This Bachmann HO Scale Silver Series Northeast-Style Steel Cupola Caboose is based on 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. The Northeast-Style Steel Cupola Caboose features an injection-molded body, finely applied decoration, blackened metal wheels for operation on Code 70 and larger rail; and E-Z Mate(R) magnetic knuckle couplers.