Red Caboose - RN-16607-06 - Flatcar, 73 Foot, Centerbeam - MidSouth - 2341

Specific Item Information: Flat Opera

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: MidSouth (reporting marks MSRC) launched in 1986 as a spinoff from Illinois Central Gulf. The original routes were: Shreveport, Louisiana east to Meridian, Mississippi. 310 miles. Hattiesburg to Gulfport, Mississippi. 70 miles. Redwood to Le Tourneau, Mississippi. 20 miles.

The two principles for the new company were an odd couple. One (Moyers) was a former superintendent on the ICG. The other was a former attorney from the Justice Department who had also worked for the Interstate Commerce Commission. By all accounts, MidSouth was a roaring success with traffic increasing 10% per year. Two years after the launch, MidSouth bought another ICG spinoff, Gulf & Mississippi. The G&M became a paper railroad called SouthRail under the MidSouth flag. MidSouth already had purchased the North Louisiana & Gulf and Central Louisiana & Gulf and these two became known as “MidLouisiana Rail” and became a subsidiary of SouthRail. The final MidSouth system was 1,212 miles and served the large cities of Meridian, Vicksburg, Jackson, Artesia, Gulfport, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Alabama.

The diesel fleet (around 112 units) was dominated by GP10’s (EMD geeps rebuilt by ICG’s Paducah Shops) although a handful of un-rebuilt GP9’s, and GP18’s as well as a half dozen CF7’s. Most of the fleet came as part of the purchase from ICG and had been painted in crusty orange and white. MidSouth was fairly quick to repaint them in MidSouth slate gray with green and white trim.

Moyers left to become president of ICG and tried to take MidSouth with him. However, his former partner resisted and enlisted Archer Daniels Midland (who was a big MidSouth customer) to help keep the railroad independent. They were successful. Moyers turned around the ICG and left to head Southern Pacific. In 1994, MidSouth was sold to Kansas City Southern. The original Shreveport to Meridian corridor became an important through route for KCS and partner Norfolk Southern between Dallas and Atlanta. They jointly market the route as The Meridian Speedway. MidSouth had eight eventful years 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.