The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad built this wooden caboose in 1890. After nearly 70 years of service across the country for several railroad companies, it was decommissioned in Lubbock, Texas, by the Fort Worth and Denver Railway, which later became part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Around 1969, Sean and Susan Acrey bought the caboose, one of 300 offered for sale, for $50 and adapted its interior for residential living by adding a shower and kitchen while preserving much of the car. In 2010, the Acrey family gave the caboose to the Foundation for Las Cruces Museums for the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, where it was to be renovated for tours and interpretation as funding allowed. Cabooses served railroad workers in many ways, functioning as conductors' offices, housing on-duty brakemen and flagmen, storing tools and parts for linemen, and providing sleeping space for workers on the line. Train historians generally agree that the first cabooses were boxcars converted into offices and sleeping quarters in the 1830s and 1840s, and formal production was established by 1920. Typical features included cupolas, porches or platforms, and windows. Advances in communication and engine design in the late 1970s and 1980s reduced the need for conductors' offices on trains, and cabooses had become obsolete by the mid-1990s.