Micro-Trains - 120 00 280 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, USRA Steel Rebuilt - Seaboard System - 18071

Specific Item Information: This 40’ steel box car with single door, murphy roof and side brake wheel is white with yellow band and runs on Bettendorf trucks. The 1947 Friendship Train collected food donated by Americans in cities all across the U.S. to be shipped to the people of France and Italy who desperately needed help following the end of World War II. Ultimately, over 250 railcars of food and clothing were donated.

Prototype History: By the beginning of WWII, the majority of the classic USRA double-sheathed box cars and their clones were rebuilt with steel sides. More rebuilds followed in the late 1940s and early 1950s. By late 1948, close 14,000 of the original 24,500 USRA double-sheathed cars had been rebuilt with quite a degree of variation including the end, door and underframe. These steel side rebuilds were far more popular than their single-sheathed counterparts.

Road Name History: The Seaboard System Railroad, Inc. (reporting mark SBD) was a short-lived former US Class I railroad that was created after the consolidation of the Family Lines System railroads (notably the Louisville & Nashville, Seaboard Coast Line, and Clinchfield) on December 29, 1982. Under the Family Lines era, the railroads shared common ownership but used different names when conducting business. On July 1, 1986, the Seaboard System renamed itself as the CSX Transportation and absorbed the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway on August 31, 1987 which ended the CSX Corporation's shared ownership of the Seaboard System and Chessie System railroads.

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