In the latter part of the 1960s the Green Bay & Western rebuilt
most of their remaining wood cabooses as transfer cabooses like this
one.
The old cabooses were stripped to their frame and a new steel body
was added. This particular caboose was built as #604 sometime
between July 1967 and April 1969, most likely from the frame of wooden
caboose X604 which had been used for transfer runs around Green
Bay.
A window was centered on one side of the car body; the other side had
a window offset to the right side. Both had all-weather windows
installed to help the conductor during cold Wisconsin winters.
Caboose #604 was renumbered to #104 in the winter of 1978-79 by simply
repainting over the "6" on the car sides. The photo of
this caboose that I'm aware of was taken in September 1980 so presumably
the caboose was taken of the roster around that time. The slide
you see below was developed in May 1980, so it shows the caboose near
the end of its life on the GB&W.
An interesting side note in this photos is the boxcar behind the
caboose. Although it is lettered ROCK ISLAND, in March 1980
the assets of the Rock Island was sold in bankruptcy court and the
Chicago & North Western acquired over three thousand Rock Island freight
cars at this time -- note the small C&NW herald just to the right of
the "K" in ROCK and notice the CNW reporting marks on the end
of the car. Ex-RI C&NW cars were a very common sight in Green
Bay during the summer of 1980. |