Bringing up the rear of a Union Pacific weed abatement train is car Habco International car 214. HABX 214's heritage is fairly obvious, although the specific car is hard to pin down. This car, with its horizontal ribs, is a design peculiar to the Milwaukee Road and appears to have been constructed from Branchline Postal Combination cars built at the railroad’s Milwaukee Shops and used in Passenger and Express service, possibly from MILW 2750-2759 built in the summer of 1938. These cars were built with open platforms on each end of the car, a feature that carried over when this car was rebuilt as a weed sprayer car. A crew, without any visible protection from the chemicals they are spraying, stands atop the car with a four crewman on the rear platform, taking advantage of all that "fresh air." The train, led by GP30 710, is heading west not long after leaving Anaheim, and also includes UP caboose 25160 and four maintenance-of-way tank cars. Click HERE to see a front view of this train. (Fullerton, California – January 20, 1977)
