Bingham Cabooses
Index For This Page
This page last updated on June 19, 2021.
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Overview
The following is based largely on information in the two equipment folio diagram books of the combined Utah Copper company, and its common carrier subsidiary, Bingham & Garfield Railway.
All remaining cabooses in 1964 were renumbered as 400-series numbers, to accommodate the use of computer records which did not allow leading zeros in car numbers.
Early Number Series
| Car Number |
Later Number |
Date Built |
Builder | Notes |
| 012 | Feb 1942 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 1 | |
| 013 | 2 | |||
| 014 | Mar 1943 | company shops | 1, 3, 4 | |
| 015 | 3 | |||
| 016 | 416 | Dec 1937 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 1, 5 |
| 017 | Dec 1937 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 5, 6 | |
| 018 | Oct 1923 | Magor Car | 5, 7 | |
| 019 | 5 | |||
| 020 | Oct 1923 | Magor Car | 5 | |
| 021 | Oct 1923 | Magor Car | 5 | |
| 022 | Dec 1937 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 1 | |
| 023 | 423 | Dec 1937 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 1 |
| 024 | Feb 1942 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 1 | |
| 025 | 425 | Feb 1942 | Pacific Car & Foundry | 1 |
Early Number Series Notes
- Cabooses 012, 014, 016, 022, 023, 024, 025 (7 cars) were remodeled by Kennecott at their Magna car shops in 1950-1954. The wooden ends and sides were replaced by steel sheeting. Each caboose was equipped with an Onan diesel generator that could produce 2500 Watts of A.C. single-phase power, along with a 55-gallon fuel tank. Each caboose was also equipped with Motorola radios, and headlights at each end to illuminate tracks during caboose-first operations. A photo of 014 in September 1949 shows that it had already been remodeled.
- Caboose 013 was equipped with a baggage door and side ladders for B&G mixed train service.
- As built, cabooses 014 and 015 were 28'-11" over coupler pulling faces (about 26'-11" over end sills), 22'-2" body length, and 12'-9" truck centers.
- After remodeling in 1950-1954, caboose 014 had 25'-4" length over end sills, 19'-9" body length, and 14'-8" truck centers, matching the four later cabooses (022 to 025).
- As built, cabooses 016, 017, 018, 019, 020, 021 (6 cars) were 33'-1" over coupler pulling faces, 31'-1" over end sills, 25'-9" body length, and 17-3" truck centers.
- Utah Copper caboose 017 may have been transferred to the Nevada Consolidated Copper operations in Ray, Arizona. Photos show that KCC-Ray caboose 017 is very similar to the Utah Copper cabooses.
- Utah Copper caboose 018 was built in 1923 by Magor Car Company; sold to Nevada Consolidated Copper Company in 1945, renumbered as Nevada Northern Railway caboose no. 5 (2nd); preserved at Nevada Northern railroad museum at East Ely, Nevada.
Description/Dimensions
| Car Number |
Underframe Type |
Body Type |
Length (over end sills) |
Body Length |
Truck Centers |
Trucks |
| 012 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 013 | Wood | Wood | 36'-0" | 33'-2" | 23'-8" | Arch-Bar |
| 014 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-4" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 015 | ||||||
| 016 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 017 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 018 | Steel | Wooden | 31'-0" | 25'-9" | 17'-3" | Vulcan |
| 019 | ||||||
| 020 | Steel | Wooden | 31'-0" | 25'-9" | 17'-3" | Vulcan |
| 021 | Steel | Wooden | 31'-0" | 25'-9" | 17'-3" | Vulcan |
| 022 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 023 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 024 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
| 025 | Steel | Wooden | 25'-2" | 19'-9" | 14'-8" | Vulcan |
Later Number Series
| Car Number |
Previous Number |
Date Built |
Notes |
| 416 (1st) | 016 | 1937 | 1 |
| 416 (2nd) | 2 | ||
| 420 | NMD 25 | 1955 | 3 |
| 421 | NMD (?) | 1955 | 4 |
| 423 | 023 | 1937 | 5 |
| 425 | 025 | 1942 | 6 |
| 426 | MP 13661 | 7 |
NMD = Kennecott Nevada Mines Division
Later Number Series Notes
- Kennecott caboose 416 (1st) was renumbered from caboose 016 in 1964; painted Bicentennial red-white-blue in May 1976.
- Kennecott caboose 416 (2nd), see 426, below.
- Kennecott caboose 420 was received from Kennecott-Nevada in 1978; donated to Heber Valley Railroad in August 1992.
- Kennecott caboose 421 was received from Kennecott-Nevada in 1978.
- Kennecott caboose 423 was renumbered from caboose 023 in 1964; donated to Utah State Railroad Museum, Ogden, Utah; modified during 2001 with cut-away interior for display and placed inside the depot museum.
