Does a Caboose Make Noise? - Unboxing and Product Review of Athearn's HO Scale UP CA-10 Caboose!

[@axismind19]

By far one of the most opulent models of a caboose I have ever seen, but you definitely get what you pay for with this one which makes me a fan even though I probably wouldn't buy it myself. You know Dan, I've been watching your reviews for years and I appreciate the consistency and thoroughness of your format. You are an inspiration to me, and have helped me understand how to formulate good criticism.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you like my review format. It seems to be working pretty well overall. Having a consistent format helps me when I do the reviews, kind of like a checklist of stuff I need to go through. If I was just winging it I don't think it would be as consistent. Thanks for the kind words and for watching!

[@beeble2003]

Can't help thinking that basically everyon wants to buy the no-sound version, so that sells out and then people think, "OK, I'll get the sound one because it's in stock."

[@DanielCortopassi]

Athearn's secret marketing plan? You might be on to something! Thanks for watching!

[@nwgwc]

The prototype of this caboose was built in a town just south of my hometown of Findlay, Ohio...my father-in-law worked at International Car in Kenton, Ohio.

[@25mfd]

is the place still there?

[@nwgwc]

It is long gone, sadly...😞😞😞

[@DanielCortopassi]

That's a cool family story and connection. A lot of cabooses were built there. I'm sure your father-in-law had stories. Thanks for sharing and for watching!

[@25mfd]

@@nwgwc *It is long gone, sadly* that sucks... a *SKILLED LABOR* place like that... if it was still open today workers there would be getting $40.00+/hr

[@nwgwc]

​@@DanielCortopassi I'm sure he did, but sadly he died before I met my wife but my mother-in-law has told me about it.

[@What_If_We_Tried]

Always appreciate your clear, and consice reviews.

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thanks so much! I appreciate it.

[@jantheman9999]

Great review, Dan. Just as an informational note, the caboose also has "clickerty-clack" wheel sounds (the "speed" of the clack is controlled by throttle setting; works well when the car is consistedwith a loco), as well as hand brake, air brake, and emergency brake sounds. Enjoy!

[@DanielCortopassi]

I must have missed that, one of the drawbacks of only being able to run on a workbench for now. I don't see that in the instructions, but maybe it's automatic? Thanks for the info and for watching!

[@jnv4392]

Thanks!

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thank you! I appreciate it!

[@eliabraham6918]

Great review. I bought an Athearn caboose with sound too I never thought that had sound until I heard a caboose make the same air whistle sound from NS.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I've heard cabooses with air whistles on tourist railroads. I don't see many on the mainlines anymore but they might still do that when using them as shoving platforms. Thanks for watching!

[@Greatdome99]

The black square with the yellow dot dates the caboose to 1978. There was a bad run of wheels at the time and the FRA mandated that all such wheels be replaced. This mark indicates that the car had been inspected. The marks were used only one 70-ton or lighter 33" wheels. The "P" on the cupola indicates this car was intended for Pool Service, which also explains the red-green lights there.

[@tulyar1043]

Do you mean 70 ton trucks?

[@beeble2003]

@@tulyar1043 Wheels for use on 70-ton trucks. Generally, 70-ton trucks take 33" wheels; 100-ton trucks take 36".

[@DanielCortopassi]

Yes, good point about the inspection dot. I know some of those could still be seen later, but it wouldn't really be correct for 1975-77. Thanks for the info and for watching!

[@davidl.miller8168]

Dan, Nice review. I feel the same way about a sound equipped caboose. I doubt I would have a need for it. Plus I had so many of the UP cabooses in brass back in the day. I look forward to seeing it in the future on your Donner Pass layout.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I like the UP cars, and they're visually very different from SP cabooses, so having this one will add some variety. I'm looking forward to being able to run it too! Thanks for watching!

[@ericjohnson3746]

The caboose sound not mentioned that I remember most was a pinging metallic sound they made as they dealt with the dynamics of the train forces and the track conditions.

[@DanielCortopassi]

That would be neat. I don't see a sound like that listed in the instructions. Thanks for watching!

[@25mfd]

a very nice model... interesting that this series of cabooses was made in 1975... oddly enough, a mere 7 years later, the contractual elimination of the caboose would be outlined in article X of the UTU 1982 national agreement... also, there were many slogans that the UP applied to their cabooses... they were submitted by UP employees... concerning the noises cabooses make... i was a switchman for the CNW/UP and frequently used one the old CNW cabooses as a shoving platform... it had the pulley and generator on it but that stuff was LONG since been inoperable by that time(mid 90s)... it did have the working whistle though... but mainly the only noise i heard was the clickety clack and rolling sounds of the wheels and as far as a bell???... well the caboose we used didn't have one... and while i can't speak for ALL cabooses, i'd say that MOST do not, nor have they ever had a bell

[@DanielCortopassi]

I've wondered if railroads anticipated the rule changes in the 80s, because some railroads had cabooses built even later, up to around 1980. I'm kind of bending the "rules" a little having so many cabooses in my 1990s era theme, but I like them. Thanks for the info on the sounds and bell. I can't remember ever hearing a bell on a caboose, either. Thanks for the info and for watching!

