BN Caboose Purchases

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

What cabooses did BN purchase new and when?
Thanks.

Bill
Iowa

2

The Burlington Northern Railroad mostly bought International Car Co. extended
vision cupola cabooses. These were purchased throughout the 70s. The last
new ones were delivered in 1981. They also picked up 3 bay window cabooses
from ICC. in 1975. You need the book: “Burlington Northern Caboose Book” by
Robert C. Del Grosso. I believe it might be out of print, but you might find it on
Amazon or E-bay. Hope this is moderately helpful.

3

Thanks Rick.I had that book at one time,but I had to sell it.
It’s hard to find and usually costs more than I can afford.I’d rather spend spare cash on model railroading,which is hard to come by since we bought our house and have a lot of home improvements to do.

Have a good one.

Bill
Iowa

Favorite Railroads-Great Northern(1969 or freelanced to 1981),Soo Line(1983),Boston & Maine(1970),MKT(1981),C&NW (1995),Chessie(1980)

4

I hear that, Bill… I have it mostly because I once was interested in modeling
the BN just post merger. Then I got bitten by the GN steam to diesel
transition bug-and have been perennially broke ever since.[swg] Good
interest chioces you have there.

5

Favorite Railroads-Great Northern(1969 or freelanced to 1981),Soo Line(1983),Boston & Maine(1970),MKT(1981),C&NW (1995),Chessie(1980)

Thanks Rick.Now it’s a matter of which one to model.My son and I are going to be starting work on benchwork later this week.He likes C&NW.My choices are GN 1981,Soo 1983,or MKT 1981.I’ve worked out a freelanced locomotive roster for GN,but would have to have everything painted.Soo would be a good choice for the GP38-2’s and SD40-2’s(but painting would be a necessity as well),as well as the nice Accurail centerflow covered hoppers.MKT is a matter of what industries to have on layout and what freight cars are available.Decisions,decisions![:D]

Have a good one.

Bill
Iowa

6

Well except for the MKT those railroads covered a lot of the same ground, especially someplace like here in Mpls/St.Paul GN/Soo/CNW had a lot of trackage rights agreements and such so you could do all three if you wanted to.