What style caboose for 20s/30s New England freelance project?

[SBX]

Here in the UK we have a set of rules:

 

Rule 1: It is my railway;

Rule 2: I refer you to rule 1

!

I have just got hold of a nice Trainman N Scale caboose for £19.99. I am sure that you can find something similar for HO - Try Mech Models.

 

Here's a link https://mech-models.com/shop/ols/search?keywords=caboose

David 

[wjstix]

The USRA (or USRA-insprired) center-cupola caboose was so popular with railroads in the eastern US that it was sometimes called an "Eastern" or "North Eastern" caboose. Atlas Trainman makes an undec one, Bachmann makes one pre-painted caboose red but unlettered. No idea how easy (or even possible) they'd be to find in the UK however.

https://shop.atlasrr.com/c-583-ht113.aspx

https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=258_324_355_600&products_id=4500&zenid=btnod2nqkodr0f8ip5a5937sn6

[SeeYou190]

FowlmereRR

I accept that my current assortment of power and rolling stock is hardly likely to pass muster in real life

If it passes YOUR muster, that is all that matters.

Have fun!

-Kevin

[Overmod]

FowlmereRR

I accept that my current assortment of power and rolling stock is hardly likely to pass muster in real life - but it is the culmination of 20 years or more of piecemeal collection based on what was available at the time and what I liked the look of.

Since you live in the UK, the greatest game preserve of historic railroading on the planet ... a different paradigm suggests itself.

We had several examples of 'collectors' who did railway preservation, ranging from Nelson Blount to JJJ and Andy Muller, who might choose to operate a dog's breakfast of preserved power in some approximation of 'commercial' service.  This might easily extend to the kind of 'dress-up historic recreation' in places like Colonial Williamsburg or the Old Sturbridge Village 'experience'.  

Why not run it as precisely what it is: a collection of historic power brought to the UK by an enthusiast who's not above making a little money on the side with it?  You could even tell stories with it day by day, post them on YouTube, and monetize the channel... something sadly underrepresented in the modern modeling community imvho.  

[FowlmereRR]

Thanks everyone - some great suggestions there, and I'll do some further research before jumping in.

I accept that my current assortment of power and rolling stock is hardly likely to pass muster in real life - but it is the culmination of 20 years or more of piecemeal collection based on what was available at the time and what I liked the look of. I have only recently retired and now have the space and time to build my first layout in 40 years, so I'm sure I'll be disposing and adding as time goes on to get to something more believeable.

I need to practice my modelling skills and learn a lot but, for now, I'm just happy to have some stuff that moves!

Thanks again,

Bob

[Paul3]

New England cabooses were generally short in length with a center cupola that was lower for tight clearances.  Two windows per side (with blank areas under the cupola) were usual.  In the 1920s & 30s, almost all of them would have wood sides and steel frames.  There were exceptions; the New Haven had 10 all-steel cabooses built in teh 1920's for express trains and a class of wood-sided cabooses that were built on 40' boxcar frames.  All-steel cabooses didn't really arrive for New England RR's until the 1940's.

All New England cabooses were usally pretty spartan inside as distances were short and Railroad YMCA's were common.  Which means that crews living in their cabooses for days at a time were not the norm by any means.  Any crewman would rather sleep in a real bed than inside a caboose, so why make cabooses any fancier than they had to?  Crews would decorate their own, of course, but the railroad didn't do much more than provide the basics.

[SeeYou190]

I would honestly suggest the PENNSYLVANIA N6-B with a centered cupola to meet your needs. Unlike other designs, it does not really "scream" PRR, and has a quaintish New England look to it.

They are readily available in used brass on eBay, and sell for about $75.00 fairly regularly. You should be able to get what you need in a few weeks.

The STRATTON AND GILLETTE has one, and it fits into the fleet pretty well.

-Kevin

[Overmod]

FowlmereRR

I'm veering towards the Norfolk & Western model, mostly because Cody did a great build series on it, and it'd be good to follow along. If that is era-appropriate, I like the shape of it, and it'll work for me if there's no obvious flaw in that selection.

The immediate opportunity is to work through a little alternate history.  If buying used -- how do you explain the cabs being in the far American northeast, via some rather difficult routes, all the way from the Virginia area?  There were certainly some periods where something like that could be facilitated (PRR and Morgan in the period after 1893 over the Poughkeepsie Bridge route, for example, or 'multiple system' plans in the 1920s) but you'd have to have a story about how the cabs got there cost-effectively vs., say, acquiring non-compliant cabs from much closer coal roads when the laws changed to require stronger underframes.

