My model of GBW caboose #617, modeled as it would appear not long after it was delivered in 1966 -- with windows and roofwalk intact.

More Photos: Click on any of these for an enlargement
The Prototype	Unweathered Model
The Big Picture	Staging the Photo

I wanted to model a bay window caboose as it looked in the mid-1960's.  I didn't have a particular caboose in mind, but the yellow bay window cabooses were such a standard on the end of the trains I saw on the Kewaunee Division as a kid that it would be a crime for me to build a model railroad based on the GB&W and not have something similar on my layout.

My model caboose started with an International Bay Window Caboose model from Walthers (now out of production).  A roofwalk and end ladders from an Athearn caboose were added, since the Walthers model is for a more modern prototype.  The tool box under the caboose was left off.  The roof smokestack was fabricated from a few pieces of styrene rod to match GB&W practice.  The model is not an exact replica of the Green Bay Route prototype, but it certainly recaptures my memories of the railroad. 

The model was airbrushed with Badger Modelflex paint -- reefer yellow for the body and engine black for the underframe.  The steps were hand-painted weathered black.  The lettering came from a set of  Herald King C-10 decals (out of production).

Although both the car and decals are out of production, I was able to get the required parts from the following sources:

The International Bay Window Caboose came from the Train Station in Columbus, OH (614/262-9056).  Thanks goes out to Steve Sillato for getting me in touch with them.

The Herald King decal set was purchased on the web auction site eBay.

Mark Mathu photo.