Elvas Tower: Rio Grande Southern Caboose 0402 - Elvas Tower

The 0402 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: 1936, 1940, 1944 and 1948.

As there are no known photographs of 0402 between 1900 and 1940, the 1936 version is a “best guess” paint scheme, matching known paint work on 0400 for the period, which represents the 1915-1940 era. It 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 and numbers low on the car sides. 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 and RR Roman numbers. 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 the same paint job as in 1940, just a little faded. 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 1948 version, which represents the final years of operation, is virtually identical to the 1944 version but the DSC plaque has been removed. Same 1940 paint even more faded now.

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