Northern Pacific Bay Window Caboose

[hegstad1]

Recently the "Zenmaster" made his appearance on Railwire in the PE Steeplecab thread.  Well, as it turns out, he has been busy doing many projects that others might be interested in.  Gregg gave me a couple of kits of the Northern Pacific bay window caboose to assemble and paint to test viability.  They are his usual combination of resin and pewter castings and of course they are beautiful.  If he decides to go forward with the project he will be tweaking them a bit and we will have to come up with an etching for the ends and ladders.  As it were, I had to scratch build brass ends which are so so.  I think the SP&S acquired some of these as well. 

[Philip H]

Painted up those look as good as anything else out there.

Why did the NP have such small bays compared to other railroads?

[wcfn100]

If he decides to go forward with the project he will be tweaking them a bit and we will have to come up with an etching for the ends and ladders.  As it were, I had to scratch build brass ends which are so so. 

Consider etching the steps.  Converted box cars always have the trucks pushed to the ends which results in a lot of clearance issues or having to compromise the steps.  This model looks like the latter.

Jason.

[hegstad1]

Consider etching the steps.  Converted box cars always have the trucks pushed to the ends which results in a lot of clearance issues or having to compromise the steps.  This model looks like the latter.

Jason.

The steps are accurate.

[wazzou]

I'm down.  So down.

[mighalpern]

I would take a couple

Miguel

[Philip H]

geez guys can we let the man finish his boxcabs first?   

[mmagliaro]

Very nice work, Andrew!  As always!

The board detail on the sides and the roof ribs look really good.  Those are nice castings.  I agree that a complete kit would have to include the end railings and steps, and it would be best if they were etched brass so they would be as good as the rest of it.  (Your hand-made ones look great to me, by the way)

I broke out Paul T. Hobbs' SP&S Cabooses book and checked on possible SP&S lineage. 

Twelve of these, numbered 790 - 801, were converted by NP  into bay window cabooses from 36' boxcars built in 1903, and sold to the SP&S.  There is a nice photo of SP&S #795 in the book that looks exactly like your NP model, including the bay window going all the way to the roofline.  That, however, is not always the case.  Others in that same series have shorter bays.    #795 is a dead ringer for the NP model you built, but it looks like most of them had a shorter bay.

Is that little square window to the left on both sides?  It's hard to tell from photos.  Sometimes it is there and sometimes not, but it could be just a matter of which side of the caboose they photographed.

According to the book, NP moved the ends in by 3 feet to allow space for the end platforms, but left the truck spacing where it was.

And yes, the steps in all the photos look like the ones on your model, as do your end platforms and railings (very nice, by the way!)

#790 currently lives at "Camp 18" restaurant here in Oregon (about 90 minutes from my house). It is used as the public restroom, but it looks to be well-preserved.

--------------------------------------------------

I know several SP&S folks who have wanted wood bay window cabeese forever.  There was a fledgling effort in the SP&S Society by someone to laser-cut wood sides and other parts to make one, and a few prototypes floated around, but it never became a "kit".

Yep. I'd buy one if these were available.

[wcfn100]

Is that little square window to the left on both sides? 

Only if there're two toilets. 

Jason

[milw12]

Very nice- I wonder what it would take for a Minneapolis and St. Louis bay window kit? AMB hasn't down scaled their HO kit, yet at least.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=349966

-Lucas

[Tom L]

Very nice- I wonder what it would take for a Minneapolis and St. Louis bay window kit? AMB hasn't down scaled their HO kit, yet at least.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=349966

-Lucas

Been bugging them for years to do them in N. In the meantime I've scratchbuilt 4 while waiting, so I'm not sure I need any anymore.  I wonder if the lack of appropriate decals is part of why they haven't done them?

Back to the NP caboose, pretty nice, I'd get one just because I like unique cabeeses and it would be a good excuse to get a NP locomotive or two.

Tom L.

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice work, as always Andrew! These are very distinctive, and I'm a sucker for unique cabooses...
Otto K.

[Caddy58]

Helo Andrew,

I would definitively be interested in a couple of these unique Cabeese....
Great job!

Cheers
Dirk

[OldEastRR]

Twelve of these, numbered 790 - 801, were converted by NP  into bay window cabooses from 36' boxcars built in 1903, and sold to the SP&S.  There is a nice photo of SP&S #795 in the book that looks exactly like your NP model, including the bay window going all the way to the roofline.  That, however, is not always the case.  Others in that same series have shorter bays.    #795 is a dead ringer for the NP model you built, but it looks like most of them had a shorter bay.

It shouldn't be too hard to cast a shorter bay window to represent the SP&S cabooses. Same kit, different bay windows.

[mstl 246]

Thanks for sharing some of the zenmasters work Andrew and great work with the end railings and paint. I would buy a kit.

I am totally unbiased in this but I would also support the zenmaster if he decided to look into making a M&STL caboose kit.

Nat