A.R.: June 2008

I had gotten an email from a buddy of mine working out of Roseville that UP recently repainted a caboose that was to be used specifically for the "Madera Flyer". I had never heard of this local before which makes sense because it works out of Fresno, CA. After shooting a couple of emails back and forth, it definately sounded of interest so my friend Mikey and myself decided to spend a day out in the Valley chasing this local.

The local runs out of Fresno (MP 200) every weekday on duty around 7am. The train works at Madera (MP 183), Notarb (MP 178), Chowchilla (MP 170), Merced (MP 151) and Atwater (MP 143). The latter two on tuesdays and thursdays only. The day we went was on a Thursday and they worked at Notarb and Madera in that order. The cool thing about the local is their work at Madera is done on a 3 mile branch line which requires a long shove to some industries. UP recently refurbished a former Mopac caboose specifically for this job and it was placed into service very recently. After witnessing the shove and seeing the amount of roads that need to be crossed, I know why UP made the decision to tack a caboose on the tail of the train.

The caboose ( UP 25833) is painted yellow (suprise, suprise) and says "Madera Flyer" on the bay window part of the car. The steps are painted silver and the outer edges of the wheels look polished so it gives it the look of having white wall tires. There's headlights on each end and a bell and Nathan K3 horn mounted on top. Also to note are the names of the four people that refurbished the car on the side ( John Maxwell, Eloy Salinas, Mike Martinez, and John Buberniak, dated February 2008 ).

Mikey and I left the Bay Area at about 5:30am and arrived Fresno at 9. After looking for the train for a good thirty minutes and not being able to spot it or the caboose in the yard, I was about ready to give up. Mikey decided it would be good to stick around for a bit longer, so we did. Of course he made the right decision because the train started to talk to the yardmaster five minutes later about getting permission to depart. Up to this point we hadn't seen the caboose in person, we'd just heard about it, so I was very impressed ( and glad to see it ) when I saw it at the end of the train. After holding for one freight train it was time to go.

Highball!