Plano makes some etched metal roofwalks but it is hard to tell from their site which scale since they make both HO and N. http://www.planomodelproducts.com/caboose_scq.html
I used Plano metal running boards (#250, N-SCALE, 50ft Boxcar Roofwalk Apex - Slotted Pattern) which were cut and pieced together for the running boards on both my old Goldenwest Models U.P. CA-3/CA-4 Styrene cabooses and a couple of old Hallmark brass "U.P. Welded" cabooses, along with lots of scratchbuild detail parts, mostly from .003" brass sheets. Photo (1) Here's a photo of a Hallmark U.P. Welded Caboose before any mods: Notice the grossly oversized and detail-poor cast brass running boards. These got removed, along with most of the stock exterior details, and the Plano SS etched running boards were soldered in place on fabricated Z brackets made out of .003" brass. Photo (2) Here's a photo of the same model after all the exterior mods have been made and it's been ultrasonically cleaned: Photo (3) Here's a photo of the finished model showing the new running boards: Photo (4) Here's a photo of the Plano running boards applied to a Golden West CA-3/CA-4 model. Excuse the callouts please: After I did this, M & R Sides Etched Metal Passenger Kits, which at the time were carried in the USA by N Scale Supply (www.nscalesupply.com) offered a nice little etched SS fret of UP CA-3/CA-4 running boards, tool box fronts, proper brakewheels, cupola eyebolts and an etched safety chain, all on the same fret. Very nice, but I don't know if you can get them any more. Lucky for me, I bought out all that N Scale Supply had. They have since discontinued selling his products, which is a real shame. The M & R Sides etched frets were specifically for replacing the cast plastic details on RTR Intermountain U.P. CA-3/CA-4 cabooses. I bought up as many of the Golden West Models CA-3/CA-4 kits as I could find before Intermountain acquired the molds and improved the outside-swing-hangar friction bearing trucks and offered them RTR. These models can be vastly improved with the addition of the etched parts on the M & R Sides fret. Roberto Martari (in Italy) is the owner and sole employee of M & R Sides and has been difficult to get hold of lately (2013-2014). You can try emailing him here: Roberto at r.martari@libero.it Gold Medal Models makes this: Roofwalks and End Rails, Model Power Bay Window Caboose (two cars) . Here's a link to a bad photo of the installation: http://www.goldmm.com/nscale/gmnmpcab.htm I thought that GMM also made a kit for superdetailing an SP Bay Window Caboose, but I don't see it on their site. Hmmmmm...I could be wrong. After looking closely at prototype U.P. steel cabooses in various locations, it appears that the Plano and the M & R Sides etched running boards are too thin and should probably be around .006" in thickness. Due to the constraints of etching holes in metal, I'm not sure if the same fine detail could be etched if the material was thicker. As it is, I'm pretty happy with both the Plano and the M & R frets. Although I'm obviously U.P. specific, I hope this helps you out. Cheerio! Bob Gilmore
