific, expanding the territory these cars commonly traveled.

By the late 1970's the buzzsaw was being replaced by the new eagle/blue buzzsaw decal, a unique buzzsaw color only used for cabooses.

Steel Bay Window Caboose

The MoPac had at least several varieties of caboose equipped with bay-windows over the years, but the company was slow to purchase cabooses without a cupola. It's first taste came through mergers with other roads like the C&EI. Despite the latest trend in in modern caboose design, MP wouldn't place an order to International Car until it 1976. These later models had a slightly different style bay area than the earlier C&EI's.

Roger Kirkpatrick's definition of Bay Window cars are cabooses that have window extensions on each side like bay or oriel windows on a house. The bays can extend from the roof to the floor, from the roof half way down the side, or be much smaller. Most are centered between the two ends but some are offset or closer to one end than the other.

MP 12509 - Missouri Pacific Railroad Caboose #12509 in Watseka, Illinois on June 22, 1980. This is one of MP's earlier and less common steel bay-window cabooses. Shown here being used in local service, #12509 started its career as C&EI 36 in 1965. The International Car welded steel bay-window caboose then became MP 13509 with the merger of the two roads. Later the car would receivd the new screaming eagle scheme with an aluminum-colored roof. Only one of this group, #12512 escaped the scrapper's torch and is preserved today at Cumpton Park in Liberty, Missouri. - Houser photo/ T. Greuter collection ·

MP 13669 - with welded-over windows and the eagle decal, yet still sporting the older small numbers reflects the many changes MoPac's cabooses saw in later years. It was among the I.C. bay-window cabooses ordered by the MP in the '70's. Location unknown, May 1989 - Lee Berglund photo, T. Greuter collection. ·

MP 13689 - at Rich Hill, Missouri; 11/12/01 - © T. Greuter photo

MP 13689 - is very well maintained by the town of Rich Hill, Missouri. It's one of the best caboose displays I've seen. 11/12/01 - © T. Greuter photo

MP 13689 - at Rich Hill, Missouri, 11/12/01 - T. Greuter Photo

MP 13690 - Brian Paul Ehni Photo or Collection, used with permission.

MP 13701? - Down by the station early in the morning... we see a very short train consisting of a two U23-B's (one is MP 4540) and bay window cab - © Tony Moses, used with permission.

MP 13689 - interior shot, the stove is to the right, bunk bed frame at lower left. 11/12/01 - © T. Greuter photo

MP 13689 - interior shot showing the 'office area' with the stove behind. 11/12/01 - © T. Greuter photo

The C&EI War Wagons
In the Chicago area owing to some problems with a few of the neighbors and a Conductor getting robbed while his train was stopped at 40th Street in Chicago when the headend crew was making a set out, two of the cabooses assigned to Yard Center received major modifications.

The 12510 and 12512 (ex 13510 and 13512 nee C&EI 37 and 39) received steel mesh over all the windows. The doors were equipped with bars on the inside that could be lowered to bar the door shut so that they could not be kicked or smashed in. They were dubbed the "War Wagons" and a Car Inspector at the RIP track even stenciled them as such. On the bottom of the bays on either side just below the window in big white letters was "WAR WAGON" on both cabooses. These cabooses were required on the daily Yard Center to BRC Clearing Yard and Yard Center to 37th Street Yard transfer assignments. Everybody from top officials down to the Carmen commonly referred to them as the war wagons.

After several months, someone decided that this name on the side of these cabooses might be misconstrued by the neighbors as a term of aggression against them, so the word WAR was blanked out with white paint. Somebody later took a lumber crayon and wrote the word GUT in the place of where the word WAR was, but the term war wagon lived on right up until they ceased using them.

Being that the 12509 and 12511 were on locals that operated outside of Yard Center, they never received this treatment. The 12511 was assigned to the Watseka local L400 and the 12509 was assigned to Villa Grove and used on locals there, usually L402 and L403 if memory serves correct. (Tuch)

Extended Vision Caboose

After a long history of home-builts, the company went to an outside source in 1971 for the latest in caboose design from International Car Co. With the purchase of 150 of this model, the railroadwas able to retire most of its old wood cabooses still roaming the system's yards, with the Sedalia and DeSoto standard steels filling-in their assignments.

