Hi Folks;
Not strictly a work caboose, but more accurately an industrial caboose. I built my "Little Deuce Caboose" in 1996. I needed a caboose to run with silver or gold ore trains made up of LGB and (later) HLW tip bucket ore cars. The smallest cabooses at that time were the LGB and Bachmann bobbers. Both of them looked HUGE coupled to tip bucket ore cars. I needed something that would not overpower the ore cars.
The basic body is an old ScanKit wayside tool shed. That was mounted on a basswood frame. Ozark journals, Gary Raymond wheels, LGB brake shoes, Trackside Details stirrups & brakewheel, and Kadee couplers were added to the frame. Brake wheel staff, and railings were fabricated from brass rod stock. The conductor's barrel chair is made from an English Leather cologne bottle top.
It has an interior with two jump seats, a stove, a bucket of coal, and a small shovel. It would be close, but cosy in there in cold weather. It won third place in the whimsicals freight car contest at the 1997 National Garden Railway Convention in Washington, DC.
The air tank is a cut-down box that once held 0.7mm leads for mechanical pencils. The air lines were fabricated from brass rod stock. I still have another ScanKit wayside tool shed kit on hand. I am trying to decide whether to build it "stock" or build another "Little Deuce Caboose."
Thanks for looking,
David Meashey