Northern Pacific 1200 Series Caboose

[mstl 246]

I recently received the AMB N scale kit for these cool short NP cabooses (ii???). The history insert mentions a few made it past the BN merger and I am curious to know how long they lasted with BN before being retired.

Would anybody have access to the NPHS The Mainstreeter article from Fall 1987 "Wood Cabooses of the Northern Pacific" to check if roster detail is included?
I'm not sure if they would be in the ORERs, they were in the 1200 and 1700 number series with NP and BN renumbered them in the 10200.

Nat

[nkalanaga]

According to Robert C. Del Grosso's "Burlington Northern Caboose Book", the surviving NP 1200 series cabooses were renumbered in the 10200 series by the NP, and into the 10874-10906 group by the BN.  They, the 1300, and the 1600 series were all renumbered by the NP before the merger, and the BN lumped them together in the 10857-10921 series.

NP's 1700 series was renumbered into the 10700 series by the NP (see the pattern?), and became the BN 10929-10979 series.  He has a picture of the 10938, ex NP 10715, 1715, at Eola, IL in May of 1982.

[mstl 246]

Amazing, thanks for the info. Never would have thought they made it to the 1980's.

I'm guessing the 10938 in the photo has been repainted into a BN scheme?

Nat

[nkalanaga]

Yes, most of the cabooses pictured in the book were repainted.  In the case of the 10938, the picture shows the cupola on the left end, with an early single-panel consolidated stencil in the lower right corner, so it would probably have been repainted in 1972 or 73.  It still looks quite good in the 1982 picture.

For an old caboose, he also has a picture of BN 11068, ex-CB&Q 14555, ex-CB&Q 151, built 07-1877, whitelined, with a date that looks like 2-77, so it lasted 100 years!  That wasn't the oldest CB&Q caboose renumbered for the BN, but I don't know if the older ones were repainted, or when they were retired.

[wcfn100]

There's some BN repaints on this page.

http://www.trainweb.org/mcnwr/bncabs.html

Jason

[nkalanaga]

The BN 10935 is ex-NP 10712, 1712, but doesn't look quite the same as the 10938, 1715.  The 1715's left window is a little further to the right, not almost lined up with the cupola, unless that's because of the photo angle.  The 1715's herald and name has the "N" on "BURLINGTON" aligned with the left edge of the "N" under the right end of the cupola, and the number is in the lower left corner, aligned vertically with "NORTHERN"  An early single-panel consolidated stencil is in the lower right corner, with the lower edge aligned with the bottom of the name and number, and the lower right corner against the curved grabiron.  It also has 5 reflector spots instead of 4.

Obviously the shops made these up as they went.  The next picture on the website, BN 10929, doesn't look lie either one!  The windows match the 1715, though.

You can also look at the RR Picture Archives site, as they have quite a few caboose pictures, most with the date they were taken.  This will take you directly to the BN pictures by number index page:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsRange.aspx?id=BN

[mstl 246]

Thanks for the great info Nick and Jason! Way more stuff then my poor attempts at searching.

Nat