The infamous MoPac "War Wagon." Information below courtesy of J.D. Santucci from Trainweb:
In the Chicago area owing to some problems with a few of the neighbors and a Conductor getting robbed while his train was stopped at 40th Street in Chicago when the headend crew was making a set out, two of the cabooses assigned to Yard Center received major modifications.
The 12510 and 12512 (ex 13510 and 13512 nee C&EI 37 and 39) received steel mesh over all the windows. The doors were equipped with bars on the inside that could be lowered to bar the door shut so that they could not be kicked or smashed in. They were dubbed the "War Wagons" and a Car Inspector at the RIP track even stenciled them as such. On the bottom of the bays on either side just below the window in big white letters was "WAR WAGON" on both cabooses. These cabooses were required on the daily Yard Center to BRC Clearing Yard and Yard Center to 37th Street Yard transfer assignments. Everybody from top officials down to the Carmen commonly referred to them as the war wagons.
After several months, someone decided that this name on the side of these cabooses might be misconstrued by the neighbors as a term of aggression against them, so the word WAR was blanked out with white paint. Somebody later took a lumber crayon and wrote the word GUT in the place of where the word WAR was, but the term war wagon lived on right up until they ceased using them.
Tom Golden photo.
Have you ever watched cabooses, enjoyed their uniqueness, wondered about the men inside, or the jobs they do? Once an everyday sight on the rails, they have decreased in numbers, yet they are a very important part of railroad history.
