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! 

 

CN F-M H16-44s on the Central Vermont

 In case you wanted to justify adding one (or more) of the new Rapido Canadian National F-Ms to your CV layout - here's an assortment of H16-44s of various types on the Central Vermont that I dug out of my slide collection. NOTE: Not all of these are the exact prototypes for the Rapido model, which is based on the phase of the H16-44 that was introduced in early 1957.

As always, thanks to the photographers (most of whom have left us) for having the foresight to point their lenses at these machines and for their willingness to share the images with the rest of us. 

If you want to learn more about H16-44s, and get a close up look at the Rapido model, I suggest checking out Hunter Hughson's Hindsight RPM clinic, which you can find on YouTube at: 

https://youtu.be/k-Wz4YXf8pc?si=9O3f2QgWTqFAk9Hy

CN H16-44 1856 and 1853. R Decker photo. St. Albans, Vt. 3-1957

CN 2211 is the same group as the new Rapido model. R. Decker photo, 4-1957, location not noted.

An interesting trio of CN diesels on the Central Vermont. D. Nelson photo. St. Albans, Vt. area. Date unknown.

A pair of CN H16-44s, led by no. 1851, cross the Connecticut River near Brattleboro, Vt. Dave Sweetland photo, August 1955. 

In case you thought the H16-44s didn't make it to the Southern Division, here CN 1851 leads a train out of East New London, Conn. Bob Decker photo, 5/22/1955

New Video: Track and Wiring Tweaks, 2

 I just posted the second of three videos in my Track and Wiring Tweaks series to my CVSNE YouTube channel. 

In this video I take a closer look at a turnout in Richford yard - what looked "in the heat of battle" (ie., during the operating session!) to be a tight gauge in the turnout that was causing the S-4 switcher to get "pinched" and stuck on the turnout. 

Checking the turnout and the locomotive with a gauge confirmed the gauge was not the issue. That particular locomotive needs it's decoder tuned a bit the track issue was easily corrected. 

You can find the video at THIS LINK. 

New Video - Track and Wiring Tweaks: 1

 I've uploaded a new video to my "CVSNE" YouTube channel detailing the process I went through troubleshooting and ultimately replacing a cantankerous turnout in my town of Berkshire. 

This is hardly in danger of winning any Academy Awards, but you might find something useful. 

You can find the video HERE. 

This is the first video showing how I'm going about correcting the issues we identified on the layout during Operating Session #1. 

Op Session #1 and Video Layout Update #15

The Richford Turn leaves Enosburg enroute for Richford during Session #1. 

Last Sunday was hot and muggy (though downright pleasant compared to today!) - the perfect weather to retreat to the basement where it's always a pleasant sunny day in mid October in northern Vermont! 

The occasion was operating session 1.0 on the Richford Branch. 

I invited three good friends over to put the layout through its paces. I was concerned there wouldn't be enough to do to keep them entertained and occupied, but was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn't the case. In the end the layout supported an enjoyable, low key session for three operators and could have handled a fourth operator if only there had been another throttle available. 

Operating the layout solo over the last couple of years revealed that working the town of Richford itself can easily consume an hour or so - the paper mill another hour or so - meaning it might take the branchline local 4 hours+ to finish its run over the entire layout. 

Bernie ponders his next move with the mill job. 

My original intention for this session was to have two trains, each with a two-person crew - one working the paper mill job, the other running the branchline local around the rest of the layout. But that would still require the branchline local to work  Richford yard. 

So we tried something different and created a Richford yard job that spotted and sorted the cars for the local when it pulled into town. Not entirely prototypical for my era, (it was done that way in earlier eras) but it worked out really well. 

Todd brings the Richford Turn into Richford as Bill looks on. 

It worked out so well I think we'll stick with this lineup for the foreseeable future: 

1. Richford Turn (the branchline local)

2. The Mill Job - works the paper mill

3. Richford Yard Job 

4. The Charlton Turn - works the "northern SNE" section of the railroad. 

We also discussed the possibility of breaking the milk cars into a separate train. Depending on how many people we have I might try doing that next time. The Richford Turn has a lot of do as it is, and shifting the milk traffic to its own train may prove an ideal solution. 

There were no issues with anyone feeling cramped or crowded - a function of mostly 3+ foot aisles in many places. That also  means I can accommodate more operators by going to two-person crews in case, for example, a group of people come from out of town to operate. 

I was giving serious consideration to removing the paper mill peninsula and lengthening the Richford peninsula and adding a turnback curve that would loop around into more staging. Based on the feedback from the operating crew, the paper mill stays - for now. 

That covers number of trains and operators - but did the layout offer sufficient play value? I was somewhat concerned people would find it boring to operate, they would be done in 15 minutes and wondering what they were supposed to do the rest of the day. 

In the end I didn't need to worry - the layout kept us busy for the better part of 2.5 hours. And everyone finished about the same time. 

How did the layout perform? 

