Micro-Trains - 507 44 610 - Boxcar, 50 Foot, Steel - Chicago Great Western - 541

Prototype History: While the 40-foot boxcar was a standard design, and it did come in different setups depending on the type of freight being transported, it was not large enough for efficient mass commodity transportation. The 50-foot boxcar made its first appearance in the 1930s and steadily grew in popularity over the years, which further improved redundancies by allowing for even more space within a given car. Today, the 50-footer remains the common boxcar size. After the second world war ended, and steel became once again readily available, steel became the go-to choice for construction of boxcars. Pullman Standard and ACF were some of the most prolific builders of these cars.

These cars came in many variations. For instance, double-doors became practical for large/wide loads, end-doors useful for very large lading such as automobiles, and interior tie-down equipment was helpful in keeping sensitive products from being damaged in-transit. In 1954 the Santa Fe developed its "Shock Control" (and later "Super Shock Control") technology for new boxcars with upgraded suspension systems to further improve the ride-quality and reduce the chance of damaging freight.

In the 1960s, the flush, "plug" style sliding door was introduced as an option that provides a larger door to ease loading and unloading of certain commodities. The tight-fitting doors are better insulated and allow a car's interior to be maintained at a more even temperature.

Road Name History: Chicago Great Western was the result of the 1892 reorganization of the Chicago St. Paul & Kansas City. By 1903, the CGW had grown to its maximum size. The CGW had a vaguely cross-shaped system map. The east-west leg started in Chicago and linked Dubuque, Fort Dodge (both in Iowa) and finally Omaha, Nebraska. The north-south line started in St. Paul, Minnesota and linked Waterloo and Des Moines, Iowa then St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri. Each axis consisted of a big arc which put CGW at a distance disadvantage to most other railroads servicing the same region – and there were a lot of railroads in the area.

Passenger service was never a major priority and many trains consisted of doodlebugs and trailers even before World War One. In the 1920s CGW did team up with Santa Fe to run through sleepers from the Twin Cities to Los Angeles.

Big mainline power in the 30s and 40s consisted of a fleet of 3 dozen 2-10-4s. In 1936, CGW launched piggyback service – one of the first in the nation. One piggyback customer was a truck line specializing in hauling steel. Since CGW charged by the trailer, the truck line would take the contents of 3 trailers which had maxed out on highway weight and reload all the steel into a single catastrophically heavy trailer that would ride the flat car. They didn’t tell CGW though. No one was the wiser until the landing gear on a trailer punched through the deck of the flat car and derailed a train at speed!

By 1950, CGW had completely dieselized with a mix of Alco, Baldwin and EMD switchers, Alco and EMD road switchers (the former running long hood forward and the latter equipped with dual controls,) and a sizable fleet of EMD F units. By this time, the Deramus family (who already controlled the Kansas City Southern) had gained control of the CGW. Over the years, they cut costs and services. CGW began holding trains until they reached maximum tonnage. Trains between 150 and 250 cars were a daily occurrance behind A-B-B-B-B-A sets of F units. What’s more, these monsters would stop and switch along the way!

Around 1951, they dropped “The Corn Belt Route” logo in favor of the Lucky Strike style logo. The first generation of diesels were delivered in ornate maroon, and red with yellow striping. This was replaced with a simplified solid maroon and then red with black roof (which was essentially the same as neighbor and fellow Deramus controlled Kansas City Southern.) The second generation of diesels consisted entirely of GP30’s and SD40’s.

Despite the iffy service and tremendous competition in the area, and thanks to the cost cutting and a dearth of money losing passenger operations that plagued their neighbors, CGW steadily made money through the 50s and 60s. But, in the age of mergers, it was clear they couldn’t make it on their own. CGW discussed merger with every possible connection but ultimately merged into Chicago & North Western in 1968. In their last full year, the CGW was a 1,411 mile line with 139 locomotives (for comparison, they were about the same size as Western Pacific.)

Brand/Importer 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.