Some runs have the deck mounted tank and toolbox and/or battery box omitted as appropriate.
Bluford Shops products are not intended for children under 14.
This Short Body Bay Window Caboose design was developed by International Car and MoPac in the 1970s. Several other railroads used very similar cars. These were assigned to road service and were NOT transfer cabooses. Also produced in Undecoated #21000.
Short Body Bay Window Caboose - Short Roof. Southern Pacific also evaluated the MoPac design, then in 1980 they came up with their own variation with a shorter, diagonal panel roof. Also produced in Undecorated #22000.
Transfer Caboose - Long Roof. Transfer Cabooses were usually built by the railroads themselves using materials on hand such as old freight car frames and side sheets from retired boxcars. Since they were meant for cross-town moves between yards, bay windows or coupolas along with other amenities were left off. Also produced in Undecorated #23000.
Transfer Caboose - Short Roof. These Transfer Cabooses were built with short, diagonal panel roofs clipped from old boxcars. This practice was very common. Also produced in Undecorated #24000.
Transfer Caboose - With Running Board. Most Transfer Cabooses built in 1967 and earlier had running boards (a.k.a. roofwalks) and ladders to reach them. Many kept their running boards until the end of the caboose era. Also produced in Undecorated #25000.
Note: All caboose runs originally released LATER than June, 2014 are equipped with Metal Wheels.
Bluford Shops presents new N scale models of a family of steel bay window caboose designs developed by International Car Company
in the early 1950s. Over the years the design of the bay windows evolved and Bluford Shops is presenting four phases of these designs
plus the iconic half-bay window edition. Ladders and running boards will be included on appropriate paint schemes for each version.
The ready-to-run models feature magnetically operating knuckle couplers, metal wheels, wire grab irons, window “glass”, and
plenty of weight. *Ladders and running boards will be included on appropriate paint schemes for each version so if you count a phase
with and without running boards and ladders as 2 version, then there actually 10 versions!
Short Body Bay Window and Transfer Cabooses in N scale.
Here is the Southern Railway Phase 1 caboose, in this instance without ladders and running board. The red bay window signifies that
Southern assigned this car to road service.
This is the Phase 2 caboose again without ladders and running boards. Note how much narrower the bay window is compared to the Phase
1 car.
N Scale International Car Co. Bay Window Cabooses
in 5 versions*.
The bay window has been widened again although not as far as the Phase I cars and the window arrangement has changed.
The Phase IV bay windows featured steeper angles but with a width similar to the Phase III cars. Note the etched metal window
screen frames. This feature is included on the Union Pacific, C&O and B&O cars.
The Half-Bay Window was a design championed by the New York Central and their successors and was adopted by a handful of other roads.
When researching railroads, the "what" happened is often easy to find. The "why" it happened is more often then not an educated guess
that is repeated until it becomes common wisdom. The guess for the existence of the Half-Bay Window design was to give the railroad
the visibility of the bay window while still clearing low and tight obstructions such as through girder bridges and depot platforms.
Some runs have the deck mounted tank and toolbox and/or battery box omitted as appropriate.
Some of the above pictures show the cars with track, scenery and even other cars for a bit of context. Obviously the cars in question don't include that stuff - but you knew that already.
A Bluford Shops N scale phase 2 bay window caboose marks the end of a Missouri-Kansas-Texas freight in Oklahoma. The boxcar and stock car are made by our friends at MTL. This exceptional bit of modeling and photography is brought to us by Walker Embry.