Scale drawings of a Green Bay Route caboose.

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Wood Bay Window Caboose - Short

Comments from John Hagen:

If you need or want the drawings in a non-pdf format or in a different scale, email me. If you want drawing on paper via snail mail, again email me and I will get in touch with you. Mail will require reimbursement for my expenses but this would likely be in the $1.00 - $1.50 range. I�m not doing this for money.

These � inch scale (full size for �O� scale) drawings were made using DeltaCad Professional V 6.0. I learned how to use the program as part of doing these drawings.

I made a trip to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay (not a huge trip, I live in the Milwaukee area) to photograph and get some measurements from Ahnapee & Western caboose #33. This provided several key dimensions but is limited by the fact that this caboose never received a steel under frame and is different in some details. I did get dimensions for the bay and all of the windows. These appear to be the same on all of the cars. I also found out that the siding grooves are spaced 2� inches apart. The actual siding looks to be 5� wide tongue and-groove (probably 5�� with the tongue) with a center groove. This was a major help as I was able to count the �boards� on the sides and ends to find the overall length and width of the cars. While I did get overall measurements, I wanted a short car and #33 is a long car. From the photos I�ve seen it seemed that there were cars of two (more?) different lengths. All other dimensions (including height) I had to scale from available photos. As the photos are all skewed one way or the other, this involved taking and averaging several measurements. Add to that the fact that no two cars appear to be exactly alike and it turned out to be quite a project.

The file includes a few detail photos I took of A&W #33 that will be helpful on several points. However, it is very important to keep in mind that these photos are of a car that was never upgraded to a steel underframe. Just about everything below floor level is incorrect for a post WWII Green Bay & Western or Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western car.

I am sharing these drawings here for two reasons;

• To get feedback from anyone that has factual information on whether the drawings are �close enough� to build a relatively accurate model and To share them with anyone who has a non-commercial use for them (if anyone has a commercial use for them, please contact me).
• I really want to get constructive criticism. I have no inflated idea as to the accuracy and my feelings will not be hurt. I believe that a working set of drawing for these cars is almost necessary, as they were in use during one of the prime modeling eras of the GBW, post WWII to later 60�s.

Several points of information needed to make use of the drawings follow:

• The height of the sides is based on scaling several photos and should be close.
• Roof height, roof walk dimensions, roof walk support spacing, etc, was determined using drawings of similar era freight cars and cabooses to establish standards of the day.
• The cross section of the roof should be quite close to Northeastern Scale Lumber overhanging roof stock (Walthers #521-602). They also have a caboose roof but it is of the �rounded� variety and not correct for this car. According to the photos I�ve seen, the roof looks to be smooth with no ribs and was likely tarpapered.
• The coupler pocket dimensions are generic and may not be right for this car. I am amazed at the variations in coupler pocket dimensions through the years.
• The smoke stack is 6� in diameter, the normal for black stovepipe available TODAY.
• I had absolutely no information concerning the underframe or brake equipment. My plan for myself is to modify an Athearn (or MDC) bay window caboose underframe for length and bolsters placement and hopefully be able to leave the rather meager representation of brake equipment in place. If anyone can come up with sufficient documented underframe information I would consider modifying the drawings. The bolster location was determined again by board count and should be accurate.
• I did not spend the time to draw the trucks as they are a commonly used caboose truck design and are available commercially.
• The end platforms and stair treads are diamond plate on #33 and I feel would be correct for all of these cars considering the time when any major upgrades were last done.
• I did not forget the roofwalk platforms where the ladder handrails attach to the roof. I have seen many GBW caboose photos, including one of #605 that looks DOWN, on to the roof and these platforms did NOT exist on these cars.
• I have no data as to how the interiors were laid out. I couldn�t see the inside of #33 as the windows were papered over at the time of my visit to the museum.