Red Caboose - RN-16519-06 - Flatcar, 73 Foot, Centerbeam - Copper Basin - 2115

Specific Item Information: Built: NEW 9-98

Prototype History: Centerbeam flatcars, centerbeams, center partition railcars or commonly referred to as lumber racks are specialty cars designed for carrying bundled building supplies such as dimensional lumber, wallboard, and fence posts. They are essentially bulkhead flatcars that have been reinforced by a longitudinal I-beam, often in the form of a Vierendeel truss, sometimes reinforced by diagonal members, but originally in the form of stressed panels perforated by panel-lightening "opera windows", often oval, egg-shaped or rectangular. They must be loaded symmetrically, with half of the payload on one side of the centerbeam and half on the other to avoid tipping over.

Road Name History: Operating 61 miles of former Southern Pacific route from Magma to Winkelman, Arizona (plus a branch,) the Copper Basin Railway began operations in 1986. The line had been in the hands of Kennecott Copper for some period between SP and Copper Basin ownership.

As you might expect from the name, traffic includes copper concentrates and ore, finished copper, and sulphuric acid. In addition, the CBRY moves lumber, coal, gypsum, and even military equipment. The diesel fleet is now 16 units (implying traffic is fairly heavy,) split between, GP9, GP18 (both with chopped noses,) GP40-2, GP39, and GP39-2 models. At one time they had SD39s as well but they have since moved on. They had over 700 cars as well shortly after startup but likely have more today.

Brand/Importer Information: Originally Red Caboose was a manufacturer of HO and N Scale model railroading items. It was located in Mead, Colorado, and was founded in 1990 by Leon Fairbanks. Red Caboose manufactured highly accurate, well detailed N, HO, and O Scale freight cars and locomotives.

Red Caboose closed its doors in January of 2015. Red Caboose N Scale has been sold to Fox Valley Models and HO was sold to InterMountain Railway. Many of the Red Caboose toolings have seen re-releases from Fox Valley since the acquisition. We just wish they would clean up the underframes. Red Caboose always went light on the details where they thought people wouldn't look.

Manufacturer Information: While they were in business, Red Caboose split its production runs between the US and China. Which models were produced where was a function of which body style and which run. Furthermore, which Chinese company was used for production is something we would love to find out.