In 1942 the Pennsy’s Altoona shops built 200 class N5C cabin cars (Pennsy’s term for its cabooses), numbered 477820 to 478019, to help handle its booming wartime traffic. The N5C’s chunky proportions, round portholes, and large streamlined cupola give it an easily spotted profile.
Bowser’s model does a good job capturing the classic look of the N5C cabin car and features nicely molded rivet detail. The body is made from separately molded wall and floor pieces assembled at the factory before painting.
The roof, smokejack, running board, and cupola are also separate pieces that press-fit into place. (The roof on our sample model was warped and required a few drops of cyanoacrylate adhesive to hold it in position.) The end railings, ladders, and characteristic Pennsy heavy-duty collision posts are all cleanly molded as part of the floor casting. The grab irons are cast in place but are fairly shallow. Though the side grabs could be easily removed and replaced with wire parts, those on the ends will be difficult.
The dimensions of the cabin car match those in Robert Wayner’s book Pennsy Car Plans (Wayner Publications, out of print) with two exceptions: The overall length and the truck centers are both a scale foot short.
The car also has body-mounted Rapido-style couplers, but Bowser indicates that Micro-Trains no. 2004-1 assembled body-mount magnetic knuckle couplers can be used to convert the car.
Bowser’s N5C cabin car, with its unique body styling, should make Pennsy N scale modelers happy.
Price: $24.95 each
Manufacturer:
Bowser
1302 Jordan Ave.
P.O. Box 322
Montoursville, PA 17754
www.bowser-trains.com
Description:
Ready-to-run plastic caboose
Road names:
(3 road numbers in each scheme)
PRR original Keystone lettering
(Eastern Region, Central Region, Western Region, and “Buy War Bonds” slogan); PRR Shadow Keystone (Pittsburgh Region, Eastern Region, Philadelphia Region, and Buckeye Region); PRR plain Keystone herald: Focal Orange or Freight Car Red; Conrail (blue), Penn Central (green); and undecorated
