Improving Atlas Santa Fe caboose

[robwill84]

I just picked up this Atlas caboose to go with my Walthers Zebra stripe SW9. I'm looking to do some upgrades on it, specifically on the end railings and roofwalk. I have some old Northeastern HO 1x3/N 2x6 stripwood pieces I can use to replace the roofwalk. I'm wondering if anyone has adapted a Micro Trains caboose railing set to this car, or is there possibly an etched brass replacement I'm not aware of? Gold Medal Models makes a ladder set, but the whole end railing situation is pretty bad.

I'm going to add the railings along the cupola, and add a smoke stack brace with some fine wire. Anything else I am missing?

For the Santa Fe gurus- I don't want to put one on this car, but does anyone make a highball signal, or have you scratchbuilt one?

[bbussey]

This is the Trainman-series model, so it's not a matter of the detail being "bad."  It's older tooling with purposely-less detail to have the price be economical.

That said, it easily can be upgraded to a higher-detailed model.  MTL end railings and smokestack would work, as well as a scratchbuilt roofwalk.  Also body-mounted MTL couplers, friction-bearing caboose leafspring trucks (either Atlas or Fox Valley) and metal wheelsets.   Finish by using Evergreen clear styrene sheet for window glass and, if feeling ambitious, a Fine N Scale caboose interior.

[johnb]

Also, back in the 1990's, Model Railroader had a great article on detailing one in HO...

[wazzou]

...or you could try and locate one offered not all that long ago by Intermountain?

[Dirk Jan Blikkendaal]

Just to show what I did some 25/30 years ago (I think....).

Gold Medal Models end railings and roofwalks, MTL smokestack, Pecos River Brass wigwags (unfortunately no longer available), Krystal clear windows (walls are too thick for credible clear glazing in my opinion), handmade cupola roof handrailings.......

By todays standards maybe a bit crude but viewed from a model railroad distance definitely SANTA FE and that was good enough for me at that time......
There still is no good alternative for my time period (1950's) .... the Intermountain is too modern..... and the basic shell is OK for ATSF. 

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[SF Chief]

Beautiful job on the 5 cabooses.

[randgust]

I model '72, but there were still a few unmodernized cabooses hanging around for local and work train service.    In a sea of Chinese red, these were the last mineral red cabooses left.

I've never been a fan of the Atlas because the truck position is wrong - they are set too far toward the end of the car.   The old Trix, while every bit as dated, at least have the truck spacing right.  The carbody is OK, but if things like rivet size still annoy you in N scale, just look away.   The Atlas goes back to when truck-mounted Rapido couplers required that the trucks be moved out toward the ends; the Trix always had a body-mount Rapido from the start and was the only one that did.   But everybody's body shell has 'something' to criticize. 

I have two surviving Trix and about 10 Intermountain, this is my updated Trix with brass ladders, wire railings and grabs, Gold Medal etched roofwalk, etc.   Same thing could be done to an Atlas body.



I made the mistake of getting the Priest book on ATSF cabooses a couple years ago so that I could determine just how far off mine really were.  Had no idea that there were so many oddball classes and variations in what appears to be a relatively standard caboose, starting with the roof - two distinct varieties - radial roof and flat roof, and it goes downhill from there.

[Cajonpassfan]

...or you could try and locate one offered not all that long ago by Intermountain?

Intermountain announced both the modernized and the original versions, but never delivered the original...
Too bad, I could use a bunch
Otto K.

[thomasjmdavis]

Intermountain announced both the modernized and the original versions, but never delivered the original...
Too bad, I could use a bunch
Otto K.

Wasn't it Centralia in those days?  I had convinced myself that they actually did one run "as built".  But I think you must be right.  Kind of embarrassing, to be honest, because I must have wasted several hours over the years in eBay searches hoping to find one.

[robwill84]

Wasn't it Centralia in those days?  I had convinced myself that they actually did one run "as built".  But I think you must be right.  Kind of embarrassing, to be honest, because I must have wasted several hours over the years in eBay searches hoping to find one.

yeah, I have been looking for one of these as well, either "Centralia" or Intermountain. If they ever did make one they are unobtanium now. Also Peco River brass made a Santa Fe wood caboose in the 1980s, looks like they were extremely nice, but pretty much impossible to find now. The one below is the only reference to one I can find, and it sold for an unbelievably cheap $85!

[ncbqguy]

There have been many plastic versions of the AT&SF waycar over the years...
I am away from my research data at the moment but they include:

Arnold Rapido (original)
Arnold Rapido / Revell (upgraded)
MiniTrix / Roco
Model Power / China
AHM / Roco
LifeLike / China
MRC / Roco / Mehano (?)
High Speed Products  (Not Horrible)
Atlas (tooled as inexpensive train set piece)
InterMountain / Centralia

Charlie Vlk

[Dirk Jan Blikkendaal]

yeah, I have been looking for one of these as well, either "Centralia" or Intermountain. If they ever did make one they are unobtanium now. Also Peco River brass made a Santa Fe wood caboose in the 1980s, looks like they were extremely nice, but pretty much impossible to find now. The one below is the only reference to one I can find, and it sold for an unbelievably cheap $85!

Nice car but horrible running trucks (sorry mr. Smith).... replaced the trucks on my 2 examples.....
Also the Robert Ray 1920's widowmaker is/was a nice kit...... (see spookshow)

[randgust]

One of the neat chapters in the Priest book is one on the one-off oddball units and the paint schemes - like that safety banner.   At the time I couldn't imagine how anybody could populate an entire book just on ATSF cabooses when there was like....one type of caboose, and then the extended visions late-on.   Boy, was I wrong.

Believe it or not, the Centralia/Athearn/ etc. white ATSF christmas caboose is NOT a foobie.   It actually existed.   So did a lot of other weird one-offs.    They didn't get into banners like UP, but if you see one that you think can't possibly be right, don't be so sure.

Yellow cupolas designated local cabooses not in general pool service, the white cupolas designated  a special PC/TPW/Conrail pool cars. (Elkhart-Peoria).    Many of those had rather individual paint schemes from car to car as well, including a lack of standards.    You'll see those a lot in train sets just because they were colorful, but they really weren't typical.

The Centralia/Intermountain ones are really nice, but like most Intermountain, if you derail them fragile detail parts tend to fall off, and if you want to paint or change anything, everything is glued on.   I don't see how it would even be practical to backdate one as the biggest change was sealing off all but two windows on one side and one on the other as SOP.

Edit:  While Priest's book doesn't have a picture of 2164, found an online view of your exact car to help with the detailing.   What surprised me is that the side handrails really are white against that white banner..... date is 1954.

http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/sfr49.jpg

In this photo it clearly does not have the wig-wag communication plate, although yeah, those are cool if you're modeling that era.   When I enlarged it in Photoshop, I'm pretty sure I can see the brackets for the plates on the cupola edges though.    I think....   There are shots in the Priest book dated both 1947 and 1963 with the wig-wag highball, and the 1963 shot clearly shows one, once again proving you can do about anything you want.

[cjm413]

The truck spacing is wrong, but it can be fixed by cutting the frame on either side of the bolster and reversing them to move the bolster inward.

I used leftover couplers from MTL passenger car trucks because I already had them, they are underslung, and additionally, the longer "arm" allowed me to mount them further inward to hide the location of the mounting hole vs under the end platforms.