Is there a caboose that duplicated Paint scheme, Init/Num in N, HO, O?

[learmoia]

One if my collecting focuses is finding production variations in older N scale products.. (Color variations, use of print pads across multiple body styles ect)..

Eventually I discovered this extended across scales (Between N and HO.. and eventually O.. ) Mostly involving Atlas and AHM.

I have found samples of several freight cars that share the same paint scheme across N, HO and O...
Carnation Milk Reefer CM 25003
Norfolk Southern Gon NS 7700
Santa Fe 40' Boxcar ATSF 15231
Utah Coal Gon is another one..
I'm finding I could include Locomotive IHB 102 (the 0-8-0)

But I'm looking for a caboose.. but I'm not sure anything crossed over all 3 scales..

Any ideas?

~Ian

[randgust]

Try your Santa Fe cabooses; post-1970 the number prefix is always '999___'   That body style is certainly everywhere, not always well executed, but MTH in O scale does the offset cupola one and Lionel does the extended vision one, and the favorite paint scheme (undeservedly) is the yellow cupola, which designated a local service-only caboose (that had'nt been upgraded to pool standards).   Hey, it sells.

In both HO and N you'll find multiple numbers of those made by Intermountain.    In N I've now got ..... 8 of them in 'factory' numbers.  But everybody from Athearn to Weaver has done ATSF cupola cabooses.

I have that Atlas N scale Atlas ATSF boxcar 15231, and it seemed to me that number didn't show in the equipment register, something odd like that.

[robert3985]

If you're looking for various products that are the same paint scheme, the same type of caboose in 3 scales (N, HO, O) a good bet is Intermountain Centralia Car Shops N-scale CA-3/CA-4 cabooses...in a lot of different UP paint schemes, representing different time periods and usage, and Intermountain Centralia Car Shops HO scale CA-3/CA-4 cabooses...in a lot of different UP paint schemes representing different time periods and usage...and in O scale, Lionel makes, or has made many variations of the UP CA-3/CA-4 cabooses.

Here's Intermountain's Centralia Car Shops N-scale products...many of which are discontinued, including all of their UP CA-3/CA-4 cabooses, but these are available still on eBay and other places at premium prices: https://intermountain-railway.com/distrib/ccs/ccsn.htm

Here's Intermountain's Centralia Car Shops HO scale products and I have no idea what's available since I don't delve into HO scale: https://www.intermountain-railway.com/distrib/ccs/ccsho.html

For Lionel O scale UP CA-3/CA-4 cabooses, it's better to google "lionel O gauge union pacific ca-3 ca-4 caboose" because their site makes you look through literally hundreds of cars to find them, and many they've made aren't pictured at their site.  But, here's a link to their site where the UP cabooses are: https://www.lionel.com/search?query=union%20pacific%20scale%20ca-4%20caboose

To carry this even further, UP CA-3 cabooses are available from AZL in Z-scale.  See them here: https://www.americanzline.com/caboose/ca-3-steel-caboose/

Photo (1) - Z-Scale UP CA-3 brass cabooses from AZL:


Photo (2) - N-Scale UP CA-3/CA-4 caboose from Intermountain Centralia Car Shops:



Photo (3) - HO-Scale UP CA-3/CA-4 caboose from Intermountain Centralia Car Shops:



Photo (4) - O-Scale UP CA-3/CA-4 caboose from Lionel:



N-scale Brass CA-3/CA-4 are occasionally available online, the newer Overland versions being the only ones with factory paint...but they're rare.

HO scale CA-3/CA-4 cabooses are readily available from other manufacturers than Centralia Car Shops, such as Trix and/or Marklin.  Lots of painted brass models are available also...some expensive, some not-so-expensive.

I didn't do much research into what's available in O-gauge/scale.  Google kept giving me Lionel, but, there are a lot of Lionel UP CA-3/CA-4 cabooses for sale.

I'm pretty sure that only AZL is making Z-scale UP CA-3's, but, I might be wrong.

I couldn't find any G-scale CA-3/CA-4's, but I didn't look very deep or long.

If you're wanting to match numbers too, all of these are available in various paint schemes with various numbers, so maybe you'll get lucky!

Other styles of cabooses are available for other roads too at these sites, but I'm a UP guy, so you can do your own research on the other caboose styles and roads.

I found it interesting the that most common UP caboose...their wooden CA-1...is available in Z, HO and O, but not in N-scale.  There's an old caboose made back in the 60's and early 70's by Rapido/Revell/ConCor that vaguely resembles a CA-1, but it's modeled after a UP N.C.S. early (late 1800's) caboose...and is a POS.

Have fun!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Missaberoad]

I have that Atlas N scale Atlas ATSF boxcar 15231, and it seemed to me that number didn't show in the equipment register, something odd like that.

Looking at my October, 1967 and January, 1973 ORERs that number is part of a series of 50 foot boxcars with 8 foot doors and FD loading equipment.
At least the early manufacturers picked a boxcar! 

[thomasjmdavis]

I don't know about numbers being the same, but I might suggest the ubiquitous GREEN ATSF stock car.  I read once that the "prototype" for this was a Lionel product many years ago.  Both the MTL and most recent Atlas versions of the green stock car are on models of NYC Despatch stock cars (rebuilt 1920s boxcars). I am pretty sure someone also did it in the early days of N scale, on a Roco or Mehano stock car. It has certainly been done in both HO and O scale.

According to all the ATSF references I have, green paint on a stock car is a fantasy- they real ones were painted mineral brown.  Granted, over the years, and between different shops on the ATSF, mineral brown was not always a uniform color, and some sources indicate it was a redder hue after WWII (or, in some references, after 1951), but whatever color it really was, it wasn't green.  But almost every model maker out that has at some time made a green ATSF stock car.

Of course, having made a statement that definitive, I now expect someone to show a color photo of a green prototype ATSF stock car. Either painted in error, or perhaps one assigned to some peculiar service. 

I do have an MTL example- I keep it around as in intentional anomaly.

[Missaberoad]

ATSF 999005 and ATSF 1951 appear to be common numbers used by early manufacturers across scales.

[learmoia]

I guess I should have stipulated what I'm looking for is vintage production where they were copying artwork from one unprototypical model to another unprototypical model in a different scale.

Atlas producing a prototype caboose last year in N, with the same artwork being done in HO and O this year doesn't count.

The two closest possibilities are:
IC 9837 which was a Bobber caboose in O and a Cupola caboose in HO (but nothing in N)
and
ATSF 999246 which was an Extended vision caboose in O and a Generic caboose in HO (again nothing in N.. similar examples with different numbers)

ATSF 1951 is also a possibility as it exists in N and HO and Marx produced a tin-plate model with the same Initial/Number...
... But the paint scheme are far enough apart, that it seems like simple coincidence.

[learmoia]

The two closest possibilities are:
IC 9837 which was a Bobber caboose in O and a Cupola caboose in HO (but nothing in N)

wait.. WAIT!!!...
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HO scale...

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O scale..

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AND N scale!!!

Sweet!!!..