Favorite Caboose, let’s see ‘em

Here are two of my favorites.  The first is a Penn central N9 transfer caboose that I built.  The other is a Penn Central N8A cabin that I kitbashed from an Atlas Northeastern caboose.

Tom

Your favorite caboose of course is the one you don't have...  I have plenty of northern New England examples, but lack a BAR. Have they been made?

Jan

I I believe this all metal Lionel Pennsy caboose is early Postwar.

My favorite Caboose is a 2000 cataloged MTH SF caboose pictured below.  What attracted me to this caboose is the trucks painted the same as the cboose;

A few years ago ai started to focus on NYC. These are few on the roster.

The most recent addition.

Pete

I have cabooses from many railroads but my favorite is this MTH Premier New York Central bobber #380. I generally run small engines (often steam switchers) and short trains on my 10’-by-5’ single-track railroad and this caboose looks best with them.

MELGAR

SCL/LN - CSX heritage caboose is my favorite. The quality is unbelievable. Nothing today comes close. Fantastic detail, smokes, amazing color scheme, just to name a few.

I thought about this a while trying to decide which of my PRR cabins I liked best.  I have N5, N5b, N5c, N6b, and N8 from all the manufacturers. I finally decided this was my favorite caboose:

This AtlasO has great detail and models the actual caboose.  I run it with my BN U30C #1776.

@NS1975 posted:

SCL/LN - CSX heritage caboose is my favorite. The quality is unbelievable. Nothing today comes close. Fantastic detail, smokes, amazing color scheme, just to name a few.

and, AND, a worker up the top at da window!!

GREAT PHOTOS ALL, clearly I have to broaden my horizons, sooo many classy gals

@Trainbros89 posted:

Cupola Norfolk & Western, Handrails and Smokestack and RED.. “OH MY!” What’s not to like there. Ty

I just went to the bobber caboose bash up and it’s really inspiring.. and yet, my bash ups need to look MORE like something created by an adult. I still, have skilz of a 5 1/5 year old. Ahh, get up try again.

y’all wave extreme modeling skilz. Salute

The three top shelves contain the 8 more colorful cabooses I made or painted in the first two months of 2021.  I had too many brown and black cabooses.  They are all my favorites as I say that for my latest car building or painting project!

Charlie

Many great cabooses here. I really like the N&W 2 rail hack. Been looking for a three rail one..

Here are a few faves from my collection...

Tom

Union RR

Here are couple rarely seen.

Pete

@Tom Densel posted:

Here are two of my favorites.  The first is a Penn central N9 transfer caboose that I built.

Tom

Tom, I was so inspired by your past transfer caboose posts, I decided to try building my own.  I decided on trying a Chessie.

This is the only one Chessie had.  I can only find three pics on the internet.

I'm making the hand rails now.  That part has been hard for me and has really slowed me down.

I have a number of side door cabooses, some waiting for restoration picked up in O scale shows, and a number of kit built and scratch built, very short and very long fantasy cabooses, and three railed brass side doors, combines, and drover's. My favorite two, Colorado Midland and Great Western (from FEC) side doors, l have no models of, although l have a GW under construction, on hold. (Brother Love displayed a number of the FEC side doors he built, on here....l drooled) l have pictured several of mine on here in the past.  I do like these types of cabooses.  Having recovered from the shock of actually being able to add photos to an old MoPac post, l am bravely going to try to add a previously posted photo of my bashes and builds, to this post .

The Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad was a two-foot narrow-gauge railroad that ran in northern Maine until 1935.  The highest numbered caboose on the railroad was #558. I began to purchase On30 engines and rolling stock by Bachmann in anticipation of building a small narrow-gauge model railroad which hasn’t gotten started as yet. One of my best-liked On30 models is caboose #559, shown below. This ancient narrow-gauge wood caboose trundling through the countryside at 20 miles-per-hour behind a slow freight conjures up a train on which I would like to take a ride, and that’s why I like this caboose. Bachmann was clever to use a fictitious road number for this model although photographs show that the model #559, while not exact, looks a lot like the real #558.

MELGAR

Up in Maine, on two of the two foot remnants preserved, you can ride in two different of the sidedoors mentioned above.  The experience made me sorry l can't still ride in the combine coach caboose that once made the run between Pagosa Springs and Pagosa Junction on the Colorado narrow gauge.  Just a few of the reasons cabooses are my favorite railcar.

