Favorite Caboose, let’s see ‘em

This one was hard to find I love the MA&PA

One of my favorites

Here is an old one...a Marx 6" , short wheelbase NYC caboose from Marx's first years (1935) as a train producer separate from the Gerard Model Works of Erie, Pa

Don

Two of my favorites, an MTH Monongahela #64 and my Right of Way C&O Smoking Caboose #909735. Great models.

Fairly Scarce NS caboose with smoke unit.

@PRRK4s posted:

.My scratch built N5c and wartime emergency NX23. Both 1/29th scale.

That NX23 is great.  Some of these lasted a long time and I always thought one would be neat to have.  Beautiful work.

Thanks, Ron.  That NX23 in large scale was actually a pleasure to build. Trying to figure out different techniques to get what was needed seem to flow easily as well. Here is a page that documents the build. I think its one of my best and cleanest builds ever.  http://www.prrmodels.com/NX23index.html   ......Gary   

One of my best looking homemade painting of a SP style caboose and another great use of my set of Rio Grande decals

More favorites to come!

Charlie

PRRK4s   Gary

Thanks for posting your great model of the  XN23 cabin car.  I was not aware they ever existed. I enjoyed your link to the building of it.  Great job.  I liked your review of the NX23s history as well.

You are a professional modeler.

Charlie

Here are some of my favorite cabeese.

My dad helped take care of this caboose when the Austin Model Train Club owned it. My parents were married on the caboose. My dad took my older sister's picture on it shortly before the club sold it to the City of Coupland, TX for their depot museum.

MKT freight headed south through Austin on the Missouri Pacific.

Southern Pacific freight on Llano Branch at McNeil headed east to Austin.

Rear brakeman waving to us from an eastbound Mopac freight at McNeil, TX.

My Christmas present in 1958 was a Lionel #6557 Smoking Caboose.

Sometime before we knew that these things would be better off left alone, I repainted and  it into the livery of my favorite railroad.

It's still one of my favorite Cabooses!

My favorite caboose.

Another one of my teenage repaints from the 1960's. I pretended my Berkshire was a Mohawk and I had a few 6464-125 Pacemaker Box Cars so I needed to paint this caboose. Didn't quite know what I was doing, but hey.......

I think you did a nice job on the NYC cabooses, Skip!

I have always been a fan of the NE style caboose.

Here are a few of my favorites

Bing

Fandor

Ives

KBN

New Marx - Prototype Side door

Thomas Industries

I really liked this MTH N5c Union Pacific yellow and red caboose, picture from Internet.

Here is my Lionel 9168 N5c Union Pacific caboose shell I had and added a base, trucks and made a homemade pickup for the lights.

So I decided to make a more colorful one.  Here is my Lionel N5c Union Pacific Caboose shell and I made a base and added a homemade pickup for the light.  Then it was a mostly a paint and decal job.  Now that is Colorful and really an eye catcher!  Probably my favorite homemade caboose and I have made 6 of them this year.

Favorite UP caboose to go with my  Homemade UP Vanderbilt coat tender.  I got good use from that small set of UP decals.

Lets keep them favorite cabooses coming.

Charlie

NYC Big 4 caboose, courtesy of caboose builder extraordinaire, Malcolm Byrd, aka Brother_Love.

Some of my favorite American Flyer prewar cabooses

c. 1916-1917 using a boxcar body, no doors, but cupola on the roof.  5.5 inches long

c. 1918, again uses a boxcar body (note lack of vestibules), but now lithographed for a caboose.  This was American Flyer's first 8 wheel caboose and first 6.5 inch long caboose.

c. early 1928, this was American Flyer's first enamel painted caboose and the version below has very detailed handrails, which are extremely difficult to find (I have only heard of or seen less than 10 of these).  This was also American Flyer's first 9.5 inch caboose.

NWL

I want to thank everyone for all the Likes on my first post on this thread, but I have a confession to make the photos I posted are only about the half  Cabin Cars I have that I don't really like cabooses. I wish I had more photos to share but sadly I do not.Everybody have a wonderful and Safe weekend.

Well we have seen a great many really neat regular caboose's but what about the humble work caboose.  This is Marx's interpretation with the #586 Rock Island work caboose.  This has the crew shanty in the rear with a number of long tool boxes at the front.  This car was made several ways and the dating is sometimes difficult.  The work caboose appeared in the 1958 Marx catalog for separate sale but the UP variant was pictured.  However the catalog number of this variant (UP) and the Rock Island car is the same.  They also made a WP variant and an A.T.S.F variant and all four used the same plastic mold and Tuscan color.  They made another car for Santa Fe in red but again the mold was the same and these appeared between '55-'62.  The cars came both with and without an operating searchlight at various times during their production run and there was at least one special car for the IC that was orange / white with a white tank between the tool boxes.  

The Rock Island variant was specifically included in a set offered by Sears in 1962 and the locomotive for that set was the 1998 Alco S-3 in Rock Island livery.  So here you are : the Rock Island work caboose from 1958 - 1962 (at least).

Best wishes,

Don

My favorites are the recent LIONEL Caboose Cam caboses.  These were a real bargain from the major dealers at $99.  I have several of these and they are a lot of fun.

Rolland

    ...

It's hard to say which is my favorite caboose.  Here are two.  I like the work caboose because of it's unusual appearance.  On my layout it lends itself well to the camera in both artificial and natural light.  

Natural light photo.

Artificial light photo.

Who wouldn't love this old guy? 70+ years old and going strong!

Don, I have one of those that  I bought at a show in Maryland, about 30 years ago, which kicked off my current appreciation for all things O scale.

@Don McErlean posted:

Well we have seen a great many really neat regular caboose's but what about the humble work caboose.  This is Marx's interpretation with the #586 Rock Island work caboose.  This has the crew shanty in the rear with a number of long tool boxes at the front.  This car was made several ways and the dating is sometimes difficult.  The work caboose appeared in the 1958 Marx catalog for separate sale but the UP variant was pictured.  However the catalog number of this variant (UP) and the Rock Island car is the same.  They also made a WP variant and an A.T.S.F variant and all four used the same plastic mold and Tuscan color.  They made another car for Santa Fe in red but again the mold was the same and these appeared between '55-'62.  The cars came both with and without an operating searchlight at various times during their production run and there was at least one special car for the IC that was orange / white with a white tank between the tool boxes.  

The Rock Island variant was specifically included in a set offered by Sears in 1962 and the locomotive for that set was the 1998 Alco S-3 in Rock Island livery.  So here you are : the Rock Island work caboose from 1958 - 1962 (at least).

Best wishes,

Don

Don. It’s always a pleasure to read your post and knowledge behind them. I’ve learned a lot from you since you became a member. Thanks for sharing your pics of that work caboose I like it. People like you are a asset to this forum

To all that shared homemade, custom painted and custom made rolling offices, "Great job, thanks for sharing!"

I may have overlooked any of Brother Love's creations posted above, but l would certainly like to see a number pictured here, hopefully at work on the owner's road, but more likely on a mantel, prominently displayed.  So please show us yours...it should be an interesting variety of less know roads.

                                                                I-12

Hey Skip - they look awesome 👍🏼

“Santa” knew just what to deliver on Christmas morning  - I’m sure your dad may have helped him decide what the railroad needed 😉

Hi Colorado hirailer, here’s the Lackawanna caboose as made by Brother Love (Malcolm), and a photo of the real deal at Steamtown, in NE PA. These were built in Lackawanna’s own shops in Scranton, known as the Keyser Works. A few lasted through the merger with the Erie in 1959, and then through Conrail.

I should mention, the original DL&W caboose frames for the Keyser built cars were built on re-used coal tender frames.

Lee thank you for the compliment.  I find participating in this forum great fun and I love seeing what other folks have and operate.  Best wishes

Don

Here is another work caboose to add to this topic.  

I used a regular Lionel work caboose without tool boxes or a search light.  It was repainted and Rio Grande decals were added making it very handsome work caboose.

The Rio Grande work caboose is shown below with the Lionel Tie Ejector.  They make a great pair.          A work caboose is needed to hold an extra load of ties to feed the Tie Ejector for big jobs. I am glad I am not on the tie crew that gets to man handle the ties from the work caboose to the Tie Ejector!   The Tie Ejector is good working neat accessory to add fun and action to the layout.

Charlie

From “parts-bashed” to product…

So, I’ve moved the prototype era of my New Haven railroad to 1971, opening operating options for locos and cabeese (plural of caboose).  

I’ve admired the caboose work of Brother Love, and wanted to incorporate a NYC/PC transfer caboose into my 1971 era.  Not have the styrene skill he has, I rummaged through my cars and parts for donor materials.  Ladder, grabs, etc. had to be fabricated, as were the end walls.  
Donor bodies included:

1-AHM  O Scale flat car;   1-Atlas 4 wheel caboose (steps), 1-Atlas late 70’s DT&I plug door reefer (sides and roof) and various plastic and brass detail parts.  

Photos include raw parts and the final produce along with a shot of the caboose track in my Hartford classification yard.  

Thanks for reading and looking!

Don

In my best Gomer Pyle voice: "Goo-oly,  Shazam!". Everyone is posting such great looking cabeese, both as manufactured and custom.

Thanks and keep 'em coming!

Lovin’ these cabeeses to pieces! (Not sorry).

Homemade SP Style Union Pacific Caboose

It was time to make a Union Pacific caboose.  I started with a SP style caboose as I had a good shell and also the frame with two trucks with couplings as I like my cabooses to have two couplings.  I found a SP style Union Pacific caboose with yellow  being dominate in train guides and on eBay.

Picture of Lionel UP caboose from internet.

For my model I made a power pickup from brass shim stock and added a mini Christmas tree socket and 12v bulb inside.  Pickup to be screwed into white wooden block above where the green wire is soldered to the pickup.

I painted the car with some Model Master Insignia Yellow paint I had and trimmed with Testor's Red.  You can see I made and added two tool boxes under the caboose.

My homemade car is shown with my silver Union Pacific Lionel 2023 diesel AA set.  Now that is s fine looking caboose and it is for now my favorite.

Union Pacific SP style caboose with homemade Union Pacific Vanderbilt coal tender.

Charlie

Charlie, Really nice paint jobs on the UP and Rio Grande cars.