OKRX 21 – Caboose
This ’32-foot’ slant-cupola caboose was built in 1958 by the Great Northern Railroad at their shops in St. Cloud, MN, and numbered X-21. It was one of 30 similar cabooses built by Great Northern, numbered X-1 to X-30. These cabooses were radio-equipped and carried a NORCOLD DE-400 refrigerator, a chemical toilet, a CABAN TCH 55 vapor type oil heater, and a wash basin, as well as a 65 gallon oil tank and a 15 gallon water tank.
The interiors of these cabooses included a small table in each of the four corners, four chairs and a single crew bunk. Built under the cupola are a number of storage lockers, used to store clothes, tools, and other items as well as house the caboose’s 12-volt DC battery. Ascending the metal ladder to the cupola reveals two leather-backed reversible seats, one on each side. As built the cabooses were painted GN caboose red, but some were later repainted into a new sky blue paint scheme.
After 1970, the GN merged with the Northern Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads into the Burlington Northern Railroad. Caboose X-21 was renumbered as No. 10381 and repainted into a green and yellow scheme similar to the one it carries now. It was retired in 1985, and was eventually donated to the ORM by the Burlington Northern Railroad. It is in good working order and is often used on ORM passenger trains.
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