Lighting and detail advice for freelance caboose

[corsair]

Hello! I am modeling a small short line which connects a BN interchange to a handful of industries 10 miles or so up a mountain in the late 70's/early 80's. I'm ready to figure out the electrical work and add some lights. Here is what I have so far



I wasn't planning on a wye at the end of the line and I'm not sure what the best practice was for a real railroad. I read that logging lines usually kept the locomotive on the downhill side of the train. Would a short Class III railroad do the same? If so, would the caboose receive a "headlamp" and a horn?

If you keep the locomotive at the front of the train both ways, the caboose is "backwards" half the time. Would it get marker lamps at both ends? Most of the pictures I have seen (of models mind you) only have them at the rear.

Thanks!

[jmlaboda]

Would it get marker lamps at both ends?

If it is the only train operating on the line then there would be little need to have some sort of marker... such markers were used to protect against a second movement but shortlines would have little need of such.

As for a headlight and horn it has been done but is quite rare, typically only done when there were significant backward movements. The engine would likely lead the train up the grade and run around the train when changing direction or preparing to switch a customer so there would be little need to have a headlight and horn on the cab. Even if there is a back-up move that is fairly long likely the locomotive would be sufficient for the horn and crew would have flashlights or lanterns with them if such moves would be made at night.

[corsair]

Jmlaboda,

Thanks. I grew up around the end of the caboose era so I don't remember what's 'right' and what's not. Sounds like I could skip lightning entirely and it would still be prototypical.

Out of curiosity, for the class I railroads that still operated these wood cabeese for a while, did they still use oil lights to the end? I have never even seen a picture of an older caboose rigged up with an axle generator

[spike]

By that era, some roads did away with traditional markers. Some just had a red light. Others used a battery powered unit, which is like construction crews use on road pylons.

For a red light, they may have used the car's lighting battery and generator. For the construction beacon, they use lantern batteries.

[jwhite07]

It's up to you to decide how to do this - there's plenty of pro-and-con real railroad practice to derive from. You can go as simple or as complex as you want.

I base my own practice from relatively contemporary railroads in my area. Some have employed simple "shoving platform" ex-cabooses, where cabooses are equipped with lights and horns and a place for the conductor to ride and observe movements and radio back to an engineer operating from other than the leading end. Others have used full blown radio control remote units installed in caboose bodies, intended to be operated from an employee on the ground with a radio-control beltpack.

Mine is kind of a Cadillac version - more like a full blown control car a la push-pull service, with a caboose equipped with a control stand and linked via radio rather than COMM/MU cables to the controlling locomotive. Maybe not the shoestring option of most short lines, but it looks cool...

Lighting controlled with a TCS function decoder and capacitor, hence the lights illuminated despite being off rail. Headlights, ditch lights, and red markers are LEDs mapped to appropriate functions, so in practice not all would be illuminated at once.

Your practice may vary according to your tastes - that's the beauty of freelancing!

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

Jul 4, 2017 20:38:02 GMT -5 jwhite07 said:

Very cool! Is there an actual prototype for something like that?