A Standard Caboose Design... continued.

In the previous caboose article, I said the baywindow caboose body shown was in the paint shop, so here is how it's coming along. The decision to "modernize" to a simpler one color paint scheme on all future crummies and motive power will simplify things and help give my freelanced railroad a little more obvious history.

The end railings need to be finalized, but that assembly being quite fragile will have to wait until I decide on what sort of marker lights these cars will be getting. I might just go with something simple, like a single bulb over the doors, but that will require a three way micro switch and some sort of keep alive circuit. Things will be too fragile for batteries as are some of my older crummies.

Not plating over any windows, keeping things as simple as I can on these cars.

And lastly, the other side.

Lettering will come as time permits.

JohnH.

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A Standard Caboose Design?

Ever since day one, the Arizona Southern has used many different "hand me down" cabooses. No other way to say it, but the caboose fleet is a tad eclectic. Half the fleet never leaves home rails because they are partly made of wood and the crews seem to think these cars stay a little cooler in the summer months. These cars have all the modern updates, new all steel underframes and even roller bearing trucks, after all it is 1976 and our employees are like family.

Well never being one to be enslaved to tradition, thoughts of a more modern steel car were brought forth at a recent meeting of the peanut gallery; aka the most recent directors meeting. The idea was a sound one so it was investigated further. As luck would have it, our good friends at the Southern Pacific had a couple of their standard C-40-4's available for purchase at bargain basement pricing due to some minor wreck damage, so the Arizona Southern purchased these and embarked on a total overhaul program. Soon we will have roadworthy steel cars we can use in interchange service as well as the caboose pool.

For some reason, when Athearn made their baywindow car, they made the roof overhang a little bit short of the SP car prototype they chose to model. This is easily remedied, and so here is an in progress image of one car having the roof corrected. On our railroad, shade is king, and we are always looking to make sure that necessity is never skimped on.

The ends need to be filed and sanded to shape in this image, which by the time you are reading this will be done and the car in the paint shop (hopefully). The original roof ends had to be sanded straight so the new extension would be level and plumb, not too hard, but easily screwed up if you are not careful. Prep is everything.

More will be reported as time permits, but right now there are just too many irons in the fire so this project in not a top priority. That plus my mind wanders and often decides it needs to take a break from one project and then begin something else. Once in a while we even finish up a program. I'm as shocked as you are about this eventuality.

Oh, if any of you are saying to themselves, "why did he leave the cast on side grabs on?" have no fear, look at this car and tell me it's obvious that the stock grabs need changing. My friend Mark made the C-40-4 model, and I used my phone to grab this photo. One only needs patience and proper tools.

I figure if proper weathering a steady hand applying the safety paint can be used, why complicate something that won't really be noticed on a working freight train? I'm not looking to enter a contest, just have a convincing caboose model at normal viewing distances.

Bye for now.

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A Work In Progress

The Arizona Southern is a work in progress, and it might be further along had not so many changes been necessary. It never seems to fail, but this private railroad has been through quite a few iterations since it began in 1987. The core concept is unchanged, an HO Scale, all Alco powered desert dwelling railroad, which interchanges with NdeM, FCP, SP, and ATSF along its lonesome route.

Sometimes it gets a little bit frustrating considering how much nicer today's models look compared to the stuff I started out with so many years ago. The budget can't afford to replace it all, so upgrades, things like new thinner running boards, come when they can, as they can; DCC being the new priority.

The big plus is, the hobby itself waited long enough for some really good sound chips to hit the market. I'm talking about Lok Sound ESU's Alco sounds with both the 244 and 251 prime movers being well represented among others. Nice!

The previous layout is being dismantled, and a new, smaller, version is planned which will be kinder to all the older folks who may not be as mobile now (or later) as they were when this all started. Wider aisles and a lot more switching to keep the few operators busy serving our customers, is in the works.

Much of our equipment is made out what's available at the time. Old kits rebuilt of kitbashed make up most of the rolling stock and structures.

Cement is big on the Arizona Southern, and we have a lot of that sort of hopper seen all over the region back in the mid 1970's, but just looking at the differences between these two cars shows the 1980's model vs one of today's cars. Just more things to fix!

That's all for now, comment if the mood strikes you.