[@riogrande5761]

@@DanielCortopassi Cabooses are one of a number of reasons I chose to model caboose era. I wonder if someday you will backdate too!

[@paulkirkmanMYTRAINS]

I have put lights in cabooses, but all the other stuff seems to be for the dcc nut. Nice review.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I think having lights in cabooses adds a lot, even if it's just the red marker. It looks neat at the end of a train. Thanks for watching!

[@notlisted-cl5ls]

not gonna lie, i spent a lotta time riding and working outta UP pool cabooses back in the day. thx for this vidya

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the video and maybe a little reminiscing. Thanks for watching!

[@SouthDown]

Fantastic review. I appreciate the criticism. Some of the issues identified seem similar to other products from the same manufacturer.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. Thanks for watching!

[@SPSteve]

Good review, Dan. These are pretty cool models; I have to give Athearn props for doing a DCC caboose. I bought the Genesis SP C-50 caboose with lights but no sound. I haven't taken it out of the box yet. Like you, my Centralia caboose is now expendable.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. Athearn has been putting out some nice caboose models lately. I really like the lighting, especially the markers. Thanks for watching!

[@riogrande5761]

I have added a few Athearn Genesis UP cabooses since they were seen on the D&RGW, including the Kaiser coal trains (with the green K). I didn't care to get sound so I made sure to buy them while the option to buy the silent DCC lighted versions were available. Now the long wait for the D&RGW ICC EV cabooses.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I saw some of the "K" UP cabooses in the hobby shop when I bought mine. I didn't know what that meant until I did some research for the review. I am hoping to get one of the Rio Grande cars, too, when they come out. Thanks for watching!

[@randallellison6421]

It's a great looking model, Dan! The sound is cool, and yes, it is expensive, but if you think about it, if you had to buy the model, the decoder, and the speaker separately, its actually much more cost effective to buy the model with the decoder already installed. Me personally, sound equipped rolling stock, isn't a "make or break" situation, since I tend to lean more towards lower end models because they're cheaper and more durable!

[@DanielCortopassi]

That is a good point. As I mentioned in the review, when I found out Athearn did UP cabooses with lights I decided to sell my Centralia car, since it saved me a lot of work (and expense). Aside from this, I think the only sound equipped rolling stock I have are a couple of Athearn mechanical refrigerator cars. For now at least I'm content with freight cars that just look good and roll well. Thanks for watching!

[@shipbuilding1000]

I got a couple of these from the first release at a train show a few years ago. Like you, I would have preferred the lights-only version but I didn’t preorder and at the time these were very hard to find. Even through I’m an SP/DRGW fan these are some of my favorite caboose designs. There are quite a few around East Texas on display in various conditions from decent to derelict. Nice review

[@DanielCortopassi]

These are neat looking cars. I will probably end up using the lights more than the sound. I have several of the Athearn SP cabooses that just have the lights, and I really like them. There are a couple of cabooses on private property not far from where I live, one SP and one UP (though a different type than this one). Thanks for watching!

[@riogrande5761]

i too am an SP/D&RGW fan, having grown up with SP but later got hooked on D&RGW. I bought several UP cabooses and like this design also - they sometimes could be seen on the D&RGW and were used on the Kaiser coal train too.

[@Lehighrailfanproduction]

Looks cool! Sounds cool! Couplers high!? Dang it! But still an amazing caboose!

[@DanielCortopassi]

It is a nice model overall. Coupler height is such a common issue that I'm more surprised when they're correct! It's by far the most common reason to deduct points. Thanks for watching!

[@kenneths3742]

Thank you for another great review!

[@DanielCortopassi]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@robertcupp5528]

Dan, do these decoders not have the flange squeals that the soundcar decoders have? Is it not a soundtraxx unit or something else?

[@DanielCortopassi]

It is a Soundtraxx SoundCar decoder, at least according to the instructions. I did not see flange squeal mentioned in the instructions for the function keys, though it does make a few more noises that I didn't include in the review. It might be that some of the noises are automatic and not linked to a function key. Thanks for watching!

[@markhayes6407]

I have the SP sound caboose from athearn. I like the lights, sound ? don't know if I will ever use it either. Mine its just a whistle. Supposedly you can add the caboose to your train with Cvs snd can hear the airline charge up or bleed off. i haven' t tried that yet. Athearn did a good job on this model and yours too.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I didn't know you could consist it that way and have it make more noises. Hopefully sometime when I start building the layout I'll be able to do more extensive testing. Thanks for the info and for watching!

