Rapido 1101001 - HO Squamish Caboose: PGE - Original Scheme: #1851

Rapido 1101001 - HO Squamish Caboose: PGE - Original Scheme: #1851

 HO Scale PGE and BC Rail Squamish Cabooses Feature:

• Super-detailed underbody including all separate airand brake piping
• Operating marker lights, track light and step lights
• Super-detailed Barber-Bettendorf caboose trucks with all-wheel pickup
• Fully detailed multi-coloured interior
• Interior handrails in the cupola
• See-through, etched metal end platforms and steps
• Full end detail, including uncoupling levers
• Separate grab irons installed at the factory
• Metal semi-scale knuckle couplers mounted at the correct height
• Suggested minimum radius: 18”

In 1968, Pacific Great Eastern’s Squamish Shops built the first of 15 all-steel cabooses. These replaced aging wood-style cabooses that had been used for many decades prior. Five years later, now rebranded as the British Columbia Railway, Squamish rolled out ten more of these all-steel cabooses featuring the road’s new two-tone green scheme. In 1975, the final ten were finished, bringing the total to 35 cabooses that Squamish built. For the next three decades, these cabooses were the backbone of the BC Rail fleet.
 In 1993, BC Rail began using end-of-train devices (EOTDs) on road freight south of Prince George. Cabooses were still in service north of here, however. Many still saw service right to the CN-split on jobs such as the: Takla Loggers, Fort St. John turn and on the Dawson Creek Subdivision.
 A handful still survive and one operates for CN in their “Engineering Service” as a crew transporter.