I have recently put marker lights on one end of my ACY caboose. Looks really neat but I am unsure how to turn the car in the yard so that it goes out of the yard correctly with the lights in back.
Is that a problem for real operations or are all caboose double-ended so either end can be used? I hate to use the five-digit roundhouse, but.....???
pathvet9 I have recently put marker lights on one end of my ACY caboose. Looks really neat but I am unsure how to turn the car in the yard so that it goes out of the yard correctly with the lights in back. Is that a problem for real operations or are all caboose double-ended so either end can be used? I hate to use the five-digit roundhouse, but.....???
On the prototype, the crew simply hung the marker lights on whichever end of the caboose they needed to. Cabooses almost never had to be turned.
Dan
All the cabooses I've seen could be used in either direction. If they had permanently installed markers the set at the trailing end was lit and the other set was unlit. If they had portable markers, they were hung only on the trailing end.
Some rulebooks required that permanent markers be lit day and night, but that portable markers be displayed unlit in daylight and lit only at night, in tunnels and at times of reduced visibly. ( A lot of flagmen tended to keep them lit most of the time anyway)
The use of one marker meant the same as the use of two, but the proper display of all signals was required.
As has been said, American cabin cars were double ended and had marker brackets at both ends. The same is true of Japanese brake vans.
HOWEVER, I happen to run quite a few (whatever*)-brakes, seemingly normal freight cars except for the phone booth size brake cabin at one end. Those are, in fact, single-ended, but sometimes run 'backward' with the markers off. When necessary, they are turned on a turntable to get cabin and markers in the proper orientation. The turntable at my end-of-the-railroad colliery station is there to turn single ended cars - that route's tank locomotives always run smoke box upgrade to keep water over the crown sheet.
My brake vans have 'flop' switches, arms attached to one axle that contact an appropriate fixed terminal so the lamps only burn when they are at the end of the train. Some of my cars don't have room for the diode circuit that might seem more appropriate.
*The 'Whatever' in (whatever)-brakes include all of the following:
Some of my passenger cars also have a small (closet-size) private seat for the brakeman and/or conductor.
As to how to turn a caboose without being overly obvious, have you considered hiding an Atlas turntable behind (partially inside) a building? Other possibilities include a wye and a reverse loop, but they eat up valuable real estate.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Darn, I was afraid of that but I don't really want to invest another $15+ for more Adlake lights and reed switch so I will let my fingers do the walking/turning. Thanks to all.
The markers were placed on the caboose by the rear brakeman as it was attached to the train, at whichever end happened to be the back. Until the markers were in place, the consist was not officially a "train."