Recently there’s been sightings of a couple of cabooses on the work train and B&B6 consist and while those are great to see, there’s been some sightings of a different caboose. I thought I would give my two cents on a unique piece of ARR history.

The Alaska Railroad obtained from war surplus many, many Pullman Standard troop sleepers and kitchen cars. These cars were originally built to box car specifications and were easily converted into box cars, reefers, head end cars, and power cars by the railroads that bought them. Built between 1943 and 1944 there were 2,400 sleepers and 420 kitchens. Legend has it that the Alaska Railroad had the most sleepers and kitchens out of any railroad after WWII. In the early 1960s the Anchorage shops took a pair of kitchen cars and converted them into cabooses for snow service to replace the old home built wooden cabooses of 1918. Rostered 1039 and 1043, these cars retained their diaphragm ends, and had vestibule style door ways on both ends minus doors. On the left of each end there is a window that the conductor used for reverse movements. Large stirrup steps were added on each end. Inside there were two large fuel tanks installed for the oil stove and from what I was told, there was at one time several bunks for the train crews during their years of snow service.

There isn’t a real known date on when these cars were converted but I say 1962 as I have seen a photo taken in 1962 with a newly shopped Rotary 3 (that may have been when Rotary 3 was converted from steam to electric) and a 1000 class RSD1 behind the Anchorage shops. Sometime in the 1970s or even later (again from what I was told) the 1039 and 1043 became part of the engineering department and was used for work crews. Around that time these became work cabooses for B&B6 as a tool/work caboose. 1039 at one time was used with LC106 and 1043 with LC107 or LC110, I can’t say as the cabooses were assigned to certain LC cranes but that’s how it turned out. Sometime in 2008 or early 2009 1039 was retired and is now on display in Curry with Rotary 3, an ancient Standard Oil tank car, and caboose 1086 near where the hotel once stood. 1043 is still used today with LC107.

In 2014 while assigned to work Hurricane Section I visited with a couple of friends of B&B6 when they were repairing the Hurricane Gulch bridge. I did get inside and saw that the stove and fuel tanks were still in place. A desk at one end with a radio, and some benches. The crew and foreman ride in the caboose to their work site and is used for a break room, tool car, warm up shack, transport, and everything else. As of 2021, 1043 is still in service along with several other WWII era troop box cars, having been built in 1943, these cars are 78 years old!

These photos were taken on the evening of September 10, 2014 in Hurricane of the 1043, as well as some interior photos of 1039 on June 26, 2014. You can see the various details and scares of its life. The plated door on the sides are now prominent since the paint has peeled away exposing the plate. You can see the diaphragm ends and the vestibule doors as well as the back up light. The brake wheel is located inside the car end. The ladder is for fueling the oil tanks which the fillers are located on the roof of the car.

For those who model Alaska Railroad in HO scale, a Walthers Troop Kitchen car is a great starting point to work with. Now for those who wonder about the red box car with the windows with the crane, you can say the Alaska Railroad still employs a little red caboose.