Hello Ben. Nice to see another piece of rolling stock brought back to life. Lionel started using the tab hold down method as a cost & production step saving measure on it's entry level cabooses. Using the tab eliminated a drilling step on each end of the caboose frame. This was done before the advent of the all plastic Lionel cabooses. I am pretty sure that all the caboose shells from that style had the mounting holes drilled in them. Regardless of which frame it was mounted on
I stand corrected. The later shells did not have the mounting holes drill in them. However the place for the mounting hole is clearly outlined on the ends of the caboose.
LATER
