What colors were Milwaukee Road wood/cupola cabooses in the late 40s to early 50s time period? Were they repainted to orange by this time or did they remain brown for many years? Also was there a specific division of the railroad that continued to use them more than other ones compared to the bay windows? Thanks.
The Milwaukee transitioned to bay window cabooses in the 30’s. Cupola cabooses were delivered in oxide, some went to aluminum(short experiment), and would up in orange. Any repaint in the late 40’s/early 50’s would have been to orange. That said, there were still a lot of older cabooses in oxide, and some of the drovers cabooses stayed in oxide.
Mass production of the ‘rib-side’ bay window cabooses started in the late 30’s, and the ‘rivet-side’ Thrall bay window cabooses arrived in the 50’s. The older cupola cabooses started to be replaced by the shops-built ‘rib-sides’ after that 100 unit Thrall order took to the main lines.
You might want to go out the Milwaukee Road Historical groups web site and buy their very good soft cover books on the caboose fleet - http://www.mrha.com/catlist.cfm?passid=BK
Jim Bernier