Red Caboose - RN-16529-01 - Flatcar, 73 Foot, Centerbeam - Southern Railway of British Columbia - 73004

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: The Southern Railway of British Columbia, branded as SRY Rail Link (reporting mark SRY) is a Canadian short line railway operating in the southwestern British Columbia.

SRY was launched in 1988 when the Province of British Columbia sold BC Hydro Rail to Itel. Itel sold it to Washington Group (the parent company of Montana Rail Link) in 1994. At that time they adopted the nickname SRY Rail Link. The line runs from Chilliwack southwest to Huntingdon/Sumas (on the Washington border) then northwest to New Westminster, Queensboro and Annacis Island. The island hosts large forest products and automobile terminals which originate or terminate about half of SRY’s traffic. The mainline is 62 miles long. SRY is busy with about 150 customers requiring a fleet of 29 diesels, nearly half of which are end cab switchers.

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.