Cabooses for the Summer of 1909 in C&Sn3

[Jim Courtney]

About five years ago, I decided that my C&S model building needed some self-discipline, and I set out to focus my model building, in time, for three summers: 1901 (pancake stacks), 1909 (shotgun stacks) and 1924 (Ridgeway stacks). The specific plan was to acquire, build, paint and finish enough locomotive and rolling stock for one passenger train and two freight trains for each of the three summers. So, I needed at least two cabooses for each of my three rosters.

When it came to 1909, I didn't need to think about it, I knew immediately which two that I wanted:

C&S number 303, later 1002.



Back in March of 2015, Derrell Poole posted this photo of 1002 at the Argo Tunnel. Studying the photo under enlargement, I became convinced that 1002 was at this time an eight wheel caboose, riding on a pair of Peninsular 20 ton trucks. (See: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Derrell-s-Eight-wheel-Caboose-Hiding-in-Plain-Sight-td3634.html#a3639).  As soon as I saw this photo, I wanted a model of this car, prior to it becoming a 4 wheel bobber.


C&S 312, later 1009.

In October of 2015. I was able to buy a couple of small (2" x 3") photos on eBay. They were from an early Brownie camera, including this photo of C&S caboose 312 / 1009:




Details on an accompanying photo of C&S locomotive 9, taken the same day, suggested a date of 1909-1910. If so the photo would have been of one of the earliest caboose rebuilds to the modern configuration. The caboose had to be 312 / 1009 because of the square corners with vertical trim, like passenger car corners, unique to that car. Every time I held the little photo, a 115 year-old souvenir from someone's summer vacation, I wanted a model of that car (the child in the cupola was not a requirement).


The Models, Figuring Out Details:

303 / 1002



This photo is the only view of this car that I know of prior to 1930. Chris Walker has dated the photograph to no earlier than 1913, based on the tram cars and track behind the caboose. The car has its new 1911 number and has had USSA appliances added by the shops. There are two full length ladders on the car, the stiles curved at the top and attaching to lateral roof walks at the corners of the left side of the ends. There are no lateral roof walks near the cupola. The cupola roof has L-shaped grab irons at each corner of the cupola roof.  But, how did the car look in 1909? To aid my conjecture, I consulted a few photos of the little twin sisters of 1002.



This familiar photo c.1900 shows C&S 306, later 1005. It has ladders with straight stiles on each end; they don't appear to be full length, rather attached to the top of the end railing. There are narrow lateral running boards on either end of the cupola. Thee are four diagonal tension rods to keep the cupola square to the body. The only visible grabs on the cupola roof seem to be on the ends, not the sides of the roof.

A further detail of 306 /1005 from the same era, shows that the cupola end windows slid open toward the center, to allow access to the roof:



The cupola roof grab irons seem centered over each end window.


This photo, c1904, is presumed to be of C&S 310, later 1008:



The sister of 306 had a 4-board roof walk that didn't overhang the end of the roof. There is no ladder on this, the "B" end of the car. Is there one on the other end? Could be. There are no lateral roof walks near the end of the cupola, but after study I am convinced that the diagonal tension rods are there, as well as grabs on the cupola roof over each window.

So for my model of C&S 303, I decided to go with a 4-board roof walk with no roof overhang, no lateral roof walks, straight ladders on each end, diagonal tension rods for the cupola and grabs above the cupola end windows.


312 /109

My little photo shows lots but not all details:




The running board overhangs the roof end, but there are no little diagonal strap supports. There are narrow lateral roof walks at either end of the relocated cupola, and a toe board along the sides of the cupola. The end windows are now fixed, with the top of the frame now horizontal. There are diagonal tension rods on one side of the cupola, to the long car body roof side. There seems to be a single grab iron on the cupola roof, running along the side of the roof, but only half the length of the roof, centered over the cupola side window that opens.  Note the marker flag brackets.




This photo, at Grant, was taken a couple of years later, after 312 was renumbered 1009. No ladder on the "A" cupola end of the car. I count 4 boards on the roof walk. The toe boards along the cupola side are visible, but cannot tell if there is a ladder at the other end.

Another car seems to be a contemporary of 312, C&S 304, later 1003.




This Denver Water Board photo is dated 1912, after the renumbering. 1003 does have a single ladder with straight stiles, at the "B" end of the car. It has a running board along the long car body roof but not the short roof at the other end. Likewise there is a lateral roof walk to the left of the cupola, but not at the short end. The car does have the diagonal tension rods on the long roof end, and a toe board along the cupola side. The two long grabs on the cupola roof sides are visible, staggered over the opening window. The general appearance ot 1003 in this photo, with the amputated smoke jack, always suggested to me that it had been damaged in a wreck, perhaps this one:




The twisted ladder on the "B" end is visible next to the bent brake staff of the boxcar.

Any other info for the summer of 1909? Well, there is this:




I apologize, as I have forgotten who the kind person was who shared this very clear set of drawings with me. It originally came from the Colorado Railroad Museum.

The date at the bottom left corner is "6-22-08" as best I can tell. Hol Wagner has been quoted by Derrell Poole as saying that these were C&S drawings for a completely new class of C&S narrow gauge cabooses, and that no cars were actually built to these plans.  With all due respect to the scholarship of Mssrs. Wagner and Poole, I've always been skeptical of this assertion.