  This is not an insurmountable problem, but there have to be reasons well better than the usual 'my railroad- my rules' hogwash to justify it.  Somewhat the same if he picks it as a prototype to have someone more local build one new for him; a road with the mentioned mix of motive power probably didn't get that way because someone rich wanted to play with trains... or did it?

If the road 'at one time had been more prosperous' it would have been using state-of-the-art at that time ... in the '30s that might not have been too long ago, except that using old 4-4-0s indicates there's some long-standing bottom-of-the-barrel desperation involved in current operations.  So I'd think squarely in the deteriorating-but-keeping-up-appearances wood-framed but eight-wheel era -- the sort of thing that you'd scratchbuild and weather in excruciating detail for NMRA award competitions.  

Or adapted passenger coaches -- something that was certainly done and would be an interesting reuse of once-prosperous cars...

[josephbw]

Bob here are some pictures of Maine Central Cabeese. Plenty of variations to choose from.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=maine+central+wooden+cabooses&qpvt=maine+central+wooden+cabooses&FORM=IGRE

Joe

[dknelson]

FowlmereRR

I need cabeese for my layout, which has finally got underway, but here in UK RTR caboose models seem as rare as rocking horse doo-doo. So I'm looking at obtaining 3 or 4 LaserKits models, but I don't know which type of caboose would be acceptable for my location and era. Any suggestions would be welcome, as always.

Thanks, Bob 

Bob, unless your freelance railroad tends to look to one or two specific prototype railroads for guidance on rolling stock and structures (which is a good idea for a freelance railroad in my opinion), I think the main goal is to stay away from cabooses of that era that are distinctively unique to one railroad - for example, the New York Central's wood caboose with the very squat little cupola due to the NYC's clearance issues.  Or just about any of the Pennsylvania Railroad cabooses.

There are certainly some good laser kit options and in looking at the Walthers catalog (and remember there are also options that Walthers does not carry), I like the general railroady looks of the Lehigh Valley wood caboose

https://www.walthers.com/wood-caboose-kit-laser-cut-wood-lehigh-valley-late-25-car-w-cupola-95100-95319

The Atlantic Coast Line center cupola caboose also just looks so typically railroady to my eyes:

https://www.walthers.com/wood-caboose-kit-laser-cut-wood-atlantic-coast-line-class-m3

Dave Nelson

 

 

 

[FowlmereRR]

I think buying used rolling stock from other roads would fit in nicely with the operation I have in mind. But having said that, I'd quite like to have 2 or 3 cabs that match, to give some sense that at one time the road was perhaps more prosperous, or at least had pretensions of being so!

I haven't yet worked up a "history" for this road, which will be inspired by the Maine coastal scenic look, and run mostly local traffic. The head man has already got a strange assortment of motive power, including a 3-truck Shay, a Light Mikado, a couple of old 4-4-0s, an 0-6-0 switcher and a Climax. No reason, then, that his caboose roster should be much more rational. 

I'm veering towards the Norfolk & Western model, mostly because Cody did a great build series on it, and it'd be good to follow along. If that is era-appropriate, I like the shape of it, and it'll work for me if there's no obvious flaw in that selection.

[Overmod]

Start by determining whether your road would 'build new', obtain cabs (perhaps used, perhaps part of a new-build run) from other roads, or convert from something else -- possibly older tenders.

Then look at the anticipated service.  Would you be using pushers anywhere? then some states had laws requiring 8 wheels and heavy underframes to protect crews.  What amenities are you going to provide your crews?  In that era a caboose was often a 'home away from home' and might need to support activities for whatever size crew of trainmen your road might want, or 'need', to use.

The history of 'cupola' development in the USA is an interesting thing, although it might be difficult to get a good overview from 'the other side of the pond' without help from someone who knows this field much better than I do.  There are a variety of ways crews could get a better view of the train, including cupolas with various kinds of windows and overhang, and bay windows on the sides -- the type chosen likely depends on the clearances your road has.  

In the 20s/30s you'd still have the ability to use wood framing for the caboose body but the frame would best be steel.  In New England weather, especially in wintertime or very hot summer, there might be some advantages to wood bodies over relatively uninsulated steel, until some of the inevitable deterioration started to occur over time.

[FowlmereRR]

I need cabeese for my layout, which has finally got underway, but here in UK RTR caboose models seem as rare as rocking horse doo-doo. So I'm looking at obtaining 3 or 4 LaserKits models, but I don't know which type of caboose would be acceptable for my location and era. Any suggestions would be welcome, as always.

Thanks, Bob