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Re: question re: Permanente Local and cabooses....
Author: Steven D. Johnson
Date: 01-05-2010 - 16:47
I can't speak for anything outside my district (BNSF in California), but I have seen the Board Award sometime around 1999 or 2000 that granted the carrier the right to create a new class of car, called the Shove Car. This was in response to the UTU's opposition to poorly or not-at-all maintained cabooses. The carrier then issued instructions for the Mechanical Dept. to seal up said 'Shove Cars' (cabs), so what you're left with is a box on wheels that has a riding platform. The primary reason for this was two-fold: No longer is it necessary to constantly maintain window glazing, toilets, seats and interior safety appliances, and proliferating this cheaper version of a way to ride virtually eliminated the 25 mile claim of HO (about $43). The carrier supported their argument based primarily on an earlier award around 1983 or so that allowed the elimination of cabooses on through freight- other readers can correct me on that detail. Thus, this 'new' type of car precludes ordering hard to find caboose truck parts, and unusual handholds as opposed to the new car which is a 60 foot flat car. Also, that Arbitrary Claim of 'HO', as in Hanging On side of car for more than one mile contiuosly when said move would be alleviated by the normal use of a caboose for switch move. Direction was irrelevant with that claim.
It is also interesting to note that many of the older 'Slab Flats' that were in captive service on the Port/Kaiser Slab train have been converted to Shove Cars, with a small riding area centered on the car with handrails and a big-hole valve of incorrect design. These cars will surely proliferate and most likely hasten the scrapping of remaining cabeese.
It is also important to note that not all locations subscribe to this policy. The Corona Local was the last place I saw a caboose that had all the lights and radio working, as well as kept in good appearance. This was as late as 2003. Local interest may have prevailed in that instance. From what I've seen of the cabeese that came down to California from the Northern Lines (BN), that management also did not fully subscribe to boarding up the caboose. Until around 2008, any caboose that found its way down here always arrived mostly functional, albeit with dead batteries and broken light bulbs.
It is also interesting to note that many of the older 'Slab Flats' that were in captive service on the Port/Kaiser Slab train have been converted to Shove Cars, with a small riding area centered on the car with handrails and a big-hole valve of incorrect design. These cars will surely proliferate and most likely hasten the scrapping of remaining cabeese.
It is also important to note that not all locations subscribe to this policy. The Corona Local was the last place I saw a caboose that had all the lights and radio working, as well as kept in good appearance. This was as late as 2003. Local interest may have prevailed in that instance. From what I've seen of the cabeese that came down to California from the Northern Lines (BN), that management also did not fully subscribe to boarding up the caboose. Until around 2008, any caboose that found its way down here always arrived mostly functional, albeit with dead batteries and broken light bulbs.
