I’ve bought two SOO line cabeese from Atlas.
Now I want to weather them. But unfortunately I can’t find any prototype pictures. Are these cabeese freelanced???
Any help ?
Wolfgang
Wolfgang,
I’m no Soo Line expert but I think that’s a fantasy paint job for a Northeastern style caboose, which Soo Line never had. The Soo Line ran wooden cabooses right up into the late 60’s and early 70’s and then had several series of International Car Company wide vision cabooses built. These ran until the demise of the caboose. Athearn makes a pretty accurate Soo Line wide vision caboose.
To the best of my knowledge, the SOO never had that type of steel caboose. That is why you cannot find a photo of one. They used the International Extended or Wide Vision type. After the purchase of the Milwaukee Road I saw some of the Bay Window types for a while.
Atlas has made an excellent model of the International caboose in both red/white and brown/white in the past. The Athearn model is also decent but is a little short.
Jim
They are fake. Atlas Trainman wanted a matching caboose to their SOO Gp, so they made one of these.
Phil
During all the years the Soo ran through my hometown, I never saw anything but a steel, extended-vision caboose on their trains.
In the book The SOO LINE by Patric Dorin there is a photo of a wood caboose with Plywood sides that was repainted in the 1960’s scheme. It was SOO Caboose #275. This Atlas C&O Caboose with the SOO Scheme is an approximation for bargain shopping operators who model the Soo Line in the 1960’s and 1970’s. They might not have lasted long enough for heavy weathering to occur. Just spray some Dullcoat and some light dust on the trucks and the bottom.
Andrew
That’s good. So I don’t need to repaint them into a private scheme. I’ve only to heavy weather them. [:D]
Wolfgang
This is the link to a photo of a Soo Line Caboose that was wood and it is close enough to the C&O Caboose to not be a problem.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/soo/soo-c270abp.jpg
Andrew
Andrew,
Go back and look at Wolfgang’s photo and then the one on fallen flags. The cupola is way too to big on the prototype and windows and end platform arrangement is all wrong. I addition, the prototype SOO line caboose is wood and I believe the Atlas caboose is steel. I model the NKP so I’m used to close enough but this one is pretty far off.
This is only a ready-to-run Caboose not a craftsman kit Caboose or a brass model. Some compromises have to be made for the savings in time and money. There are exact models in kits and in brass, but that is for the highly skilled, very patient modeler.
There is an O Scale kit from Mullet River Model Works.
http://mulletrivermodelworks.com/Models/O_Scale/caboose.html
Andrew
Well, my two Atlas cabooses are steel, so I will them repaint in the future to a private scheme. And I’m still looking for a “white-red” SOO caboose, H0.
Wolfgang
The Soo Line acquired the ALCo RS-27 Diesel-Electric Locomotives in 1962 and the first Wide-Vision Steel Body Cabooses in 1966. The Wood Cabooses lasted in regular service well into the 1970’s. The two SOO RS-27s remained in operation until 1980. This means the Wood Cabooses had a large period of overlap with the RS-27s. Some of the Cabooses had smooth sides because they were covered with plywood. Why they were not all repainted like the other equipment means that the Soo Line Railroad Company employees were nostalgic.
Andrew
This is the Soo caboose model you need:
I do not understand why Atlas chose to paint the northeastern model caboose in Soo paint? They already had the correct one available. [D)]
Here is the Athearn model. http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH75179
It is not as accurate as the above Atlas caboose but is still a decent model.
If you are looking for a correct Red/White Soo caboose, these are what you need.
Jim
SOO/CP still use a white and a later all-brown SOO extended-vision cabeese for runs down the river from their yard in St.Paul MN to a refinery. They’re used more as “shoving platforms” than cabooses I think; however the doors and windows do open so the crew can still go inside. The brown one is in pretty good shape, but the white one is pretty heavily weathered.
The white scheme didn’t stay nice very long, the rail line I grew up next to was bought by the SOO in the early eighties, and even then most of the cabooses they ran by with had rust and large stains and streaking on them.
Des Plaines Hobbies has a car kit division called CENTRALIA CAR SHOPS
The website says that if there is enough demand they will run the SOO LINE Caboose again
http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/centralia.html
Would you be willing to buy the more accurate Soo Caboose?
Andrew