More of Clyde King's marvelous work in HO scale represented by these two Southern Pacific C-40-5 cabooses. The starting point were Athearn steel bay window caboose kits, which most closely represent SP's C-40-4 class of cars. Clyde made numerous modifications to represent Espee's C-40-5 cabooses equipped with a cylindrical diesel fuel tank on one side of the underframe. The "frog-eye" marker light housing on the roof is fabricated from brass tube and wire soldered together, while the ground plane dish-type antenna is a Detail Associates part. End platforms and steps were rebuilt and feature Detail Associates parts for the open steel grating. You'll note some windows were plated over, something the railroad began doing in the 1970s as a safety measure to prevent broken windows from objects thrown by vandals and inner-city youth. The cars are both equipped with North West Short Line (NWSL) nickel silver semi-finescale 88-tread wheels, however, weathering of the cabooses left the normally shiny tread looking "dirty". Tread will be polished before going into operation on our model railroad club's layout.

Both of these cabooses were built per photos Clyde took of these same two cars at Newhall Yard in Santa Clara, CA in the late 1970s.

You can find information about Southern Pacific's steel cabooses online at: http://espee.railfan.net/caboose_steel.html

UPDATE 8/25/07: Clyde kindly built me a C-40-5 caboose. Photos of the unpainted car follow Clyde's two already painted cabooses. The images will provide viewers a sense of Clyde's fine craftmanship, showcasing his talents as a Master Modeler!