CV Wood Caboose Paint Schemes

Caboose 4012 at Montville, Conn. 

(Photos from Bob's Photos, author's collection, unless otherwise noted). 

From the early 1920s through the 1970s Central Vermont rostered two distinct types of cabooses. I should add that at some points in time and in some areas the term "van" was used to describe a caboose. My understanding is that "van" was more common on the Northern Division of the railroad, which makes some sense since it obviously originated with the Canadian National.  

The first style of caboose consisted of three cars (4050-4052). These were also the first cabooses built for the CV by an outside builder. American Car & Foundry (AC&F) delivered these cars in 1923. They featured a steel underframe with wood bodies. These were very similar in basic dimensions to the "Northeastern" caboose used by a number of railroads such as the Lehigh Valley, LNE, Western Maryland and others. The primary difference was most of this style of caboose had steel bodies, but the CV cars were wood. 

CV 4007, East New London, Conn. (Bob's Photos).

The remaining CV wood cabooses were a total of 28 cars numbered between 4000-4030. The majority of these were rebuilt from previous cabooses or wood boxcars in the St. Albans shops, but they were remarkably similar in appearance and detail. Two exceptions were 4006 and 4021  - I suspect they replaced two previous cars with the same numbers or at the very least they were extensive enough rebuilds of those two cars that the CV Car Classification sheets noted they were "built" in 1951. 

This post is not meant to be a detailed history of CV cabooses - instead I thought I'd share some images that show some of the various paint schemes used on the wooden cars from the early 1920s through the 1970s. The photos will show one or two variations, but essentially there are three different schemes used on CV cabooses. 

Scheme 1: The first was all "brown" or freight car red, with "Central Vermont" spelled out in Roman lettering along the top of the side. 

AC&F Builder's Photo of CV 4050 shows off the early 1920s paint and lettering scheme. 

CV 4013, one of the home built "long" cabooses, shows off her original lettering scheme. 

Scheme 1a: The Central Vermont lettering got smaller and was on the lower portion of the carbody. See photo of 4013 below for an example of the size and placement of the Central Vermont lettering. 

Scheme 1b: Same paint scheme as Scheme 1a with "Rocket" slogan lettering. There were actually at least two different styles of Rocket lettering that I've seen photos of, one of which is shown on 4013 below. The other was a square box type logo that was centered on the car side. 

By 1939 the Central Vermont was still Railroad Roman but had gotten smaller and moved to the lower portion of the side. Some cabooses, like this one, got the flashy "Rocket" lettering. 

Scheme 2: Starting in the early 1940s paint scheme shifted from all brown to a combination of Red #11 underframe and trucks and orange body. This coincided with a shift to the "stacked Gothic" style lettering on its freight cars and cabooses. "Central" and "Vermont" were stacked above one another with the car number below.

CV 4006 shows off her then-new paint scheme of Red underframe and orange body. (Also note how dirty these cabooses got in service!) 

Scheme 2a: Shortly after the introduction of the Canadian National's "Super Continental" paint scheme the CV adopted a Maple Leaf logo. Close comparison will reveal the CV leaf had a slightly different shape than the "standard" CN leaf. The Maple Leaf was added to the cabooses with the words "Central Vermont Railway" spelled out in three lines inside the leaf. The car number also moved to a different position on the car side (usually to the left) with this lettering. 

Here's our old friend, 4013, in the post 1954 or so "Maple Leaf" scheme. By this point 4013 had received the open slat steps. A note for modelers - these are a neat detail to add to your CV caboose fleet! 

CV 4019 at Essex Junction shows how the cars weathered, but you can see tell the underframe and trucks were painted a different color than the car body. 

CV 4050, Scheme 2a (Maple Leaf) scheme. Note the placement of the car number. 

Scheme 3: Orange car bodies with black underframes and intertwined "CV". This would have first appeared in 1963 or so. The CV logo was in roughly the same position below the cupola, with the car numbers (and "CV" initials) along the lower edge of the car. The size of the car numbers on the car side also increased with this paint and lettering scheme over time. 

One note on the roof colors. Although CN vans painted in the orange scheme are documented to have had Red #11 underframes AND roofs, from photos it appears as if the CV cabooses had black roofs. While the walkways may have been orange at one point, there's plenty of photographic evidence that indicates the walks may also have been black. Perhaps it was a case of the walks being orange at first and then being repainted black with the rest of the roof. For modelers, a photo of the specific car you're modeling during your era is of course the best reference!