In December 1945, shortly after the end of WWII, the New Haven decided to buy 75 new cabooses. Steel shortages, labor issues and a change of car builder delayed production until the railroad eventually contracted with International Car Company in 1947 to buy 75 NE-6 steel cabooses at a cost of $6,335 for each standard caboose and an additional $350 if equipped with steam heat. The first NE-6 arrived on November 10th, 1947 but by March 1948, due to higher than anticipated production costs, the New Haven agreed to an increased price of $7,775 for five express cabooses and $7,250 for the remaining standard cabooses, the last of which was received in August 1948. The NE-6s had riveted steel sides, rode on Barber-Bettendorf swing-motion trucks, weighed 47,000 pounds and were numbered from C-635 to C-709. They were delivered in caboose red with a black roof and underbody but were repainted into the McGinnis scheme beginning in 1955. They were used in through and local freight service, and work service. Many New Haven NE-6s lasted to the end of the railroad and received Penn Central paint and numbers in the early 1970s.
The pictured New Haven NE-6 caboose models were made by Atlas O in several runs between 2003 and 2015.
MELGAR