# USA Trains New Caboose



## Esppe Pete (Jan 21, 2008)

http://www.usatrains.com/usatraincentercupola.html

USAT Has a New Center Cupola caboose in thier New Releases section. Dose anyone Know if thie was Prototypical for Southern Pacific or Union Pacific?

Pete


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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

Finally a center cupola for us Northeast Guys... and in WM and Chessie with WM markings too...

AWESOME!

Philip


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## Shawn Fields (Jan 2, 2008)

Finally, a Northeastern Style caboose.. I can see alot of these being bought as folks have been asking for them for as long as I can remember.

I plan on buying a few of the undecorated versions...unless USA decides to make a red N&W version...without the Large NW or the Hamburger Logo... in other words a correct Steam Era version.


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

The good news for those who don't care for the caboose type is that they say it will have caboose type trucks. I hope they offer the trucks as a part. I'll bet they would sell a bunch for retrofits.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

My post from the other thread about this caboose:

WOah!

the fabled North East Style Caboose!! 

so long merely a rumor..now its real!

yay!

thank you USA Trains!










The "North East Style" of steel caboose..

developed by the Reading in the
20's and also built by the Lehigh Valley and Western Maryland. (the
three primary builders of this caboose style)

(and also smaller counts built by L&NE, L&HR, P&WV and CNJ..)


Later migrated to many other railroads as older cabooses were sold off. 
For more info on this style of caboose, check out:


http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/northeastcabooses/


http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/northeastcabooses/parttwo.php 













The LV alone built 140 of these cabooses..
of the 140, 64 are known to be still surviving today..
of the 64 surviving, only ONE is still in service with a Class-1 railroad,
and it happens to be Union Pacific!


http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=34191 

Photos near the bottom of that thread..still operating in UP MOW service.


these cabooses went *everywhere* after the original owners began to sell them off..
it wouldnt surprise me if nearly every Class-1 railroad of the 1940-1980 timeframe owned at least one..

I have never read a TOTAL count of how many of this style were built, between all the railroads who built them.. probably 500 or more..
I will see if I can dig it up..


Scot


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Scottychaos on 10/25/2008 10:40 AM
My post from the other thread about this caboose:

WOah!

the fabled North East Style Caboose!! 

so long merely a rumor..now its real!

yay!

thank you USA Trains!










The "North East Style" of steel caboose..

developed by the Reading in the
20's and also built by the Lehigh Valley and Western Maryland. (the
three primary builders of this caboose style)

(and also smaller counts built by L&NE, L&HR, P&WV and CNJ..)


Later migrated to many other railroads as older cabooses were sold off. 
For more info on this style of caboose, check out:


http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/northeastcabooses/


http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/northeastcabooses/parttwo.php 














The LV alone built 140 of these cabooses..
of the 140, 64 are known to be still surviving today..
of the 64 surviving, only ONE is still in service with a Class-1 railroad,
and it happens to be Union Pacific!


http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=34191 

Photos near the bottom of that thread..still operating in UP MOW service.


these cabooses went *everywhere* after the original owners began to sell them off..
it wouldnt surprise me if nearly every Class-1 railroad of the 1940-1980 timeframe owned at least one..

I have never read a TOTAL count of how many of this style were built, between all the railroads who built them.. probably 500 or more..
I will see if I can dig it up..


Scot 







One of those new caboose road names is one of my own--the Canadian Pacific. It will be nice to have it available finally. And thanks for the mini history lesson and observations. This one will be added to my modest stable of rolling stock for my Phase II ALCANEX line. 







Right now I have the wooden version. I can retire that one now. This one makes more sense for the preferred era of my rolling stock.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I'll buy one of those


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## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

Great to see the Northeast caboose being offered. I see it has a $200 list price. Sure some neat features like battery charging, lights, smoke etc, but it would be nice to have a stripped down version offered too. 

Tom


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry Pete, as I mentioned in this post, I'm pretty sure the UP and SP never used this eastern prototype, and if they did it was inherited somehow. 

While the UP used a centered cupola caboose, most looked like this HO model which is referred to as a CA-4:











More can be seen here: UP Cabeese

For roster photos of real UP cabeese check out this link:

Union Pacific Cabeese


When I think of Southern Pacific cabeese, I typically think of a bay window caboose. But they also used an offset cupola caboose style too. A link to prototype photos can be found here:

Southern Pacific Cabeese


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Esppe Pete on 10/24/2008 9:17 PM

Anyone know if Southern Pacific or UP ran Center Cupolas?
Pete


Posted By San Juan on 10/25/2008 3:54 PM

I doubt this version was ever used on the UP or SP as it's an eastern prototype. UP had a lot of center cupolas, but they were not the USA variety.




