ScaleTrains - SXT10873 - Locomotive, Diesel, GE C44-9W - Canadian National - 2689

Model Information: The ScaleTrains Dash-9 was introduced in 2019. The release was divided up into two groups: low-detail (Operator) and high-detail (Rivet Counter). The Operator versions all share a common cab and long hood configuration whereas the Rivet Counter versions are each customized to accurately model the prototypes they were derived from. As such, the Rivet Counter models were priced about 50% higher than their operator brethren.

This was an excellent marketing move on ScaleTrains' part as it allowed the folks who want detail at all costs to get what they want (at a higher cost), while also allowing folks on a tighter budget who are not so detail-obsessed to get a fine-looking, fine running locomotive at a much more attractive price.

DCC Information: The operator models were offered in both DC and DCC versions. The Rivet Counter models have three options: DC, DCC, and DCC-Sound.
All models accept Next18 decoders.

Prototype History: The GE C44-9W is a 4,400 hp (3,281 kW) diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems of Erie, Pennsylvania. Keeping in tradition with GE's locomotive series nicknames beginning with the "Dash 7" of the 1970s, the C44-9W was dubbed the Dash 9 upon its debut in 1993. It is also referred to as Dash 9-44CW. The design has since proven popular with North American railroads, although some railroads, like CSX, preferred its AC equivalent, the AC4400CW.
Mode than 2,500 units have been sold to all major railroads, with BNSF being the largest buyer by far with 1697 units.
Because of more stringent emissions requirements that came into effect in the United States on January 1, 2005, the Dash 9-44CW has been replaced in production by the GE ES44DC (GEVO).

From Wikipedia
Read more on American-Rails.com

Road Name History: The Canadian National Railway Company (reporting mark CN) is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec that serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad". CN is a public company with 24,000 employees. It had a market capitalization of 32 billion CAD in 2011. CN was government-owned, having been a Canadian Crown corporation from its founding to its privatization in 1995. Bill Gates was, in 2011, the largest single shareholder of CN stock.

CN is the largest railway in Canada, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, and is currently Canada's only transcontinental railway company, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia. Its range once reached across the island of Newfoundland until 1988, when the Newfoundland Railway was abandoned.

Following CN's purchase of Illinois Central (IC) and a number of smaller US railways, it also has extensive trackage in the central United States along the Mississippi River valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Today, CN owns about 20,400 route miles (32,831 km) of track in 8 provinces (the only two not served by CN are Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island), as well as a 70-mile (113 km) stretch of track (see Mackenzie Northern Railway) into the Northwest Territories to Hay River on the southern shore of Great Slave Lake; it is the northernmost rail line anywhere within the North American Rail Network, as far north as Anchorage, Alaska (although the Alaska Railroad goes further north than this, it is isolated from the rest of the rail network).

The railway was referred to as the Canadian National Railways (CNR) between 1918 and 1960, and as Canadian National/Canadien National (CN) from 1960 to the present.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: ScaleTrains.com, Inc. is an upstart HO and N Scale model manufacturer that was founded by a team with more than 125 years of accumulated experience in the model railroad hobby and industry.

ScaleTrains is specifically focused on the tiny details in the printing and quality of the construction. The four friends who founded the company are all avid modelers themselves. Their factory is located in Tennessee. Unlike most other companies, they offer a range of different levels of complexity in their offerings so as to be able to provide products for both the budget-conscious collector as well as the detail-focused model enthusiast without compromising on quality for either.

They range covers the following, by increasing level of detailing:

1. Operator™ trains are built for modelers who enjoy running high-quality, realistic trains at an affordable price. Designed from builder’s drawings and photographs, Operator models have fewer factory-applied parts and simplified printing. For added versatility, super-detail parts are available separately.
2. The Rivet Counter™ line strives to create the most accurately detailed models imaginable. The real-world counterpart is meticulously researched to ensure prototype fidelity. Each model features numerous factory applied parts including roadname and road number specific details whenever possible.
3. Museum Quality™ models are historically accurate replicas of the most famous locomotives in North American railroading history. Exhaustive research and a commitment to perfection combine to create the ultimate scale model. Museum Quality trains establish new standards which make them just as legendary as the original.