Wood side door cabooses of T&P and AT&SF

John - Thank you for the comment. Believe, the IC cabooses have a "half door", which I think is only for loading supplies, not usage by crew men.  What did you find re Iowa?

mark s posted:

John - Thank you for the comment. Believe, the IC cabooses have a "half door", which I think is only for loading supplies, not usage by crew men.  What did you find re Iowa?

That "side door" on the IC cabooses is crewmen to use when picking up orders/messages. That the person was safely INDIDE the caboose, instead of hanging off the cabooses  steps, with only one hand holding on while the other arm was used to "hoop the orders". That door had nothing to do with "loading supplies".

.....good info. Ya learn something new every day !

Behold, the IC "side door" cabeese:

Used to see them all the time trundling through Berwyn, IL. 

The Pentrax IC video mentioned they were illegal in Iowa, but no explanation was given.  Occasionally saw an Iowa Division caboose without the side door, but apparently they didn't venture east too often. 

Rusty

Rusty - Interesting. I was under the impression that they were banned by the Interstate Commerce Commission, but perhaps it was done state by state. There were railroad laws initiated by the individual states......NY required 5 man crews and when PRR trains hit the PA border, they dropped the "spare" man. Also CO required locomotives to carry water - hence the canvas bags hanging on D&RGW tenders.

A T&P side door caboose for comparison:

Can't fine an image of the Santa Fe version, but I think they were similar.

I think it's pretty obvious why these things would've been outlawed.

Rusty

Rusty - Yes, that's the one !  A seeming antique, but built after Texas & Pacific  took delivery of their 2-10-4's !   Again, why allowed in TX and, I assume, nowhere else ? And the danger is pretty apparent.

Since MY kinds of cabeese are being discussed,  I have that Hallmark T&P 'muley", and at least one ATSF brass side door, all mounted by me on three rail trucks along with two different Hallmark ATSF drovers.  I do not THINK the ATSF brass side door I have is by Hallmark, but it is playing hide-and- seek, so can't quickly find it.   Hallmark made several other, different,  side door cabooses than these, but not in O, but HO.   Brother Love built several, I think, styrene "O" IC half-doors, and I have seen several HO brass ones, but no O scale brass versions.  I am just using and will only buy side doors, combines, or drovers, for their character, and to make my road "different".  The one I wish was made in brass is the FEC one that was sold to a lot of shortlines around the country, including the Great Western, and used to trail along behind the decapod now on the Strasburg.

I never did see a side door ATSF waycar in Southern California from the late 1940's through the 50's.  I have seen a photo of one in service, on the Valley Division (lines between Barstow and Richmond) on a local freight train about 1948.

Main line waycars on Santa Fe were assigned to a conductor until around 1966 on the east end and 1969 on the west end, and no Conductor was  going to allow himself to be assigned a side door waycar when other Conductors had nice steel ones.  It is safe to assume that any use of a side-door ATSF waycar on through freight ended when the first steel ones started showing up in the late 1920's.  They lasted on certain locals through and after World War II.  There is no doubt in my mind that they were used as little as possible after steel waycars began to be used.

Photos taken from the Internet of some caboose cousins.  John

John - Thank you....... TP 2152 is just the one I am interested in !  Wonder what color the handrails were ?

Mark

Here is a picture from T&P color pictorial. The handrails were yellow. I am going to email Scot and see if he will make these while he is doing the 2-10-4's that I will be buying two copies.

After looking at the picture again, the vertical sides of the larger ladders on the caboose side are brown with the horizontal steps yellow. All the rest are yellow.

Joe

That top right photo of the four provided by Rattler21 is the FEC sidedoor that the RR sold around the country when it quit using cabooses early on.   The Strasburg needs one for its GW decapod...dunno if the Colorado RR Museum in Golden has one.  Several were sold to various shortlines so there might still be one surviving.  I think I have seen it in HO brass but not in O.  I believe that was an ATSF side door on the ground near the stone station in the ghost town of Rhyolite in Death Valley, if still there.

Joe - Thank you for the data.   Yellow - apparently quite visible for safety.

Mark S, could you please post a picture of your  Hallmark Texas & Pacific wood side door caboose I have never seen one. I too need a caboose for the 2-10-4 Texan when (and if) it is manufactured.

Douglas

Built 2 of them but they were a bear ro build.

Brother Love,

Thank you for the picture.

Were these sold as kits?

How long ago were they manufactured?

In your opinion what was the purpose of the side door?

Douglas

Brother Love scratch builds his own, but I wonder why they were a bear to build?  Closest O scale side door kit, which I built, is one from the guy in Wisconsin.  It is a C&S/CB&Q kit, of a caboose there in that RR museum close to the circus museum. I think he has quit offering those kits. THEY are a bear to build!

TP Fan - I am sorry but I don't have the required gear to pop a photograph of the Hallmark brass caboose. I found it on Ebay and it is certainly a rare bird. Had never seen one before. It looks exactly like Brother Love's excellent model.

colorado hirailer posted:

Brother Love scratch builds his own, but I wonder why they were a bear to build?  Closest O scale side door kit, which I built, is one from the guy in Wisconsin.  It is a C&S/CB&Q kit, of a caboose there in that RR museum close to the circus museum. I think he has quit offering those kits. THEY are a bear to build!

They were Mullet River Models, and they were not a bear to build. They were extremely well designed and executed with laser cut pieces. They took time, and the builder has to have some thought capabilities but they turned out to be every bit equal to any brass import and a whole lot better than the generic plastic models usually found.

Glenn did retire from this work because people wanted RTR models rather than building something. The numbers of modelers who actually build stuff is diminishing.

Thank you for the information,Mark S. and others.

Brother Love always does such great work he is a real inspiration.  I have been on the forum since 03 and have never seen him call something "a bear" to build.

I am going to keep my eye out for one of the kits.

Douglas

I have been building kits since early teens . Way back when. Lotsa wood, and plastic. I had trouble getting removable roofs to fit and stay on. I have a Sou. one yet to do, if there are only 2 Mullet side doors.