Nostalgia & History > Union Pacific "K" Caboose for the Kaiser Coal Train

A couple of days ago, somebody asked whether or not Santa Fe had a caboose with a "K" on it for use on the York Canyon coal trains. I don't think the Santa Fe did, but Union Pacific had at least three with a "K" on the cupola and stencilled "Kaiser Coal Service Return to Utah Division". All were painted in April 1981 and shot at Provo, Utah in May 1981. CA-9 25669 had a little error and was stencilled "Kaiser Coal Return to Service Utah Division". Also shown CA-9 25656 and CA-8 25529. A year later, I ran across UP 25656, again at Provo, still with the "K" but the Kaiser Service stencil appears to have been removed. I am not sure what set these three caboose(s) apart from the others as I thought any Union Pacific caboose with a "P" was capable of pooling on another railroad. I don't remember seeing these in California on the Kaiser Trains either but I didn't see this train all that often.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/11 07:14 by SP8595.

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Union Pacific CA-9 25656 at Provo, Utah. May 1982. Still has the "K" on the cupola, but "Kaiser Service" stencil looks to be taken off.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/11 07:58 by SP8595.

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As I recall: When the Kaiser Coal train was first started, the trainsets and locomotives were set up so that the retainers could be remotely [ pneumatically ] set up or released from the head end, which fascinated me [ I fascinate easily.] It always seemed reasonable [ to check the integrity of the additional air line ] that the cabooses would have air connections and a gauge -- did they ??

Best regards, SZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/11 07:32 by Steinzeit.

The term "pool caboose" has less to do with it being equipped for use on foreign roads than it does for use across districts (divisions) for system-wide use. I don't know when caboose pooling began on the UP but at one time, cabooses were assigned to a specific conductor or job and it always stayed with that assignment. Before pooling, cabooses were removed at every crew change point so the car stayed with its assigned conductor, with a different car added whenever the crew changed. But after pooling, one caboose stayed on the train from start to finish. For most railroads the pooling agreements started in the 1950s with the goal of maximizing the efficient use of cabooses across the system. But the railroads had to equip cabooses accordingly because what might be legal equipment on or in a caboose in one state or across one division, may not be the case in another.

An example is retention toilets. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) required chemical retention toilets on any cabooses operated on common carrier roads in California after January 1, 1959. But in many other states, such as Nevada and Utah, the requirement for retention toilets came later. But in order to run a caboose system wide in pool service, where the caboose is added to the train at the origination terminal, and run through all the division points to the final terminal, they had to be equipped to run legally in all the states the road covered, and comply with all the labor agreements across the system.

The "P" on UP cabooses indicates that the car is equipped for, and can be used system wide in "pool" service. Not all UP cabooses were so equipped and after pooling began, those not equipped for pool service were usually assigned to locals that ran exclusively in states where the car met the requirements for that state, prevailing labor agreement, and that type of job. IIRC, the CA-6 cars were never equipped for pool service and that is why they were almost always found on locals.

As far as the "K" cabooses, they were also "pool cabooses" but the only thing I recall about them being unique for the Kaiser trains is that they had radios with not only UP, but D&RGW and ATSF channels.

Cheers!

Mike
http://www.wpcaboosebook.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/11 11:09 by trainjunkie.

thanks for the info junkie, that was good........

66

I noticed a "R" with a lightning bolt stenciled on them, maybe that was for the extra radio channels? Any idea how many were set up for Kaiser service?

The "R" with the lightning bolt just meant it was radio equipped. I believe there were six CA-9s total assigned to Kaiser train service. You can probably confirm somewhere on Don Strack's utahrails.net site.

Six it was! Thanks for all the info.

The assigned cabooses came to an end with the trainmans contract signing in 1972 I believe. That was when the poolig of cabooses began.
Bob Krieger
UP/CRIP retired
Cheyenne

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Wow, thanks Bob! Surprised the old agreements lasted that long on the UP. WP started pooling cabooses back in 1955 or so when they took delivery of their first steel cars.