Classic Metal Works - 50306 - Truck, Ford F-Series - Baltimore & Ohio - 1954 Ford F-350 Hi-Rail

Prototype History: The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks and medium-duty trucks (Class 2-7) that have been marketed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1948. While most variants of the F-Series trucks are full-size pickup trucks, the F-Series also includes chassis cab trucks (flat bed) and commercial vehicles (box van). The Ford F-Series has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States since 1986 and the best-selling pickup since 1977.

In 1999, to bridge the gap between the pickup line and the medium-duty trucks, the F-250 and F-350 became the Ford Super Duty vehicles; considered an expansion of the F-Series, the Super Duty trucks are built on a distinct chassis with heavier-duty components. As of the 2017 model year, the F-Series includes the F-150, the Super Duty (F-250 through F-550), and F-650 and F-750 Super Duty medium-duty commercial trucks. The most popular version of the F-Series is the F-150, now in its thirteenth generation.

Through the use of rebadging, Ford has marketed the F-Series through all three Ford divisions in North America. From 1946 to 1968, Mercury sold the Mercury M-Series in Canada; during the 2000s, Lincoln sold the Lincoln Blackwood, replaced by the Lincoln Mark LT.

From Wikipedia

Road Name History: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (reporting marks B&O, BO) is one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal (which served New York City) and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. At first this railroad was located entirely in the state of Maryland with an original line from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook. At this point to continue westward, it had to cross into Virginia (now West Virginia) over the Potomac River, adjacent to the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. From there it passed through Virginia from Harpers Ferry to a point just west of the junction of Patterson Creek and the North Branch Potomac River where it crossed back into Maryland to reach Cumberland. From there it was extended to the Ohio River at Wheeling and a few years later also to Parkersburg, West Virginia.

It is now part of the CSX Transportation (CSX) network, and includes the oldest operational railroad bridge in the USA. The B&O also included the Leiper Railroad, the first permanent horse-drawn railroad in the U.S. In later years, B&O advertising carried the motto: "Linking 13 Great States with the Nation." Part of the B&O Railroad's immortality has come from being one of the four featured railroads on the U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, but it is the only railroad on the board which did not serve Atlantic City, New Jersey, directly.

When CSX established the B&O Railroad Museum as a separate entity from the corporation, some of the former B&O Mount Clare Shops in Baltimore, including the Mt. Clare roundhouse, were donated to the museum while the rest of the property was sold. The B&O Warehouse at the Camden Yards rail junction in Baltimore now dominates the view over the right-field wall at the Baltimore Orioles' current home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

At the end of 1970 B&O operated 5552 miles of road and 10449 miles of track, not including the Staten Island Rapid Transit (SIRT) or the Reading and its subsidiaries.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Focused on the production of HO and N Scale post World War II to 1970s era North American vehicles, the Sylvania, Ohio based Classic Metal Works was founded in 1997, by William J. Giacci.
Primarily constructed out of die-cast metal, Mini Metals CMW products are factory assembled and decorated.
In May 2017, Classic Metal Works and Mini Metals product ranges have been taken over by Round 2 Corp.

Note: The following CMW stock numbers have not been used, breaking the linearity of the numbering: 50313 to 50315, 50362 to 50364, 51154 to 51163