Logging cabooses - 1
L
oggers from the steam-
vintage era were a
creative and energetic
bunch. They could cobble up
some incredible and func-
tional equipment while work-
ing with limited resources and
near-nonexistent budgets.
Kitbashing a
pair of unique
cabooses ...
Logging Cabooses
KITBASH
– by Jeff Johnston
Photos by the author
Using what they had on hand or
could beg or borrow, they’d build
the hardware they needed to
get the logs from stump to mill.
Rolling stock, such as the pair of
customized cabooses in this story,
was often the subject of such
modification.
Not all log trains used a caboose.
In fact, a caboose was probably
the exception rather than a rule for
many early logging operations, but
enough of them used one, espe-
cially in later years, that it’s per-
fectly OK to hang one on the back
of your log train. A train of any type
just looks better with a caboose,
right? Logging companies that
operated their trains over com-
mon-carrier rails for part of the trip
fromwoods to mill were required
to use a caboose per the common
carrier’s operating rules.
Some logging companies used
second- or third-hand rolling
stock from mainline carriers. Others would build a caboose
from the ground up in the company shops. In some cases, they
used whatever they could get and repurposed it to suit their
needs. Such is the case with the models shown here.
Both of these models are strictly freelanced although they’re
based on prototype inspiration. They’re far afield from the
usual prototype-based modeling I do for our Sugar Pine
MRH-Oct 2014
