Normally, passenger trains did not have a caboose. (I'm sure there were exceptions.) If you're running a mixed freight/passenger train, the Athearn truss-rod caboose or the Micro-Trains wood sheathed caboose would work.
I like to run a caboose behind my DRG&W Overton cars. I don't think it was typical, but it looks cool.
A side door coupula caboose, a drover type caboose or a four wheel bobber caboose would be a good choice.
do any of these exist in n? i have found reference to an Arnold and a Bachmann Bobber. Neither seem readily available and the pictures I've found seem poorly detailed. Thanks
MDC (since assimilated by Athearn) made an Old Time caboose that looks fabulous (gotta say it like Fernando would) with the Overton's. I don't know if Athearn is making it as well, but if they are, that'd be the ticket. Ahh, they did make it, and still have some in various roadnames. It's the 3 Window Caboose. Here's a link to the Rio Grande critter. Athearn - N RTR 3-Window Caboose, D&RGW #01167
Marty, here is a pic of the Roundhouse truss rod caboose that BikerDad mentioned. Looks pretty good. Only prblem, in my case, is the boose is Central Pacific and the loco and car are DRG. Yellows don't exactly match but they look OK. Carl
If I recall correctly, Drover Cabooses were used for cattle shipments. I believe the ranchers would hang in the caboose to help watch over the shipment of the herd. I could be completely wrong on that though.....
Is there a combine type car in the overton series. You could kitbash one of them with a caboose coupula on the end with the baggage door and run it at the end of the train.
The men in the caboose were temporary ranch hands, not the ranchers. Their job was to feed and water the stock en route, and (ick!) muck out the cars. A couple of inches of manure made for really slippery footing, and the cows could fall and break a leg making them worthless at market. The cowboys would remove the goo while the dough-gies were out in the corral. Of course, the cowboys would fall from time to time, making the drover car pretty fragrant! See why these guys were always hired hands? :tb-shocked:
I never said my info was 100% accurate! Thanks for straightening it out. Glad to know some things stick to the gray matter.
Under the 'its your railroad' rules, the open-vestibule Overton cars would be about pre-1900, so yeah, a wood-sided caboose, usually with truss rods. But on shortline railroads, pretty much anything went - I have photos of open-vestibule ex-PRR cars operating on the Sheffield & Tionesta at closedown in 1941. Beat like a rented mule, but still running in daily service. But if it actually matters to you, cabooses on passenger trains aren't used because the conductor is supposed to be walking the cars and watching passengers, not hanging out in a caboose. No need for a place for the conductor to call home. It's not that its impossible, just there's no real purpose to it. Even on mixed trains, the combine or coach usually brought up the rear and that's where the conductor rode. There were a couple of passenger cars equipped with cupolas for regular mixed trains where the railroad really wanted that cupola vantage point to keep an eye on the freight cars, just a very unusual car. Now today, on excursion railroads, you'll see about anything, particularly if the railroad can get 'charter car rates' for a private caboose. Put your railroad in the current day that that caboose is now a revenue car. Movies had similar loose grips on facts, particularly if the caboose makes for a good place to climb up on the roof to have a fistfight on a moving train. But generally here, if you're concerned enough about properly matching the caboose era to the passenger cars, the 'prototype' answer is you don't have a caboose. Under 'its your railroad' rules, I don't think you really need to worry!
Athearn old time caboose Bachmann bobber caboose Old Roco caboose repainted. Can still be found on ebay.
