MOC: Conrail N7E Caboose #21165

[Cale]

I built this Conrail caboose to compliment fellow PennLUG member, Nate Brill's awesome Conrail GG1 (which he really needs to photograph sometime). I had been wanting to do another bay window caboose for a while and the Conrail Historical Society's preserved N7E was the prefect fit.

Conrail caboose 21165 is an N7E class caboose and was among twenty of the last cabooses built new for the Erie Lackawanna railroad in November 1970 by the International Car Company. After the Erie Lackawanna became part of Conrail, the car was reconditioned in September of 1976. However by the early 1980's all twenty were offered for sale through Conrail as the era of the caboose on American freight trains was coming to an end.

By the end of 1984 21165 was stored in Reading PA awaiting its sale.

From it's sale by Conrail in the early 80s through 2007, 21165 was owned by a private owner on Long Island. In the spring of 2007 it was donated to The

Conrail Historical Society and transported from New York to the Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad in South Central PA where it lives today under care of the Society.

Flickr Gallery

The real #21165

Questions and comments welcome.

Cale

[wondermonkey]

Beautiful caboose Cale, the blue really stands out! Out of curiosity, how difficult would it be to put another "real" window in the center of the bay? Does it look out of place next to the cheese wedges? Love the bogies and no buffers, I keep meaning to update mine.

[Hey Joe]

Wow, really great. I remember those cabooses (MoPac livery being my personal favorite) and you've really done them justice. Thanks, Joe

[proraptor]

Wow looks great. I wouldnt change anything

[Hrw-Amen]

That's a pretty good wagon there, you don't see many with duckets being modeled nowadays.

[legotrainzman]

I have to say that I love this caboose

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Wow Cale your attention to details is amazing!

I love the main sides of this cabose, the internal stuff and the very original bogies design!

Great work and thanks for sharing!

[Cale]

Thanks for the compliments guys. This is certainly one of my favorite cabooses in my roster. The Conrail blue just looks so good.

Beautiful caboose Cale, the blue really stands out! Out of curiosity, how difficult would it be to put another "real" window in the center of the bay? Does it look out of place next to the cheese wedges? Love the bogies and no buffers, I keep meaning to update mine.

With the way I have the bay designed I don't think there is any way to ted a traditional window. Yo could probably redesign the bay to use it but you might loose some interior room.

Cale

[lightningtiger]

Delightful looking caboose 'Cale'.....nicely detailed and very realistic......Brick On !

[riograndefan]

I like the caboose. I really like the trucks. What pieces did you use to build these. Also, what is the part number of the white tubing that you used for the curved handles? I am designing a wide vision caboose and would like to use this design feature.

Thanks,

Scott

[zephyr1934]

Cale, quit breaking the laws of physics. I refuse to believe that you made such an accurate interior in such little space. There has got to be a little Dr. Who going on here. Seriously though, your trains look great on the outside and then you see the inside and WOW!

Benn

[baron]

excellent MoC...I wish Lego had made more cabooses (especially detailed ones like this!)

[bmjackson81]

Love this MOC. I always come back to it when I search for caboose ideas. The interior and the bay window technique really make this an attractive build. The Contrail blue doesn't hurt things either.