Micro-Trains - 110 00 280 - Tank Car, Single Dome, 56 Foot - Pemex - 3447

Specific Item Information: This 56’ general service tank car is white with green ends and black lettering and runs on Barber Roller Bearing trucks. Built in 1985, this Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) car is unusually colorful for a petroleum tanker. Pemex is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company with roots going back to 1938 through the nationalization of all private domestic oil companies. Today, Pemex is Latin America’s second largest company in terms of annual revenue.

Model Information: Model Introduced: August, 2001. Era: 1970s to Present. It is a model of a DOT 111 A100 tank car.

Prototype History: Larger 50+ foot yank cars replaced their smaller predecessors in the late 1960s and 1970s. One example is the class DOT 111 A100. This car is rated for non-pressurized use with a safe maximum operating pressure of 100 psi. Developments in materials and manufacturing allowed this tanker to be constructed without an underframe. The bottom of the tank itself serves as the load bearing structure. The primary difference between the various types of DOT 111 A100 class tank cars is internal with varying types of insulation, lining and even weld material. Cars of this type haul a wide variety of commodities such as gasoline, vegetable oils, corn syrup, fruit juice and weed killers.

Road Name History: Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to Mexican Petroleums, but is trademarked and better known as Pemex (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpemeks]), is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, created in 1938 by nationalization or expropriation of all private, foreign, and domestic oil companies at that time. Pemex has a total asset worth of $415.75 billion, and is the world’s second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value (in 2006), and Latin America’s second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009, surpassed only by Petrobras (the Brazilian National Oil Company). The majority of its shares are not listed publicly and are under control of the Mexican government, with the value of its publicly listed shares totaling $202 billion in 2010, representing approximately one quarter of the company’s total net worth.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.

Manufacturer Information: Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide