Bending Time On the UP

[robert3985]

  I beg differ, The Arnold Rapido / Revell caboose is a low rider not a great underframe would not look good with those trucks , do not bother. The Con Cor as Bobs photo shows is much better except for the board spacing, it was first offered by Trix as an old timer  car. There was a large lantern on the top of the copula like in the B&W photo as you can see Bob removed this as by the yellow painted era they were no longer used.  Nate Goodman (Nato).

The more I get into this, the more I am finding I did not remember about these cabooses.

Nate's been at this a lot longer than I have, and I would imagine that he has one of these cabooses in his collection that has or had the lantern on top, but none of the ones I have, have ever had the cupola lantern box.

Since they actually represent a Union Pacific Non-Common-Standard caboose and were in use in my time period (1947 thru 1956) I am becoming a bit more interested in their possible use on my layout, so I'll post my findings here if anybody else wants to know what they're about.

I have three of them, from different manufacturers...Revell, Arnold, and Con-Cor.

Let's see which is "best" to represent a U.P. N.C.S. Caboose in the Transition Era.

None of my models has the big, square lantern on the cupola, but...I remember seeing models of these with that lantern and I am not sure who manufactured them or when.  This lantern is correct for many U.P. cabooses in the Pre-Harriman and Harriman Era and some of these persisted into the early 40's before being removed.

It appears that the Revell and Arnold cabooses have been injected using the same tooling, as the details on the car body are identical, as well as the underbody.  Labeling on the underbody says both were made in W. Germany by "Arnold Rapido". Main features of these car bodies are the running boards are integrally cast into the roofs (not separate) with thin running boards running side to side fore and aft of the cupola as per some N.C.S. UP cabooses in the late 1890's and into the early 1900's. Four L-shaped cupola grabs are cast on to the corners of the cupola top. These models also do not have smokejacks, nor mounting holes for a smokejack that may have come off and got lost.  Underbodies have very little cast-on brake furniture but end platforms and ladders are one casting.  Also cast into the sides are square marker lantern boxes.  The Rapido couplers are truck mounted, the trucks being mounted to the bolsters with split pins that are integrally cast into the underbody.  Also, the cupola is part of the body casting and cannot be removed.

Photo (1) - Arnold-Rapido U.P. Caboose 3/4 Photo:


Photo (2) - Arnold-Rapido U.P. Caboose Underbody Photo:


Photo (3) - Arnold-Rapido U.P. Caboose Side Photo:


The Con-Cor models appears to be entirely new tooling from the Arnold-Rapido model with many separate details.  Country of manufacture is Austria.  This model has roof panel lines, a separate smokejack, separate running boards and a separate, removable cupola with cast-on full-surround cupola grab and two little round "nubs" inside the surround grab, which I don't know what are supposed to represent.  Running boards are more modern, and no running boards fore and aft of the cupola sides.  The chassis includes the main body and the end platform & steps, but the end ladders and railings are separately cast.  Lots of brake, rivet and board details cast on to the underbody and the trucks are mounted using bolster pins, which are compatible with MTL bolster pins.  Original trucks are incorrect, but Panamint non-offset bolster hole "Q" trucks plug in with no modifications necessary.  Rapido couplers are body mounted with metal covers and appropriate N-scale MTL couplers work great with no shims or hole drilling.

Photo (4) - Con-Cor U.P. Caboose 3/4 Shot:


Photo (5) - Con-Cor U.P. Caboose Underbody Shot:


Photo (6) - Con-Cor U.P. Caboose Side Shot:


As for running gear, I don't see any difference between ride height of the Arnold-Rapido models and the Con-Cor model other than the old Rapido truck mounted couplers are lower than MTL couplers.  Body height appears to be very close to the same, both top and bottom.

Photo (7) - Body Height Comparo between Arnold-Rapido & Con-Cor UP Cabooses:


After looking at the models, both of them have positive and negative points, but both would require a lot of work to get something I'd be happy with.  I like the separate parts of the Con-Cor model, especially the separate running boards and the cupola, but...I like the thinner siding boards on the Arnold-Rapido model which are about 2/3rds as thick as on the Con-Cor model.

