# I love the caboose



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, I love the caboose. After the coal hopper, there is no other rolling stock on the railroad I like more. It really saddens me that the railroads have done away with the caboose. My favorite style of caboose is the center copula B&O caboose that were made in wood and steel which USAT has loosely modeled. I also like the B&O bay window caboose. These seem to have come in two different lengths and roof styles. USAT Has modeled what I will call the traditional roof style although they seem to be out of stock and who knows if they will ever be made again. The second rood style is what I will call the wagon top roof bay window caboose. In googling wagon top caboose, it seems that only the B&O ever used this design for their bay window caboose. With this in mind, it seems un-likely that anyone will ever produce this style caboose and accepting my poor modeling skills and perseverance at following through with kit-bashing projects, it also seems unlikely I'll ever have one of these style of caboose on my rooster.





































So what is your favorite caboose?


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Hmmm 









Nothing but the best for our crews, air conditioned and everything!

On my pike Aristo's Classic caboose looks great.

John


----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Randy;

Right now it is this one:










I bashed it from an LGB ToyTrain bobber. No prototype, but I like its chunky lines.

My favorite prototype is the standard "Northeastern" style caboose, as used by the Reading RR, which served my hometown (Palmyra, PA) when I was a child. Even the American Flyer S gauge trains that I had then featured this style as their main caboose.

Best,
David Meashey


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

B&O also had wagon-top boxcars. Very few - if any - other railroads ever had them. If memory serves, they were developed in the late thirties. Not sure what the perceived advantage was. Very unique.


----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight;

I seem to have read a long time ago that the perceived advantages were better structural rigidity and the ability to shed rainwater more efficiently (probably they were also less likely to retain ice on those roofs). I think this construction process was abandoned because the costs of construction outweighed the benefits.

Yours,
David Meashey


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

That would make sense Dave. Thanks. Either way, it produced a really unique car!


----------



## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is my Aristo Bobber to which I added full 4 wheel trucks and a few other details. With minimal effort, it is a reasonable facsimile of a B&O I 5 wooden caboose as seen in your first picture.


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

My favorite style of caboose is the center copula B&O caboose that were made in wood and steel which USAT has loosely modeled. I also like the B&O bay window caboose. 
Back in the days when I worked as a docent at the B&O RR Museum, (10 years ago?) they had about 20+ cabeese, I was told, collected by a zelous curator over the years. Most are gone now, I believe. 

But as they were there, on Steam Days when they ran "William Mason" and/or "Lafayette", they would put together a train of the cabooses and haul it down the line using the SW2 or similar small dismal. They sold tickets for the trip, and every caboose had to have a docent on board for safety reasons. So I worked lots of them, in all the different types of caboose that you described. I kept asking the curator to at least hose them out before we got paying customers - they were full of dust and dirt - but they never did clean them! 
It was before digital cameras, and a google doesn't pop up any photos of the trains.


----------



## RailCat (Apr 10, 2009)

Union Pacific CA-3 to CA10 center cupola steel cabooses are my favorite. I have a USAT extended vision as a stand in. 

USAT has re-released the extended vision so the bay window may be next. Keep an eye on the in-stock list at USAT's site. 

-Scott


----------



## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Hi Randy

This caboose is a working one, seen in 2012 in Plant City Fl, a great place to watch trains.
First time in a long time that I have seen a working caboose, still has a FRED on it tho.









Jerry


----------



## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Randy,


I too really like cabooses. Of course my favorite is a DT&I caboose....the one I've scratchbuilt in 1/29 scale as well as 1/8 scale.

This caboose was built in 1925 and is very similar to a caboose the B&O had. 

In fact I ride one of the old B&O cabooses every year on the Little River RR in Coldwater, MI. They have 2 old B&O woodside cabooses and one is always on the train.



















Brian


----------



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice looking Cabeese Brian. I take it the one pictured below is 1/8th scale.


----------



## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Randy, 

Yes


----------



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 12 Dec 2013 11:22 AM 
B&O also had wagon-top boxcars. Very few - if any - other railroads ever had them. If memory serves, they were developed in the late thirties. Not sure what the perceived advantage was. Very unique.


















I believe these were of monocoque construction....no internal framing. Ya just stamp metal and bolt/rivet it together...and the inside skin is smooth.


----------

