BN NE-12 Caboose

These are N scale 3D printable files for the Burlington Northern NE-12 Waycar — the former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad NE-12 as repainted and updated following the landmark 1970 Burlington Northern merger. A perfect companion to the CBQ NE-12 Waycar also available from Out of the Box Models.

On March 2, 1970, four major western railroads — the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and Spokane, Portland and Seattle — merged to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, one of the largest railroad mergers in American history. Overnight, the Q's distinctive silver and orange waycars became the property of a new railroad, and the long process of repainting and re-lettering the inherited fleet into BN's Cascade Green livery began.

The NE-12 waycars that had served the Q so faithfully across the prairies and river valleys of the Midwest now found themselves wearing new colors and a new reporting mark — but the cars themselves were unchanged, the same sturdy steel waycars that had been the rolling home of CB&Q rear-end crews for years. The BN-repainted NE-12 represents this fascinating transition era, when the equipment of four proud predecessor railroads was gradually absorbed into the identity of the new Burlington Northern system.

On the Burlington Northern, as on the Q before it, the waycar — never called a caboose on these railroads — remained the domain of the conductor and brakemen who managed the train from the rear, watching for hotboxes and dragging equipment across BN's vast network stretching from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. The waycar era ended on American railroads in the 1980s when electronic End of Train Devices replaced the rear-end crew, making these transition-era cars a poignant reminder of a vanished way of railroad life.

After purchase, your digital files will be available for immediate direct download from your order confirmation. These files are for Personal Use Only — if you are interested in a commercial license, please contact us.

Please allow a few weeks for 3D printing and shipping. Decals are shipped separately — please allow some additional time for decal printing and shipping after ordering.