JUST stick a caboose on the end!!!!

[dragenrider]

Just gotta have a caboose! [:D] The Cedar Branch & Western runs a caboose on all its trains, too. Only a short switching move of less than three cars are authorized to travel without one. The railroad has even been known to send a switch engine down the line to bring back a caboose or two from storage.

[Anonymous]

I was actually suprised to see a cabose not to long ago on the end of a mainline train which consisted of about 100 frieght cars.

[wpsteve]

Here on the Western Pacific we do not leave without a caboose ! Thats is where my rear end detection is, all four axels are detected .....

With that said, from an operational stand point they can be a pain. What I mean by this is you are always having to deal with them ! Turning them , running them over to or out of the caboose track etc. Dropping them on the main while switching a spur and getting them on the end for the return trip etc. Today they do less of this kind of work or the conductor does a lot of walking.[:D]

What this does in operations is make it more fun, but as management I can see why they went away....... Never will go away on my WP

[darth9x9]

There is nothing cooler than seeing a flock of cabeese!

BC

[Anonymous]

I've gone so far as to completely scratch build full interiors for 2 cabooses and completley scratch build light kits for them. (3 Christmas lights is just right resistance, just check your bulbs load first to see if it's the same) connect these to brass bolt to plastic trucks with aluminum pie plate connectors to metal wheels and voila! If I wasn't away from my layout-in-progress, I'd post some pictures. Adds some light and fla***o my freight lines. I'm modeling the 1950-1955 conjunction of GN (passenger), CNW (freight), and CBQ (freight).

[Anonymous]

I did

[Anonymous]

Who ever brought this topic up, CAN I BUY YOU A DRINK???

Cabooses are one of the most romantic aspects of railroading. Lets all have a round of our favorite poison before the next op session.

(May I also point out, on my model railroad, breaking rule G is not only encouraged, its an institutionalized requirement.

James.

[Anonymous]

I love cabeese. CSX occasionaly sticks them behind the engine on locals, But I have them on every freight that leaves the yard!!!

[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.

[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.

[simon1966]

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

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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

[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]

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]

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

[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]

[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.

[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!

[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!

[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!

[:)]

[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]

[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.

[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

[Anonymous]

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

Jim

[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

[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.

[Anonymous]

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

[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!