Hi,
I received the N scale Atlas cupola caboose for Christmas. I would like to detail it a bit and have a few questions. I noticed that many of the PRR caboose pictures on-line all have black roof areas. I was wondering the era of this particular caboose and if it should have a black roof. It is painted boxcar red (the whole thing) w/ white PRR lettering. If it needs to be painted, is it just the roof, or does the whole top get painted including the cupola sides? Thanks for the info----Rob
If I’m not mistaken, Pennsy had many cabeese from many eras that all had different characteristics, and sometime a caboose from one eras paint scheme would be repainted in a later scheme. We’d need more info to really help if you want it to look like the real thing.
Is this the one you got?
Or was it this one?
These are the only two current Atlas offerings that I could find.
Perhaps you could find a pic in the caboose section of this page: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/rolling.html
Oh, that’s a tough one. Up until it seems around the late 1940s, the PRR cabin car (that’s Pennsy for caboose) was painted all Freight Car Color (sort of a bright oxide with amost an orange hue). After that it seems they were painted Freight Car Color with black roofs and cupolas. Then toward the end of the 1950s, those cabins in interdivisional service had their cupolas painted yellow, but kept a black roof. Then, in the 1960s, they started being painted Focal Orange with black roofs but orange cupolas.
So, I suppose it depends on your era.
Warning: Rivet counting ahead! I’m a PRR-prototype modeler, so I kind of take these things to heart. You can take it or leave it. And please don’t let it discourage you from having fun! But…
The Atlas cupola caboose is not a true PRR prototype. In other words, that kind of caboose never saw service on the Pennsy. The only manufacturer I know making N scale Pennsy cabin cars (cabooses) in plastic is Bowser (they make the N5 and N5c).
Many Pennsy cabins in service between WWII and 1965-ish also had special Trainphone radio antennas mounted on the roof. These can be purchased from Gold Medal Models (what I use) and from Bowser.
Here’s a picture of a Bowser N5C on my layout detailed to represent service in 1956 (with Trainphone antennae):
The top caboose is one Penn Central acquired from the New Haven when it was absorbed into Penn Central in 1969, one year after the 1968 PRR-NYC merger. The bottom is an AT&SF prototype.
PRR built all of their own cabins, and all were based on 4 basic designs. The wooden ND 4-wheeled cabin was pretty much gone from service after WWII (you can find a few in Strasburg, PA today). The N6 was also wooden but lasted until the 1950s. The N5 series was most numerous (hundreds), of which the N5C (200 units) was a variant that featured porthole windows instead of square windows and a streamlined cupola. The N8 (another 200 units) was built post WWII and resembled the N5 series but featured extended end platforms, square windows, and a streamlined cupola.
Check out this website: http://www.byz.org/~morven/Railway32/cabins/index.html
The AT&SF cabooses did show up on the former PRR lines when PC came around. PC bought a group of them, and modified into its N5k class. This involved plugging all the original windows, and installing an NYC-style bay window.
Quite a few PRR/PC/CR caboose photos can be found over on www.hebners.net
Sorry for going off-topic a bit there 