Nostalgia & History > Monday Meets: Cabeese at Hermosa

As railfan photographers we all strive to get that classic meet shot with a couple of trains’ consists in perfect sync. But do we ever try for the same perfect rear end meet shot? Try or not, Jim Watson nailed a great rear-end meet in a very famous place back in 1980. Check it out:

1. Looking east from atop the east end of Hermosa Tunnel up on Sherman Hill in Wyoming. East & westbound trains meet their rear ends just outside the east portal on June 13, 1980.
Original Kodachrome slide by James W. Watson.

Thanks for looking down!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Jim Watson (UP6900)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/22 21:15 by santafe199.

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Sure can't see those anymore. Neat photo. I recall those large UP cabs seemed to pop off-center every time they hit our yards. Send 'em home.

That was as tough as power meeting on the move. I really don't know if I ever got a caboose meet. Love the location by the way. Just a super area, like so many, that has gone dark to fans.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

Great photo and timing.  Would the bay window on the closer train be an SP caboose?

Rich

PasadenaSub Wrote: > ... Would the bay window ... be an SP caboose?

The yellow on the bay looks identical in tone to the caboose on the left. I'd have to say this is an ex-Rock Island bay window cab that has already been through Uncle Pete's paint shop. Pretty fast for a repaint, but not unreasonable...

Lance/199 

Right place + right time = great shot.  Thanks for sharing Mr. Watson's shot Lance.

Kent in CArmel Valley

That bay window caboose looks like a Union Pacific class CA-11 caboose. They started to show on UP's property in May of 1979. The roof doesn't look like a Rock Island bay window to me.
Glenn



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/19 14:23 by rock4310.

Great photo of a passing legend, cabooses. This is on top of the east end of the tunnel. The train on the left is eastbound on 1 traclk and the other is westbound on 2. Dale Junction where 3 track comes in is just a short distance around the corner.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

rock4310 Wrote: > ... looks like a Union Pacific class CA-11 ...

Good call, Glenn! I had totally forgotten that UP bought those toward the end. Now that my cobwebbed memory has been restored, I remember wondering at the time how those new cabeese rode, compared to the older standards. Judging from visual comparison, I'm guessing they rode pretty rough...

Lance

I was thinking ex-Rock Island also, but figured 1980 would be too close to the Rock's final day for it to get repainted. 

Ah yes, the CA-11's, the standard caboose for the UP (at least here out west) in the final years before EOTDs took over around 1986.

Rich


santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PasadenaSub Wrote: > ... Would the bay window ...
> be an SP caboose?
>
> The yellow on the bay looks identical in tone to
> the caboose on the left. I'd have to say this is
> an ex-Rock Island bay window cab that has already
> been through Uncle Pete's paint shop. Pretty fast
> for a repaint, but not unreasonable...
>
> Lance/199 

That's pretty.  I believe the cupola cabooses rode much better that the bay windows.  The bay window cabooses were steel interior and very noisy.
Brian Stevens



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/19 17:17 by SCKP187.

Lance, the cabooses that the UP got from the Rock were the ones they contracted for the Rock along with the SD40's and U30C's and that's why they went back to the UP.
 

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Bob3985 Wrote: > ... contracted for the Rock ...

I knew that about the power, but did NOT know that about the cabeeses. Not too surprising, though...

Lance