Elvas Tower: Rio Grande Southern Caboose 0400 - 4 versions, 8 cars - Elvas Tower

The 0400 was originally built for the Rio Grande Southern by the Denver & Rio Grande in 1990 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.

There are four versions of this car in the download, each representing a different era of its existence: 1932, 1940, 1944 and 1947.

The 1932 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 short Railroad Roman “Rio Grande Southern” lettering on the fascia with hand painted numbers. 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 1940 version, which represents the 1940 to mid WWII era, features lots of silver paint: Handrails, ladders, grabs, steps and edges of the roof on carbody, cupola and the edge of the top light roof, with a silver chimney on the top light. It has the rising sun herald, with stencil lines not painted out, and RR Roman numbers with a slightly droopy “0” on the end. If you look close, you can see where the thin coat of stain didn’t completely cover the old lettering on the fascia board. The top light is no longer lit, per the 1938 rules, but the RGS hasn’t removed it yet. The side and front lenses of the marker lamps are yellow now.

The 1944 version, which represents the 1944-1946 era, with silver handrails and trim but no silver on the roof edges, no top marker, hand painted “Rio Grande Southern” on the Fascia and hand painted numbers. The side and front marker lenses are yellow and the car features a “Defense Supplies Corporation” ownership plaque on the car sides – a wartime loan program.

The 1947 version, which represents the final years of operation, is virtually identical to the 1944 version but the DSC plaque has been removed. You can clearly make out where it was.

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 second of a series of RGS cabooses being modeled, and 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!