Nostalgia & History > Brand new Waycar Wednesday

International Car Co. Kenton,Ohio 1979-1980.

Mike

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Did the coming changes that opened the door for FRED's/EOT devices to replace the caboose surprise some railroads as 1979/1980 was really late to be investiing in new cabooses or was there more to the story to explain why UP and WP needed that new equipment and could not extend the life of their older equipment the few more years before EOT's sidelined most of the caboose fleet?   

I don't recall ever seeing a UP waycar of that design. 
Gonut

They were designated CA-11. IIRC they got 100 of them

S_W

Stevo_Weimario Wrote:
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> They were designated CA-11. IIRC they got 100 of them

Not only that but UP 25800 was the very first one built.

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> Did the coming changes that opened the door for
> FRED's/EOT devices to replace the caboose surprise
> some railroads as 1979/1980 was really late to be
> investiing in new cabooses or was there more to
> the story to explain why UP and WP needed that new
> equipment and could not extend the life of their
> older equipment the few more years before EOT's
> sidelined most of the caboose fleet?   

While Fred's and improved EOTs made it possible, It was changes in labor contacts that sidelined the caboose.

That UP caboose was, and may still be, assigned to one of the local switchers in Omaha.

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57A26 Wrote:
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> While Fred's and improved EOTs made it possible,
> It was changes in labor contacts that sidelined
> the caboose.

It usually takes time to get changes in labor contracts, so I think some new cabooses were bought for reasons of necessity circa 1980. Also a few states still had caboose laws.

The 1978 N&W Clerks Strike was the death knell for the caboose. Eventually the caboose would mostly be gone for several reasons, but seeing a major railroad operate without cabooses on all but a few trains sped up the decline.

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> Did the coming changes that opened the door for
> FRED's/EOT devices to replace the caboose surprise
> some railroads as 1979/1980 was really late to be
> investiing in new cabooses or was there more to
> the story to explain why UP and WP needed that new
> equipment and could not extend the life of their
> older equipment the few more years before EOT's
> sidelined most of the caboose fleet?   

WP was just coming out of the end of wooden cabooses on their subsidiaries and also ending their use of foreign pool cabooses. Just my two cents.

Posted from iPhone