However, for a model railroad set in 1880 to 1900, either one of these might be just the ticket, especially by replacing the trucks with the Panamint "Q" Trucks and adding truss rods.

For me, I'm not going to expend any more effort on either one since I've never seen a photo of an N.C.S. caboose on U.P. property between Ogden and Wahsatch in my time period, all the photos being in Nebraska, Kansas and California.

As for which one is "best"...if you don't mind the super-wide siding boards, the Con-Cor model is better.  However, if the super-wide boards bug the Hell out of you...with more work, the Arnold-Rapido model might yield a better model.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Nato]

     Thanks for the height difference photo. The Rapido car never had a smoke jack. Body looks like the old CA body Revell used on their HO UP caboose with the brakeman figure on the rear platform. Trix/ Con Cor car does come with a lantern on the copula top as in the B&W photo. The center windows on Copulas on UP/SP cabooses displayed train numbers. Later removed by UP ,on my Micro Trains models where I installed window glazing I painted out this glazed window to follow modern practice. MT end ladders and railings if they could be attached would improve the Con Cor car. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[ncbqguy]

Just for the record:
The “Con-Cor” car was a Rocco car that was first marketed by MiniTrix as part of their “Old Timers” series.
I believe the cars in that group were actually initiated by Charles Merzbach for his stillborn “Piccolo” series which was meant to replace the Arnold Rapido line when he lost it to Revell.  The only item that made it to market was a version of the Rowa MRC Y6b mallet.   After Atlas, JC Timmer, MiniTrix, and AHM were through with Roco Con-Cor, E-R, ESM, and probably others I disremember at the moment could get runs of many of the cars in the tooling.
Charlie Vlk

[nickelplate759]

Just for the record:
The “Con-Cor” car was a Rocco car that was first marketed by MiniTrix as part of their “Old Timers” series.
I believe the cars in that group were actually initiated by Charles Merzbach for his stillborn “Piccolo” series which was meant to replace the Arnold Rapido line when he lost it to Revell.  The only item that made it to market was a version of the Rowa MRC Y6b mallet.   After Atlas, JC Timmer, MiniTrix, and AHM were through with Roco Con-Cor, E-R, ESM, and probably others I disremember at the moment could get runs of many of the cars in the tooling.
Charlie Vlk

Walthers too!  I have that caboose from Walthers in NKP paint.

[ncbqguy]

Yes…I told you I would disremember!
Charlie Vlk

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice writeup on the UP cabooses, Bob. Here's a shot of both major types on Cajon, cca 1947, still in mineral red.
Don't know the photographer.
Otto K.

[robert3985]

Nice writeup on the UP cabooses, Bob. Here's a shot of both major types on Cajon, cca 1947, still in mineral red.
Don't know the photographer.
Otto K.

@Cajonpassfan Thanks Otto, and that's a great photo but, believe it or not, both cabooses in this photo are classed as CA-1's.  LA&SL's East Los Angeles Shops built 16 CA-1's using the Harriman-era CA body and a steel underframe...numbers 3356-3363 and 3373-3375.  It was the stronger all steel underframe that earned the designation CA-1 over the older CA's with their steel-strengthened wooden underframes.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[robert3985]

     Thanks for the height difference photo. The Rapido car never had a smoke jack. Body looks like the old CA body Revell used on their HO UP caboose with the brakeman figure on the rear platform. Trix/ Con Cor car does come with a lantern on the copula top as in the B&W photo. The center windows on Copulas on UP/SP cabooses displayed train numbers. Later removed by UP ,on my Micro Trains models where I installed window glazing I painted out this glazed window to follow modern practice. MT end ladders and railings if they could be attached would improve the Con Cor car. Nate Goodman (Nato).

I need to make it clear that the Con-Cor N.C.S. caboose was detailed by Nate @Nato .  All I did was paint a couple of Panamint Models "Q" trucks, pop the old trucks off and mount the new trucks in their place...with FVM narrow low-pro wheelsets of course!  Nate recently gave this caboose to me, which I've added to my UP caboose collection. 

Thanks Nate!!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[R L Smith]

As someone who models the northeastern part of the country, I really have no interest in or desire for a UP caboose.  But Bob Gilmore's documentation and photography of all the the model variants over the years is simply outstanding!!


Ron