November 2012

A Caboose for the Quarry Job - 2

21/11/12 21:15 Filed in: Rolling Stock

Continuing work on the roof of the caboose, I used matte medium to glue the kraft paper strips to the weathered wood deck.

I set the roof aside, and painted all the remaining parts of the caboose.

The trucks and wheel sets were brush painted Polly S Rail Brown. I masked the windows, then spray painted the body of the caboose with light gray auto primer, the frame dark gray.

I brush painted the caboose Polly S Roundel Red. The frame and trucks were sprayed with fixative and coated with a mixture of soapstone dust and rottenstone. I glued a patch of rust painted paper on the roof to represent tin flashing around the base of the smoke pipe.

My stencils for cabooses have a letter “C” prefix. Lettering the Quarry Job’s caboose “C02” struck me as mildly amusing. I painted a dark gray rectangle on the sides of the body and painting the lettering within the rectangles in white.

Once lettered, the caboose body got the same dust treatment as the frame and trucks.

A Caboose for the Quarry Job - 1

07/11/12 21:25 Filed in: Rolling Stock

The Quarry Job on my layout is the most complex of the three jobs required to run the railroad. The Quarry Job works many sidings and can be out on the line a long time. It seemed to me that the crew could make good use of a caboose rather than all crowd into the cab of a small saddletanker, or ride on the open cars in the weather.

I picked up a small Bachmann caboose for the use of the Quarry Job. Its no nonsense utilitarian simplicity seemed to fill the bill nicely.

After using the caboose a few times on the Quarry Job, it had a home. But I could not abide by its extreme “plastic countenance,” as it lacked the look of a rough handled piece of quarry railroad equipment.

I disassembled the caboose, only then realizing it had a detailed interior. I weighed my options and decided against developing the interior of the caboose. Eventually I will replace it with something scratchbuilt that may indeed have a fully detailed interior.

I want the caboose to have a worn tarpaper roof. I cut strips of kraft paper for tarpaper, then carefully sanded the edges to remove the crisp cut edges.

I cut whatever that thing is in the center of the roof off flush, and planked over the roof with coffee stirrers. I glued the wood strips to the plastic roof with clear caulk.

Hunterline weathering solutions were used on the coffee stirrers, and the ragged strips of kraft paper got a quick spray of dark gray primer.

East of the Blue Ridge

Chronicles of an On30 quarry railroad

A Caboose for the Quarry Job - 2

A Caboose for the Quarry Job - 1