Nostalgia & History > New York Central Caboose Question

I think I have read somewhere that on some railroads certain types of cabooses were used specific areas and did not roam the whole system. My question is, does anyone know what types were used on the western part of the New York Central? I can't seem to find any caboose shots in any of my books.

Steve

No pictures, but there were certainly bay window cabooses assigned to senior conductors west of Indianapolis on the St Louis line, I recall that caboose 20424 was assigned to Herschel Axe, who was the work train conductor building Avon yard. Larry Baggerly would be a good source.

I could probably answer your question and provide photographs but you have to be more specific. What part of the system on the west end and what time period?

Early to mid 1950's in the Northern Indiana area. Elkhart, South Bend that general area.

Thanks,

Steve

I will scan some photos for you and post them here later.

For the early to mid 50's on that end of the railroad the NYC "Standard" wood cupola caboose would be mostly relegated to the locals and branchlines but still used on some mainline trains. It is the wood caboose with the low offset cupola that is often referred to by modelers as the "19000 Series". (This is a misnomer as there were standard wood cars in the 18000 number series too and the NYC did not call them that.) Now, for the mainline trains, they would have already got plenty of the small bay window steel cars but they would be painted in the oxide brown scheme. There were also some shorty wood cabooses like the standard wood car but most rebuilt from LS&MS cars with a low cupola modification. But they were rare. The NYCSHS put out a two part series on NYC cabooses some years ago and the only photo I have ever seen of one of these unmodified shorties was taken at Elkhart in the 40's. Ray Curl remembered these on the extreme west end of the NYC in Illinois. Note that in the time period you refer to, unless some other NYC roads used the same terminal, the distinctive subsidairy wood cars would not go off road and they were also assigned to certain runs. However, in the 60's, various of the distinctive wood cabooses got shuffled around the system for local service including the standards, Toledo & Ohio Central, Big Four, Boston & Albany, P&E and Canadian Southern/Michigan Central wood cabooses. They could be seen on far ends of the system, though any clearance issues on the east end would have restricted the taller Big Four cars further west I believe.


Also, note that you had a Big Four/NYC line that ran south from Goshen that was serviced by the Elkhart Yards. There would have been a few of the distinctive, center cupola, Big Four wood cabooses used on this line. (These are the cars that look like a wood version of a wide vision caboose.)

Note that the Central had a handful of "long standard" wood cabooses (looked like the standards) but were rebuilt from box cars in WWII, later painted up in the vermilion and gray paint scheme for the Pacemaker service. Some of these cars were covered with plywood for the Pacemaker service but at lease one with sheet metal. (I'm sure that many of the other mainline cars were used on these dedicated trains.)

A good reference for NYC cabooses would be one of the NJ International NYC/NH caboose soft cover books as there were photos (some color) and plans. Be aware that their bay window caboose drawing is incorrect on the window placement on one side. My copies of the two NYCSHS caboose issues are zerox copies. A couple of the Morning Sun all color books have featured photos of trains with cabooses in the area that you model.

So, in summary on the mainline (Airline) and the Old Road at Elkhart, you have a small percentage of the standard wood cabooses and the rest being the newer steel bay window cars in the brown oxide paint scheme. Any Big Four trains would use the Big Four center cupola wood cars and possibly the bay window cars too.
I hope this helps for now.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/09 18:03 by wabash2800.

The first photo is of a Big Four Caboose. This would be the style of lettering (railroad roman?)for your time period. Note that some NYC wood cabooses never had the oval herald. This would be the car that you would want on the Big Four Line from Goshen to Anderson that was also serviced by the Elkhart Yards. I believe the photo was taken in the 40's. You might ask what is that disc mounted on the cupola. I am pretty sure it is a marker. I'm told in the old days when cabooses were assigned often a conductor would mark his caboose with something distinctive so he could find it in the yard.

The second photo is of the signature caboose on the NYC for many years. This photo was also taken in the 40's and it shows the style of lettering correct for your era. You would still have these cars in the early 50's on some mainline trains but they would relegated mostly to branchlines and locals.

I do not have any photos of the bay window cars but as I mentioned in earlier post, they would have been at home on the Airline and the Old Road through Elkhart on mainline trains and possibly on the Big Four to Anderson from Goshen. They would have been oxide brown, but I am not sure about the style of lettering in that time period but it may been san serif.

Do not model any of these cars with the plywood siding (smooth on the outside). This was something with the exception of the Pacemaker cars to my knowledge nailed on the older car siding in the very last years of service as a stop gap maintenance item.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/09 19:01 by wabash2800.

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Thanks for looking through your collection for me. It was nice to get home and off the road for a few days and see some really neat cabooses.

Steve

Good to hear from you Steve. I was beginning to wonder if I would never hear from you again like the guy that wanted Fort Wayne, Wabash roundhouse photos. I took me a while to find them, I scanned all six of them and emailed them and then never heard from him again...That wasn't first time I did some research for someone and then nothing...

As long as someone says thank you, I'll continue to try and help out.