I love N5Cs in general but I really love this one. It matches my snowbird Lehigh Vally C628 perfectly.

This is my favorite caboose.  K-Line VIRGINIAN wood sided, with smoke.  Has electronics in it so I can pull it behind a command control locomotive.

Built from an old Kinsman S Scale kit:

Rusty

These two are not exactly my favorites but there is a uniqueness and/or story to them

First was walking through the local toy train shop from the O-gauge area back to the books, tools, and HO.  I came to a screeching stop and literally backed up two steps to verify I saw what I thought I saw.

I instinsely recognized the "Lightening bolt" and the "Radio equipped" phase as Erie. then also saw the Erie logo diamond.  But also saw the word "Southern" and the "X315" which is consistent Southern cab numbering.  Now the irony is according to a local expire many years ago Southern did actually sell off some of their cabooses to the Erie.

Then there is this Cab.

When it first came out the toy train shop in Charlotte would NOT stock it because was not prototypical.  Now the local shop I was buying at in Spencer  stocked them, but passed since not prototypical.  Later on after buying MTH's original NC OCS F-units thought this would look neat with these F's.  But there were none to be had!

Now after setting up for a train show had time to look around before opening time.  Saw this on the table ,was willing to pay a premium.  As I recall that tag on the front "said" 40 or 50 dollars.  Grab it, looked it over through the clear window, then set it down with the "end" up luckily.  There is another tag saying  20 or 25-dollars. Pulled out my wallet peeled out the  (that) amount and handed it to the guy!  As I walked away it looked like he was having some words with his that day helper.

Does look interesting right behind the F's and then with some NS passenger cars hooked on.

Ron

Ron, What a great story and fantastic find. And, if my vote counts, they look 'Marvelous' together.

This adds so much, and I think these stories are what makes this hobby a community of like-minded-souls. salute

More than just a caboose, or as the Burlington called them, "Way Cars", this is my custom built test car.

RAY

WOW, Impressive Ray. Well done, I thankee

LMS brake van:

I originally got it at one of the Strasburg shows (how in the merry heck did it find its way there?? ) to convert to a trolley work motor, probably a rail grinder but now like it so much that it will remain LMS.

@Dave_C posted:

Born and raised in Rutland county... I have got to start putting a couple of Rutland consists together...  Thanks!!!

Ok, I can't pick just one favorite, so I'll pretend I read "favorites".  This one was made by Malcolm (Brother Love)...

@Miggy posted:

Ron, What a great story and fantastic find. And, if my vote counts, they look 'Marvelous' together.

This adds so much, and I think these stories are what makes this hobby a community of like-minded-souls. salute

Back then was hoping to present the idea to Wick Moreman (then CEO of NS) to paint up a bay window in this MTH fantasy  version.  Mr. Moreman did visit the local toy train shop in Spencer, NC right across from the NCTM.  In fact on one of his visits he purchase the last set of the MTH original OCS F-units for the office.

Ron

Here's my favorite style of cabooses/cabeese (depending whichever term we use): the wooden center cupola caboose with the rooftop trim from the following railroads. (All of these images were pulled off the Internet by me, except for my picture of DT&I caboose #94 that I took with my iPhone. Hope this doesn't count as theft.)

1.

2.

    (You don't get to see this style of lettering; this was back from the early 30's!)

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

      (Of course, the Northeastern style is good, too.)

This is one of my favorites, as it’s fairly accurate. It’s a K-Line model. I also like the Lionel bay window, as it’s an accurate model of one of the Erie’s early ones, although Lionel’s model is about a scale foot or so too narrow. I hope one day to get a nice Lackawanna steel caboose.

My favorite caboose is the first one I ever acquired, a Lionel Lines #64173 N5c that came with my first train set, which was in the 1954 catalog. It gave me my interest in cabooses generally (my favorite car), and especially those of the PRR porthole N5c style. Although the PRR was in Chicago, I don't recall seeing them in service back in the day, and don't recall seeing one in the flesh until I went east on business circa 1990, and saw a couple on display at various locations. So here is my original caboose, along with several others I have picked up along the way.

I am a fan of the Williams N5C caboose offerings. I am NOT a fan of how they glue 12 little windows into the caboose Years later to Curl and drop out.

I can't choose one.  Here are my favorites.