Never was happy with the appearence of my Bachmann 8 wheel caboose, so I thought I’d change it to something that was more my part of the West. A few nips and tucks, masking tape roof, wooden boards,platforms new ladders, chimney and window hoods and body mounted couplers. I think I’ve over-compressed the pics a bit, but hopefully,you get the idea.
And a bit of colour.
Very nice Rod 
True these don’t look very western as they are made. Which is good for me since I’m an avid EBT fan.
I have several of these. I run them as-built but have had thoughts of making them more correct to the EBT prototype one day. Kevin Strong and I discussed this a long time ago, and with the exception of scale, the outline is nearly spot-on with EBT #27 and 28. The only real error is the cupola walls, which are angular on the prototype.
Since we had those discussions the FEBT completely rebuilt #28. The complete frame, steel superstructure reinforcement, end sills and such is now fully documented. So if one wanted to make a perfectly accurate model, it could be done.
Someday I hope to have the time for these kinds of projects.
JR
Thanks John, Kevin has already pulled my leg about my EBT “butchery”
Cheers
The EBT van is my standard van…it serves my 1:22.5 operation, and the 1:20.3 one also…I know…I know… it is a bit narrow for 1:20.3, but it looks fine with the AMS cars…I have about 6 in service, all lettered in a more modern IPP&W scheme, shortened to “The Ironwood Road”
I body mounted the Kadee 830’s, which couple well with the 820’s or the Accucraft couplers.
I really like the Bachmann caboose, and I think Rod did an outstanding job with it. I have one but it keeps bugging me because it seems too tall for 1:22.5 and too skinny for 1:20.3…
No matter where I run it, it just looks out of place… I think one of these days I’ll get another and see if I can widen it so it looks better with 1:20.3. I really need a caboose for that scale.
Warren
Rod,
A number of years agao, I picked up my second one of the Bachmann 8 wheel cabooses and it was shipped with the body seperated from the frame. I was amazed at the quality of the detail of the interior. On your modified unit, did you just gut the interior or were you able to move the cabinetry around to accomodate the modifications you made?
I moved it around Ric, Ill get a pic for you later.
Very crude job, did nt even attempt to hid the joins as you cant see too much, that said if you take the inside out it is noticable.
Cheers
Warren, the Bachmann EBT caboose sits too high as it comes from Bachmann when compared to photos of the prototype. Most of this can be fixed by hacking some off of the bolsters. I also use the smaller Bachmann wheel sets which lower it more. Depending on what couplers you are using you may need to adjust them height wise as well
I have one of these lettered for the SCRY. Compared to … oh, I dunno, the EBT one, I guess…
How badly does it scale out for 1:20.3? I’ve heard that a lot of its features work, but it does look pretty small with some of the larger pieces.
Since it’s too tall for 1:22.5, officially… is it tall enough for 1:20.3? And if it’s too narrow… is that in inches or feet? How about windows and doors? I know compared to a standard gauge piece it’s really small…but the roof on the EBT one is pretty low, as I recall from the one time long ago I was aboard the adjacent car.
iN CASE IT HELPS IN SOME WAY…
Before I aquired the six or more B’man versions of the EBT vans; I was not all that anamoured by them. I was in the process of setting up a fleet of 1:20 rolling stock and saw a need for an inexpensive van.
One of the things that had sort of put me off the EBT van, was it’s size compared with my large 1:22.5 fleet of rolling stock.
I finally bought one and started placing it in the 1:22.5 operations, and it grew on me, especially after I relettered it for my road.
I then put it next to, and after a train of 1:20.3 rolling stock, at various viewing levels, and discovered that I could live with the van in a 1:20.3 enviorment.
It is a wee bit narrow, but as was pointed out to me by various NG fans; there was a great variance in heights. widths and lengths of NG equipment; and that the narrowness was quite acceptable.
Since then, I have put about 6 or 7 of the vans into my 1:22.5 operation, using the Kadee 830, body mount couplers.
When we start our 1:20.3 operations; the vans will serve that operation also.
By using the 830 couplers, I will not have a problem coupling to AMS couplers, or the Kadee 820s’ which are standard on my 1:22.5 operation.
So; my advice is to buy one of the EBT vans and put it next to your 1:20.3 equipment and see if it suits you…I feel OK with them…but then I’m not about to start modelling any prototype railroad…I’m happy with the IPP&W, which seems to be handling the tests of time…
See, that’s the thing…
I have one. It was a christmas gift a couple years back, and is a lovely green colour with SCRY graphics.
So far it hasn’t been out of the box much… and only recently was pressed into service on a work train.
The problem there is it was in a consist with three V dumps and a 45 tonner … which made it look huge and tiny at the same time!
Really I’d like to keep it… so I’m hoping the measurements compared to one known to exist in 3’ gauge service are reasonable.
Matthew (OV)