Search:
Type the text to search here and press Enter.
Separate search terms by a space; they will all be searched individually in all fields of the database. Click on Search: to go to the advanced search page.
Classifieds Only: Check this box if you want to search classifieds instead of the catalog.
Please help support TroveStar. Why?

Athearn - 24902 - Flatcar, 53 Foot 6 inch GSC Commonwealth - Canadian Pacific - 504372

This item is not for sale. This is a reference database.
N Scale - Athearn - 24902 - Flatcar, 53 Foot 6 inch GSC Commonwealth - Canadian Pacific - 504372 Image Courtesy of Horizon Hobby
Click on any image above to open the gallery with larger images.
Sell this item on TroveStar
Sell
Add a comment about this item.
It will be visible at the bottom of this page to all users.
Comment
Stock Number24902
Original Retail Price$39.98
BrandAthearn
ManufacturerAthearn
Body StyleAthearn Flatcar 53 Foot GSC
Image Provider's WebsiteLink
Prototype VehicleFlatcar, 53 Foot 6 inch GSC Commonwealth (Details)
Road or Company NameCanadian Pacific (Details)
Reporting MarksCP
Road or Reporting Number504372
Paint Color(s)Red and Grey
Print Color(s)White and Red
Coupler TypeMcHenry Magnetic Knuckle
Wheel TypeInjection Molded Plastic
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
Release Date2019-03-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeFlatcar
Model Subtype53 Foot 6 Inch
Model VarietyGSC
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Scale1/160



Specific Item Information: 53' Flat Car with 40' Exterior-Post Trailer

Trailer On Flat Car (TOFC) has been in service since the 1940s when it was originally developed to load truck trailers onto flat cars to streamline service and minimize transferring cargo from boxcars to trailers. In the early 1980s, after the railroads were deregulated, TOFC service exploded in North America. The railroad's ability to adjust haul rates to be competitive with trucking meant new revenue in areas that the railroads weren't able to successfully compete before.
Model Information: MODEL FEATURES:
- Fully assembled and ready for your layout;
- TOFC version of this classic car with side rails and trailer hitch;
- Highly detailed 40' rib-side trailer load;
- Separately applied brake wheel;
- Weighted for optimal performance;
- Screw mounted trucks for accurate tracking;
- McHenry scale knuckle spring couplers installed.
Prototype History:
General Steel Castings (GSC) made the underframes for the Pennsy F30. They decided to create their own product by modifying the Pennsy design. They stretched the design to 53 foot, 6 inches and made the entire body a single casting. The resulting car was manufactured starting in the early 1950s was initially sold as a kit to railroads and only late offered as a complete ready-to-run car. The car was offered in both bulkhead and non-bulkhead versions based on customer requirements.

One of the most common of all flat cars, these rugged designs were in service from the 50s to the 90s and a few still operate today. Built around a large one-piece steel casting, the prototypes could handle a wide range of cargo and were often rebuilt for piggyback loading. These cars are equally at home hauling machinery, steel slabs and more. They were also fitted with bulkheads and handled loads such as lumber and pipe, and a few roads even outfitted them with log bunks for hauling freshly cut timber.
Road Name History:
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), formerly also known as CP Rail (reporting mark CP) between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railroad incorporated in 1881. The railroad is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX: CP, NYSE: CP), which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.

Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it owns approximately 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi) of track all across Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver, and as far north as Edmonton. Its rail network also serves major cities in the United States, such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City.

The railway was originally built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 (connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier), fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871. It was Canada's first transcontinental railway, but currently does not reach the Atlantic coast. Primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long-distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada, and was instrumental in the settlement and development of Western Canada. The CP became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada, a position it held as late as 1975. Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986, after being assumed by Via Rail Canada in 1978. A beaver was chosen as the railway's logo because it is the national symbol of Canada and was seen as representing the hardworking character of the company.

The company acquired two American lines in 2009: the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad. The trackage of the ICE was at one time part of CP subsidiary Soo Line and predecessor line The Milwaukee Road. The combined DME/ICE system spanned North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa, as well as two short stretches into two other states, which included a line to Kansas City, Missouri, and a line to Chicago, Illinois, and regulatory approval to build a line into the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. It is publicly traded on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CP. Its U.S. headquarters are in Minneapolis.

After close of markets on November 17, 2015, CP announced an offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Norfolk Southern Railway, at a price in excess of the US$26 billion capitalization of the United States-based railway. If completed, this merger of the second and fourth oldest Class I railroads in North America would have formed the largest single railway company on that continent, reaching from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast to the Gulf Coast. The merger effort was abandoned by Canadian Pacific on April 11, 2016, after three offers were rejected by the Norfolk Southern board.

Read more on Wikipedia and on Canadian Pacific official website.
Brand/Importer Information:
Athearn's history began in 1938, when its founder-to-be, Irvin Athearn, started an elaborate O scale layout in his mother's house. After placing an ad selling the layout, and receiving much response to it, Irv decided that selling model railroads would be a good living. He sold train products out of his mother's house through most of the 1940s. After becoming a full-time retailer in 1946, Irv opened a separate facility in Hawthorne, California in 1948, and that same year he branched into HO scale models for the first time.

Athearn acquired the Globe Models product line and improved upon it, introducing a comprehensive array of locomotive, passenger and freight car models. Improvements included all-wheel drive and electrical contact. One innovation was the "Hi-Fi" drive mechanism, employing small rubber bands to transfer motion from the motor spindle to the axles. Another was the double-ended ring magnet motor, which permitted easy connection to all-wheel-drive assemblies. Athearn was also able to incorporate flywheels into double-ended drives.

The company produced a model of the Boston & Maine P4 class Pacific steam locomotive which incorporated a cast zinc alloy base and thermoplastic resin superstructure. It had a worm drive and all power pickup was through the bipolar trucks that carried the tender. This item was discontinued after the Wilson motor was no longer available, and was not redesigned for a more technologically advanced motor.

Athearn's car fleet included shorter-than-scale interpretations of passenger cars of Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad prototypes. The company also offered a variety of scale-length freight cars with sprung and equalized trucks. The cars could be obtained in simple kit form, or ready-to-run in windowed display boxes. The comprehensive scope of the product line contributed to the popularity of HO as a model railroad scale, due to the ready availability of items and their low cost.

Irv Athearn died in 1991. New owners took control in 1994, but continued to follow Athearn's commitment to high-quality products at reasonable prices. Athearn was bought in 2004 by Horizon Hobby. Athearn was then moved from its facility in Compton to a new facility in Carson, California. In mid-2009, all remaining US production was moved to China and warehousing moved to parent Horizon Hobby. Sales and product development was relocated to a smaller facility in Long Beach, California.

Read more on Wikipedia and Athearn website.
Item created by: Jenna on 2019-03-12 11:30:52

If you see errors or missing data in this entry, please feel free to log in and edit it. Anyone with a Gmail account can log in instantly.