Sharing a project

[jonathan]

Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  Been a busy winter.

However, I did manage to complete a little project.  This is a craftsman kit from Pacific Mountain Scale something or other (PMSS).  They are now defunct, but put out some nice kits while they were still around.  This was a lonely looking kit I saw at a recent train show.  Just had to rescue it:



All the detail parts are etched metal, including the window frames, grabs, handrails and underframe pieces.


I added weight and window glazing:


Close up:


Just felt like sharing.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Woody Elmore]

Jon - Wow! A B&O caboose - that's a surprise - not!
Really nice work!

So when is the next locomotive project coming? I'm sure you didn't leave the train show with just a caboose that needed a home.

[jonathan]

Thanks, Woody.

Well... OK I did pick up some brass detail parts for an idea I have about building a steam box cab loco.  I'm hestitant to mention it, because I haven't worked out how to do it, yet.

Give me a month or so, and I should be ready to tackle it.  This will be more scratchbuilt than kitbash so...

But really, really... this is the last one!

Regards,

Jonathan

[jward]

do you have any models of the I5 caboose? i remember seeing them everywhere in west virginia, usually painted yellow. those were the last cupola cabooses i remember seeing on the b&o.....

[jonathan]

I have Walthers' version of a yellow B&O caboose.  Don't know if they followed a real prototype.  It sorta looks like a modified I-5, except that there's not enough windows and the cupola doesn't have a peaked roof.  I'm waiting on an I-12 wagon top kit from Smoky Mountain Model Works.  That should complete my caboose needs for my layout.

Regards,

Jonathan

[J3a-614]

Howdy, Jon,

That yellow B&O caboose you have represents some of several that were ex-C&O, purchased or transferred in the 1960s when the B&O and C&O were merged but kept their identities; the yellow paint scheme is based on the C&O's post 1957 scheme. 

B&O painted cabooses red until the early 1960s, then changed to blue with yellow ends for pool service cabooses only; these would be steel bay-window cabs.  Prior to this, all cabooses were assigned to conductors, a rear-end variant of "single manning; some conductors "owned" the same caboose for decades.  Later all cabooses would be in pooled service (the conductor got whatever he got), and of course there would come the Chessie System and CSX. . .

Your excellent new model represents either an I-1 or an I-5 that has had its cupola removed for transfer or local service.  An I-1 exists in this configuration (with arch bar trucks and wheels stamped for 1944) as a display piece in a park at Clear Brook, Va., just off I-81 between Martinsburg, W.Va. and Winchester, Va.  This car survives because it got sold to local shortline Winchester & Western, and is maintained by a local NRHS chapter and the local park service.

Gotta get more cabooses; you need almost as many cabooses as locomotives. . . 

[Stephen D. Richards]

jonathon,  great job!  Don't let them kid you, railroads need rolling stock too!  lol  As a relative newcomer to model railroading. I have been learning the how tos of building, kitbuilding and kitbashing, these last couple of years.  I just started in 2006 so I'm still "growing up".  Still learning.  Never stop, you're doing a great job.  Stephen

[Stephen D. Richards]

J3a-614            Amen!        Stephen

[J3a-614]

Ho, ho, ho, thanks, Stephen. . .

Your comments reminded me of one of my visits to the preserved East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company in Pennsylvania.  I commented to one of the volunteers there that what made the EBT so special is that it wasn't just the steam locomotives that were preserved, but everything else, the freight cars, the buildings, the tools in the shops, everything.  Among the tourist roads I've been to, it's the closest thing to a time machine. 

His reply was that model railroaders needed all that extra stuff--cars, cabooses, scenery, everything--to go with the locomotives we love so well!

[jonathan]

Thanks, Gents, your comments are always helpful.

The caboose in the subject is, in fact a modified I-1 (post WWII). I have a photo of C-242 that I used as a guide.  It has a 15ft whellbase, and was used for switching and shorthaul service for many years. 

That Walthers 60's caboose is not going to fit in my era.  I may kitbash it and paint it red.  I have the pointed cupola I didn't use for the I-1.  Perhaps a little effort will yield an I-5 (before the wagon top conversion).

Thanks,

Jonathan