A few snaps of cabooses I have built (so far)
This is a traditional red caboose, with the modern touch of extended vision cupola (1/2 stud extended). I built this one night while Matthew S. was over and there are a lot of both of our ideas in it, we bounced off each other a lot.
Somehow, during this build run, I managed to convince Matt that he should sort pieces and keep me supplied with key parts. Here he is at work, partly built caboose is visible at bottom of image.
This got us going on a discussion of Fred Brooks's book, the Mythical Man Month, and the concept of chief programmer teams. I claimed I was the project chief programmer and Matt was my supply team. Well, it sounded good at the time (2 AM on a Friday night) and I claim the caboose is better for the interplay of work and ideas.
Standard Builder's side shot. Crew is visible, conductor on bottom, and a brakeman in the cupola.
Standard Builder's end shot. See the brakeman in the cupola and the conductor hard at work at his desk (through door). Note that the door won't actually open. The caboose is aesthetically too high with a full height working door, so I put the door on the grey layer of plates but with the red plate there, no opening door. Too bad. I wish LegoŽ had more door varieties. Note that is is one train application where the 4 panel door actually looks right.
Another end shot, diagonal this time.
Interior angled shot, shows speed monitor, fridge and pot belly stove.
Interior shot clearly showing pot belly stove (courtesy of Matthew S. who built it based on a small hint from me.) You can see the grey floor referred to above. If I had put a plate there it would block the door as well as interfering with truck swivel.
Interior shot showing the work area where the conductor does his paperwork. (waybills, bad orders, trip reports, etc) Speed monitor is visible from his seat.
Shot through the window showing speed monitor and coffee cup.
Shows the Cupola. Note that the stovepipe carries up through the roof (not all shots had this detail added)
Another cupola shot. The 1/2 stud offset is done by using only bricks with holes in the top stud (2 wide windows, technic, etc.) and plugging in 1 wide plates using the center pin. Note also the dual communication antennas. Not as elaborate as 1940's Pennsylvania RR caboose antennas which ran the whole length of the caboose, but I don't have enough brown bricks to build a Pennsy "crummy" (Pennsy slang for a caboose) anyway.
Some context: A picture of Steve Barile's Hoosac caboose. He made it to match his Hoosac engine (linked to on my Diesels by Others page) While this is a fine piece of work, I did not like rounded windows, or just 4 wheels in a caboose application. This image is courtesy of Pacific NorthWest LegoŽ Train Club . It's from the Gallery section.
A picture of Derek Schin's yellow bobber. I think it's cute, although not very prototypical. Derek cranked it out one day from memory of cabooses, and to match with LegoŽ standard (4 wheel, short wheelbase) rolling stock. He feels it's not his best work but I think he's selling himself short. To see more images, surf to Derek's Caboose Page There are lots of images of the caboose, and also instructions for it in LDraw. You can follow links from that page to the rest of Derek's site.
I don't know of any other cabeese (bad model railroading pun) out there. That's it for cabeese for now but keep checking back... Drop me mail if you have some thoughts for improvement or if you know of other cabeese.