Red Caboose - RN-17433-01 - Boxcar, 55 Foot, Thrall All-Door - Louisiana Pacific

Prototype History: Lumber has always been difficult to ship by rail. Box cars provide protection but are hard to load and unload. Flat cars eliminate those problems, but loads have to be tarped to protect them from the weather.

In 1967, Thrall took the best of both ideas and created a unique car that would solve these problems. The All-Door Box Car had no true sidewalls, but was equipped with four large doors which could be opened in pairs. This provided a 25' wide opening that made loading and unloading a breeze! And since it was a box car, the loads were completely enclosed for the entire trip. As the housing boom began in the 1970s, the cars became a common sight at lumber mills and yards across America.

Thrall Door boxcars arrived in Detroit in the early 70s. They were used to carry hardboard products to Ford plants in the Detroit area.

Road Name History: The Louisiana & Pacific Railway was incorporated in Louisiana on June 6, 1904 with an authorized capital stock of $200,000, and was controlled by the R. A. Long interests of Kansas City, MO. All of the tracks of the Louisiana & Pacific were originally constructed as logging roads.

With the lumber mills of the Long-Bell Lumber Company closing down and with the agreement between the Louisiana & Pacific and the Lake Charles & Northern coming to an end on October 31, 1926, the railroad applied to the I. C. C. on October 11, 1926 for permission to abandon operation over the Lake Charles & Northern between De Ridder and Lake Charles and to abandon its connecting tracks at De Ridder and Lake Charles, amounting to 1.1 miles. Permission was granted on October 30, 1926, after which the Louisiana & Pacific went out of existence.

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.