[@markhayes6407]

You have to use a magnet from Athearn . Waving it over the caboose. There should be instructions on how to do this function. Have fun

[@williamflowersrailfannerpr3808]

I'm loving the caboose ❤

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the model. Thanks for watching!

[@mattomon1045]

Great review

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!

[@lucgagnon5241]

Hey Dan. First : Many thanks for sharing with us. I didn't know that there was sound cabooses so I learn something from you today ! OK.I'd say that the caboose is AMAZING ! The overall look, the markers, the detail parts, see thru steps, sound features, etc... But (you know there's always a but with me) I saw a few things I didn't like. When you did a close up on the side banner, I saw that left window was like not straight glued from the inside. This could been avoid by gluing it properly. Hope it's the only one like this. But the worst I saw was the end handrails that seemed bended on the inside at one end. It's like the walkway end car is longer than the roof end at that point. Strange because it seems OK at the other end. For me, it's unacceptable. I don't know how they didn't take care of it at the factory when they were engineering the model. I'm not surprised... it's an Athearn-Genesis model. That's the kind of thing you don't see on Tangent super detailed caboose. I hate to say it but Athearn haven't reached that level of excellence yet. I'm only giving it a 6 out of 10. Thanks again and keep on your good work.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the review. I didn't notice that the little window was slightly crooked when doing the review. It might be possible to pop it out and re-glue it. At least the car is easy to open up. The end handrails were bent slightly on one end as you mentioned. I have a couple of Athearn SP cabooses that have that issue too. I tried bending the walkways very gently, but I didn't want to break all those fragile parts so I stopped. It is a little annoying when handrails aren't straight. I am going to be reviewing a couple of Tangent cabooses soon, so we'll see how those do. Thanks for watching!

[@lucgagnon5241]

@@DanielCortopassi Hey Dan. I'm thrilled that you will review Tangent stuff. Especially cabooses. Yes, the handrails slightly bended irritates me. It's suppose to be straight 90 degrees up. Even the old Bachmann caboose I got in my first train set had straight ones. For a caboose of that quality, detail and price, it's like unforgivable. Sad because I really like the overall look and many interesting features on it. But it's enough to avoid buying one. Athearn... again ! Now for me it's like 50-50 with them : Half of the time, there's a red flag big enough to stop buying their stuff. I can visualized what happened : Quality control - "Houston, we have a problem. We'll have to bend handrails a bit on the inside because of bad engineering ". Car frame and end walkways is longer than the roof top". Hi commandment : "To late and too expensive to fix it. Let's make a few thousand. We'll sell some anyway !!! Most modelers are too stupid to notice". Athearn's philosophy ! Please get a better hold on your stuff !

[@chrisdaniell2990]

Did they include any air hose detail or conductor figure to simulate where the air whistle is coming from?

[@DanielCortopassi]

No, but that could be something cool to add. Thanks for watching!

[@Mildcat743]

The biggest miss with having these cars being sound equipped in my opinion is having some way to detect if the car is in motion to have some flange squeal and other noises while the caboose is in motion.

[@DanielCortopassi]

That would be really neat. I am wondering now if it would be possible to build some flange squeal sounds into the layout itself, that could be activated by passing trains. Thanks for watching!

[@Mildcat743]

@@DanielCortopassi People use photo-light sensors between the rails to run CTC systems, right? You could probably rig up one of those coming into a curve that's tied in to a speaker system just behind the fascia near that curve.

[@robertmoir5695]

Well I know I miss the caboose at the end of the freight trains

[@DanielCortopassi]

Me, too. Trains still look odd to me without them. Thanks for watching!

[@davidballoid2118]

Didn't Caboose's have a pulley coming off an Axle that turned an Alternator to make DC power to a battery bank of some sort instead of having an onboard Generator ?

[@berkeleygang1834]

That's how I remember it. No sound. Not even belt squeal.

[@Greatdome99]

Some did, some had spicer axle drives, but only the Milwaukee Road could come up with a large fan/propellor on the roof. (BTW-Alternators produce AC. These were all DC generators.)

[@DanielCortopassi]

This caboose model has a pulley on one axle. It makes the generator noise but I'm not sure if this caboose had a motorized generator too. I get the impression that the Tsunami SoundCar decoder is somewhat generic. Thanks for watching!

[@davidballoid2118]

@@DanielCortopassi Mechanical Refrigerator cars had motorized generator. Maybe it was generic a multi-functional Tsunami sound card, Thank's for the review!

[@Petemonster62]

Is the brown roof authentic? Didn't U.P. cabooses have Harbor Mist Gray on the roof?

[@Greatdome99]

No, never. Always a rust red.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I don't recall seeing any photos of yellow UP cabooses with gray roofs. The color scheme on the car matched pretty well with the photos I found of this and similar cars. Thanks for watching!

