Casey Jones 4-6-0 Illinois Central Freight Consist

[Sunshine Express]

I have just bought a 4-6-0 Illinois central Casey Jones Rivarossi Loco in good condition with original box ,and wish to know what a small daily freight consist would be please?.
I will need a caboose , a few small 40ft. freight cars,possibly a combine and coach . This is to just set the scene when I take it to the club for a run.
Cabooses on the net for I C look too modern. I assume one to roughly represent this era would be wood ?
Thanks for any help here,I am excited waiting for  this one to arrive.
Owen Robinson

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Yep'yep' what would look good is a wood sidedoor crummy!

[JRG1951]

Not many old time cars left. Bachmann has 2 1890's passenger cars, a wood 4 wheel caboose, and log cars. You might find some wooden box cars and older equipment on Ebay or from some of the mail order houses.

You may have to paint your models.

Good Luck,
John
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There are two things that happen when you get old. First you can't remember things and I forgot the second one. >> Unknown

[sd24b]

american model builders has a side door caboose kit.  AccuRail made/makes a 40' wood outside brace box.  Red Caboose  did a drop bottom gon. in IC.  Intermountain did a 40' ice reefer.  Westerfield and Funaro & Camerlengo did kits to match your time frame if you can find them.  Pricey                              Phil

[Woody Elmore]

Freight cars in the Casey Jones era would have been about 36 feet long and running on arch bar trucks. The former MDC Roundhouse line had some old time cars - I owned several of the box cars and a tank car. The tank car was equipped with Fox trucks (different from arch bar or andrews trucks)

Being a ten wheeler you could also do a passenger train. Again the roundhouse line had some old timers. I would look for MDC/Athearn Harriman cars. They may be too modern but would look good behind a ten wheeler.

Good luck with building the consist.

[Woody Elmore]

Oops-in my last post I forgot to mention that MDC made a nice old time side door caboose - would really look good at the end of a train. Plus the roof is separate and there is lots of room for detailing or adding DCC contolled lighting.

The Harriman cars, as well as the old Mantua/Tyco line of turn of the last century freight cars are available from Model Power. These cars are not that expensive but, because they have been around for decades, do not have the detailing a lot of people expect today.

[CNE Runner]

Well 'Sunshine' the type of train depends on how historically accurate you want to be. John Luther "Casey" Jones was killed running an IC passenger train. A 'high stepping' Ten-Wheeler like his would have been more suited to passenger service (although not exclusively) than freight service. A man, with "Casey's" experience would have bid on passenger service - as that was considered the premier duty at the time.

Good luck,
Ray

[richg]

As CNE Runner said, these high driver locos for that time where primarily for passenger service.
Smaller driver locos where used for freight cars which were heavier than passenger cars.
Yes, it is your railroad.
Search ebay  for, HO scale for wood side door caboose. You will find many for sale.

Rich

[Doneldon]

Truth be told: Ten-wheelers were true dual service locomotives. That's a big part of what kept so many of them around until the end of steam.

For freight cars in the roughly turn of the Century era, look for old Central Valley kits. Yes, it's the same company which sells stairways and bridges today. I don't know why they stopped the craftsman kits; I was kind of out of the hobby for a while when that happened. CV kits show up on ebay quite regularly but they are expensive now. However, you'll get a set of CV trucks with a complete kit and no trucks today can match them for performance and appearance. MDC made a lot of center beam freight car kits which are also available, and at a more reasonable premium than CV. Ambroid made excellent wooden freight car kits, and a whole string of both open- and closed-end wooden passenger cars. By the late 1800s everything was closed-vestibule except baggage and mail cars which had no passengers moving between cars. It was around this time that the all-metal passenger cars began to appear so you can look at Penn Line and several others for ~60' heavyweights, and Walthers and JC Silversides for high scale steel passenger equipment. However, be aware that you won't build your rolling stock inventory very fast; most of these kits are craftsman-level so they require a lot more time and effort than a good shake of the box. There are also many plastic billboard reefers and box cars available today at attractive prices. Some are R-T-R but the kits are pretty simple.

You can save a lot of time if you spend more for brass heavyweight passenger cars. Some came painted but most did not. They are an excellent way to get highly detailed and great operating rolling stock for your money. You'll do best price-wise if you buy cars which come with trucks. In most cases, and virtually always with Lambert (an excellent brand), the trucks will be CVs and they will include the handy snap-on bolsters. Most passenger cars in the heavyweight era had plain paint jobs -- usually some version of Pullman Green or Pennsy red -- so painting and decaling aren't significant obstacles. However, they can be a lot of work if you model a railroad with a multi-color paint scheme.

Whether you focus on metal or wood rolling stock is a function of exactly what year you plan to model and how closely you plan to hew to prototype. But remember that railroads invested in rolling stock for the long haul. They kept things in service until their maintenance became prohibitively expensive or the government outlawed certain things like wooden passenger cars, old=style brakes, truss rods, arch bar trucks or what have you. If you are modeling a specific time frame and want to stay very close to prototype you'll need to check to see just what was pushed out of service when. I'm not quite so picky. For example, I prefer the last months before the outbreak of WWII, by which time arch bar trucks and truss rods were illegal in interstate commerce but I still run some because I like them so much. Is it silly to see truss rod reefers pulled by early diesels sometimes? I guess so but it's my railroad so I can do whatever I want. Well, that's not quite true. The General Superintendant has final authority over the whole deal but she rarely exerts control over anything other than right of way locations.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -- D

[Woody Elmore]

Darn - I forgot Central Valley and Ambroid kits. The CV car sides were actually plywood - that made a sturdier car. Also, some of the old Silver Streak line (which also had plyood sides) is available from Ye Olde Huff and Puff. I used to have about a dozen of their (Silver Streak) cars. I especially loked their cabooses.

You are right - there are lots of items out there that would look great behind a ten wheeler.

Unfortunately, in the era of instant communications and gratification, kit building has become a lost art.

[jettrainfan]

Just my 2 cents but when Im looking for old time rolling stock, I buy roundhouse, sense my local hobby shop usually has a good selection.

[CNE Runner]

Not to 'rain on this parade', but many of these old car kits are extremely difficult to build. Additionally the results are not that stellar. We have come to expect every rivet to appear on even the most inexpensive car. Many of these old-time kits had printed sides. If you like a challenge...go for it (I personally have built more of these kits than I care to realize).

In addition to the kits mentioned are kits by: Comet, International Models, LaBelle, Main Line Models, Megow's Models, Pacific HO, Red Ball (early), Silver Streak, Ulrich, Varney, and Ye Olde Huff-n-Puff (Alexander). These kits will certainly tax your abilities and give you a deeper appreciation of the trials and tribulations of early modelers.

So, grab the Prozac and a large helping of patience and begin building. As was mentioned many of these older kits are available on eBay or at train shows. Kits of late 19th century rolling stock are rare and therefore difficult to find (read: expensive). LaBelle and Ye Olde Huff-n-Puff have a pretty good selection as does B.T.S. - although these cars really predate the time period you have chosen.

Good luck and welcome to the fascinating world of modeling the 19th century.

Ray

[richg]

My favorite side door caboose for 1900 era.



I also have the LIma Shay drovers caboose.

Realize a lot of the old MDC/Roundhouse stuff never existed in full scale.

Rich

[Sunshine Express]

Thanks to all for the great information coming to an Australian U S Fan.Yes I agree also that old Casey should have some passenger cars to keep the memory alive. I am enthused both ways,and will enjoy the pilgrimage .
Owen