Roundhouse - 8783 - Stock Car, 40 Foot, Wood - Denver Laramie & North Western - 534

Model Information: This model is one of the many toolings acquired from MDC Roundhouse by Athearn in 2004. It features a truss rod underframe. Older, Roundhouse releases featured Rapid couplers, whereas newer Athearn releases feature operating magnetic couplers of different kinds.

Prototype History: Alonzo Mather, a Chicago clothing merchant who founded the Mather Stock Car Company, designed a new stock car in 1880 that was among the first to include amenities for feeding and watering the animals while en route. Mather was awarded a gold medal in 1883 by the American Humane Association for the humane treatment afforded to animals in his stock cars. Minneapolis' Henry C. Hicks patented a convertible boxcar/stock car in 1881, which was improved in 1890 with features that included a removable double deck. George D. Burton of Boston introduced his version of the humane stock car in 1882, which was placed into service the following year. The Burton Stock Car Company's design provided sufficient space so as to allow the animals to lie down in transit on a bed of straw. All-wood 40' stock cars of this general type would most likely have seen service in the early part of the 20th century (say, 1910-1930).

From Wikipedia

Road Name History: The Denver, Laramie, & Northwestern Railroad Company (DL&NW) was a small firm that planned to link Denver and Seattle by rail in the early twentieth century. The company’s history serves as an example of the pitfalls of running a small railroad company in the western United States at a time when giant railroad conglomerates dominated the national scene. Today, the railroad is defunct, surviving only in museum collections, but its legacy lives on in the small towns established along its right-of-way.

The DL&NW began construction in 1908 with what was hoped to be a line from Denver, Colorado and Laramie, Wyoming to the Pacific at Seattle, Washington. In doing so, they got up the nose of Union Pacific who constructed their Dent Branch in such a way that would make it difficult for DL&NW. They did manage to outsmart the Burlington Route to get their line from Denver into Greeley. Three locomotives were purchased, painted red and pressed into service. The company slipped into receivership in 1912. Operation ended in September of 1917. Great Western Sugar Company bought 28 miles of the line on either side of Milliken, Colorado to save service to their sugar beet farms. The rest of the DL&NW was abandoned.

Brand/Importer Information: MDC Roundhouse was founded in California in 1938 and relocated in 1993 to Carson City, Nevada due to statewide restrictions on painting. MDC Roundhouse was a producer of both RTR (Ready-to-Run) and kit versions of N Scale rolling stock as well as RTR locomotives. They entered the N scale market in 1979 with a Thrall Hi-Side Gondola and a Hi-Cube Single Door Box Car. MDC Roundhouse was purchased by Horizon Hobbies in June of 2004, when its owner since 1938 C. H. Menteer retired, and merged into their Athearn line.

Unlike many of their contemporaries which contracted with European firms to produce their products, MDC made their own toolings. They made several popular body styles and produced them for road names that many other vendors (even Micro-Trains) wouldn't touch. This made them popular with modelers. Also, their un-assembled "kits" permitted a lower price point so they were popular with "runners" as well as "modelers".

Of particular interest was the attention given to modern 50 foot steel boxcars. They made some attempt to accurately mold the differences into distinct models to represent each of the major prototype manufacturers products. They have distinct toolings not only for the different products from FMC, BFF and PS, but also multiple models for each of these manufacturers including "standard" vs "Youngstown" doors and "waffle" vs. "rib" sides. In total they produced 13 different versions of the 50 foot steel boxcar.