SOUTHERN RAILWAY
CABOOSE PROJECTS

I am a fan of the Southern Railway (US) and the Southern Railway (UK). One of my biggest disappointments in the US-oriented model railroad industry is the propensity of manufactures to concentrate on northeastern and western railroads and just slapping paint and decals on models of those prototypes for every other railroad and thinking that modelers are stupid or don't care. WE DO CARE! When Athearn started making bay window caboose kits, they went with one basic style and pretended every railroad had that style. When I was a young model railroader (under 13 years old) I was just happy to have something close enough. However, there are some distinctive features on Southern bay windows such as the brake wheel mounting, steps, grab irons, as well as the number and position of windows. Even worse were other manufactures who catered more to the toy industry that painted the wrong color (green) on completely the wrong style caboose. Again, kids NOTICE stuff more readily than adults, so that is a direct insult to the observation skills and intelligence of children.

I do not enumerate myself as a rivet counter, but the lack of disctinctive features on my models started bothering me. In my graduate school days, I worked part-time at a hobby shop, and I took the opportunity to buy undecorated kits and decals using my discount with the intent of making some model cabooses that were more satisfactory--more accurate, if not overly precise. Luckily, I had a copy of Model Railroader magazine that described all the parts (available at the time) and process of modifying an Athearn kit.

Unfortunately, for me, it was over 30 years before I got around to customizing a caboose. Work, other hobbies, lack of space, etc. I shared my work and progress online and feedback was mixed as rivet counters were quick to point out shortcomings without understanding my goal, but other people were more encouraging, and one was enthusiastic enough to trade some HO scale rolling stock for a caboose I happened to number the same as the 1:1 one they owned.

Southern Cabooses
		The first step was to trip off the battery box and fuel tank hardware from the Athearn kit, then make the doors blank and replace the rectangular end windows with porthole style windows. Some E-8 window details fit the bill perfectly. I had to do some scraping and sanding to remove the details of the old window before plugging it up with Squadron putty and drilling a hole for the new window. A later caboose got a window plug made from a coffee stirrer. Southern caboose steps are not like passenger car steps as the Athearn end platforms come as if they are passenger cars. I didn't make a faithful reproduction, but I did make the steps more ladder like--which was a compromise.
		For the more modern era cabooses, I plated over the windows on either side of the bay window to match the prototype, and filed the remaining windows square. These are the Southern caboose styles I remember when I was growing up. Older versions of the caboose had 4 square windows on each side, so for a different project I added openings and squared all the windows up.
	As I was using materials at hand, I tried telephone wire to make the distinctive handgrabs. The jig was just a piece of wood with marks and some nails to use for bending the wire to the correct shape. It isn't a total success, but again, good enough for me to get the right visual impression. Once a caboose is rolling by, no one is chasing it down with calipers to make sure the grab irons are perfect. Southern had a frame from deck to roof for the brake wheels, so I made those with the simple expedient of shaping some coffee stirrers and trimming them to length. Again, a visual cue, not perfection was my goal.
	When I posted pictures of x657, the current owner of the 1:1 caboose saw it and requested a trade, and then asked if I could do one in N scale. It turns out I had a bay window in red and the decals to do it (probably from ambitions 30 years ago). I got a number of pieces of rolling stock in return, and I was planning to make more cabooses anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. I started more projects to build two more for myself.
	Once I finished painting and decalling caboose x200, I learned it was designated for local service, so after painting the body red, I had to go back and repaint the bay window yellow.
	The third HO project represents an older version of the bay window caboose. Four windows with the small shades. There is an example on display in Spartanburg, SC, so I used it as inspiration for this build.
	As a steam era afficianado, the bay window cabooses aren't exactly consistent with the time period, so I do have a few wooden cabooses as well. I grew up seeing the bay window cabooses, so that is why I started my modeling journey on these.... I'm not likely to make anything look like a brass model or a professional modeler's work. More experienced and skilled modelers have shown their work on the various forums, and my efforts pale in comparison. I'm not worried. It isn't a competition, and realistically, my layout will never have visitors, so the only person I am trying to satisfy is me.