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Hello TETers.  Here is a tail end post of a tail end for this Tail End Tuesday.  I hope everyone is doing well on this Tuesday end of the day.

Here is my contribution.  We all know the railroads did not really have a front end or rear end for their freight cars.  They were rarely, if ever, turned.  This goes for the caboose too.  With few exceptions, they did not care which end the caboose was facing.

However, all cars have an "A" end and a "B" end.  For freight cars, the "B" end was where the brake wheel was.  A caboose had brake wheels on both ends, so which one was the "B" end (or for today the tail end)?  This is the "B" end of this PRR N8 cabin.

DSC_0011

How do I know this is the tail end?  On freight cars the pointed end of the brake cylinder points to the 'B' end.  To standardize terminology, for a caboose the pointed end will point to the 'B' end of the caboose.  That makes the other end the 'A' end.

DSC_0010

Now you know the answer to the question you never asked.

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Images (2)
  • DSC_0011
  • DSC_0010

Tail-End Tuesday - March 12, 2024

New Haven C-681 is an Atlas O model of an NE-6 caboose built by International Car Company in 1950. It was part of the last purchase of cabooses made by the New Haven Railroad. This model (Item 6671, MSRP $69.95) was produced from the first run in April 2003. It has friction bearing caboose trucks, a die-cast chassis, and full underbody details.

MELGAR

MELGAR2_2024_0227_29_NH_C681_10X5_DINER_TETMELGAR2_2024_0227_25_NH_C681_10X5_SS71_TETMELGAR2_2024_0227_26_NH_C681_10X5_JCT_TETMELGAR2_2024_0228_44_NH_C681_10X5_WEST_TET

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Images (4)
  • MELGAR2_2024_0227_29_NH_C681_10X5_DINER_TET
  • MELGAR2_2024_0227_25_NH_C681_10X5_SS71_TET
  • MELGAR2_2024_0227_26_NH_C681_10X5_JCT_TET
  • MELGAR2_2024_0228_44_NH_C681_10X5_WEST_TET

HEY!  I recently found one of my "holy grail's" ; the Marx #5563 6 inch tinplate lithographed caboose in KCS livery.  This is one of the more scarce of the Marx 6 inch cars as noted by a collectors value some 5- 7 X any other caboose iaw my reference guides.  It goes with my KCS FM tinplate lithographed diesel and I have been looking for it for about 2 years and finally encountered one on e-bay and had quite an "auction" tussle to get it.  Anyway, here it is in honor of T.E.T.

My reference books give no dates of manufacture for this caboose however it is likely that those dates would match the dates for the matching #54 Marx KCS FM diesel.  These are 1956-1960 for the KCS A unit and 1957-1960 for the B unit.  The caboose has the plastic knuckle coupler which was introduced by Marx in 1953 so that lends support to those mid 50's to 1960 dates.

Marx KCS 6 inch caboose

Here she is on the tail end (hey its T.E.T. right) of my KCS FM diesel unit. View from the rear

Marx KCS AB and 6 inch caboose from rear

View of the entire consist A, B, and caboose .

Marx KCS AB and 6 inch caboose from front

Happy Tuesday !  Best Wishes

Don

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  • Marx KCS 6 inch caboose
  • Marx KCS AB and 6 inch caboose from rear
  • Marx KCS AB and 6 inch caboose from front

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