MTH Great Northern Caboose

I have a Premier Great Northern caboose if you can’t locate that one. 

Which one do you have?  The Train Loft has one locally but he doesn't like the one they have.

20-91016 is the item number. 

The blue extended vision model?  Also how much do u want ?

Blue steel cupola. Email me for price, it’s in my profile. 

Mitch's Dad posted:

The blue extended vision model?  Also how much do u want ?

The blue GN cabooses are nice looking, but keep in mind that it is the Big Sky Blue paint scheme that was adopted shortly before the Burlington Northern merger. At least from a timeline perspective, a red caboose would be closer. If you could find an MTH wood-sided one, that would be ideal, but I think they're relatively uncommon.

But all that may not matter to you, which is obviously just fine. BTW, nice Craigslist find!

Since the set is a steam set we are trying to keep it appropriate..and more importantly our son has seen pics of the sky blue and seems completely uninterested in it.

The Train Loft is a local store and has the green and yellow wood side model in stock so that is an option.  My son also stated today he did not want another red caboose.

The same lady on craigslist had a southern railking set from around 2007 that was essentially new which we got for 80 since it was missing a passenger car.  I would have gotten the other for 80 but didn't notice the caboose was missing til I got home.

Both sets have the z1000 transformer so that is another big plus.

Mitch,

Remind me, how old is your son? I know when I was younger, color played an important part of my decision making. It's a large reason why I grew up routing for the Miami Dolphins—that and Dan Marino. Does it matter to your son if the caboose is the same road name as the engine?

Your son and you probably already know this, but the majority of cabooses were painted red until at least the mid-20th century, just as boxcars were primarily brown. So, the decks are stacked against you a little. That said, according to MTH, this caboose is still available from some dealers. (I'd be surprised if it's prototypical, but it's painted in GN colors, and it's wood-sided.) In addition to the dealers listed on the MTH page, it's for sale here, too.

While not prototypical, you might consider the Great Norther Famous American Railroads (FARR) series caboose, 6-6438. You can usually find them on Ebay, though often they're overpriced, IMnotsoHO. Here's one.

Or, while bending the space-time continuum a bit, you could consider a green Burlington Northern caboose, such as those found here.

—Matt

Mitch is actually my son but that's a small thing.  I have managed to work in your questions and others in the past to narrow down this search.  He does want a matching road name and he does not want another red caboose as his NYC is red.  Unfortunately the NYC set and the Great Northern are accidentally the same set with different color schemes.  For the price I could not pass up the Great Northern so this is something he will have to overcome.  I do believe the engine is a different paint scheme so that should satisfy him.

I have shown him the green and yellow model you sent the link for and on last check it was available locally at The Train Loft.  That one is definitely the front runner as he did not like the sky blue nor the orange bay window model. 

At this point unless someone on here pops up with one of the originals then I think the green and yellow is the lead candidate.

Mitch's Dad posted:

Mitch is actually my son but that's a small thing.

[snip]

I have shown him the green and yellow model you sent the link for and on last check it was available locally at The Train Loft.  That one is definitely the front runner as he did not like the sky blue nor the orange bay window model. 

At this point unless someone on here pops up with one of the originals then I think the green and yellow is the lead candidate.

Doh! I'm going to blame the coffee not having kicked in yet. :-)

Just so your son and you aren't surprised and disappointed, I believe that the MTH caboose is not green and yellow, but green and orange, similar to the Lionel bay-window model's color scheme, but it's of higher quality and more detailed. I agree, the

He really wants the more neon green version of the Burlington Northern Caboose like the one you linked...and that would probably make him the happiest in all honesty.  Unfortunately my hours match the local store (The Train Loft in Winston Salem) and I am working this weekend so the quest will go on for a while most likely.

I will add a pic that I took from the box for the Great Northern set....it isn't the actual cars but shows a red caboose with the center cupola which was standard for several railking sets of the time.

I put in an order for more track from Grahams Trains and have been steadily adding switches from Trainzauctions so we will be ready for the Great Northern setup at the inlaws as well as putting one together in our home.  So far we are limited to the floor of his room but I have plans to take over the downstairs bedroom.  The misses is actually onboard for that so long as her niece doesn't decided to move here after college to get a job. 

Here is the poorly taken image from the box.

Mitch's Dad posted:

He really wants the more neon green version of the Burlington Northern Caboose like the one you linked...and that would probably make him the happiest in all honesty.  Unfortunately my hours match the local store (The Train Loft in Winston Salem) and I am working this weekend so the quest will go on for a while most likely.

This MTH BN caboose is $50, but with shipping included, and they say it can be delivered by October 24.

An MTH Great Northern caboose had long been on my wish list, so I had been keeping an eye on Ebay for some time. The one that came with your set, or the similar 30-77132, did not come up for sale frequently. When it did, it was at the least in the $50 range, shipping included. (And, of course, it is the problematic red.)

That is the one he likes...I will surreptitiously ask him again if that would be ok.  He is a little fickle so it could go eaither way.