In short, there were a couple of little glitches, but nothing overwhelming. Likely since I’ve been running the layout on and off for a few years.

A few gremlins did raise their heads - nothing horrible but enough to need some attention. 

For example, I'm going to fix (ie, replace!) a turnout in Berkshire that just doesn’t want to cooperate. And Todd managed to find the one spur where the feeders were loose (or not there!) so I need to deal with that. And the track in Charlton needs a good cleaning. 

The only other “issues” were one or two cars with coupler issues. I put them aside and will deal with them before they go back on the railroad.

The only other thing I need to deal with is upgrading some of the operator aides - apparently my handwriting hasn’t improved since grade school!

All in all a great time was had by all - thanks to Stic for all his help getting us to this point (unfortunately he was out of town so he missed this one) and to Bernie, Bill, and Todd for bringing the Richford Branch to life! 

And I posted a new video update on the layout, that shows some of the progress on a couple of structures and provides a hot wash of the operating session #1. You can find that on You Tube at: 

https://youtu.be/gww1AGRdOJU?si=S7JHRQzSGxN2AJKp

Ice Cream Parlor for Enosburg - 2

Finished the ice cream parlor for Main Street in Enosburg. This is the one spot on the "outer loop" of the layout that has no scenery started at all. I've decided completing this area is the going to the primary goal for the next few months. (Secondary goals include conducting several test op sessions for someone other than myself!) 

The building is Evergreen styrene, built using my normal method of a plain styrene subshell covered with styrene clapboard and novelty siding to capture the look of the prototype building. The awnings were interesting - I made a styrene shell for them and then glued tissue paper in place to give some semblence of cloth texture. A base coat of blue paint, with some drybrushed highlights of lighter blue, hopefully gives the illusion of minor folds in the "fabric." 

The sign was prepared by Bernie Kempinski - and really helps make the building. He thought that he'd gotten away with doing signs with the passing of our mutual friend Paul Dolkos. No such luck. 

Pallets and other details for Clear Brook

I worked from home yesterday meaning I had a few minutes in the early morning (on a typical day that would have been spent on the VRE) and at lunch to knock out a quick project. In the morning I pulled out a bunch of the kit castings (that I'd previously painted). I also dug out a package of pallets I'd gotten from Inter Action Hobbies: (https://www.interactionhobbies.com/HO-Scale-Kit-Wood-Pallets-18-Pallets_p_96.html).

About 15 minutes later the pallets were glued together. Lunchtime I returned and brushed some quick stains to get rid of the "new" look of the pallets. I also chipped and cracked some of them. Last night (before I started my nightly routine) I placed the details around Clear Brook. 

A nice break through the day!

Ice Cream Parlor for Enosburg

Other than operating on the layout a few times, I really haven't done much on the layout since we went to Cocoa Bach back in January. I had surgery a the end of January that kept me out of the basement for a couple of weeks, and I've been getting used to life on dialysis. So far that's going better than expected but it certainly is life-changing. (Luckily, I do PD dialysis at home at night, so the impact on my daily life is much less than if I had to actually go to a dialysis center). So this is the "new normal" - at least until when and if I get a kidney transplant.

But last week I found some time to wander to the modeling desk with the goal of getting started on ... something. 

Back before Christmas I'd started on a South River Modelworks kit - so I dug that out. Stared at it for a few minutes and promptly put it back in the back. Don't get me wrong I love those kits but they're a lot of work - and I just wasn't in the mood for a big project. 

One area that needs some attention on the railroad is the Main Street scene in Enosburg Falls. This was referred to as the Billado Block - but on the HO Richford it's been a plain of brown painted plywood since the layout was started. 

In looking over the Jack Delano photo of the scene the obvious building to start with was the ice cream parlor. (Actually the building is an old creamery). 

A set of footprints for each of the buildings on that side of Main Street quickly revealed that "Full scale" models of all four structures (the parlor, the doctors house, the cafe, and the bank) wouldn't fit. 

I'll have to figure out how to address the other buildings at some point. One approach is to eliminate the bank building entirely - but the cafe is connected to it, leaving the question of how to address that. It would be hard to narrow the bank building enough to fit - or I could simply use a much narrower structure for that corner even if it wasn't a scratchbuilt model of the exact prototype. I'd gladly entertain any feedback and thoughts on the best way to approach this in the comment section. 

No matter what I end up deciding with the rest of the block, the ice cream parlor could be safely added full size (it was really too small to compress, although I shortened the overall length to allow me to add some trees behind the building the block the support post from intruding on the completed scene. 

The building still exists - although obviously it's been modified over the years. I have a railroad drawing that shows the outline of the building as a rectangle - the photo of the building today shows a lean to addition to the track (bike path) side of the structure. I haven't included that on my model since I'm choosing to believe the railroad map - but it wouldn't certainly make the building more visually interesting! 

Construction has been relatively straightforward using my typical techniques for frame buildings made from styrene. A sub shell of Evergreen .040" styrene Evergreen clapboard and novelty siding with Evergreen metal roofing panels on the taller portion in the rear (likely an ice house at one point) and N Scale Architect HO shingled roof on the main building. 