Series 13515-13664 - Extended Vision Caboose
Plate -	AAR Class -	RR Class -
Former Series none	Built 1971, 1972, 1973	Rebuilt -
Car Manufacturer International Car Co., Kenton, Ohio
Outside Lg. (roof) 36' 7-1/4"	Outside Wd. (Cupl) 10' 7-7/8"	Outside Ht. to Cupola 13' 5-5/8"
Body Lg. 30' 7-1/4"	Body Wd. 9' 3-3/8"	Outside Ht. to Roof 10' 11-5/16"
Cubic feet -	Load Limit -	Lt. Wt. 52300 lbs.
Truck Barber Swing Motion	Wheel Diameter -	Hand Brake Klasing No. 1500
Heating Vapor "Caban"	Smokejack -	Radio Motorola Micor	Axle Driv. Dayton Drv. Sys.

MP 13523 - November, 1983 at Kansas City, Missouri - © Tony Moses, used with permission.

MP 13569 - The International Car Company -built extended-vision cupola caboose, built in February 1972, is one of two MP cabs to proudly proclaim the town's rail heritage at the Atchison, Kansas R.R. Museum, near the Santa Fe Depot. 4/14/01 - © T. Greuter photo ·

MP 13569 - Atchison, Kansas 4/14/01 - © T. Greuter photo ·

MP 13569 - brightens a cloudy day. Atchison, Kansas 4/14/01 - © T. Greuter photo ·

MP 13569 - Atchison, Kansas 4/14/01 - © T. Greuter photo ·

MP 13615 - built in November of 1973, is the second of two EV's displayed at the Atchison, Kansas R.R. Museum. The stenciling at the bottom left says "Rear End Only" - seems like an obvious location for a caboose to me <grin> 4/14/01 - © T. Greuter photo ·

Cupola cabooses have the roof top extension, lookout, or monitor. The cupola comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and can be centered, offset, or at or near one end. Except for older, mostly wood cabooses, the cupola is usually flush with the sides of the car or sticks out beyond the sides. The latter is called an extended vision or wide vision cupola caboose, depending on the road and/or manufacturer. The extension gives the crew a better view past the taller modern freight cars. Many roads had their standard cupola cabooses rebuilt into extended/wide vision cars in the 60's and 70's.

EV Caboose 13647 - at 17th Street Yard on CHTT, Chicago Heights. - JD Santucci Photo

EV caboose 13649 - on display at Beecher, IL (along Chicago Sub) April 1990 - JD Santucci Photo

Paint Variations

You've seen photos of these differences, it seemed there were as many shades and hues as there were caboose types on the system, when in fact all these cars painted in the final vermillion scheme started in an identical red coloring. Author Jerry Michels' explaination of the paint variations on MoPac cabooses sums it up best. Jerry states that for most cars painted in the 1960-70s, the paint faded from a bright vermillion to orange in the MoPac caboose. However, it wasn't as much of an oxidation problem due to time and the elements (as is commonly believed) as it was a chemical reaction.

This was in part due to the cleaners MoPac used in their washes which attacked the paint. Usually the results after years of scrubbing where cabooses with a shiny orange finish. A more extreme example of this were the C&EI cabooses (Magor-type) around St. Louis that faded from bright red to pink, and finally to gray. ÊBy the time they arrived for scrapping at Sedalia, these C&EI cabooses were very gray.

Featured Photographers:
Glen Beans, Brian Paul Ehni, Tony Moses, Lee Berglund, Ronald Estes, Houser, Robert Pollard Photo/Jay Glenewinkel Collection, RailArc

Recommended Links:
Elvin Klepzig's Missouri Pacific Archive
Great Plains Rail Gallery Cabooses
RRcaboose@yahoogroups.com

Sources:
"Cabooses of the Missouri Pacific Lines" by G.J. Michels Jr. (a Must-Have!)

The Eagle, MPHS Newsletter


	trainweb.org/screamingeagle l Last Update to this page: 18 April, 2008

	All images & text © 2000-2008 T. Greuter / Screaming Eagles, unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved.