Model Railroading > On the Workbench - Conrail N21 Caboose

Hi all,
Growing up in Allentown, PA, I fondly remember the East Penn Drill - a local job out of Allentown that served various industries in the area.  (It was called this even in the LV/CNJ days!).  Interestingly, some of the history is preserved in train symbols - Conrail YPAL-13 became NS HA-13 back in 1999.  As far as I know, the train runs with that symbol today.

Also, I fondly remember the CR 21248, an N21 caboose that was graffiti'd (I think it was an inside job) with OUTER LIMITS on one side.  A good friend of mine recently visited the area, and found that this caboose is STILL spotted down at the Bethlehem engine terminal.

Since I am planning to model mid-1990s Bethlehem area operations, the East Penn Drill is a centerpiece of the planned operation.  So, I needed this caboose.  I only found in my research that the N21 class were the only cabooses bought new by Conrail, numbering 113 cars in the series 21201-21313. These cabooses were built by FGE at Alexandria, VA. (Thanks to the CRHS for that info!)

I was planning to post photos once I was further along, but was excited to share.

I had to fill in two windows, fabricate some underframe details, and I used a Bowser N5C caboose stovepipe in lieu of the original Walthers.  I am planning to add Cal Scale marker lights to match the Conrail markers.  I used a lot of different CR caboose decal sets to get the correct lettering and sizes.

More photos as we go.
-Alex

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Was outer limits on both sides?

No, it wasn't. Just one side.

That's gonna look sweet!

What does "outer limits" refer to?

Walthers makes that caboose? I need the bay-ends for a Conrail project.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/17 16:57 by Hookdragkick.

> What does "outer limits" refer to?
Most likely this, originally:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits_(1963_TV_series)
or use http://tinyurl.com/h7r6uks if that last paren drops off.
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/17 18:48 by steeplecab.