American Models did a special run of WP cabooses. For the rivet counters, it has some issues. But for the person who would like a caboose to run behind their SW1 it fills the need quite well. WP's first order of cabooses were similar so IMO it's a good stand in. Greg
Not bad at all. At least it's not a complete "stand-in" type issue. Those are almost always simply horrible. BTW-- I have heard a rumor that someone is thinking of brass Milw ribbies in S scale. Might have been River Raisin? I know it would be a million miles past any budget I'd ever have. And this is an item where you'd need more than one! mg: Boxcab E50
Yeah Ken it's River Raisin models. http://www.riverraisinmodels.com/ Rumor has it that maybe the last brass freight car in S. RR has said the prices are going too high and the demand too low. Greg
I don't see a price on their web site. :sad: I wish these announcements would at least try to let the public in on their secrets. A turn off for me! Hard for people to plan, let alone daydream of acquiring an item, without knowing $$$. Boxcab E50
http://www.riverraisinmodels.com/curproj.html#MilwCab Below the steam engines, is a price list for the cabooses. IIRC that is what I paid for an Espee caboose 10 years ago. Greg
That's not a bad price! I recall that when OMI was going to re-run the N scale version, they were going to MSRP for $212! Which of course everyone told them to forget that! Oh well. Maybe I'll win the lotto... Oops! Sorry to have hijacked your topic... :embarassed: Boxcab E50
Amen to that! There's a gentleman who works at a LHS here in Albuquerque who I understand is into Sn3 for years . . . wonder if he has a lot of company or if he's used to a lot of solitude? Here's a question - do real life train crews have a preference between a caboose with bay windows as Greg has pictured, or a caboose with cupola? And, if there is a preference, does it have more to do with the application it's being used for - or the comfort and convenience of the crew (as if such a thing were high on railroad managements' priorities, LOL)?
Let me put my foot on the bench and my elbow on my knee. Back when I was brakeman and we had cabooses we preferred the bay window. If you had to duck or move quickly, you were pretty safe on the floor of a bay window. Now if you pulled a stunt like that in the cupola, you had a ways to fall to the floor. Actually the view wasn't that good in the cupola for most trains since the cars were taller than the seats in the cupola. In the bay window you looked down the side of the train but it really wasn't any wider than the 10' allowed for the freight cars. Another thing, on the WP we had different radio channels and when a UP or other foreign road caboose was used we couldn't talk to the dispatcher or engineer. All the radios were set to 2 or 3 channels with crystals and not programmable like today. Greg
From what I've noted, over the years, Sn3 has been one of the most popular facets of S scale. So, he might not be too lonely, except in his specific living area. Should have some company otherwise... Boxcab E50
Greg- You are the man, for a guy who was 7 in 1982, I love hearing your WP stories. Question, I have seen pre merger pictures of trains on the FRC with UP locos on the head end and UP Crummies on the rear. How did they comunicate through the districts if they did not have the proper channels? Trainorders? Thanks- Brad
Hello Brad, Glad you like my old head stories. Now when we had foreign power and or cabooses we had to talk to the dispatcher by phone. If the dispatcher had to talk to us, we had call lights on the phone booths. If it was lit, we would stop at the next one if it was close to the lit one otherwise we would stop and walk back, or the conductor would walk to the phone. Usually if we were in a siding the call light would light up and we would use the phone at end of the siding. Each siding had a phone at each end. Usually there was a pad of Form B forms, which we would fill out to pass red absolute signals and to enter work limits and a multitude of other reasons. I learned early on to carry some in my grip and take them with me to the phone when I talked to the dispatcher. Since it CTC from Oakland to Salt Lake, if the dispatcher needed to talk to you he would use the signals to stop you to talk to him on the phone. I don't recall ever working on green signals and seeing a call light lit. Of course if we had WP power and cabooses we would call out our train (extra WP 3535 West calling second subdivision dispatcher) and wait. Also when we had foreign power or cabooses mixed in with WP we would call from the second unit. If the caboose was foreign, the rear brakeman would walk up when we were stopped to find out the info. Usually we were on the phone long enough he could hot foot it up. Our track warrants were for slow orders and such in CTC territory and not making meets. On the High Line, Keddie to Bieber we worked on train orders then we would get our instructions from operators and phones. I didn't ever work under train orders, and when I worked the territory that they were used, we had a radio system in and the line was controlled by track warrants. I hope this helps answer your questions Brad. Greg
I know this isn't S scale, but this is an older WP bay window caboose, converted fron a single sheathed boxcar
