Enter the caboose from the B end. Note that this caboose has an overhead hand rail running most of the length of the car. This safety device gave the men something to hold on to as they walked through the caboose. On the right side are 2 ice boxes. On the left side is a single ice box and a water dispenser. The cupola has 4 seats, 2 on each side facing each other. There are also grab irons attached to each seat. Beneath the cupola are storage lockers. Immediately beyond the cupola is the oil fired stove on the left with its stove pipe through the roof just in front of the cupola, and the toilet on the right. The toilet is a modern variety, but still discharged onto the tracks. Beyond the toilet is a locker, then two bunks. On the wall above the first bunk are three switches that controlled the marker lights under the porch roof, the track lights, and the radio transmitter. On the left side beyond the stove is the conductor's table and chair (with a jack for the radio attached to the side wall), then a small sink, then a fuel oil storage tank. Note there are two water storage tanks overhead at the A end of the caboose. Exit the caboose through the A end door onto the porch. Beneath the center of the car body, on the right side, is a small wooden tool box (= tool cellar). MP caboose 12131 is painted red with white lettering. The grab irons are also painted white.

Dorothy E. Hurd donated this caboose to the Museum in 1990. Information that came with the caboose indicated it was built in 1929, and the consolidated stencil on the side agrees with this, but 1929 vintage MP cabooses were wooden. According to Michaels, this caboose was built by the Texas and Pacific in 1942 as number 2378, rebuilt in 1952 and again in 1957, and was retired in April 1986. The B end truck has T&P cast into the side frame, which also bears the date 8-56 while the A-end truck has MPL (Missouri Pacific Lines) and a date of 5-48. When MP acquired the T&P, the caboose was numbered 13131, later changed to the current number. To further confuse the issue, numbers 173-174 can be seen beneath the paint on the left side (but not the right side) if the light is at the right angle; the significance of these numbers is unknown.