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Drover's Caboose

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9.6K views 63 replies 17 participants last post by  MopacPat  
#1 · (Edited)
Roundhouse kit with details I've never seen in a Roundhouse kit.
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First thing I did was hit it with a Krylon rattle can of red primer. Close enough to "boxcar red".

Metal/wire grab irons & hand rails.
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The rattle can of black primer started spitting and sputtering as I sprayed the roof. I thought "Great. That's a do-over." But when it dried I thought it looked like the roof had been tarred, so I left it alone.
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#3 ·
Then glue on the roof.
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Now that the roof is glued on... oh look... the weights are laying in the box. :oops:

Popped the roof off and glued in the weights. In this pic you can see the window "glass" I added.
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The kit came with these little red & green jewel/bead thingy's to install in the marker light that goes on top of the cupola.
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#4 · (Edited)
Done.

Kadee couplers & wheelsets.
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The drovers’ caboose was a unique part of American railroading tied to the shipment of livestock such as cattle and sheep. In 1906 Congress passed a law that required the feeding and watering of livestock on trains every 28 hours. Since most such shipments took longer than that, the railroads had to carry drovers, men who handled the livestock, along with those trains to comply with the law.

The drovers’ caboose was much longer than a typical caboose, because it served not only the train crew, but also the drovers assigned to watch after the livestock in shipment from the ranch to the processing plants. These cabooses had two separate sections. The rear section was the standard railroad crew portion with cooking and sleeping accommodations as well as the cupola or bay window. The front section was reserved for the livestock drovers.

These cabooses appeared usually in stock trains where the entire train was made up of livestock cars. They were also used on occasion when large shipments of livestock were mixed in with other freight. The drovers’ cabooses were always kept on the rear of the train since the cars’ primary purpose was still to serve as quarters for the conductor and brakemen and only secondarily as quarters for the drovers. – Martin E. Hansen

www.trains.com

Drovers' caboose | Trains Magazine

Ask Trains from the October 2016 issue
www.trains.com www.trains.com
 
#7 ·
Those are great kits and super fun to build even if they don’t fit your era. I think everyone should build one just for the fun experience. All those details are standard. The first one I ever did I added Adlake markers from Tomar and skipped the roof mounted one. For extra fun, I turned the smoke jack into a rotary switch to turn the marker lights on. Instead of using a spring for contact I used a solid brass bar against a brass screw. Sounds inferior but going down the track, it created inconsistent conductivity, which made the marker lights flicker randomly like oil lamps should.
Sold it to a guy in Australia. Wish I still had photos of it, but I’ve got a kit laying here that I might do the same way someday.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I remembered seeing this recent release by Roundhouse/Athearn (March 2017), in an RTR version…..

It’s definitely not the same caboose though…..different cupola, different trucks, different window and door placement, etc….

View attachment 572221
 
#10 ·
I recall seeing those a few times on the Illinois Central in the mid-60s. I never knew what the extra sliding door was used for on the side of the caboose.

Great job on the build Stumpy.
 
#14 ·
MichaelE said:
I never knew what the extra sliding door was used for on the side of the caboose.
Click to expand...
For easier/faster loading at the supply house along a caboose track. Before you ask; coal or cooking oil, lanterns and/or lantern oil, toilet paper for so-equiped cars, paper, pencils, chalk, sometimes even coffee, eggs, bread & bacon, and other assorted rolling office supplies. Depends on the company, how the car was equipped, how long the job would be (4 hour local turn versus 14 hour overnight) and who the Conductor was. If it was Shack on the 19 to Portland, just a can of beans and 47 hammers were loaded.
 
#24 ·
They weren’t all that small….
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The drovers’ caboose was a unique part of American railroading tied to the shipment of livestock such as cattle and sheep. In 1906 Congress passed a law that required the feeding and watering of livestock on trains every 28 hours. Since most such shipment took longer than that, the railroads had to carry drovers, men who handled the livestock, along with those trains to comply with the law.
The drovers’ caboose was much longer than a typical caboose, because it served not only the train crew, but also the drovers assigned to watch after the livestock in shipment from the ranch to the processing plants. These cabooses had two separate sections. The rear section was the standard railroad crew portion with cooking and sleeping accommodations as well as the cupola or bay window. The front section was reserved for the livestock drovers.
These cabooses appeared usually in stock trains where the entire train was made up of livestock cars. They were also used on occasion when large shipments of livestock were mixed in with other freight. The drovers’ cabooses were always kept on the rear of the train since the cars’ primary purpose was still to serve as quarters for the conductor and brakemen and only secondarily as quarters for the drovers.
Click to expand...
 
#27 · (Edited)
Nice Roundhouse caboose, Stumpy. I think you need to reverse the roof!

Back around 1976 I built two similar Roundhouse cabooses, non-drover style. Came in the same style box, has truss rods, etc.

Looks like the cupola roof and sides are different, but other parts are probably similar or the same. It looks like the overall dimensions are the same, too. Could be two "variations" they created from one basic kit.

Here's a pic I took a few minutes ago, with 45 years of age on it:
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I never bothered with decals. I think of it as a "generic" red caboose. Goes with anything...!
 
#33 ·
Some examples of side loading cargo doors I mentioned in post 31.

FEC with a 36” door

BAR with a 36” door

IC with what I can only call a half-dutch 36” door

These are examples of side doors, the presence of which doesn’t make them Drover’s. Drover’s Caboose is an assignment for which a caboose is specifically outfitted as a bunk/camp car. On Drover’s the side doors were used the same as other side cargo doors, loading from a platform… in the case of Drover’s service I assume feed and whatever tools the handlers used for handling/wrangling the livestock in question (sheep, cattle, horses, hogs are handled differently). Again, it’s a rolling office for personnel. The livestock were transported in appropriate cars, not in the caboose.
I always liked side doors, but never saw one on a steel car until finding that BAR photo. I thought the side doors were outlawed around WWII for safety reasons. Speaking of that one, the BAR car is assigned to Drover service, the bunk windows are a dead give away. Looks like an 8 bunk arrangement.
 
#37 ·
I used to see a crew member in the IC cabooses with the door/window open hanging out on the arm rest. They always waved.
 
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