Like most pieces of railroad equipment, this caboose was shaped in part by regulatory requirements - in this case, a proposed Pennsylvania law requiring cabooses on through freights to be 8-wheeled and at least 24' long. Based on a wood-sheathed 1920 USRA design, this steel caboose was a 1924 Reading Company design that became so widespread in the mid-Atlantic region that railfans dubbed it the Northeastern Caboose.