Over the Easter weekend in Salt Lake City, my family and I saw an unusual sight in the Grant Tower area: a Union Pacific caboose hop. Two locomotives, SD70M #5190, and C40-8 #9124 pulling UP caboose #25472. We followed the caboose hop over to the North Salt Lake yard where we watched the crew put the caboose away on one of the yard tracks. Other than some very worn paint, some rusty areas, a few windows missing, andno traces of graffiti, the caboose appeared to be in good condition. Even the saftey slogan on the caboose’s side, “Saftey Aware, Because We Care” was intact.
Seeing this caboose brought to mind something regarding UP cabooses that I’ve had in the back of my mind for some time. On 25472’s cupola, there’s a capital letter P underneath the cupola’s side window, and between the two windows on the front and back of the cupola. What does the “P” signify?
Once upon a time, “P” meant “pooled” instead of “assigned.” Now it means nothing.
Quoting Don Strack’s Utah Rails, site:
“After the late 1960s, a special colored 20-inch letter was added to all sides of the cupola denoting different special service. A red P was used for cabooses that had received the required improvements that allowed them to be operated in system-wide Pool Service and on through trains with other railroads. A green K was added for cabooses assigned to the Kaiser unit coal trains operating in Utah, Nevada, and California, and a black T was added to cabooses assigned to terminal transfer service.”
Thanks for the info Railway Man. Now I wonder if the UP dragged this caboose out of storage for use in local service as a place for the brakeman to stand during reverse moves, or it’s making one final trip to the scrap yard.
I didn’t realize that UP still operated any of the couplas yet.
It’s not uncommon to see a caboose on the UP…they use them for locals, small switching jobs, and transfers.
Here in WI, UP uses a MoPac transfer caboose on the Winona Turn, which is usually called at Adams, WI at 4:30. I saw this caboose for the first time yesterday, and I didn’t know they replaced the ex-C&NW bay window that they sideswiped last June.
There’s an ex-Rio Grande caboose with the extended vision cupola that UP keeps in Salt Lake for use on a local freight that goes out to switch a big industrial area in West Valley City. Either the UP caboose is meant to replace the Rio Grand hack or maybe it’s for another local based out of SLC.
Its the “Snow Bus” there buddy. Check out the link and you’ll see some more pictures. Its used to deadhead crews when the roads are bad and the crew is too scared to put there life on the line with a contract driver. But thats what they use that cab for. Theres some at the top of page 1 (the link i made) and the other picture of “our” cab is on the top of page 2.
