This wood and steel caboose is very unique as its origin dates back to a 1915 era boxcar. Very few exterior, horizontally wood-sheathed and outside steel braced cabooses that were converted from early 1900 built boxcars exist today.

Built by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad at their Silvis, Illinois, shops in 1944, this 17843 caboose was one of 180 cabooses converted from a 1915 era Class B-2 type boxcar between 1938 and 1944. During the conversion, the car was shortened by removing a middle section where the sliding doors were located.

The car's working history is very limited. The caboose was obtained by the Mountain Home, Arkansas KTLO Radio Station during 1966 and was used as an exhibit, office, storage and merchant building on their Highway 5 North location for a number of years. KTLO donated the caboose to Cotter Care Crews in 2001 to be part of the Cotter Railroad Memorial. It was moved to this location by Magness Oil during 2001.

The exterior and part of the interior of 17843 were restored during 2001 and 2002 to the original 1938-1944 caboose era style except for the absence of windows and lettering on the left side plus the absence of a stovepipe and roofwalk. The somber boxcar red/brown paint, white handrails, Roman lettering and location of lettering and heralds conforms to that era.

The roof was replaced by a local contractor; the outside and part of the inside were restored by Cotter Care Crews members Jerry Stude, Tom Dunn and a few other members; the restoration included a new roof, sides, floor and part of both ends as a major part of all outside wood components were deteriorated.

The original caboose had four left side windows and five right side windows (you are looking at the right side and the rear is to your left); the roofwalk and one window on the right side and all four windows on the left side were not replaced.

The classic Rock Island Herald, which may have been based on an Indian symbol for a turtle, has been used since the 1890s. The herald's modern use began with cabooses in 1928.

Rock Island's "# 116 Standard Box Car Color" dating back to the 1940s (without defining exactly what shade it was) with 5" or greater Roman lettering was applied to cabooses and freight cars until the mid 1950s. The paint color was a mineral brown or oxide (boxcar) red that was prone to weather toward brown and away from red. Beginning in 1956, Rock Island cabooses were painted a lighter, brighter shade of red rather than the red boxcar or mineral brown color. The 5" Roman lettering was changed to small block letters in 1958 and the "Safety, Courtesy and Service" slogan disappeared from caboose lettering diagrams in 1959. From 1965-1970, new and repainted cars received large 18" and 30" block lettering without the herald and were painted with yellow ends. However, Rock Island was inconsistent in application of painting standards and numerous cabooses ended up with a combination of updated and outdated colors and lettering depending on what was available in the shop.