Tangent Scale Models showed off their third all-new caboose model for HO Scale, the IC Centralia Shops Wide Vision Caboose, at Trainfest 2022 in Milwaukee over the weekend.
These cabooses were unusually long and had extended end walkways and wide-vision cupolas. Those traits made them one of the most recognizable caboose body styles in North America.
Built originally for the Illinois Central, these cabooses were utilized system-wide on and are still used by Canadian National.
Each model provides a long list of features, including wand-operated LED interior and marker lighting, separately applied ladders, different window configurations, fully painted multicolor interior details including chairs, bunks, desk, lockers, ice chest, oil bunker and cabin heater, end railings, brake wheels, full underbody brake rigging, 70-ton Barber roller bearing trucks with 33-inch metal wheelsets, and much more.
Eleven paint scheme variations are offered, along with undecorated kits available in two versions.
MSRP $119.95 each. Multiple road numbers per scheme where appropriate. HO versions are available now while supplies last at your favorite hobby dealer or direct.
Tangent Scale Models, PO Box 6514, Asheville, NC 28816; 828-412-3886
www.tangentscalemodels.com
Illinois Central (IC) “Original Orange Split Rail 1970” replicates the as-built paint scheme as the cabooses rolled out of the Centralia Shops. The IC painted their cabooses in orange and lettered them with the “Split Rail” logo and “Main Line Of Mid-America” slogan. This group of cabooses features a Stanray roof, along with an accurate Keystone Center-of-Car cushioning underframe and matching brake components layout for the 1970 Centralia.
The first 100 cabooses built in 1970 featured riveted body construction, extended platform ends for crew safety, wide vision cupolas, and Stanray “reverse-diagonal” panel roofs (top caboose). The second 100 cabooses, built in 1972, featured Pullman Standard “bow-tie” panel roofs (bottom caboose).
A handful of the IC Centralia Wide Vision Cabooses have continued to serve the CN into the 2000s and beyond. IC 199408 was repainted from its IC Gray scheme into CN’s Oxide Red colors in 2005 at Centralia. At this time, it also received the yellow reflective delineators. This model features plated fixed side windows, plated end markers, replacement style coupler lift bars, modernized end cupola windows, and a “cut off” smokejack, all based on the prototype caboose.