I'm posting this to see if anyone else finds it as aggravating as I do when it comes to cabooses for some railroads. As some of you know, I have an L&N layout (CV Division), with 15 L&N locomotives on the roster(and plans to get numerous others once the layout is running), but I only have two L&N cabooses. They're made by Atlas, but they're gray with a cupola. I'll still use them, but I wish someone out there would make an L&N bay window caboose. And perhaps one for Southern as well. I bought a Southern caboose yesterday, to fit in with my Southern hoppers and two Geeps. It had a cupola, so I did a search on railroadpicturearchives to see how many were similar to it, there weren't many. Again, I'm glad there's at least something out there, I'm not really griping about anyone or any manufacturer in particular, but it drives me nuts to walk into a LHS and see 4-5 L&N bay window cabooses.... in HO scale. I'm sure some L&N modelers have made their own bay window cabeese in N scale,but I wouldn't mind seeing someone produce some, I'd buy several...easily. Same goes for the Southern Railway. I've been all over Kentucky and some of Tennessee, and practically all the Southern cabooses I've found and photographed are bay window, and any L&N cabooses I've found that aren't bay window are typically the wooden cabooses(there's a few around here). I also get envious when I browse some online retailers and see up to a dozen cabooses for one railroad(PRR comes to mind). I do know Atlas has two more L&N cabooses(with cupolas) coming out this fall, I will definitely be picking them up. So does anyone know if any manufacturer actually did a bay window caboose in L&N or Southern paint?
Sounds like kitbash time to me. A Athearn Undec Bay WIndow model and find your road specifics from detailer kits out like the one from Trainworxs, and find some pics to emulate the paint scheme. Sure sounded easier typing it than doing it. Glad that's done..:tb-biggrin::mbiggrin:
Cabooses are really tough to find for most roads until you get into the "modern" era (when cabooses were more standardized). Athearn is doing their bay window (SP proto) in SOUTHERN though: Athearn - NYA N RTR BW Cab, SOU #X265 (two road numbers) Mark
I agree. It's one of those things where we are still on our own; not a bad thing. That some more common types are not yet produced can be exasperating. The L&N is not an inconsequential road; neither is the NYC. A NH or NKP modeler is in good shape. In the case of cabese, I'm going to be Polyannish for now that it's sort of okay as opposed to a politician's approach which promises whatever. We must build our own.
Don't know if it helps but way back when NS was retiring cabeese, I remember seeing several Southern cabeese similar to the one above and in the same paint scheme. Seems like the numbering is correct for that style too.
I did find a photo of actual X252, so I know the X251 is prototypical. Thanks for showing me those Athearn Bay Windows in Southern paint. I guess I will be picking those up as well.
There were three Savannah & Atlanta homebuilt cabs on the roster, X251 - X253, as well as two S&A, ex-Reading cabs which were X255 and X256, and one Magor cupola cab from the original NS... X257. The paint scheme with simply a yellow cupola was from the late-70s to early-80s when the cabs were assigned to the Interstate. Earlier they had a band that extended downward on the cab sides the same width as the cupola with Savannah & Atlanta lettering... not sure that the NSRy. cab ever wore the yellow band on the sides, it apparently was the only one that didn't receive it (and it was the only NS cupola cab that survived the merger, with all the others being sold of to shortlines or given to museums).
Good news if you can live the Atlas C&O Magor painted in L&N, as Atlas has these in the fall catalog: Atlas Model HO N Scale Product Catalog Mark
Found another N scale L&N caboose today and bought it. It's my third gray L&N cupola caboose, I had #974 and #977(I think), this one is #971. I'm also thinking there was a #979, but not sure. Probably getting my numbers mixed up. I'm getting my caboose "shortage" solved slowly but surely.
Atlas also made the extended vision cupola cabs in the Family Lines paint with SCL subletter, as well as Family Lines (orange paint) with CRR subletter. There's also some NE6's floating around with the gray Fam. Lines paint as well as Red, both with CRR subletter I believe. Those wouldn't be out of place on an L&N layout and will help fill out your roster and add some color/variety as well! Mike C
Just to warn y'all, the undec version here is a kit. And it's a rather daunting kit in terms of having many tiny pieces. But it's necessary if you're doing bashing and want to use some or all of the detail pieces/parts. Seeing it, I have new-found respect for the folks in the factory that assemble the Athearn cabeese.
I'll tell you one thing that you CAN do, is to go out and photograph and measure up the cabooses you like. Post differrent photos of them to all the railroad archive sites. Try to draw up some plans of the caboose too, then freely share them with people on the web. Once you have made your caboose popular to the web spiders, they can and will easily be searched, and someone will build them eventually. Maybe not injected plastic, first someone will kitbash or scratchbuild them, then someone might make a resin kit, or someone else might do an etched brass project, or someone else might make it into a laser kit. Why? Because the guy with those resources and skills don't have to travel all over the world to find the information he needs to build the model. Where is Atlas located in the US? Notice every caboose model they produced was of a prototype located a few miles from their office at the local yard? It's costs a lot to research obscurity, but that model sitting in the local park is easy to research. But let you favorite caboose sit in obscurity, and there it will remain, because there are literally thousands of unique and different cabooses to choose from. There are probably more UP caboose designs than there are N Scale caboose models available for all railroads combined!
I've definitely been photographing cabooses. There are at least 130 of them in Kentucky,give or take a few. I could easily spam Atlas's email with tons of photos of Southern and L&N bay windows. I think four of the nine cabooses in my home county are bay window.(three L&N,one Southern) Viewing Album: Caboose Photos - Railroad Picture Archives.NET
