Freight trains commonly had a caboose at the end, and in 1871, its first year of operation, the Denver and Rio Grande railroad had four cabooses made by Billmeyer and Small. Between 1876 and 1885, the Denver and Rio Grande built 84 more similar Class 1 cabooses, numbered 1-88; these small four-wheeled "bobbers" had a 16-foot body, 9-foot wheelbase, 26-inch wheels, a third brake wheel in the cupola, and link-and-pin couplers. Caboose 17 was built in 1880 for $720 as one of a group of twenty-five, became Denver and Rio Grande 0516 in the 1885-86 renumbering, and was extensively remodeled over the years with improvements such as stoves, additional grab irons, and more storage. By 1895 it was being leased to Otto Mears' Silverton Railroad for 30 cents per day, and in October 1895 the Silverton Railroad bought it for $350, probably for use on the Silverton Northern that Mears was building. It became Silverton Northern 17 and then Silverton Northern 1005. Unlike Denver and Rio Grande cabooses, Silverton Northern 1005 was never upgraded to automatic couplers and airbrakes, and it was retired by 1920. The Western Colorado Power Company later used its body as a storage shed, after which it was donated to the Silverton Chamber of Commerce in the 1960s as an information booth and then to the San Juan County Historical Society in the 1990s. Silverton Northern 1005 is the oldest surviving Denver and Rio Grande caboose and the oldest surviving caboose in Colorado. Its restoration, completed in May 2014, replaced missing wheels and suspension, reconstructed the deteriorated frame in white oak with mortise and tenon joints, corrected sheathing and framing, repaired doors and interior walls, installed a new floor, and reconstructed interior furnishings using historical information and parts obtained from the Colorado Railroad Museum.