Nostalgia & History > Love to see the old cabeese

Loved it back in the '70s when the caboose was still a necessary piece of rolling stock at the end of a train. Some interesting scenes of the ends of SP trains on the Coastline Route.

1 - Four cabeese on the end of a 135 car East train leaving the Santa Barbara yard after breaking a knuckle here. The power consist was 9156, 9383, 8633 and 8668.Photo taken on October 26th, 1975.
2 - SP bicentennial caboose #1776 on the end of a Westbound train led by 9156, 8462 and 9256 going thru the Santa Barbara yard on December 9th, 1975.
3 - An East train of 112 cars split the switch at Oxnard leaving the lead unit GE U33C #8737 derailed. The remaining two units #9161 and 9371 pull the train into the yard as we see the caboose of the train going by the derailed unit. The crew picked up an SW1500 from the yard at Oxnard and placed it between the two big units so that they could take the train to LA. Photo taken on December 27th, 1975.

C.C.Chas.

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And they may have borrowed the knuckle out of the caboose to get going again. It is missing.

First pic makes my day and ruins it. Makes it because it's one of those monster Coast trains that meet every enthusiast's needs, from power, to cars, to cabeese. Ruins day because it is just so much better than what we have today.
Photos such as these spark an array of emotions. I'll leave it at that and just thank you.

Yeah, I miss the cabooses too. It was another thing that was indigenous to each railroad like depots and signals. And in the 60s and 70s some roads were still using some very old cars.

The Conductors and Brakemen who rode in the Cabooses may have a different opinion then most railfans about cabooses.
Slack action injured and maimed more then a few trainmen.