Currently I have the basic building together - it's sitting in the paint booth waiting for the initial coat of paint to dry so photos of the building in its current state has to wait for the next update. 

The State of Things

Unless you're living under a rock you've likely heard all about tariffs, and the effect they're likely to have on the model railroad industry. Several companies have even combined their resources to produce THIS VIDEO. 

First things first. Tariffs are inherently political - and you don't make it non-political simply by stating it is. The primary issue in this case is the 145% "additional" tariff on imports from China - and as most modelers know the majority of model railroad product is made in China and exported to the US and Europe. 

Some claim the "major" importers of model railroad product brought this situation on themselves by not planning for a rainy day, or by sending production "off shore" in the first place. 

But the consumer - yes the "model railroader" - has some blame to shoulder here. First of all - there's no "bringing production back to the US" because it was never here in the first place. At least not product at the level of detail and finish that apparently everyone demands with their dollars. 

How many of the same people who pine longingly on the chat lists for the days of Athearn Blue Box and $25.00 diesel locomotives are the same ones who categorially rip apart a newly released SD98-7 because  it doesn't have removable blades in the windshield wipers?  

We've gotten to a point where "mass produced" plastic models have road number (not road name!) specific details. Frankly these are amazing creations and I'm shocked they sell as cheap as they do! 

Could production be brought back to the US? In theory, of course it can. But there are a ton of logistical, personnel, and financial hurdles to clear first - and most of these companies aren't built to do business any way other than their current business model. 

And even if it should happen, I doubt these domestically produced models will come with road specific details separately applied. I'll also be shocked if no one leaves a comment referencing Micro-Trains, Kadee, and/or Accurail.  All three of these companies have retained production within the U.S. for the most part. So when I say production could be returned to the U.S. I think it will be at the level of detail Accurail and Micro-Trains offer (molded on grabs, simplified brake rigging, and in the case off Accurail in kit form). Or nicely detailed models but very limited variety (as in the case of Kadee). And notice none of three offer domestically produced locomotives.

I gave some thought over the last few weeks to how this might affect the hobby as a whole, and my enjoyment of the hobby in particular. Having been in the model railroad industry I can't see anything good coming from this situation unless it's resolved quickly. Most of these companies simply don't have the resources to weather a situation where they don't have a steady flow of new product. 

We're already seeing that - Athearn is not announcing any releases for May, several companies have put shipments from China on hold, and we're starting to see warehouse "clearance" sales - an obvious effort to quickly convert inventory into cash.  These are all defensive postures and an attempt to weather the storm. Next step will be a hold on developing future releases. Without product to sell there will be no need to advertise - so the magazines - already in a tenuous situation - will loose a large percentage of their revenue. 

I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know what the timeline for this is - but it's a matter of months unless there's some resolution to this. Frankly I think we'll all be more concerned about how much everything else costs - to the point that not having a sexy new diesel to add to the stack of stuff in the closet will be the least of our worries. 

I had a feeling I'd written a blog post similar to the above - and it turns out I had - THIS ONE back in March 2020 (and we all remember that month!). 

Are tariffs the event that will finally kill the model railroad industry? There will certainly be an impact, some significant. Some model train manufacturing facilities overseas may not survive. Some model railroad companies in the US might not survive. 

So, how will this impact my enjoyment of the hobby? Honestly I don't think it impacts it at all. While the model railroad industry may evolve and change - the hobby will go on. Yes, we might lose some collectors and "retail model railroaders" to a lack of inventory and price resistance - or both. 

There's little or nothing commercially available in the RTR market suitable for modeling the Central Vermont that I don't already have, and it would take me three or four life times to build my accumulated "stash" - so I'm not worried!    

CV RS-11 3611 - Before and After

 Here's an Alan Irwin view of Central Vermont Alco RS-11 #3611 in 1981 in St. Albans, Vt. Showing off her Larsen Green colors:

Back in the mid-1990s I told Alan that I would be traveling to an NMRA meet in southwestern Virginia - and on the way home we planned to do some railfanning in western Virginia. 

"That's perfect!" he exclaimed - "can you stop by the Winchester and Western and see if you can find one of the CV RS-11s that ended up there." 

I did, and took some photos and sent them to Alan. We'd heard the engine was "a little rough" from some of the local guys. They weren't kidding! the overcast, gray day (in April, not unlike the weather in Virginia this week!) provided the appropriate somber background. 

Wondering if anyone wants to chop up a Rapido RS-11 to look like this!

Video Update #14

 Just published a new layout update on YouTube - this one includes a closer look at a new addition to the junction area, discusses future plans for that section of the layout, and includes some video we shot test running the newly released Broadway Limited B&M 2-8-4. I was so impressed with that model I think we'll be adding one to the SNE's roster!

You can find the video here:

https://youtu.be/pfm3Z6blNtw