Bobber

About the M&E road name bobber I do not know, but MTH has offered some really sharp

scale (what else?) bobbers in recent years. I have one. Very nice.

SAlso, Old Atlas used to sell an all-plastic and very well-made bobber back in the day,

and these can often be found at train shows and auctions for 10 - 20 bucks. The

old Atlas couplers mate just fine with O-gauge couplers, also.

Here is an old Atlas bobber with which I had some fun; note the big (old brass)

passenger heavyweight truck underneath (you don't have to do this!). I painted

and lettered it.

A set of decal letters and some paint and you could have your M&E bobber, or at least

an approximation.

On a club layout (today, actually;not sure about Armpit Man by the tractor):

There are O scale brass bobbers, I think there is one that is the model of one that

one of the RR unions was founded in..Eastern RR... that show up inexpensively in shows....I bought a bag full of those Atlas cabooses one York, and have gleefully lengthened some, shortened some, and abused some assorted ways...Keystone made

a kit of a "Grasse River" logging bobber (trucks and interior...I'm looking at it) and

an all metal bobber kit was made by that company that made the different colored Civil War coaches, a switcher and two other steamers (as kits and built up), but I can't

think of its name or quickly find the kit.  And of course, I'd sell a Bob Peare "Train

Craft" bobber kit.  No shortage of bobbers....

Thank you.  You had a lot of fun!  That is an interesting bobber - never seen one with the cupola not in the center.  Anyway, I have two of the MTH bobbers and run them a lot, and somewhere have a bashed Lionel caboose I made into one for my logging train.

if interested in having it custom made speak to Alan Graziano, he could make this for you. He usually posts on the Scenic pages

Nice design also have never seen a bobber with offset cupola

Bachmann made one for G gauge some years back.

Did bobbers exist in the real world? I thought they were made just for running on train layouts. 

Sure, they did exsist. And, they got their name for good reason! I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the fellow that invented the "Wild Mouse" carnival ride was a railroad man!

Neil 

I have a Reading bobber, but the reason I really like the one at the museum (other than the road name) is the offset cupola; it's a very unique, unusual look...An fyi: The M&E bobber was built in 1899 and came to the museum in rough shape. They did a fantastic job restoring it.

That Grasse River kit is not of a bobber it is just very short, it has two trucks. It is a good kit.

I used it it and blew up the measurements to build this. It sits on the old GRRR ROW Until I get some trucks.

Is "Thomas" the brand name of those Civil War cars and that bobber kit...(I can't

find my model or the kit for it, and confuse it with the English Thomas)?  True, the

Grasse River kit is on eight wheels, and my kit includes the trucks and scale wheels.

The fairly common Train Craft bobber kit does have an offset cupola, but roof is

unpunched, so you could put cupola wherever.  Until I find the Thomas kit, I am

not sure, but I THINK it has a center cupola, but is punched, and is all metal.

Theres still several around in museums.

http://www.warwickhistoricalso....org/edu/Caboose.htm

http://www.unadillavalleyrailway.org/bobber/index.htm

Yes, Thomas.  Brass and die cast.

Maryland & Pennsylvania used them through 1955.  I would often climb on board in Towson.  They may have preserved one at Strasburg.

The one at Strasburg:

Jim

Here is a Thomas industries one.

Some preserved bobbers the first is the most historic bobber still around.

MTH has made a credible scale-detailed "bobber" in a variety of road names. I have one in Long Island Rail Road livery. Only design negative: NO on/off lighting switch.  

I have never noticed but you are right.  I guess you could install one, but I'm content just to leave them on all the time.  They are really nice little cabooses.  I like to run my UP bobber at the end of a train with 35 reefers - 40 reefers on it.  It's a funny joke that a lot of visitors like: here's this long train and then at the end this short little thing bringing up the rear.   "We waited all this time for that!!?"

I have a half-dozen of the MTH bobbers.  I use them mostly with the various geared locomotives (Shay, Heisler, and Climax) that I have, but also with some of the short trains hauled by small steam and diesel switchers.  They rank as my favorite cabooses.

Lionel made some bobber cabooses a few years back, around 1990, they were very light weight and needed to have some weight put inside to stay on the track.

I have the Reading Lines bobber caboose which I put behind my regular caboose.

I read something about how bobber cabooses were used by the railroad supervisors and they would ride in the bobber caboose behind the regular caboose.

So there could be many uses for the bobber caboose.

Lee Fritz 

Here's a photo I have of an N&W Bobber.