Caboose 01457

The Utah State Railroad Museum holds in its collection a couple of pieces from the Denver & Rio Grande Western, which will be expounded upon in later posts. For this one, here is caboose 01457, built at the Burnham ( Denver) shops in 1947 as part of series 01450-01459. These cabooses were radio equipped, with PRR rooftop induction antennae, and painted black with white "flying Rio Grande" and two horizontal yellow stripes to designate the radio feature.

The windows were originally four-pane wood frames; the car was repainted in 1975 in the all-orange/black lettering “Action Road” scheme that it wears today. The four-pane windows were rebuilt to double pane, then blanked over in September 1985. At some point the interior was stripped of appliances and seats.

In the background of the above picture can be seen the roof of caboose 01504, which will be the subject of a later post when I gather more information.

This caboose currently sits on the Burton-Walker Spur at the north end of the museum, behind a UP CA-3 caboose and 0-6-0 switcher. The Museum has outfitted the interior for events and offers it for daily rent as the "birthday caboose"; it has been fitted with electricity and an air conditioning unit. There are plans in place to repaint the car in its original black paint scheme; money is the only problem.

Sources: Don Strack, Utahrails.net. http://utahrails.net/drgw/rg-cabooses-index.php.   Accessed 25 March 2011