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Went by the LHS this morning. This has proven to be a bad habit on my part although the guys who run the place always seem happy to see me come through the door. One of them stands with his hand poised over the keys on the cash register for some reason. Anyway, last week I had stopped by to check out steam locos with DCC and sound, of which they had two. I was hooked and ordered a DCC system. I also ordered a DCC w/sound chip for my Kato SD70M. Today I took my wife by to see and, most importantly, hear a steam loco with sound. We left with a Walther's 2-8-8-2 Heritage Collection loco. When I got it home I had to try it although my DCC system won't arrive until next week. I figured I would just break it in. To my pleasant surprise, the sound works in DC although I don't get to use the whistle, bell or any advanced function. What does happen is that the initial sounds of the turbine spinning up is followed by huffing and hissing. As I increase the throttle the sound changes appropriately into a chuffing that's in sync with the speed. I even get the brake squeal as the loco stops. Pretty darned impressive.
The only fly in the buttermilk is that the loco is marked "Union Pacific". I have three Santa Fe cabooses and one Missouri Pacific. Just to make things more confusing, looking through the cabooses on a couple of internet websites I don't find one marked Union Pacific that is period-correct for steam in the 40's. Am I missing something? Did UP not use cabooses in the 1940's? If they did, does anyone know where I can get one?
John, Union Pacific Class CA-1, CA-2, or CA-3 were all in use during the 40's. The CA-1 is a wood caboose witha low cupola and the CA-2 and CA-3 are steel with the typical tall center cupola. Walthers has CA-1 cabooses but they are in fantasy color schemes and are sold out. The real CA-1 during the 40's would be mineral red with white lettering. Intermountain has a CA-3 in the correct color scheme but it's backordered at Walthers. There a ton of UP model cabooses out there. Most of them are cabooses the UP never had. If they are the correct style of caboose, almost all are in the modern UP yellow and red scheme with safety slogans. You'll have to keep hunting around until you find the right one or get a correct model and repaint and decal it yourself.
Edit: Scratch all that, I forgot we are talking about N scale. The only correct model is the Walthers #85-6069 Centralia Car Shops CA-3 caboose. It's also sold out but some dealer may still have one in stock.
In years past, MT has released a wood sided caboose painted for UP, either brown or yellow, depending on release. In the very limited time period you will be modeling with that Y3, either of those would suffice.
Here's a link to a currently active auction for one: http://www.gomotorbids.com/LotDetai...n-Pacific-34-Wood-Sheathed-Caboose-3240-50100
I know nothing about it, other than it is what I referred to, and it popped up on a Google search.
Thanks for all the help. I just bid on a yellow UP caboose on the gomotorbids.com website. It's not period correct but I may repaint it. On the other hand, I'm probably not going to be accurate in what I have the loco pulling anyway. According to the history of the USRA 2-8-8-2 locos, they were used almost entirely to haul heavy coal trains over mountains. I think having a dedicated coal hauler would be a bit boring given my limited layout. I'm more interested in having the layout be visually interesting than historically accurate in this case. (Read that as wanting the grandkids to ooh and aah.)
Chris, don't be misleading a new guy like that. John, the UP never had a caboose that vaguely resembled one like the picture Chris posted. I had forgotten about the Micro Trains model, which is a reasonably accurate model of a CA-1 class caboose. The yellow paint and red lettering is not accurate. I don't think any CA-1's ever got yellow paint. With that said, someone will probably find a picture of one.
The UP used their 2-8-8-2's mostly in helper service over Sherman Hill but they were also used on the road during the war, when they'd have long trains of gasoline tank cars that needed to get over the road and speed wasn't a priority. These trains were called "drag freights", since they literally were dragged by powerful, but slow, locomotives, like the 2-8-8-2. Even though many 2-8-8-2's were used by eastern roads in coal service, your UP model won't look out of place on the high plains.
I went to the LHS today. They found a period correct caboose that is being released in November. Of course, I can't remember the name of the manufacturer but I have one ordered.
Jim, I read a little history on the USRA 2-8-8-2 locos used by UP. They used them at Sherman Hill for a while but their slow speed meant that the diesel electric locos they were assisting couldn't even run at full power. Instead of speeding up traffic flow, they slowed it down. They were eventually sent to drag freights which was after what they were designed to do. Thanks for all your help!
I have been successful finding things on Ebay. A guy sold me a whole box of SF cabooses and parts from which I've made a lot of good pieces, and the price was dirt cheap. I know some guys call it EVIL BAY, but used carefully a guy can get some great deals.
I've bought and sold on Ebay for years and only had one bad experience. While I hear things are getting worse, most of the folks on there are good people.
I read somewhere where those side door for used for local LCL freight. This was more convenient than having the conductor go into a boxcar to get a package. Now those days are gone along with the caboose.
John, the UP never had a caboose that vaguely resembled one like the picture Chris posted. I had forgotten about the Micro Trains model, which is a reasonably accurate model of a CA-1 class caboose. The yellow paint and red lettering is not accurate. I don't think any CA-1's ever got yellow paint. With that said, someone will probably find a picture of one. 
