I'm modeling (trying to at least) the ATSF and SP in the spring of '90 and by then, cabeese were gone, but I really want them around, especially with the Intermountain/Centrallia's coming out in N, so they'll be on all my trains except those new "container" trains, which'll have a FRED. -Mike
My operating window is predominatley from 1950 to '55. So cabooses are a must. And lots of them.(Only one per train though). Hasta,
I personally view locomotives and freight cars as a necessary justification for running cabooses around my layout.:tb-biggrin: Jim
I don't always use a caboose on my short line when the Grandbrats are here. But I do when I want to operate, even though I model (if you can call it modeling) modern time. The purpose of the caboose on my layout is for grade crossing protection when the train is making a long reverse move. Gary
I run mixed eras. It depends if I feel like a caboose or not. The BNSF X train right has a caboose on the end of it. H1 -9's with a FWD caboose!!!:tb-wink: Then you always need to have a caboose on the local.:tb-biggrin: Then there imght be the occasional caboose hop with all kinds of cabeese! GN NP BN CBQ MRL!!!:tb-rolleyes: Maybe when I can find a correct model a Nebkota baywindow caboose.
My primary era/RR is 1972 Lehigh Valley,hacks are mandatory.The LV was caboose crazy.They ran NKP,D&H,and N&W runthrough trains,and had a habit of frequently tacking extra cars onto those trains,running double cabs on the end of trains,and sometimes even running 1 or 2 behind the locomotives of their own trains.So,you could see a train with N&W,D&H,or NKP power,with a matching cab at the end of their train,and then,20 or so cars back,one or two LV cabs bringing up the cars LV tacked on!! You could also end up seeing a LV train with up to 4 cabs on it,2 up front,2 behind.It was also common to see the occasional UP hack on an LV train...Not to mention,they basically had one type of caboose,with 10 or more totally different color schemes..[Man,ya just GOTTA love the LV...] I'm also planning a pre NS/CR merger RR in my basement,and also a steam era RR,although they won't be as ambitious as the LV layout.I'm planning on a 2 sided RR,since both sides will be accessable in my basement.It will have a scenic devider down the middle,steam on one side,late CR on the other,with staging for either side provided by the other.Both will have appropriate endage,hacks on the steam side,FREDS on the CR...
always a caboose I don't care what year it is on my layout there is always a caboose.sometime not even the right caboose chessie on a santa fe train that not right but it's fun.:thumbs_up:
I model Santa Fe in the 1950s at Galveston...with working interchange with the port switching railroad. Cabooses on all ATSF through trains and locals going out of town. But no cabooses on ATSF transfer runs nor on the port rr.
A locomotive and freight cars are just items needed to allow a person to run cabooses!!!! Cabooses are THE reason to model railroads. I personally have Atlas NE and Magor cabooses for railroads I NEVER intend to model. I have the UP caboose (and will get the Santa Fe) that InterMountain is selling. Crummies, Vans, Hacks, Waycars - bring them on!!!! Seriously, a railroads identity/history would often be expressed more by their caboose fleet than by their locomotive fleet. Pennsy, Great Northern, UP, SP, Santa Fe are obvious examples of what I am talking about. The SF was probably the leader in that the same basic caboose body style lasted from the side door 'widow-maker' era thru the wooden, steel era to the end of caboose usage. The MoPac had several styles of mainline cabooses in use at the same time as a result of their absorbing other railroads during the 1950's and 60's. The SP&S had a unique caboose fleet made up of cabooses provided by it's parents, GN and NP, and cabooses purchased from outside builders. The cabooses that came from the GN and NP could be older cabooses or new cabooses depending on whether the parent had a surplus of cabooses or just added 5 or 10 extra cabooses to the production line of ones they were currently building. Other smaller (and sometimes less profitable) railroads, had caboose fleets that were mixtures of purchased cabooses acquired in profitable times, with second hand or home built or older cabooses being re-habed for a few more miles of service during less profitable times.
To Caboose or Not to Caboose I run Freight and always run a Caboose. The era that I model is Fantasy 80's-90's till the demise of the Southern Pacific as we knew it. By the way SP Lives Forever
Just model the transition era as the majority of modellers do and there will be no reason not to run a caboose. Btw, modern-day freights look naked as jay-birds without a caboose!
No caboose since I am in the present day era. However, you may see a "switching platform" every now & then Jamie
If you know what a caboose is or what it's used for or have actually waved at the guy in it, then you should always have one. If you model years of late, then all you need is a red light which I think is called a Fred, Frank, George, or something like that... Jim
I model '75/'77 so all through freights and locals have cabeese. Passenger trains died on the Van Buren Sub some years before '75.
