Elvas Tower: Rio Grande Southern Caboose 0401 - Elvas Tower

RGS Caboose 0401 by Bill Pratt

The 0401 was originally built for the Rio Grande Southern by the Denver & Rio Grande in 1890 with three windows on a side and windows in the ends on either side of the doors. The cupola windows were hung on the outside of the cupola sides. In the 1910’s this car and her sisters were rebuilt with the three window configuration – one on the stove side and two on the other – with cupola windows inside of the cupola. It was about this time that the caboose obtained its unique extended ladder hooks. No other RGS caboose was so equipped.

There are three versions of this car in the download, each representing a different era of its existence: 1936, 1945 and 1951.

The 1936 version, which represents the 1915-1940 era, has black handrails and ladders and a top mounted signal light, corresponding with the signal requirements of the D&RGW in use prior to the issuance of the 1938 rule book. This includes red-to-the-rear, green-to-the-sides-and front marker lights. The car features the full width “Rio Grande Southern” lettering with a mixture of serif and sanserif lettering on the number. Although this car will operate in MSTS, the top light is a second ORTS Static FreightAnim and it will only load in ORTS, as the MSTS FreightAnim line is taken by the marker lamps.

The 1945 version, which represents the 1940-1950 era, is nearly identical to the 1936 car except that the top marker has been removed, the side and front marker lenses are yellow and the car features a “Defense Supplies Corporation” ownership plaque, off center, on the car sides – a wartime loan program.

The 1951 version, which represents the final years of operation, has all new lettering with the “rising sun” herald and the “RRCO” circular herald from the Galloping Geese. In this version the 0401 finally gets silver handrails and ladders.

Each version is offered in two models, one with the stove end forward and the other with the stove end to the rear. Each has the marker lights on the appropriate (rear) end. The lights will illuminate at dusk.

This model was built from plans drawn by Ken Pruitt, supplemented by pictures of the series in Vol XII of the RGS Story, and by many pictures of the series furnished by Herb Kelsey. This model is the first of a series of RGS cabooses being modeled, and 0400, 0402, 0403, and 0404 will be released in the near future.

This model was built by a team of several people. I did the actual construction, but Herb Kelsey inspected it at every stage to make suggestions and point out errors, and did all testing. Herb applied all lettering and the cupola light box, and packaged the model for uploading. The marker lights were made by Tim Muir, applied and illuminated by Herb Kelsey.

To install, unzip this file to a neutral location and copy the “Trains” folder to your root directory. Use your preferred consist editor to tack one of these on your train.

Enjoy!