Bachmann - 24133 - Freight Train, Steam, North American, Transition Era - Union Pacific - Whistle Stop Special

Specific Item Information: With a rousing whistle blast, the eagerly awaited Whistle-Stop Special announces its arrival in the station. After a blowdown and brief rest, the classic 4-6-0 is ready to chuff into the countryside for its next special delivery. This set features a DCC sound-equipped 4-6-0 with a steam sound package that includes authentic prototypical chuff, short and long whistles, bell, air compressor, and blower–all in polyphonic 16-bit sound that you can control with our E-Z Command® digital control system. This digitally controlled train set with sound features: • DCC sound-equipped 4-6-0 steam locomotive with tender and operating headlight • box car • single-dome tank car • off-set cupola caboose • E-Z Command® Control Center with wall pack and speed controller • body-mounted E-Z Mate® couplers • 34" x 24" oval of snap-fit nickel silver E-Z Track® including 11 pieces of curved track, 4 pieces of straight track, and 1 plug-in terminal rerailer • illustrated instruction manual

Prototype History: A freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, transporting cargo all or some of the way between the shipper and the intended destination as part of the logistics chain. Trains may haul bulk material, intermodal containers, general freight or specialized freight in purpose-designed cars. Rail freight practices and economics vary by country and region.

During the transition era, steam engines were heavily used by smaller railroads which relied upon secondhand motive power from the Class-I's. During the postwar years, it was fairly uncommon for these railroads to get their hands on modern diesels and furthermore secondhand steam power was both plentiful and cheap.

Road Name History: The Union Pacific Railroad (reporting mark UP) is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Union Pacific Railroad network is the largest in the United States and employs 42,600 people. It is also one of the world's largest transportation companies.

Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP); both are headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Over the years Union Pacific Corporation has grown by acquiring other railroads, notably the Missouri Pacific, Chicago & North Western, Western Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, and the Southern Pacific (including the Denver & Rio Grande Western).

Union Pacific Corporation's main competitor is the BNSF Railway, the nation's second largest freight railroad, which also primarily services the Continental U.S. west of the Mississippi River. Together, the two railroads have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the U.S.

Read more on Wikipedia and on Union Pacific official website.

Brand/Importer Information: Bachmann Industries (Bachmann Brothers, Inc.) is a Bermuda registered Chinese owned company, globally headquartered in Hong Kong; specializing in model railroading.

Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of its North American headquarters, Bachmann is today part of the Kader group, who model products are made at a Chinese Government joint-venture plant in Dongguan, China. Bachmann's brand is the largest seller, in terms of volume, of model trains in the world. Bachmann primarily specializes in entry level train sets, and premium offerings in many scales. The Spectrum line is the high quality, model railroad product line, offered in N, HO, Large Scale, On30, and Williams O gauge all aimed for the hobbyist market. Bachmann is the producer of the famous railroad village product line known as "Plasticville." The turnover for Bachmann model trains for the year ended 31 December 2006 was approximately $46.87 million, a slight increase of 3.36% as compared to 2005.