The Arizona State Railroad Museum Foundation has announced that it has acquired a restored, operational example of one of the most iconic pieces of Santa Fe rolling stock, a Ce-1 end-cupola waycar (if you're on any other railroad, you'd call it a caboose--except for the PRR fans adamantly declaring it to be a "cabin car"!).

Built in 1934 as steel caboose ATSF #1933 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, 999060 was rebuilt by the railroad in 1967. Retired by the ATSF in 1990 and later privately owned and preserved, it was last in operation on the Midland Railway excursion operation in Baldwin City, Kansas until last year. It remains in essentially original and fully operational condition but with fresh paint applied in 2018, making it ideal for both museum preservation and operational use.

At the moment, the caboose/waycar is still in Kansas due to a problem at its current storage location: a string of stored coal hoppers is blocking access to BNSF at Ottawa. Plans are to ship it on its own wheels on BNSF to Williams, where it will join the Grand Canyon Chapter, National Railway Historical Society's much newer waycar, ATSF class Ce-8 999727 built in 1978, in storage (and possible occasional operation!) on the Grand Canyon Railway pending construction of the future Museum. Initial hopes are to display it at the Williams depot next to, or in place of, the wooden "Jake" Copper Basin caboose currently on display.

The Grand Canyon Chapter NRHS has made an $11,000 grant to the ASRM Foundation towards the acquisition and preservation of this waycar.

Two other similar cars, a Ce-1 (999021) and Ce-2 (999336), are also displayed at the Canyon Motel and RV Park on the east side of Williams. In addition, sister 999373 is the "party caboose" at the Verde Canyon RR in Clarkdale; 999216 is on display at a motorcycle dealership in Bellemont; and 999455 is on display at the Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff along with Southwest Forest Industries 2-6-6-2 12. Approximately fifteen other Santa Fe cabooses remain scattered elsewhere in Arizona, several on private property.

I put in many miles riding in the cupola of 999727 back when I was a jack of all trades for GCRY. We would use it on the back end of ballast trains pretty frequently. I might have to hire on again just so I can get some more of those covered "caboose in service" miles for this!

Looks good, and I can't wait to see it at its new home.

Looks very accurate, with one addendum: Santa Fe cabooses had the last three numbers in large white letters (their original bright red repaints sometimes had the numbers as stencils, the 1978 International Car cabooses and the later repaints weren't stencils) between the end windows on both sides of the cupola. The bottom photo is from 1985 on the SWC in Colorado. I lived along the Santa Fe in Illinois growing up and I'm sure I saw every w/c (as they showed up on the piece of paper the operators stapled to train orders showing the waycar number, power, number of cars, tons, etc.). I really like the railroad Roman lettering on the sides, which is what it would have looked like pre-1980 or so. I'm working from memory of forty years ago so they probably have more actual proof than I do.

In an incredible story update:

NEARLY TWO YEARS LATER, ATSF waycar 999060 is FINALLY westbound out of Kansas.

The story goes that the waycar had been blocked in by a multiple long cuts of stored freight cars cut for crossings (supposedly nearly ten miles!), stored by BNSF and others. Reportedly, a few months ago, the order came through to scrap the entire stored fleet of cars, mostly older BNSF coal hoppers, on site. This finally freed the railroad to send the car west on BNSF as promised by the seller.

At last report the car was in Belen, NM, either waiting for a Belen-Phoenix train or awaiting transfer to Winslow, AZ and then to Williams via a Phoenix "local". In a nice touch, BNSF has been handling the train thus far on the rear of its freights "as God intended." It's seen here at Tejon, NM, shot by an ASRMF volunteer.

Looks like they possibly have the rear marker light working, along with a FRED, but unfortunately the conductor was likely forbidden to ride back there. A freight train without a caboose is like a sentence without a period, grating on the nerves.

Not so. In Burlington territory, it's a WAYCAR, even if spelled c-a-b-o-o-s-e. Not only that, but in 13 years working Denver Terminal, I never heard the Santa Fe employees call it a waycar. It's a big RR, it would be possible that Chico used that term elsewhere, but not in Colorado.