Western Pacific Railroad 428

Western Pacific Railroad 428. Steel Bay Window Caboose. WP 428 was part of Western Pacific's first order for steel body cabooses. Before this, all cabooses on the railroad were wood bodied with steel underframes. The railroad liked these cars so much that all future cabooses on the WP were built by the same company, International Car, and all shared a very similar design., The 428 and her sisters continued the "bay window" design of the railroad's later wooden cabooses. A bay window differs from a "traditional" cupola caboose by having large bays on either side of the body's center. Instead of riding on top of the car in a cupola, crew members sat in the extended bays. Bay window cabooses first appeared on American railroads in the early 1920's. Western Pacific built their first bay window caboose in 1942., At one time, the caboose was the conductor's and trainmen's home away from home, where they slept and cooked meals until called for the return trip. In the 1960's, the railroads started running cabooses through terminals and the train crews were put up in motels and hotels. The need for sleeping bunks and food preparation areas was eliminated and cabooses began to lose some of their purpose. By the 1980's, technology allowed remote sensing of many aspects of the train, ending the last duties of the rear end crew. Conductors began riding in locomotive cabs and cabooses, with only a few exceptions, were retired., builder . International Car Co. , built . November 1955 , type . Steel Bay Window , length . 37' 0" overall , operating weight . 49,500 lbs , acquisition . donated by Union Pacific . This historical marker was erected by Western Pacific Railroad Museum. It is in Portola in Plumas County California