rbdal (Rick Dalrymple)
BNSF 999000 caboose Fire Train
This caboose is the "command center" for the fire train.
MORE INFORMATION
Several older cabooses in the Northwest Division have been refurbished and re-purposed in recent years; giving the aging rail cars a new role in improving velocity and safety. The most recent repurposed caboose, 999000, arrived in Wishram Yard June 25.
The caboose, based in Wishram due to its central location where the Oregon Trunk, Fallbridge and Wishram subdivisions intersect, will see new life as a mobile command center.
In the event of a major derailment, forest fire or other such incident risking service delays, the command center will act as an on-site location for coordinating response
initiatives to resolve such issues. “Having a centralized and on-the-scene headquarters
or mobile office will help ensure accurate information concerning an event as well as efficient and effective action on the part of all involved,” said Wishram Trainmaster Kyle Wilting. “We’ll have one location where we can lay out charts or hook up our computers
and communicate better with our terminals.”
Other refurbished cabooses can be seen throughout the division serving to battle forest fires or provide relief as snow coaches to train crews stranded in heavy wintertime snows.
“It’s pretty cool seeing the cabooses rebuilt and put into use,” said Wilting.
From www.newslink.com/pubs/PRNW/PRNW1008.pdf
Back in the early 60's I rode in a caboose from Wishram to Bend OR following the Deschutes River on what was then the Spokane Portand Seattle (SP&S Rail Road). Today freight trains still run from Wishram to Bend but there is no caboose. The caboose has been replaced by FRED (flashing rear-end device/end-of-train device).
BNSF 999000 caboose Fire Train
This caboose is the "command center" for the fire train.
MORE INFORMATION
Several older cabooses in the Northwest Division have been refurbished and re-purposed in recent years; giving the aging rail cars a new role in improving velocity and safety. The most recent repurposed caboose, 999000, arrived in Wishram Yard June 25.
The caboose, based in Wishram due to its central location where the Oregon Trunk, Fallbridge and Wishram subdivisions intersect, will see new life as a mobile command center.
In the event of a major derailment, forest fire or other such incident risking service delays, the command center will act as an on-site location for coordinating response
initiatives to resolve such issues. “Having a centralized and on-the-scene headquarters
or mobile office will help ensure accurate information concerning an event as well as efficient and effective action on the part of all involved,” said Wishram Trainmaster Kyle Wilting. “We’ll have one location where we can lay out charts or hook up our computers
and communicate better with our terminals.”
Other refurbished cabooses can be seen throughout the division serving to battle forest fires or provide relief as snow coaches to train crews stranded in heavy wintertime snows.
“It’s pretty cool seeing the cabooses rebuilt and put into use,” said Wilting.
From www.newslink.com/pubs/PRNW/PRNW1008.pdf
Back in the early 60's I rode in a caboose from Wishram to Bend OR following the Deschutes River on what was then the Spokane Portand Seattle (SP&S Rail Road). Today freight trains still run from Wishram to Bend but there is no caboose. The caboose has been replaced by FRED (flashing rear-end device/end-of-train device).