The Midland Valley’s 121 -130 series cabooses had their origins with the Florida East Coast Railroad. The FEC took delivery of their first ten 700 - 800 series wood side door cabooses from Mount Vernon Car Company in 1923. Another 100 cars would be received by 1927 built in the shops of both Mount Vernon and the Magor Car Company. The cabooses featured steel frames, a 33 foot 10 inch long carbody, ratchet-type handbrakes, and rode on either Andrews leaf spring trucks or express-type trucks.

The Midland Valley purchased ten of the FEC cabooses secondhand through Georgia Car and Locomotive in late 1936 at a cost of $1650 each. The new crummies more than likely arrived still exhibiting their side doors as FEC did not rebuild their own fleet until the 1950s, at which time they removed the doors in favor of a window. Nonetheless, the MV would by the late 1940s make the same modification to their cabooses with a large window replacing the side door.

The MV car series appears to have been generally retired by the early 1950s upon the arrival of Kansas Oklahoma & Gulf’s new International Car Company steel cabooses. At least one of the cars, No. 128, received steel sheathing over the original wood siding while another, possibly No. 121, was completely rebuilt with steel sides and converted to an airbrake instruction car. The balance of the small fleet is believed to have been relegated to bunk car service before being scrapped.

Kit No. 886 features 100% laser-cut components with custom laser-scribed side and end walls; Tab & Slot and Peel & Stick construction; laser-cut underframe, end platforms, end railing, and brake wheels; cast resin platform steps and brake gear; white metal smokejack; multi-name logo signage; fully illustrated instructions that provide information on painting and decaling the assembled model; and fixtures to aid the modeler in creating all the handholds, ladders and truss rods appropriate for the prototype. We recommend the purchase of Kadee No. 580 Bettendorf AAR Caboose Trucks or WalthersProto 920-2032 Andrews Caboose Trucks, Kadee No. 5 couplers with draft gear boxes, Micro-Scale Decals 90321 Railroad Roman Letters and Numbers, and the paint and glue of your choice for the completion of this kit.