The Kingdom of Philtopia

So I was checking out a new hobby shop in Beamsville Just Train Crazy and first impressions being everything I of course came across some Chessie gear. The only problem is that it was in N scale and other than some old gear that was given to me I don’t model N

The items were 3 caboose, 1 bay window , 1 standard colour Chessie cupola and 1 in blue green Safety scheme. 3 caboose , all Chessie, all unique so I had no choice but to get them.

Comparisons
Atlas:

Both cupola style were Atlas brand and when looking up their real world counterparts I was pleased to see these were excellent replicas. The only inaccuracy is the safety caboose used yellow font but as you can see from the photo below the prototype used a dark blue font that was difficult to read so in the case of N being tiny I can see why a brighter font was used.

Athearn:

The bay window was Athearn and it was a very beautiful replica however if you find the caboose matching it they are completely different. I found this odd in today’s day as usually any major manufacture at least gets it mostly right. I did some digging on the Chessie Photo archive and found the closest numbered caboose they had and the model matches it almost identically so in this case I am going to say it is a good replica with just an incorrect numbering.

Seriously Considering N

These very high detailed cabooses has me seriously considering N. I have always collected HO but finding space for something permanent is a challenge plus I can get my HO fix with the GNMRE so N may fit the bill at home.