Minitrix - 3181 - Open Hopper, 3-Bay Composite - Delaware & Hudson - 1639

Model Information: This model was produced for MRC by Roco starting in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It was later imported by Minitrix as part of the "Old Timer" series.

Prototype History: Composite side hoppers use a wooden sides with steel bracing. They are heavier than all-steel cars, but at their time of manufacture, wood was a cheaper and more readily available material than steel, and when full loaded, the weight of the car was a small fraction of the overall weight and thus the difference was largely irrelevant.

Road Name History: The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company would found the Delaware and Hudson Railway to support its mission of getting fuel to the timber denuded cities of the northeast when it was discovered that 'rock coal' or Anthracite could be burned successfully. In time the railway eclipsed the parent company, and America's brief canal age would be ended by the availability of more powerful traction locomotives, so today the canal is little known. Today the Delaware and Hudson Railway (reporting mark DH) is again a subsidiary railroad that operates in the northeastern United States. Since 1991 it was owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway under the rail subsidiary Soo Line Corporation also controls the Soo Line Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited.

The name itself originates from the 1823 New York state corporation charter listing the unusual name of "The President, Managers and Company of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co." authorizing an establishment of "water communication" between the Delaware River and the Hudson River.

Nicknamed "The Bridge Line to New England and Canada," the D&H helped connect New York with Montreal, Quebec and New England. It called itself "North America's oldest continually operated transportation company." Between 1968 & 1984, the D&H was owned by Norfolk & Western. N&W sold it to Guilford Transportation, who cast it into bankruptcy in 1988 and in 1991, the D&H was purchased by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP).

On September 19, 2015, Norfolk Southern Railway assumed control and began operations of their recently acquired Delaware & Hudson "South Line", the 282 miles from Schenectady, New York to Sunbury, Pennsylvania from CP. The Delaware & Hudson "South Line" is a rail route that now consists of three rail lines, the Sunbury Line, the Freight Line, and the Voorhesville Running Track; the Sunbury Line absorbed the original route of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line which contains the Nicholson Cutoff during that rail line's history.

Brand/Importer Information: Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. one of its co-founders was Stephan Bing, the son of the pioneer toy-maker industrialist Ignaz Bing. In 1935 the company began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label. Prior to the outbreak of World War II the Trix company produced a small range of fairly unrealistic AC powered three rail models running at 14 volts.

N gauge models under the Minitrix brand were made from the late 1960s mostly of European prototypes (German and British primarily). North American prototypes were also manufactured and marketed under the Aurora "Postage Stamp" brand; later these items were sold under the American Tortoise, Model Power and Con-Cor brands. Trix sometimes utilized North American consultants to aid in the design of this portion of the product line. The "Hornby Minitrix' brand was used in the 1980s for a short lived range of British outline models using the earlier product tooling.

Trix's owner in the 1980s and 1990s was Mangold, which went bankrupt in the late 1990s and Märklin purchased the assets in January 1997. In part, this purchase was a reflection of Märklin's need for added production capacity; Trix had been manufacturing certain items for Märklin in previous years. The purchase was also in response to the earlier purchase of the Karl Arnold company by the Italian company Rivarossi; Märklin were very keen to take over Trix market share in 2-rail H0 and especially Minitrix, until then Märklin had not marketed N gauge models. In 2003, Märklin introduced its first N gauge models under the well established Minitrix brand. A number Märklin H0 scale three-rail AC locomotives have also been introduced in two-rail DC versions under the Trix logo and many models are shared between the two brands.

From Wikipedia

Manufacturer Information: The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in HO scale and the smaller N scale. TT scale was also subsequently added to the product line. The model rail product line covers many European countries including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and also the USA.

On July 15, 2005 ROCO Modellspielwaren GmbH was declared bankrupt. From July 25 the company continues as Modelleisenbahn GmbH, but still uses the Roco brand and associated logo. On October 1, 2007, distribution of the 'Minitank' product series was assigned to the German model car manufacturer Herpa.

Since February 2008 Modelleisenbahn also owns Fleischmann, which like Roco had gone bankrupt. The two companies continue as separate brands under Modelleisenbahn GmbH, while benefiting from economies of scale through joined development projects, marketing and procurement.

From Wikipedia