A Norfolk and Western caboose became a memorial to Central's railroad heritage after Norfolk Southern Railroad donated it in 1988 through the efforts of Mayor Al Cumbie and employee Charles Head. It was first displayed beside the main tracks at the 1988 Labor Day Railroad Festival, then moved in 1990 to its present location near the baseball field through the efforts of the Railroad Festival Committee, Mayor Al Cumbie, Central Town Council, and Norman Canoy. The NKP 451-500, Class C7 cabooses were built by International Railway Car Company in Kenton, Ohio, and this caboose was built in August 1962, reconditioned in April 1977, and went to the N&W in the 1964 merger, after which it was renumbered to NW 557551 to 557600 in 1965, 1967 and 1968. Its markings identify when it was built and reconditioned, while the inspection space under INSP was used by car inspectors to record the date and time of the last inspection after checking brake shoes, brake piston travel, and lubrication in the journal box, since friction bearings without enough lubrication could produce a hot box. The original depot's construction date is unknown, though it was likely built when the railroad first reached Central in the early 1870s. Mrs. B.E. Allen wrote that after July 4, 1897, the depot and sixteen principal businesses burned when portions of the train business were moved to Greenville, SC. According to A.J. Crane, a new freight depot was later built and then replaced by the third and present depot around 1940. Southern Railway Company donated that building to the town of Central, and on December 11, 1973, Bill Wright Moving Company of Anderson moved it from downtown Central to its current location on Gaines Street. Photographic evidence from the 1930s shows a depot along the tracks, but images of that depot do not match those from the 1950s and 1970s when the depot was moved, and John Sims was listed as the railroad agent in the 1930 census.