Athearn HO Scale Cupola Caboose - Burlington Northern

Athearn HO Scale Ready To Run Cupola Caboose - Burlington Northern #10610

Product Features

Fully assembled and ready to operate
Full window glazing
Razor sharp painting and printing
Machined RP25 profile 33" metal wheels
McHenry scale knuckle spring couplers installed

Product Description

== Key Features == / / * Fully assembled and ready to operate / * Full window glazing / * Razor sharp painting and printing / * Machined RP25 profile 33" metal wheels / * McHenry scale knuckle spring couplers installed / / == Specs == / / * COUPLER STYLE:McHenry Scale Knuckle / * MIN. RADIUS:18" / * Minimum Age Recommendation:8 years / * Is Assembly Required:No


The caboose provided the train crew with a shelter at the rear of the train. The crew could exit the train for switching or to protect the rear of the train when stopped. They also inspected the train for problems such as shifting loads, broken or dragging equipment, and hot boxes. The conductor kept records and handled business from a table or desk in the caboose. For longer trips the caboose provided minimal living quarters, and was frequently personalized and decorated with pictures and posters.

Coal or wood was originally used to fire a cast iron stove for heat and cooking, later giving way to a kerosene heater. Now rare, the old stoves can be identified by several essential features. They were without legs, bolted directly to the floor, and featured a lip on the top surface to keep pans and coffee pots from sliding off. They also had a double-latching door, to prevent accidental discharge of hot coals due to the rocking motion of the caboose.

Early cabooses were nothing more than flat cars with small cabins erected on them, or modified box cars. The standard form of the American caboose had a platform at either end with curved grab rails to facilitate train crew members' ascent onto a moving train. A caboose was fitted with red lights called markers to enable the rear of the train to be seen at night. This has led to the phrase bringing up the markers to describe the last car on a train (these lights were officially what made a train a "train").

Originally lit with oil lamps, with the advent of electricity, later caboose versions incorporated an electrical generator driven by belts coupled to one of the axles, which charged a lead-acid storage battery when the train was in motion.

Cabooses are non-revenue equipment and were often improvised or retained well beyond the normal lifetime of a freight car. Tradition on many lines held that the caboose should be painted a bright red, though on many lines it eventually became the practice to paint them in the same corporate colors as locomotives. The Kansas City Southern did something unique: They left their cabooses unpainted, but ordered them with a stainless-steel car body. These were the exception to the rule of painting cabooses.

Other HO Scale Burlington Northern Items: Athearn HO Scale F7A Diesel Locomotive - Burlington Northern / Trainline EMD GP9M HO Scale Locomotive - Burlington Northern / Athearn HO Scale SD60M Locomotive - Burlington Northern / BNSF / Athearn HO Scale SD60M Locomotive - Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Other HO Scale Cabooses: Walthers HO Scale 30' GTW Caboose - Offset Coupla - Rio Grande / Athearn HO Scale Cupola Caboose - Santa Fe / Athearn HO Scale Bay Window Caboose - Southern Pacific