Hey Guys, I just finished these two cabooses, what do you think?
nice work. what was the significance of the yellow cupola? i see it is a square winidow cabin car but why did they paint the cupola yellow?
these cabs were still plentiful after the PC merger but the road crews preferred the NYC cabs because they road better. especially on the high speed trains like intermodal service. the old PRR cabs were built for strength because of the use of pushers behind them back east but some of them rode pretty much like a buckboard.
i guess they would survive a nuclear war along with twinkies and cockroaches.
grizlump
Very nice.
The N8 looks great. There was some chatter on a PRR forum awhile back about the N5 and the N5c ever receiving keystones. AMB Laser kit #256 for windows for your N5c. I must have over 30 Bowser N5 and N5c cabins on my roster(Most with Keystones). Some I have built without the crash beams, some with antennas, and some with added details. They are very nice kits that build relatively easy. The end rails are delicate and the mounting pins are easy to break. The N8 is too new for my era. I would like to pick up a couple N6 bobbers (4 wheel). Some ran all the way into the Conrail era.
Pete
There are 2 schools of thought on the painted cupolas:
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yellow cupolas signified east-west pool service, gray cupolas signified north-south pool service.
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yellow cupolas signified non-electrified territory pool service, the gray cupolas were electrified territory pool cabins.
I don’t know which is right, but I lean toward the second.
Nice looking cabins you got there!
Dave
Puddlejumper - Welcome to Trains.com! [C):-)]
Being a former PRR brakeman those cabins are way to clean and shiny…
For models they’re outstanding!
Great job![tup]
Out of curiosity, why would it matter?
John
All PRR cabin cars except the N6B was in pool service.
Yellow coupla was East/West and Gray was North South…
A black coupla could go either direction.
The wooden N6B was assigned to urban locals,transfer runs and work trains.The N6Bs had steel underframes…
According to Keystone Crossings, the Yellow Cupola signifies a caboose in pooled service.
John
Love 'em! Post more examples when you can!
I had a Bowser N5c in the Philly Division paint scheme with a keystone herald and trainphone antenna I recently sold. I liked it a lot, but became more interested in pre-shadow keystone Pennsy equipment. So I picked up a Walthers N5c in the plain-lettering, no circle keystone, lettering. A couple details and some paint and it looks good! Now it needs new couplers, and weathering.
I found Intermountain wheels to fit in the Walthers trucks really well and oh wow do they improve the rolling qualities.
That’s a great site but,there is some omissions.
From back when I was an avid PRR modeler … the book “Cabin Cars of the Pennsylvania and Long Island Railroads” pubished by NJ International, now known as a signal maker but back then a major brass importer. It was their Caboose Data Book No. 2.
As part of a caption for a drawing of class N8 (the one you can approximate with a modifcation of the old Tyco train set caboose by the way) they say “Cabin Cars with grey Cupolas signified North-South Pool assignment, yellow Cupolas East-West Pool assignments.”
In the photos the gray is almost white
The book shows an N5c (with the double porthole side windows at either end) with a yellow cupola, a keystone between the windows and the number 477897 down below centered.
There is also a shot of an N5E (four square side windows, but the cupola slightly off center) with what looks like an orange cupola. 477594.
My goodness - I paid $12.95 for that book on March 5, 1983.
Dave Nelson
Sharp looking nice job
Nice lookin cabins! Need to do an N8 and N5C myself one of these days…
Very nicely done.