| Beginning in 1966, the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway began a program to rebuild their fleet of aging American Car & Foundry cabooses … er … waycars (as they were called on the Santa Fe), some dating back to the 1920s, in order to not only make them mechanically more modern, but also incorporated many upgrades (sealed windows, cushion underframes, etc.). On a beautiful March day in Fullerton, California, a pair of Santa Fe waycars layover between assignments. On the left is ATSF 999374, an Indian Red car (as on all the rebuilt mainline cars) with a black roof (later rebuilds received a red roof) Ce-2 class car rebuilt from older Santa Fe AC&F-built 1500- and 2201-class waycars, rebuilt in San Bernardino CA in 1969-1970. Next to it is ATSF 999645, wearing Mineral Brown paint (denoting local service) and classed Ce-7. These cars were also rebuilt in San Bernardino, from 1973 to 1974. As evidenced by the patch under the car number, this car was numbered ATSF 1810 when first rebuilt, and later changed to the six-digit number when the railroad decided to number all their cabooses in the 999000-series. |