A Belt Railway of Chicago shorty caboose

[jon grant]

I need several BRC cabooses for the layout and, since they are very Railroad-specific, I am having to Kitba***hem.

Spikre sent me three well-used Athearn Bay-window cabooses last year and they mahe a good source of materials for the project.

Here's an example of what I am starting with




Here's what I hope to achieve - although not necessarily in the same colour scheme - BRC used red during the transition era





I started by shortening the underframe





I then removed the bay and fixed the 2 ends together




Lastly I test fitted the 2 parts together




The next stage is to lengthen the roof and remove all trace of the windows.


Jon

[dragonriversteel]

Hello Jon,

Great looking caboose, reminds me of a Union RR caboose. Union RR in Pennsylvania {USA} ,had or might still have cabs of this size. In any case , great looking kit-bash caboose.

Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}

[jon grant]

Here's the latest progress on the cabooses

I filled in the windows with plastic and Squadron filler




Next I weighted the chassis with more than enough lead - double NMRA recommendation, so that the caboose creates some drag and helps prevent unwanted uncoupling in the train.





I painted the bodysides to show up any imperfections and then filled them with Milliput





Most recently I have extended the roofs, added side strips and started cutting out the windows - a long and slow job




Jon

[jeffrey-wimberly]

That looks almost like an old style transfer caboose.

[jon grant]

You're right Jeff, BRC used them for transfers and local jobs, hence no need for a cupola or sleeping quarters.


Window frames, roof walk and handrails in place






First layer of paint and decals applied.









Next comes the glazing and underframe details, before tackling the ladders etc.


Jon

[jeffrey-wimberly]

That looks dynamite! You did an excellent job.

[dragenrider]

How did you cut such straight lines when taking the body apart? What do you cut with?

That looks like a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too! Great job!

[jon grant]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dragenrider

How did you cut such straight lines when taking the body apart? What do you cut with?

I marked out the sides by drawing a line with a scalpel blade against a small square, before carefully cutting with a fine-toothed Exacto blade.

Yes it's great fun, although cutting the windows out caused a few callouses.[;)][:D]


Jon

[jon grant]

Glazing, smokestack Plano ladders, brake wheel and handrails added






Now for some paint


Jon

[jon grant]

Paint applied, the caboose enters service on Sweethome










Took longer than I anticipated, so the other 2 cabooses will have to wait a while, at least until I order some more Plano ladders


Jon

[jon grant]

Finally, a comparison between the early style caboose with walkway and later post-1964 livery model (nb. some of the cabooses ran in red until at least the early 1980s, albeit without the roofwalk






The End


Jon

[jon grant]

One set of coupler cut levers added - and a second caboose, to boot. The longer caboose is based on a 32', 1953 prototype and one is preserved in the Illinois Railway museum (#223)
















So far I have only sufficient lettering to finish one side of each caboose - I ran out of C's - but I have some on order.


Jon

[ARTHILL]

Nice modeling. It is good to see the work of some real prototype modelers. There are many skills needed in this sport, but the creativity and artistry you demonstrated is appreciated by a lot of us.