From Wikipedia:
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"Cupola or "standard" caboose
The most common caboose form in American railroad practice has a small windowed projection on the roof, called the cupola. The crew sat in elevated seats to inspect the train from this perch.
The invention of the cupola caboose is generally attributed to T. B. Watson, a freight conductor on the Chicago and North Western Railway. In 1898, he wrote:
"During the '60s I was a conductor on the C&NW. One day late in the summer of 1863 I received orders to give my caboose to the conductor of a construction train and take an empty boxcar to use as a caboose. This car happened to have a hole in the roof about two feet square. I stacked the lamp and tool boxes under the perforation end and sat with my head and shoulders above the roof ... (Later) I suggested putting a box around the hole with glass in, so I could have a pilot house to sit in and watch the train."
The position of the cupola varied. In most eastern railroad cabooses, the cupola was in the center of the car, but most western railroads preferred to put it toward the end of the car. Some conductors preferred to have the cupola toward the front, others liked it toward the rear of the train, and some just did not care. ATSF conductors could refuse to be assigned to a train if they did not have their cabooses turned to face the way they preferred. However, this would be a rare union agreement clause that could be used, but was not a regular issue.
The classic idea of the "little red caboose" at the end of every train came about when cabooses were painted a reddish-brown; however, some railroads (UP, and NKP, for example) painted their cabooses yellow or red and white. The most notable was the Santa Fe which in the 1960s started a rebuild program for their cabooses in which the cars were painted bright red with an eight-foot-diameter Santa Fe cross herald emblazoned on each side in yellow. Some railroads, chiefly the Wabash Railway, Norfolk and Western and Illinois Central Gulf, also built or upgraded cabooses with streamlined cupolas for better aerodynamics and to project a more modern image."
Information on Frisco Lines:
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"The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway was incorporated in Missouri on September 7, 1876. It was formed from the Missouri Division and Central Division of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. After bankruptcy the Frisco emerged as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, incorporated on June 29, 1896, which also went bankrupt. On August 24, 1916 the company was reorganized as the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, though the line never went west of Texas, being more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from San Francisco.
The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway had two main lines: St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City and Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham. The junction of the two lines was in Springfield, Missouri, home to the company's main shop facility. Other lines included:
Springfield–Kansas City (via Clinton, Missouri)
Monett, Missouri (Pierce City)–Wichita, Kansas
Monett, Missouri–Paris, Texas
St. Louis–River Junction, Arkansas (Memphis, Tennessee)
Tulsa, Oklahoma–Dallas, Texas
Tulsa, Oklahoma–Avard, Oklahoma
Lakeside, Oklahoma–Hugo, Oklahoma–Hope, Arkansas.
From March, 1917, through January, 1959, Frisco, in a joint venture with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, operated the Texas Special. This luxurious streamliner ran from St. Louis to Dallas, Texas, Ft. Worth, Texas and San Antonio, Texas.
The railroad merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad on November 21, 1980.
The city of Frisco, Texas was named after the railroad and uses the former railroad's logo as its own logo. The logo is modeled after a stretched-out raccoon skin (giving rise to Frisco High School's mascot, the Fighting Raccoons)."
Information on the Frisco local cabooses:
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"The Frisco 1100 series of local service cabooses was created in 1968. The cars in the 1100 series came from a group of cabooses that consisted of 6 different types of caboose from several different rail lines. It consisted of cars from Frisco, NEO and ATSF origins. This particular car was built by Frisco at their shops in Springfield, MO. It was built sometime between 1938 and 1946."
From the Arkansas State Parks Museums Page:
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"In one of the most unique museums in Arkansas, take a step back in time to the 1900s as you stroll through the oldest railroad station in Arkansas, the circa 1886 Frisco Depot at Mammoth Spring State Park. This restored, turn-of-the century Victorian depot features custom-sculpted lifelike figures that portray the train crew, depot crew and train passengers of the early 1900s period. Hear the stories that each one shares. Two short videos tell the history of Mammoth Spring. The baggage room includes exhibits of railroad artifacts. A Frisco caboose parked just outside is open for touring, too. The park is on U.S. 63 in Mammoth Spring."