Let's pretend that Keith is tasked with drafting plans for a new class of C&S NG cabooses (it's OK to use CAD software). Why the heck would Keith draw an elevation plan with a boarded-up, double pane window under the left cupola wall on a new caboose? And why would Keith show four windows in the floor section, exactly where they were located on the inherited DL&G / UPD&G cabooses??

IMHO, these are general plans for the rebuilding of the inherited cabooses to their modern configuration, and closely match the final dimensions of 300 / 1000, 303 / 1003 and 312 / 1009. The caboose rebuilding program is thought to have begun in late 1908 but progressed slowly over several years. The plans also confirm that half length end ladders were common on C&S cabooses.

So I drew upon all these details and info in building my model of 312.


Building the Models:

Both cabooses were heavily modified Overland C&S brass cabooses, imported in the 1990s. The original OMI 1002 had all the modern appliances carefully removed and a new floor built from styrene:





Bolsters were laid out on 9 foot centers and Peninsular 20 ton trucks (from Rio Grande Models) were installed. Before painting, I detailed the underframe with brake rigging. All the C&S cabooses seemed to use KC brake cylinders that had a smaller diameter than those on freight cars, and I used Tichy HO scale cylinders instead:




The most tedious part of the conversions was filling any holes on the roof with brass wire, then laying out and drilling all the new holes for the 1909 grabs and tension rods. The original OMI ladders were saved, cut flush under the bottom most rung and then soldered to the top of the end railings. After all the metal work was finished, the cars got a couple of coats of Tamiya fine grey primer, and I tried something I did with the baggage car project. I used MEK very sparingly to attach Grandt NBW next to the grab irons and built up running boards from Evergreen styrene, tacked them in place on the roof with MEK, then secured them with thin ACC.

Anyhow, here is how my 303 turned out:







For my model of 312 / 1009, I had purchased an Overland 1009 brass caboose years ago but realized that it had the skinny upper facia board that didn't show up until the 1930s, so I sold it and found a second OMI 1000 to use. I started out by removing anything that didn't look like it belonged in 1909:




I replaced the OMI wheel sets with NWSL code 88 shouldered axle wheel sets that actually roll and replaced the brass cast brake cylinder with a styrene mounting board and Tichy HO KC cylinder:

 


All the grab iron drilling, hole filling and after primer detailing was done like that of 303. I approximated the vertical trim on the corners with Plastruct 0.015" styrene rod bonded to the primer layers with MEK and ACC. This is how 312 turned out in Sn3:






Paint and Letteering:

The two cars were painted using slightly different shades of my go-to Polyscale "Rock Island Maroon". Lettering is from a Cimarron Works HO scale C&S block Gothic freight car sets. I tried to copy the size and location of the lettering as close as I could, but had to cut the letters and subscript words apart and rearrange them. Looking at the prototype photos, the C&S paint shop had similar problems.


Glass, Monkey Tails and Markers:

All windows in both models had microscope cover glass cut and installed with small dots of epoxy. The glass cutting was tedious as I had to dodge wire from the grabs that protruded to the interior. As more cabooses are in the works, I went to the trouble of drawing templates for cutting and test fit a few of the more tedious windows using pieces of file card:




Judging from the small vent on one corner of the roof, C&S 303 / 1002 may have been the only C&S NG caboose to have an inside privy. I made a view block of black styrene and added a mostly drawn shade behind the end window's glass to give the trainmen some privacy.

First decade photos show passenger cars and cabooses with marker flags on the rear end during daytime hours, the oil markers were hung only after dark. PBL has cast brass "Extra marker flags". I bought several sets, painted them red with wood staffs and installed them in brackets made from HO scale handrail stanchions.

Monkey tails were fabricated as in the "Making Monkey Tails" thread and installed. First decade monkey tails seem to have longer pipe sections and shorter hoses.




I'm quite pleased at how this five year project has finally turned out, with two one-of a kind C&S cabooses.

[Chris Walker]

Marvelous photo essay Jim!  That must took some time to put together(ask me how I know  ) for us; many thanks for this tremendous work.

I'm in agreement of the Draughtmans error on the windows, they're simply obsolete with an end-cupola.

I've long admired the centre-cupola version.  Just why they would rebuild it to a 4-wheeler beats me but I have ridden in one of our short Guardsvans at "around 50mph" and it wasn't possible to stay standingup inside, while on skipping over jointed 91LB rail, so maybe the ride at 10mph was too much for your chaps.

Are you going for the trifecta?

[Keith Hayes]

Yes, Jim, I second Chris' applause. Terrific post.

Thanks for making the time to write it all down!

[Jim Courtney]

Thanks Chris and Keith,

Truth is, a post like this is a form of closure for me, when a long drawn-out project is finally complete, so I can move on.

Rather than pile all my photos, plans, notes, etc. into a filing folder which is then misplaced, posting that stuff here is easier for me to find later. And if there is another odd C&S fan interested in the first decade out there, it might be useful to him.

Are you going for the trifecta?




Nope, Chris, I've only owned one of the OMI 1002 models, haven't seen one for sale for many years. For my 1924 roster, I'm planning on 1000 and 1005:





C&S 1000 is nearly finished, just need to add glass to the windows and wire up a TCS FL-2 to a current keeper for the oil markers.




My Overland C&S 1005 is still shiny brass, still in the box . . .