Atlas - 41345 - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, USRA 55 Ton - Lehigh Valley - 25200

Specific Item Information: The model depicted here is identical in all respects excluding the reporting number.

Prototype History: The USRA 55-Ton hopper was designed by the United States Railway Administration during World War I as a standardized hopper to be used by all railroads in order to aid the war effort. After WWI many railroads continued to use the USRA 55-Ton hoppers, as well as build many thousands more clones. The USRA hopper was in use on North American railroads from 1918 until the 1970’s

Road Name History: The Lehigh Valley Railroad (reporting mark LV) was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal. It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated/established on September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. On January 7, 1853, the name was changed to Lehigh Valley Railroad. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported. At the time, anthracite was transported by boat down the Lehigh River; the railroad was meant to be faster transportation. The railroad ended operations in 1976 and merged into Conrail that same year.

During its existence, the Lehigh Valley Railroad used a rail line that later became known as the Lehigh Line in order for it to operate. The Lehigh Line was the railroad's first rail line constructed which was built in 1855 between Easton, Pennsylvania and Allentown, Pennsylvania and it served as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Serving as the main line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the rail line expanded past Allentown to Buffalo, New York and past Easton to New York City, bringing the Lehigh Valley Railroad to these metro areas. During the early years, the line served as the body of the Lehigh Valley Railroad until the railroad either built more rail lines or railroads, acquired more rail lines or railroads, and merged other railroads into their system. The line was known as the Lehigh Valley Mainline during the majority of its time under the ownership of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, starting in the 1930s. The "Lehigh Valley" was absorbed along with several northeastern rail lines into Conrail; the main line became known as the Lehigh Line during the Conrail ownership. Conrail shortened the track miles by abandoning most of its route to Buffalo and some of the line entering New York City area. The Lehigh Line is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway.

As of 31 Dec 1925, 1363.7 miles of road, 3533.3 miles of track; as of 31 Dec 1970, 927 miles of road and 1963 miles of track.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: In 1924 Stephan Schaffan, Sr. founded the Atlas Tool Company in Newark, New Jersey. In 1933 his son, Stephan Schaffan, Jr., came to work for his father at the age of sixteen. Steve Jr. built model airplanes as a hobby and frequented a local hobby shop. Being an enterprising young man, he would often ask the owner if there was anything he could do to earn some extra spending money. Tired of listening to his requests, the hobby-store owner threw some model railroad track parts his way and said, "Here, see if you can improve on this".

In those days, railroad modelers had to assemble and build everything from scratch. Steve Jr. created a "switch kit" which sold so well, that the entire family worked on them in the basement at night, while doing business as usual in the machine shop during the day.

Subsequently, Steve Jr. engineered the stapling of rail to fiber track, along with inventing the first practical rail joiner and pre-assembled turnouts and flexible track. All of these products, and more, helped to popularize model railroading and assisted in the creation of a mass-market hobby. The budding entrepreneur quickly outgrew the limitations of a basement and small garage operation. Realizing they could actually make a living selling track and related products, Steve and his father had the first factory built in Hillside, New Jersey at 413 Florence Avenue in 1947. On September 30, 1949, the Atlas Tool Company was officially incorporated as a New Jersey company.

In 1985, Steve was honored posthumously for his inventions by the Model Railroad Industry Association and was inducted into the Model Railroad Industry Hall of Fame in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, Steve was nominated and entered into the National Model Railroad Association Pioneers of Model Railroading in 1995.

In the early 1990s, the Atlas Tool Company changed its name to Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc.