This is a few days late. When walking to my pickup after getting off work the other day, I saw an eastbound manifest pull into town to change crews. It had a DP on the tail end, and behind it a red caboose. It wasn’t railroad owned so I don’t know what it’s used for. I wrote down the initials, but can’t find the piece of paper. The marks were either PHNX 101 or maybe PNHX 101, and it was an extended vision cupola type with the prohibition, “do not hump.” No other markings that I saw.
It was something to just see a caboose, but also to have the pusher cut in ahead of it. Something you don’t see everyday.
PHNX 101. I can’t find anything out about its move, why it was on the hind end like that, or what it may have been accompanying, but that was the number of the car you saw, Jeff. It’s moving from Cincinnati to Duluth, via CSX to St. Louis, then UP via North Platte and Proviso (seems like the long way around?).
Reporting marks PHNX are assigned to PHN, LLC (big help!), c/o Lake Superior Warehousing Co., Inc. So the caboose is apparently headed home–via the scenic route.
I imagine it was on the end because it was a caboose. The System Special Instructions says to place shoving platforms (cabooses), and that’s the way it appears in the book, on the rear end for most trains. Note, this is for moving them in trains, not using them on locals, switch moves etc. There’s a note to place helpers ahead of this type of equipment.
It does seem to be taking the scenic route. Maybe they got a good rate.
Or avoiding those notoriously congested Chicago interchanges, and/ or vandals (or worse) ? Wonder how long that circuitous routing took anyhow, as compared to a more direct route ?
Here are the links to a couple photos of a sister - PHNX 102 - on a ‘high-wide’ move in May 2007, from Duluth/Superior to Alberta. The caption to one of the photos says it is a former BCR caboose:
“Lake Superior Services is an Alliance of seven companies in the Midwest creating the synergy by offering a full package solution to the wind industry and to other industries, where transportation and installation of heavy equipment is essential.”
Reasonable speculation would be that PHN, LLC is one of those 7 companies. Research at or in the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office or equivalent should provide more information, if it matters here.
Here is a link to a thread from 12/2/2005 showing photos of a large vessel being moved from Duluth’s Lake Superior Warehousing Co:
If you look at the last photo linked you’ll see the Caboose in question PHNX 101 on the train. In fact there are TWO similar cabooses in the concist, quite possibly the other is PHNX102 (?).
I think you’ll find the following link of interest.
The last photo in the linked series shows the Caboose in question on a move to Alberta,Ca. from Lake Superior Warehousing in Duluth, Mn.
There are two similar cabooses on this move, the last photo clearly shows PHNX and I would bet the other is probably PHNX 102 (just a guess on that one.)
This is a link to a TRAINS Forum of Dec. 2, 2005 referencing the above mentioned link:
Also, I should have mentioned above that the map of this site/ port indicates that these people have a fairly extensive network of rail tracks in and around their facility.
It seems a bit odd that there is one idler between the locomotive and first load and between each load, but there are two idlers between the last load and the caboose.
‘‘Homevestors - Premier Home Network LLC - PHN LLC is a Minnesota-based, real estate problem solving company focused on providing quick, professional, and caring relief to home owners experiencing an Ugly Real Estate Situation or burdensome debt.’’
More useful - but still not very informative - is this from the Minnestoa Secretary of State, at -