- Kennecott caboose 425 was renumbered from caboose 025 in 1964; painted Bicentennial red-white-blue in May 1976; donated to Utah State Railroad Museum, Ogden, Utah
- Kennecott caboose 426 had an extended-vision cupola; former Missouri Pacific caboose 13661; retired by UP in June 1991 and sold to Kennecott; donated by Kennecott Copper to Oquirrh Mountains Mining Museum; moved by truck in December 2001 for display at the Deseret Peak Complex (motor sports center) near Grantsville, Utah; renumbered as 416 (2nd) after 2008 and before 2011.
Kennecott Caboose 426
Kennecott caboose 426, the caboose with an extended-vision cupola, is *not* the former Nevada Northern caboose number 6. The NN caboose is still at the museum in East Ely. Also, the window arrangement is different when comparing the Utah caboose with the Nevada caboose.
In 1990-1991 Kennecott purchased a former Missouri Pacific short-body bay-window caboose. Numbered as MP 13754 the caboose was built in 1977 and had been retired by Union Pacific on January 1, 1990. An employee recalled that Kennecott had asked UP for a caboose, and UP had sent the short-body bay-window caboose. Kennecott put the caboose in service briefly, but it was found to be unsuitable for use on the ore haulage railroad. The bay-window caboose was donated to the Heber Valley railroad by Kennecott Utah Copper in August 1992, and was moved by truck from Kennecott's Bingham Canyon mine to Heber on September 3, 1992.
After the short-body bay-window caboose was found to be unsuitable, Kennecott asked UP for a cupola caboose, and received what would later become Kennecott's caboose 426, which was placed in service on the ore trains between Bingham and Magna. An employee recalled that caboose 426 was received in the same bright red paint scheme as the bay-window caboose, but did not recall if it was lettered for Missouri Pacific.
This new caboose purchased by Kennecott from UP was the former Missouri Pacific 13661, retired by Union Pacific on June 1, 1991. MP 13661 was a wide-cupola steel caboose built as part of a 60-car order in 1973-1974, numbered as MP 13605-13664. This group of 60 cars was the last group of a total of 150 extended-vision cupola cabooses were delivered to MP, and its T&P subsidiary in 1971-1974, numbered as MP 13515-13664. All were built by International Car company in Kenton, Ohio, as that company's Lot 2060. All of the 150 MP wide cupola cabooses were 41 feet, 7-3/4 inches over their coupler pulling faces.
Photos taken in 1994 show this caboose in service as number 426. This is the caboose that is displayed at the Deseret Peak motor sports complex near Grantsville.
In February 1995 there was a small news item in the Magna Times newspaper that a Kennecott-owned caboose was to be placed in downtown Magna as part of a tourist information center near the Magna mining museum. The possiblility of a Kennecott caboose being placed on display in Magna was again reported in May and November 1996 issues of the same newspaper. When first proposed in May 1992, and again in May 1994, the display was to include additional Kennecott equipment along with a caboose.
Although caboose 426 was donated to Tooele County in 2001 after the last ore train was operated between Bingham and Magna, Kennecott apparently still had at least one caboose on its property. Later proposals as late as 2003 suggested that a Kennecott caboose could be placed on display on the site of the former Webster elementary school in downtown Magna, which was closed in 1995, and the property reverted back to Kennecott. There were proposals for the site to become a low-income housing site, and a Kennecott caboose placed on display to honor Magna's history. The school was demolished in 2005, and a senior center completed on the site in late 2009, without a display Kennecott caboose.
Nevada Cabooses
A series of four 8-wheel cabooses, numbered 22 through 25, were originally built in 1955 by Kennecott Copper and used at the Nevada Mines Division.
Three of the Kennecott-Nevada ore line steel cabooses (NMD 23, 24, 25) went to Kennecott in Utah after the Nevada mine shut down in September 1978.
Kennecott Nevada caboose 22 is owned by the NNRy Museum at East Ely.
Kennecott Nevada caboose 23 came to Utah in 1978; renumbered as Kennecott Utah 4xx (number not known); disposition unknown; likely scrapped; possibly the caboose proposed for display on the site of the former Webster school in downtown Magna.
Kennecott Nevada caboose 24 came to Utah in 1978; renumbered as Kennecott Utah 4xx (number not known); disposition unknown; likely scrapped; possibly the caboose proposed for display on the site of the former Webster school in downtown Magna.
Kennecott Nevada caboose 25 came to Utah in 1978; renumbered as Kennecott Utah caboose 420; subsequently donated to the Heber Valley Railroad.
Sources
Utah Copper and Bingham & Garfield equipment folio diagram books
Photos and information from David H. Smith and Matt Liverani, via Facebook
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