Forney Caboose

Classic Model Trains LLC is proud to announce the re-introduction of the Forney/Glenn tinplate Standard Gauge Caboose. These cars were originally made by Red Forney and Glenn Gerhart in the late 1970s. 

Willard "Red" Forney made a series of welded sheet metal freight cars in Carlisle PA. His friend Glenn Gerhart, working in Albany NY, made Standard Gauge freight cars from cast aluminum. Although their materials and methods of work were very different, the two train makers often worked together. When Glenn was getting started, he often used Forney's sheet metal parts as the basis for his own versions, making changes and adding features of his own.

The caboose is an example of their cooperation. While Glenn in later years would go on to make a bay-window caboose entirely from cast aluminum, his first few cabooses used the Forney steel body, with different ladders and other details, and wearing the Glenn aluminum trucks. Very few of these "hybrid" Forney/Glenn cabooses were made, and they are treasured by collectors. It is this caboose that we are happy to make available again. 

The cars are 12" long, and have a combination Lionel coupler so that they are compatible with Forney, Glenn, Lionel, and MTH 200-series freight cars. Unlike the original Forney/Glenn cabooses which were unlighted, we have made a Glenn truck with a center-rail pickup to power the caboose's interior and exterior lights. The cabooses are available in the heralds shown here.

For more details and information on the background and history of Forney/Glenn Standard Gauge freight cars, see Not Your Daddy’s Standard Gauge: A Guide to Modern Era Standard Gauge Trains and the People Who Made Them, by Arno Baars, MESG Publishing LLC, 2022, page 424.

To order, email: CMTLLC@gmavt.net.

While I may sometimes have a few cabooses in stock, for the most part these cars will be individually made to order. When your car is finished, I will contact you. Price will be $250 plus shipping, payable at the time your car is finished.

By special order, I can also make the Forney caboose with Forney trucks and hook couplers. These will not be lighted. Email for price and availablity.