CB The Red Caboose

CB The Red Caboose

CB (Caboose) is a character from the musical Starlight Express. He's a crowd favourite but was removed from the New London and On Ice productions. He seems to have a split personality. Since he is the Caboose, he is willing to help the other trains with their work. Later on, he gets tired of helping them and then decides to sabotage Rusty in the race. But when he is racing with Electra, he gets fought over by Electra and Greaseball, and ends up crashing both of them.

Many people think that Caboose is in love with Dinah, and that is why he wants to crash Greaseball (who Dinah loves) and Electra (who she briefly races with). This is also often thought to be his motive behind singing "There's Me". Of course, there is also the theory that he is simply insane with no real logic behind his motives or actions.

In the original production he had a name, C.B., presumably after CB radios (this may also be one of Richard Stilgoe's many beloved puns, as it is almost an abbreviation of 'Caboose'). There is a scene in the Original London production, where Greaseball enters and says, 'Hi C.B.' and C.B. answers 'Hi G.B.', supporting the abbreviation train of thought. Several examples of CB radio code pepper his lines, including 'ten-seven', which means a dead body (said when he's mocking Rusty after holding him back in the Uphill Final), and 'smokey bear', which refers to a sheriff. From Broadway onwards, however, he dropped all references to CB radios and was known only as 'The Red Caboose'. In Expreso Astral, the 1997 Mexican production, Red Caboose was literally translated to 'Cabus Rojo'. He was not in "Starlight Express on Ice", since he was taken out of the New London production, on which On Ice was based.