[@Petemonster62]

@@DanielCortopassi - I did find some You Tube videos of Union Pacific bay window caboose that have gray roofs. One is "Union Pacific Caboose, Is Gone!" by Time For Beans and is 0:52 in length. The other is "Union Pacific Caboose in the Boone Yards, Boone, Iowa' by arejay54 and is 1:40 in length.

[@beeble2003]

Damn, never visited the Germans from Russia Museum during the time I was dating somebody from Lincoln, NE. 😂 Does seem strange that they'd have had it, though -- hard to see the connection to their organization, not really any room for it on their property and certianly not in their building. As you say, it's not visible on Google Street View, and I checked the old Street View images, too. Edit: I Googled ' "germans from russia" society "caboose" ' with the quotes. First hit was a 2003 post to the Railway Preservation News forum saying that they have a UP caboose which they're trying to sell. Another hit is a scan of a newspaper article in the University of Nebraska Lincoln archives, which says that the Society intended to turn the caboose into a museum about railroading, because lots of Germans from Russia worked on the railroads when they came to the US. The scan includes a photo of the caboose being craned onto the property and is dated December 28th, 1988. I found the Union Pacific Historical Society's 2010 list of display cabooses: it describes this one as "Lincoln? NE UP 25747 Steel, cupola, Germans from Russia Museum, 631 D Street, GONE TO?" implying it wasn't there by 2010 (actually, we already know that as the earliest Street View is 2009). 3:10 The window next to the banner isn't straight.

[@DanielCortopassi]

That's some additional information I wasn't able to find. Maybe their plan didn't work out and they sold the caboose and it got moved elsewhere. Thanks for the info and for watching!

[@beeble2003]

@@DanielCortopassi You're welcome -- I figure I owed you one anyway, after the "MKM" research you did for me. Actually I posted a reply with more information but it looks like KZbin deleted it. I found a Rock Island site with a caboose list dated some time in 2018 that said it was on Buckboard Drive, southwest of Lincoln. But that street isn't on Street View, and Satellite View doesn't show anything promising.

[@nyemt601]

So all the sound this caboose has( going off other rail practices) is true to form. The reason behind it is for use as a shoving platform on long shove moves. If do too the railroad track set up if it’s impossible to have the locomotive up front during a switching move and the move is several miles with crossings along the way the caboose essentially takes over warning drivers of the on coming train. Given this little detail ( and I am no Up expert) the caboose itself maybe more modeled for the latter years when cabooses ( like today) are essentially just shoving platforms. But it doesn’t have the plated over windows so I am unsure. My personal opinion is although extremely detailed and well modeled it comes a point of when is enough enough on spending over 100 bucks for a caboose when you can detail a very very nice stand in model for half the price and save your money for a ST locomotive.

[@beeble2003]

Cabooses were probably also used as shoving platforms back in the days when they were required on all trains, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had air whistles back then, too.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I think the air whistle is probably the most useful sound since it could be used for operations. I'll probably try it out when I have my layout set up. Thanks for watching!

[@w.rustylane5650]

What kinda noise does a caboose make??? Thanks for the review. Don't think I'd ever pay $129.00 for a caboose. If I want to light one up, I can do that without any hassle. Cheers from eastern TN

[@DanielCortopassi]

I doesn't seem like Athearn is offering the cabooses without a decoder anymore, like they used to (at least I didn't see that option listed on their website). I have one like that. It has the lights and electrical pickup. It just needs a decoder to make it work. Thanks for watching!

[@ShawnCalay]

At that price! I will buy a athearn kit, old bachmann perhaps and get to work ....that's nuts why anyone would pay that much....

[@DanielCortopassi]

It depends on people's preferences and spending money vs. time. For me getting rid of one that didn't have the lights and getting one that did was worth it because it saved time that I could put to other uses. I don't know that I'm in a rush to get more cabooses that make noise, but I do like the lighting features a lot. Thanks for watching!

[@Jabond07]

🤩🤩🤩🤩👍

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thanks for watching!

[@ChrisK-LTC]

All of them I have bought were without sounds. I have a friend with sound versions, to me it's just a gimmick.

[@jantheman9999]

I see your point, but one can argue that all model train sounds are gimmicks. It just depends on the needs of your RR.

[@beeble2003]

@@jantheman9999 I think locomotive sounds are more "useful" to more people, more of the time.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I like sound in locomotives, especially the horn and bell because those can be useful to simulate realistic operation. I'm not as worried about rolling stock. I guess we'll see how much I end up using the sounds in this one when I finally get the layout going. This is the only caboose I currently have with sound, but I have a lot with lights. Thanks for watching!

[@RFMCabooseNP1713]

Cool. I prefer no sound.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to get more with sound, but I do like the model. Thanks for watching!