hello forum,
can anyone tell me if the lionel model #17606 or #19754 standard o caboose were modelled after a prototypical nyc caboose and if so, was it a steel sided or wood sided caboose, from what era, and did it preceed the century green steel sided cabooses.
thanks,
bernard
bernard,
Yes these cabooses are loosley modeled on the NYC 19XXX series cabooses. The NYC owned many of them. It was wood sided, with a wood underframe. they were mostly built in the early 20th century. A few were later painted in pacemaker paint, and a few in “Jade” green. Many of them survived into the 60s, some with some or all windows boarded over. Some of them were covered in plywood, some had side braces installed from the bolsters in a diagonal up to center of the top of the sides. Boston & Albany, Pittsburg & Lake Erie, as well as several other subs of the NYC had them as well. They do have lot numbers just like most other NYC rolling stock. Lionel originally made that caboose in a 1/4 scale model to go with their famous 700E #5344 hudson, as well as the #717 Semi-Scale hudson. If you would like more info let me know.
Paul
Bernard,
Some of the cabs, which had to travel under overhead obstructions, had low cupolas.
Ralph
Bernard,
Scan the pasted attachment and bring it up to your search bar, then scroll down to Lot #732.
Look in the center of Lot #732, there are five boxcars that were converted to “Pacemaker” cabs.
Click and see a B.&W. photo. of a converted boxcar-into a “Pacemaker” cab and notice the low cupola.
Here’s a color photo.:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0934088047/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/NYC-MODELS-CABOOSE.htm
Ralph
hello paul,
thank you for the info and yes, i would really be interested in more information i am not sure if others would be interested, but you can surely contact me at my email address phrozenace@tmo.blackberry.net. since these were made early in the 20th century, would it have been prototypical to see them behind f3’s or baldwin sharks in freight consists? when did the century green bay window caboose become a part of nyc’s inventory and were they steel sided or wood-sided.
thanks,
bernard
bernard,
The wooden cabooses like the Lionel model were with the NYC through to the merger with the Pennsy in early 1968. You can put them behind any diesel engine the NYC had. The Century Green bay window cabooses were steel underframed and steel siding. They were originally painted the same brown color the 19XXX cabooses were, and were later painted Century Green (commenly refered to as Jade Green by many modelers.) If I remember correctly the Century Green bay window cabooses first started hitting the road in the late 50s, but they were brown when new. I am not at home right now so I can’t verify the exact date. They did not all receive the green paint at the same time, but rather as they were shopped for other reasons. The bay window cabooses were of several lot numbers and there are differences in them. Several of the roads affiliated with the NYC also had the bay window cabooses, with a NYC logo,usually on the left between the bay and the window, with their railroad reporting marks like P&LE in the middle under the bay. The NYC ones had the same locaion for the Cigar Band logo with the NYC reporting mark centered under the bay.
The final batch of “cabooses” were cracker boxes on flats. They were rebuilt from box cars and had a simple square box cabin in the middle. I first started seeing them in the early sixties and they were used as transfer cabooses between yards usually. They seemed to be unique to each individual example, with differences in railings, vents, and the oil fired cabin heaters were removed and replaced with propane heaters. I do not know if Lionel had any of those cabooses or not.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
At least one of these cabooses was converted to a snow-blower by putting a military surplus jet engine in it. The operator (and observers like me) stood on a platform with heads in the cupola overlooking the jet exhaust which could be moved with a few degrees of freedom via a joy stick.
There were a few problems with it though. Running the switcher that moved it and a tank car of fuel was really tricky because of the jet engine’s intermittent thrust. The operator also had to be very careful to keep the jet exhaust moving lest ties be set on fire; a man on the ground stood by to put out these fires.
I never thought they were cost effective; probably a yardmaster’s and mechanical department’s toy. But seeing 6’ slabs of ice blown out of the way was really impressive. [:D]