A comparison of cabooses both working and former in H.O Scale.

 

 

I took this photograph last week Wednsday night, at the Oak Park Society of -

Model Engineers,H.O Scale Model Railroad Club in Oak Park Illinois.

 

Cabooses are an image a person in today's world, associates with American

railroading past. Although a handful of railroads actually use cabooses to -

some extent these days on switching locals where often long back up moves

are involved, many railroads began phasing out their cabooses after the

industry De regulation during the early to mid 1980's.

 

Cabooses were expensive to operate and maintain in the long run. Originally

designed for the brakeman to observe the train from the elevated observation

cupola to monitor "Hot Boxes" caused by the once industry standard  friction

bearings used on the cars trucks, when bearings would sometimes overheat,

catch fire and cause derailments. Freight car heights which became increasingly

taller, obstructed the crew members view. Train lengths became longer, and -

eventually...electronic talking trackside detectors were better able to monitor

any hot running roller bearings, and read the particular freight car numbers back

to the crew and -or dispatchers. Cabooses had outlived their usefulness, but were

required to be coupled on to most freight trains prior to De regulation, per previous

and long standing Union Agreements, and other in house politics.

 

Some railroads that had a surplus number of cabooses, some that were no longer in use,

rebuilt them in to unique idler cars that are sometimes refered to as "Shoving Platforms."

 

Myself and several other nostalgic members of the Oak Park Society of Model Engineers,

H.O Scale Model Railroad Club, prefer to model the pre De regulation era, when cabooses

could still be found on most every freight train. My good friend and fellow club member

Chuck Colin, has decided to model modern contemporary freight trains, complete with one

of those "Shoving Platform idler cars complete with blanked over windows and welded

shut permanently doors. (CSX and the Belt Railway of Chicago use these.)

 

In this photograph of interesting comparison, My 1950's and 60's era Atchison, Topeka

& Santa Fe freight train complete with a plain brown cupola caboose from pre 1966 times,

meets Chuck's train with the modern rebuilt shoving platform ex caboose on the rear.

 

Thanks.

Eddie K.