HO Bay Window Caboose with Lights, SP #4660 Overview
International Car Co. began specializing in caboose production as early as 1941. When the railroads entered the 1960s, many needed to replace their aging, in some cases home shop built, cabooses. International Car responded with a product that could be tailored to each railroad's specific needs. Using quality components and modern engineering, ICC became a leading name within the industry.
Sharing ICC's commitment to quality and modern techniques, Athearn has not only recreated these iconic cars, but reinvented the quintessential features a Genesis caboose should have.
DCC lighting as a base standard with the option for sound will add a whole new dimension to operating sessions. Protect reverse moves and simulate train brakes, begins to scratch the surface to the new dimension of realism.
During the late 1980's, SP was being targeted by people breaking into trains and stealing inner contents. To combat this, they retrofitted a few cabooses and even an old passenger car with special equipment, and assigned with special agents to ride in them in hopes of catching the thieves.
During the mid-1980's the SP and Santa Fe unsuccessfully attempted to merge. They even designed a common paint scheme for their locomotives and cabooses that was applied to many locomotives, but only to a few cabooses. SP only painted one, #4726, in this ill-fated paint scheme.
Perhaps one of the most recognizable icons of American railroading, the caboose completed the train. Cabooses provided shelter for the rear end crew. From the cupola or bay windows, the crew could keep a lookout for shifting loads, damaged equipment, and overheating axles, this was long required for switching and shunting. As rail cars became larger in the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a real need for cabooses to have greater visibility for the crew. In the extended-vision or wide-vision caboose, the sides of the cupola project beyond the side of the car body. This model was introduced by the International Car Company and saw service on most U.S. railroads. The expanded cupola allowed the crew to see past the top of the taller cars that began to appear after World War II, and increased the roominess of the cupola area.