From the various red versions of the Lionel B&O cabooses (Wagon-top) which lettering style would be most appropriate for the steam era circa 1950?
They appear to do large "B & O" as well as "Baltimore and Ohio" in full.
I think there is also a yellow/cream lettering or white version as well.
Can any B&O fans out there put me right?
Many thanks
JM

The lionel cabooses are correct both with white and yellow lettering. Found this short history on the web:

"The I-12’s were built in 1941 and 1942 at the B&O’s Keyser, W.Va. shops and numbered C–2400 to C–2499. The cars had 19 foot truck centers and rode on AAR trucks. They were 30 feet over the corner posts and 32 feet 5 inches over the strikers. A second group of caboose were constructed at Keyser in 1945. These cabooses were numbered in the C–2800 to C–2824 series."

The second group, 25 cars were delivered, for reasons not well known, with the yellow lettering. This did not last very long. The standard as built was white lettering with "Baltimore and Ohio" spelled out. Through the '50s they also had the "13 Great States" herald.

ray

The first group of the pre-war I-12 wagon top cabooses were orignally painted B&O freight car brown with black grab irons, ladders and white lettering. That was the same paint as used on box cars then. Southern freight car brown is close. The lettering consisted of the full Baltimore & Ohio name with the car number centered on the lower panel of the bay.

With mid-to-late 1940's re-paints and the later set of I-12's, the cars got the better-known Devil Red paint with yellow grab irons and ladders. The initial yellow lettering on the last wagon top cabooses was changed to white when they were repainted about 5 years later. This lettering scheme used the full road name plus a 'Linking 13 Great States' B&O herald. The car number was still on the lower bay window panel.

The large B&O initials in the upper bay window panel came into use by the mid-to-late 1950's and on into the 1960's. This is when a number of I-12's were painted B&O blue with yellow ends, grabs and ladders for pooled service across several Divisions. A simple B&O herald in white was also used on some cars. These cabooses were also equipped with screens over the windows due to rock-throwing vandals.

Several wagontop cabooses made it into Disney-esque Chessie paint. They had silver roofs, yellow body with red stripes and a big blue "Chessie" cat emblem on each side. The cars were also renumbered into the Chessie system.

Ed Bommer

Really helpful guys - many thanks.
JM

Hi JM,
Ray and Ed are right. The first 100 I-12 cabooses built(2400-2499) had white lettering. The last group of 25(2800-2824) had yellow lettering. The big B&O herald first appeared on freight cars in 1953. Then on cabooses after 1953 as they needed to be painted. So the lionel caboose is very correct for the 1945-1952 era.

Dana