JUST stick a caboose on the end!!!!

[Anonymous]

[:p] I dont know about you but i think a train just aint a train without a good old caboose on it, its so booring seeing a train these days with a blinking red light at the end, i mean whats up with that, i totally think that cabooses make the train, and i know that u wont see a train running on my layout without a caboose, what are your opinions, are ya for em, or against them????[?]

[railman]

while I'll let the long winded argue the cost-benefits, the union rules, the changing dynamics, blah blah blah, I'll second your motion and say yeah, cabooses rule! They will forever roam on MY railroad, no matter the operating date!

[Jetrock]

Cabeese are just fun. The only trains on my layout that will not have a caboose are those served by electric box motors--the crew ride in the box motor!

[FThunder11]

I've seen a bunch of trains, and I never see the red light on the end.

[twhite]

Cabeese!!! And MORE cabeese!!! Actually, I'm safe, since I model the WWII-Korean War era, so if I don't have a caboose on the end of the train, it's either A: A passenger, or: B: It's gotten uncoupled and unbeknownst to me, is rolling back down the grade toward the yard.

[bogp40]

I really enjoy modeling cabooses, I tend to model in trends. I'm about to go on my caboose kick again w/ B&O wagontops in resin from the BOHS company store. Never worked with resin before- any suggestions before I begin.
Bob K.

[Anonymous]

Love'm, wouldn't leave the yard without one! Like building wood kits of them or slam bashing one from a plastic kit. Northern Pacific, really terrific.

[Anonymous]

yea a caboose defines a train, I'm tired of seeing the red flags myself.

[tomwatkins]

I like cabeeses! My freights won't leave home without one.
Have Fun,
Tom Watkins

[orsonroy]

Modern trains and their FREDs suck. That's why I model 1945-1952. Cabooses are at least as important as the engines in a train, and have as much character!

[Anonymous]

I love cabooses! Every freight train on my layout has a caboose on the end of it.

[twhite]

In fact I love cabeese so much that once a week I run a solid cabeese hop over the mountain from one yard to the other to alleviate a shortage. Like running a helper lash-up, but more cute and wobbly.

[leighant]

Where I grew up in east end of Houston in 1950s, the Houston Belt and Terminal switch jobs and transfer runs never had a caboose. I have since learned that HB&T once owned ONE caboose to shuttle crews between downtown passenger terminal and New South Yard out on what was once the edge of town. Most HB&T "runs" had no caboose. But "real trains" of the ATSF, MoPac and SP had cabooses.
So I tend to model cabooses on trunkline trains and out-in-the-country locals, but no caboose on transfer drops and local switching district jobs within the switching limits of the big city.

My old neighborhood, Magnolia Junction:
http://www.railimages.com/albums/kennethanthony/aat.jpg

[Anonymous]

You get a yes over here..all of mine have em at the ends.

Jim

[deltamech]

I agree with all of you! A train just ain't a train without a caboose. All the trains on my railroad have one; even the log trains going into the woods end with a bobber.

Richard

[RRRerun]

I have several cabooses on my roster. I model from the 1920's (from 0-4-0's up to the bigboys in the 50's) thru to the present with yard switchers up to the AC4400's. A hidden staging yard allows me to store the eras locos and rolling stock that are not appropriate, for the era that I choose to run on the layout at any particular time. I have put some FRED's on the modern era frieghts just to keep the cynics happy. To keep myself happy, I am not beyond putting a caboose at the end of a stack frieght or grain consist. I came up with and employe FRED's on the cabooses on some of those frieghts just to confuse and or agrivate the cynics. If they say anything, I just tell them it is a local frieght and local ordinances require cabooses. After all, I own the property and I make the laws and ordinances.

[Anonymous]

Ohhh yeahhhhhhh. [:)]

Who BUT the railroads didn't like a caboose. I love them. You are soooo right, a train is just NOT a train without a caboose.

Give me some RS3s a nice long train and a caboose. Now that is what I call a TRAIN. [:D]

[Roadtrp]

I model the 80's and 90's, but that is one place where I don't give a hoot about realism. A freight without a caboose? Ridiculous!

[:)]

[j1love]

Like some others on the forum, I model transition era RR. So realism dictates that EVERY non-passenger train gets a caboose. It really would not matter if I modeled any era.......Loco + freight cars + caboose = TRAIN!

[johncolley]

My stepdad's "home away from home" was a caboose for 22 years on the SP. He passed in 1948. ALL my freights have a caboose. It adds a few steps for the local at each setout/pickup point!

[ozzy01]

A train just isn't a train without a caboose. Even though I model late 80's - early 90's , I will have a caboose on the end of my train.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

Ohhh yeahhhhhhh. [:)]

Who BUT the railroads didn't like a caboose. I love them. You are soooo right, a train is just NOT a train without a caboose.

Give me some RS3s a nice long train and a caboose. Now that is what I call a TRAIN. [:D]

Come and visit Jim,
I'll give you a good lash-up(I didn't say lashing!)
2 RS-3s,3 GP-9s,a GE 44 tonner,and AT least 3 Cabeese.
Depending on when you come,I may have about 3 more ready.[:D]

Oh,and we can put a few freight cars in between[?][:D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Robert Knapp

I really enjoy modeling cabooses, I tend to model in trends. I'm about to go on my caboose kick again w/ B&O wagontops in resin from the BOHS company store. Never worked with resin before- any suggestions before I begin.
Bob K.

Hi Rob,

I built caboose kit a bit like the one your thinking of a couple years ago. The Pacific Mountain models are excellent, as are the instructions. By now they should have the etched metal details. Those should be a bit easier to work with then the resin parts my kit had.

http://www.pacificmountain.ca/tips.htm

For tools:
61-80 drill bits and pin vise, or better yet a vari-speed dremel.
Kadee's 2-56 drill and tap set.
Tweezers.
Sanding sticks and sand paper.
X-acto knife.
Medium and thin CA, styrene cements DON'T work on resin.

My suggestion, do take time to gently wa***he kit before painting. I didn't wash mine, and the paint didn't adhere well at all. Which probably explains why it came off so beautifully when I tossed it into some paint stripper.

The second time I painted the model, it did much better.

Even though I used Scalecoat II caboose red that time, I wouldn't use it again, even though it worked really well, as it appears to be a bit to dark for freshly painted B&O cabeese.

Have fun,
Alvie

[Anonymous]

One big thing that attracts me to modeling the '50s is cabeese on the end of freight trains. Their still cool to me.

Alvie.

[Anonymous]

I like seeing them, but cabooses (I hate the word "cabeese") are going to be on some locals on my layout, but (I know I'm going to be killed for saying this[:P]) EOT's will be on most trains.

I think I hear "were is the caboose" more often by non-railfans/model-railroaders than than any other RR related question these days.

[Anonymous]

Gotta have 'em! One of the biggest reasons wwhy the modern era has no interest for me.

[Anonymous]

lol. im glad to hear everyone shares the same intrest as me!!!

[simon1966]

Not a caboose in sight, but waycars all over my Q layout...

[Anonymous]

Well, my layout's a branch line so all trains (even mainline run-through freights) have a caboose, except passenger services. Have to have somewhere for the crew to ride, and besides, it makes switching more interesting as you have less space to work in.

[Anonymous]

I watched the Allen Keller video on Doug Tagsold's Denver, Front Range & Western layout recently. Doug models fairly modern era, covered hoppers, BN, UP & DRGW but stated in the interview that he models close to modern, no newer than about the mid 80s because he doesn't want to run with cabooses. I agree.