ive been looking at some old postwar cabooses that my grandpa left me, and noticed that theres a number of maroon 6357 ones with the smoke stack. what sets did this come with and/or did it come in a 736 freight set?
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There are many books, but the best source of the information would be the Lionel Catalogs of the time. The LCCA has these in digital format to all members to reference and would have you start there!
https://www.lionelcollectors.o...ers/digitalpubs.aspx
There are also many (mostly out of print) reference books one can purchase on the used market by Greenberg, Doyle, McComb and such, but they tend to command a price.
The 6357 SP style caboose was made from 1949 to 1957. There were probably millions of them made. One of the most common Lionel cars. In scanning the set lists, it appears that when the 736 came with a SP style caboose it came with the premium 6457 caboose. With the volume of trains made during the 736 era anything is possible, but it looks like the 736 may never have been cataloged with the 6357 caboose.
The 6357 caboose came in Set # 2573, from 1961, only. What other sets that caboose came with is too time consuming to search. You have to do that on your own.
The 6357 came with the 736 Berkshire in set 2553WS in 1960 and in set 2573 in 1961.
It also came in sets with all of the following engines at one time or another (!!!!):
637, 646, 665, 685, 2020, 2023, 2025, 2026, 2032, 2035, 2046, 2055, 2056, 2065, 2240, 2242, 2243, 2329, 2338 and 2358
Caboose 6357-50 had Santa Fe markings and came with the 2383 SF diesels.
Caboose 6357-100 came with the 223.
Info is from a great, long out-of-print, book by T. Hood Simpson named "Guide to Catalogued Set of Lionel Trains: Standard and O Gauge 1917 - 1969".
It cross references all catalogued sets by engine, by each car in the set, and by set names.
Only catalogued sets are listed - as far as uncatalogued sets go - ???????! 
Jim
There used to be a site called something like "Post War Lionel Sets by Year" that I can't find anymore (I likely have the name wrong enough it doesn't come up. It was never in top search results , and marketing has pushed some sites into obscurity.
Does anyone have that address or know of the sites fate? (I can't access the Net Archive/Wayback Machine, can you?)
It's just a shame that online info is lost again. There was also an MPC set site that isn't showing on the search result first pages anymore.
The fact they both vanshed a year or two back within months of each other makes me wonder if they got sued/threatened off the net or if they faded away with the owner, etc. ect..
I'm only slightly off topic as a lead in; few years ago I would have started looking for the caboose's sets there.
