Author Topic: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?  (Read 2483 times)

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Dave V

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2021, 04:32:03 PM »
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I searched through my books and so far I only found one shot of these in freight service other than what Doug shared.  Having trouble sharing the photo, but it is a picture of an A unit in 1959 still in Tuscan with five stripes on coal branch service at Cresson.

Point353

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #16 on: August 05, 2021, 05:03:41 PM »
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PRR Alco PAs working as pushers/helpers on a coal train: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4551535  (Note the N5C cabin car.)
« Last Edit: August 05, 2021, 05:05:38 PM by Point353 »

pjm20

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #17 on: August 05, 2021, 05:06:32 PM »
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I searched through my books and so far I only found one shot of these in freight service other than what Doug shared.  Having trouble sharing the photo, but it is a picture of an A unit in 1959 still in Tuscan with five stripes on coal branch service at Cresson.

There was only a pair painted in the Tuscan 5 Stripe, and in addition to the service you mentioned, they also pulled helper duty out of Williamsport on the Elmira Branch.
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brokemoto

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #18 on: August 05, 2021, 05:30:10 PM »
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One of the Bowser cabooses is labeled for REA interestingly enough.

The Penn ran a mail train between Baltimore and Buffalo.  It carried coaches and baggage cars, but also carried box cars for storage mail and express.  These cars did not have pass-through steam lines.  For that reason, they had to be put after the coaches and baggage cars.  There was a caboose on the end of those trains.

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #19 on: August 05, 2021, 05:41:57 PM »
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Great information everyone. I appreciate the resources and suggestion. For my final answer I am going to run the PC painted one for realism!  KIDDING KIDDING KIDDING!!!!!!  I am going with the one that looks like the one in the picture in pushing service!
Brian

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #20 on: August 06, 2021, 09:19:21 AM »
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On a serious note, the yellow cupola pool use….does east west refer the eastern and western reaches of the Pennsylvania system or is it pool service outside their system?
Brian

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Ed Kapuscinski

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #21 on: August 06, 2021, 09:41:02 AM »
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On a serious note, the yellow cupola pool use….does east west refer the eastern and western reaches of the Pennsylvania system or is it pool service outside their system?

Inside the system.
Think: "this car isn't assigned to an individual crew". I believe it was a thing mainly used on mainline trains (so not the fun stuff we're seeing in this thread).

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #22 on: August 06, 2021, 10:48:17 AM »
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Inside the system.
Think: "this car isn't assigned to an individual crew". I believe it was a thing mainly used on mainline trains (so not the fun stuff we're seeing in this thread).

That is what I figured but was curious.  As big as Pennsylvania was east and west was an accurate statement.
Brian

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mmagliaro

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #23 on: August 06, 2021, 11:10:53 AM »
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I found a nice write-up on these at one of Jerry Britton's pages:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/latest-articles-blog/186-prr-alco-cab-units

Near the end, he says that all the passenger PA's were regeared for dual service in 1953-54, so I would expect there to be a lot of examples of these being used in freight service after that. Of course, it's possible the PRR was expecting to use them that way, but didn't end up doing it as much as they thought.

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #24 on: August 06, 2021, 12:35:41 PM »
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I found a nice write-up on these at one of Jerry Britton's pages:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/latest-articles-blog/186-prr-alco-cab-units

Near the end, he says that all the passenger PA's were regeared for dual service in 1953-54, so I would expect there to be a lot of examples of these being used in freight service after that. Of course, it's possible the PRR was expecting to use them that way, but didn't end up doing it as much as they thought.

Cool resource!  And one set did stay in DGLE. So my road # may be off and it may have 4 more strips, but close enough for a guy who models Chicago and west!

“In late 1952-53, all were regeared for dual service and reclassified as AFP20. All remained in Tuscan Red paint except for 5757A and 5758A.”
Brian

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Ed Kapuscinski

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #25 on: August 08, 2021, 11:04:03 PM »
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Cool resource!  And one set did stay in DGLE. So my road # may be off and it may have 4 more strips, but close enough for a guy who models Chicago and west!

“In late 1952-53, all were regeared for dual service and reclassified as AFP20. All remained in Tuscan Red paint except for 5757A and 5758A.”

And at the end of the day...

http://edslaw.org/

Ed Kapuscinski

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #26 on: August 14, 2021, 11:08:47 AM »
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From the PRR email list recently. Felt it was applicable.


Quote
If  you are  talking about pooling of cabin cars,  that didn't begin until the mid- 1960s.  Certainly none in the 1950s.  Management did ongoing negotiating  battle with the brotherhoods during the 50s and the Unions resisted accepting pooling  because the men assigned to a particular cabin tended to take care of the maintenance themselves rather than rely on pool maintenance. Faulty weather stripping and sticking sliding windows were the major points of contention.   Finally, the Unions relented in the early  1960s   (including the NY Region) and agreed to accept pooled cabin cars BUT only after the fleet had  received significant upgrades.   This included all new aluminum window sash, flush toilets,  electric refrigerators,  new oil fired stoves for heat, electric marker lights and new weather stripping around doors.

Obviously PRR management couldn't achieve this feat overnight so pooling was gradually phased in over time as the upgrade mods were completed.  After a cabin  became pooled, the cupola was painted yellow.  Much of the window sash replacement work was performed at small outlying shops.  We did a bunch of them at Northumberland in 1964 as  just one example.

I don't remember the exact date, but most  freights were pooled by about 1966-67.  Locally assigned cabin cars were not pooled and retained their black cupolas.  By locally assigned cabin cars I am talking about cabins assigned to switching crews in the major cities like Chicago,  Northern NJ, Phila-Camden etc etc.

Bill Volkmer

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #27 on: August 14, 2021, 11:42:35 AM »
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From the PRR email list recently. Felt it was applicable.

I ordered one with the distinctive antennas that seemed to match the photo from one of the links in this thread. Of course the PA does not have the antennas.  The goal was to be close and get the engines out of storage and on the layout. PA’s heading east out of Chicago is a bit easier to explain than the two GG1’s.  Lol
Brian

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #28 on: August 14, 2021, 11:47:27 AM »
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I am not sure why this was moved to prototype since my question had to do with matching two models together.  That seems to me more of a product discussion.
Brian

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Re: Which Pennsylvania Caboose is Correct?
« Reply #29 on: August 14, 2021, 01:11:59 PM »
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I am not sure why this was moved to prototype since my question had to do with matching two models together.  That seems to me more of a product discussion.
Well, this thread has become an excellent repository of *PROTOTYPE* references and information (not just about the specific models the question was originally asked about).  It covers info about prototypical operations on the 1:1 railroad. Great majority of the into here can apply to any scale modeling.

Does it matter that the question asked was about N scale?  There there are many questions being asked here in  Prototype RR section relating to how accurately model N scale versions of the prototype.

When I had a question about marker lights on Big Boy loco (so I can accurately represent them on my N scale model), I asked here.  It was a prototype type of question that applied to my N scale model.
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