Originally Posted:
...Shortly after, 82-83, it looks like the lighted caboose started to get the passenger trucks like the Cop & Hobo you mentioned...
It was long before that. The passenger trucks were used on the premium SSS Bay Window caboose starting in 1976 with the NP versions. This was to match the die-cast trucks of the rest of the rolling stock, which were the sprung "Standard-O" type, for which a roller assembly had not been developed yet for interior illumination. Several more followed over the years.
The 9307 Erie animated / cop-hobo gondola had the passenger trucks starting in 1979.