The Northeast Steel Caboose was one of the first standardized caboose designs built for multiple railroads, predominantly being ordered by railroads in the eastern United States. Based on a 1920s-era Reading Railroad design, which in turn was based on plans drawn up under the United States Railroad Administration in World War One, the Northeast Steel Caboose featured a raised cupola, giving the crew elevated seats to inspect the train while moving. The cars were used extensively until the widespread retirement of cabooses in the 1980s, and some continued into the 2000s in maintenance duty and as shoving platforms for switching. Today, many Northeast Steel Cabooses survive in excursion service or as museum pieces across the northeast and midwest. Bachmann's Northeast Steel Caboose arrives in a variety of authentic paint schemes spanning all operational eras for the type.