I have to keep cross-posting between the two threads on this topic! " align="absmiddle" border="0" />
oh well..

yes, UP has owned this style of caboose!
in fact, they have one in service at this moment..
ex C&NW, originally LV..currently in use in UP MOW service:


 http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=212793 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=945762 

The fact that these cabooses started out in the East really has no bearing on where they wound up..
they have been found all over the country..

I dont know about SP..I will see what I can dig up..


Scot


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

well..after some searching about the internet, I cant find any reference to any "North East" cabooses on the SP.. 
only that one UP survivor.. 

There is a LV caboose in Oregon: 

http://www.brian894x4.com/images/PrinevilleRR008.jpg 

I have no idea how it got there! 

I will send Roger Kirkpatrick a note..he is a well known "caboose guy".. 
he might know if SP ever had any.. 

yes, most cabooses of this style tended to stay in the East..even after they migrated to other railroads.. 
but there are a few examples that made their way out west.. 

I recently discovered Maine Central bought several from the WM.. 
im planning to make a model of one for my On2 layout.. 

Scot


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

What was the reasoning behind the position of the cupala? Why was center more desireable than anything else?


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow. Check out the weathering on that blue one!


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## Esppe Pete (Jan 21, 2008)

Scotty,

Thanks for the Info! Looks Like UP fan could justify a USAT purchase!

Did anyone buy Aristo's brass version of this caboose? I think it was a Pennsy with Port windows.

Pete


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2008)

Scott, thanks for doing all the researchin to the photos some of the cabooses looked really cool. Pete i have one of those aristo cabooses the only aristo caboose, after Brian D sent me a link from ebay i won it but when i received it the ladder was broken off the brass, i fix it with a little j b weld.caboose is acsually nice looking i will run it behind one of my pennsy K-4s ...








Nick


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Esppe Pete on 10/26/2008 7:59 AM
Scotty,

Thanks for the Info! Looks Like UP fan could justify a USAT purchase!

Did anyone buy Aristo's brass version of this caboose? I think it was a Pennsy with Port windows.

Pete


The Aristo brass caboose was not this type of caboose..its a completely different caboose..
the Aristo model is the PRR "cabin car"..specific to PRR only (and later PC and Conrail)

There was some confusion when Aristo first announced their brass model, because they called it a "North East" caboose in some of their announcements..
but they used the term "North East Caboose" incorrectly..

Any student of North East or Eastern railroads knows the term "North East Caboose" applies only the the Reading, LV, WM style..
the style USA trains is coming out with...its a very specific style of caboose..
the PRR caboose that Aristo made is not this style..

So technically the Aristo Brass caboose should not be called a "North East Caboose"...its not of that class.

yes "North East" is a generic term, and you might think it could apply to ANY caboose ever used in the "North East"! " 
but its very well accepted that the term "North East Caboose" or "Northeastern caboose" only applies to this one specific style of caboose..

Scot


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## todd55whit (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow! Nice job USA Trains. New Haven fans have been waiting for this. A caboose that is some what prototypical. I'll be buy one for sure.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

I was looking at the USA Trains version of their AKRR caboose. As it turns out, the number was used for an AKRR unit, but it appears that there never were any northeastern-style cabooses on the AKRR. 










Here was the real 1072 AKRR caboose:









Nevertheless, I will plan on adding one of these AKRR cabooses to my inventory.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

First photo is up!  

http://www.usatrains.com/r12168.html 

and some new detail pics at the top of the main page:

http://www.usatrains.com/usatraincentercupola.html

Scot


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Ron,

I hope you sent that photo up to USAT. Looks like the stripe goes the other way and the font for the numbers is different. Also the placement of the logo and the ALASKA part.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By markoles on 11 Aug 2009 12:06 PM 
Ron,

I hope you sent that photo up to USAT. Looks like the stripe goes the other way and the font for the numbers is different. Also the placement of the logo and the ALASKA part. 




well..the _entire caboose_ is different..
there is IMO no need to alert USA trains! 

the real prototype alaska caboose is totally different than the USA trains model..
USA trains just picked a prototype number, even though Alaska RR never had this style of caboose..
nothing new..happens all the time.

Scot


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

It's also probably way too late to change the paint scheme... 

Regards, Greg


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

UP did have caboose like that but I only seen them in MoW service.


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