Red Caboose - RN-16533-02 - Flatcar, 73 Foot, Centerbeam - Texas Oklahoma & Eastern - 8052

Specific Item Information: Standard Panel

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 40 mile TO&E runs from Valiant, Oklahoma (near the Texas border) to West Line on the Oklahoma – Arkansas border. TO&E’s sister railroad the De Queen & Eastern continues from West Line to Perkins. In addition to the DQ&E interchange, TO&E connects with the Kiamichi (ex-BN nee-Frisco) at Valiant.

The line was built in 1911 by a local lumber and coal company but Weyerhaeuser got control of it and the DQ&E early on. Under Weyerhaeuser control, TO&E operated as a paper railroad with DQ&E locomotives until the late 1960s when the first locomotives in decades to be lettered for TO&E began to arrive. Despite the separate locomotive fleets, the two railroads were operated hand in hand. In 2010, Weyerhaeuser sold their railroad properties to the Patriot Rail shortline group. It appears that since then, Patriot has been pushing TO&E back to the status of paper railroad under De Queen & Eastern.

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.