I picked up an HO scale model of a UP CA-3 caboose at our last swap meet. The model is by Centralia Car Shops, and looks to be all there, parts-wise. My question is this-how long were the CA-3s in service, and what were their numbers? I've got a long-standing dream to model the UP's Encampment Branch as it existed in the 1960s. Thanks in advance
Excellent- thanks for the info! First time I ever saw a UP caboose was on the Encampment Branch local in Saratoga, WY in 1962. The motive power was an RSC2 (as I found out later). The local would come into town, switch out the lumber mill, and return to the mainline at Walcott Jct and west to Rawlins. The caboose would be anywhere in the train (except in front if the engine). I don't recall the local ever running south of Saratoga to Cow Creek and Encampment, but the tracks were still in place. This line is now the Wyoming-Colorado RR, and runs from Walcott to Saratoga. The rails south of town were removed in the mid-1970s. A much-reduced Louisiana-Pacific mill turns out aspen chips and some dimensional lumber.
