Hi Folks,
Is there some knowledgeable soul out there who can supply we with the following information:
When did the UP begin painting Cabooses yellow?
When did the last red UP Cabooses disappear?
I model early 1950’s and am wondering just how much I need to stretch reality to run both on my layout… I like both liveries(!).
All the best,
Ken Attwood,
Newquay, Cornwall, UK.
Ken,
This web link should answer your questions:
http://www.utahrails.net/caboose/caboose-paint.php#red
Jim
My last photo of a Union Pacific red caboose was 1981, on a run through train on the C&NW in Milwaukee. It as a bay window caboose.
Dave Nelson
Thank you both for the information. I can run both on my 1952-ish layout with out stretching history in this case!
All the best,
Ken Attwood
I would guess that red UP bay window caboose was one of the ex-RI cabooses that the UP had originally finaced. They went back to UP when the RI shut down in 1980. Along with some engines and freight cars that were also financed through the UP.
Jeff
EDITED POST – Jeff is correct, read on:
Well if you want to be accurate you really want to nail down your research. My prior post is correct but potentially very misleading. The bay window caboose I saw in the 1980s was presumably Class CA-13.
UP switched to bay window from cupola types starting with Class CA-11 in 1978, and they also acquired cabooses from other roads, such as MP and Rock Island.
I know now that the caboose I saw was a former Rock Island caboose that was painted red by the Rock and just relettered by UP, rather than repainted, so do not assume anything from the fact that it was red in 1981.
In 1952 the UP did not any bay window cabooses, and the newest class would have been CA-5 – brand new in '52. So what prototype are you running?
According to the website http://utahrails.net/caboose/caboose-steel.php#ca-5 Jim provided the UP began painting cabooses yellow in 1947. Obviously they were not all repainted overnight. But CA-3 (1942) and CA-4 (1944) would have been the likely steel cupola cabooses in your era, and they came painted red and were repainted yellow after 1947. Class CA-5 was built in 1952 and they were the first that came painted yellow from the start.
So your real inquiry is, when did the last of the red steel cupola cabooses from the 1940s finally visit the paint shop? Sorry if my prior posting about 1981 was misleading. I wonder if one of the many Morning Sun books would resolve this issue?
Dave Nelson
I looked in my UP reference books last night but didn’t post to the topic - and now I don’t have the books in front of me… I could not locate an exact ending date for the repainting program, but what I did find suggested the process was complete for the steel cabooses sometime in 1950, after which priority shifted to repainting the remaining wood cabooses. If you’re modeling 1952, it could therefore be something of a stretch to have a CA-3 or -4 still painted red.
Thanks again for the info but Dave’s statement that the Up didn’t have any Bay Window Cabooses before 1978 makes a nonsense of my accuracy drive!
I model in “O” on the cheap and my prize UP caboose is a passable bay window model - kit-bashed out of an Atlas wide vision caboose!
Rob’s statement that all of the steel cabooses had been repainted by 1950 really sinks it without trace as my red caboose is a steel one kit-bashed out of an old KTM kit from the 1960’s that I found on e-bay! Now all I’ve got to do is invent a plausible reason why they both exist on my (very) freelanced layout.
Never mind, such is life!!!
All the best, and thanks again,
Ken Attwood,
Newquay, Cornwall, UK>
On the plus side, you could also kitbash an Atlas wide vision to capture the spirit of a UP CA class, remove the extended cab, cut down the center and remove material from both sides evenly until overall demensions are just past the existing car sides, use styrene to fill any gaps in the car side and remove all protruding material associated with the orginal wide vision from the car sides.
The narrowed cab should drop back into its orginal location although, it will sit a bit lower then UP standards, build the cab height up 2 feet by adding material to the bottom on all four sides. Critical details that differ will be window demensions- locations and the cupola offset, it would be easier to salvage a new roof from a suitable doner then try to fill the existing, cut and shape a new opening-or one could accept it as is. I guess your already aware of the need for replacement GSC trucks and the complete lack of any rivet detail for which we have the miracle of rivet decals. Detail/paint per UP standards.
I did this years ago to some Athearn HO examples, see no reason why it wouldn’t work in O scale.
I model in S scale, and with the exception of one brass member of the fleet, I use a readily available RTR example as the basis for my SP, CA wooden caboose fleet, I don’t get worked up over the incorrect window spacing, but do replace the cupola with a home made casting specific for the era i’m modeling.
Dave
Hi Dave,
I did think about the conversion to a UP cupola caboose when I bashed the wide vision model, but all of the cabooses on the free lanced short line that my UP interchanges with had cupolas and I thought that the wide vision caboose would contrast nicely with them. Unfortunately, I can no longer get hold of the cheap undecorated Atlas models (I think Bev-Bel marketed them) that were available a few years ago.
I don’t go for super-detailed models as the bits tend to get knocked off during operating sessions, and those old generic model kits were perfect. just add scale wheels (or new trucks) and Kadees and they were about the standard of my scratch building.
No, I’ll have to invent a railroad that the UP has taken over to explain the anomalies… I think its what Tony Koester calls “Imagineering”.
I haven’t tried rivet decals yet, I still use a typewriter for embossing 5 thou plastic sheet to make rivet overlays. Thanks for the suggestion, though, I’ll give them a try.
All the best,
Ken Attwood,
Newquay, Cornwall, UK.
Ken I think the solution is to run your trains very slowly. That way you can explain that while the head-end is seen in 1952, by the time the caboose rolls by it is 1981.
Dave Nelson