December 2011 announcements

Pre-Orders are now open. Due for delivery in Early Summer, 2012.
Note the artwork shown here is preliminary and subject to improvement by our crack development team!

Missouri Pacific Short Body Bay Window Caboose. Missouri Pacific developed this caboose design in concert with International Car Company in the Summer of 1977. 351 cars were built through early ‘82 in MoPac’s De Soto and Sedalia Shops. Contrary to popular belief, these were not transfer cabooses but were, in fact, built for regular service. Following the merger with Union Pacific and Western Pacific, these cabooses migrated across the greater UP system. MP’s short bay window cabooses could be found with silver, white or red roofs. The two toad numbers in this release have silver roofs. The two road numbers will be sold separately. 21010 Missouri Pacific #13835 single car $36.95; 21011 Missouri Pacific #13927 single car $36.95.

Union Pacific Short Body Bay Window Caboose. Union Pacific borrowed MoPac short bay window cabooses to evaluate the design for their own fleet. However, in 1982 they inherited the original fleet with the merger of Missouri Pacific. At least one of these cars was repainted in UP yellow for regular service. In recent years, car #13737 was parked on a spur to become a yard office. It remains today in the paint scheme shown here. 21020
Union Pacific yellow #13737 single car $36.95.

Louisville & Nashville (Family Lines) Short Body Bay Window Caboose. In 1981, L&N received this group of 50 cabooses from the Fruit Growers Express facility in Alexandria, Virginia. Like the MoPac cars before them, these were intended for regular road service. These were delivered in the then standard “Family Lines” paint scheme with L&N road numbers. This run will be available in two different road numbers. 21030 Louisville & Nashville (Family Lines) #6642 single car $36.95; 21031 Louisville & Nashville (Family Lines) #6611 single car $36.95.

Clinchfield (Family Lines) Short Body Bay Window Caboose. Clinchfield received six of these cars at the time of the L&N order, this time with “CRR” reporting marks. The Family Lines was not a railroad but rather a marketing image shared by Seaboard Coast Line, L&N, Clinchfield, Georgia, and the two West Point Route roads. The Clinchfield was established by ACL and L&N to operate the leased Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio but was not separately incorporated. Despite that, CRR had their own roster of equipment, employees, and paint schemes. The Clinchfield management ranks were often used as a farm team for ACL (later SCL) and L&N.
This run will be available in two different road numbers.
21040 Clinchfield (Family Lines) #1107 single car $36.95;
21041 Clinchfield (Family Lines) #1110 single car $36.95.

Indiana Rail Road Short Body Bay Window Caboose. Indiana Rail Road began in 1986 as a spinoff of Illinois Central Gulf. INRD purchased a single ex-L&N caboose from CSX to add to its fleet of former ICG wide vision cabooses. INRD expanded greatly since their 1986 creation and now sports a Chicago to Louisville mainline
plus branches and a snappy fleet of modern red and white diesel power. 21050 Indiana Rail Road (ex-Family Lines) #16648 single car $36.95.

MP - UP MOW Green Short Body Bay Window Caboose. As the use of cabooses on mainline freights fell from favor, Union Pacific transferred a squadron of these former MoPac cars to their Maintenance - Of -Way fleet. This included renumbering them to the MP 7500 series and in the case of 13 of the cars, a coat of MOW green paint. The steps and trucks remained MoPac red. This run will be available in two different road numbers. 21060 MP - UP MOW Green #7501 single car $36.95; 21061 MP - UP MOW Green #7502 single car $36.95.

Southern Pacific Short Body Bay Window Caboose with Short Roof. Southern Pacific also evaluated the MoPac design, then in 1980 they came up with their own variation with a shorter roof. Just one car was built, becoming Southern Pacific’s famous caboose #1 or “the One-Spot.” It entered system-wide service at a time when SP was experimenting with an orange, red and gray paint scheme. It would wear this scheme for its entire service life.
In the years after regular operation with cabooses had ended, the One-Spot found a home at the end of Southern Pacific’s fire suppression train. This car will be equipped with coil spring roller bearing trucks. 22010 Southern Pacific #1 single car $38.95..

This month we are proud to announce the first road names on our brand new caboose tooling in N scale. This group represents just two of the five all new caboose body styles. The other three will be covered in the next few months. All Bluford Shops cabooses come ready-to-run with magnetically operating
knuckle style couplers, metal detail parts and, roller bearing caboose style leaf spring trucks except where noted. Axel generators and screen window frames will be included in the package.