Lima - 301 - Passenger Car, UIC, Type Y - FS (Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane) - 23799

Model Information: Introduced in 1968 as the first N scale Passenger car of Lima in its Italian Az version, this body style was then used for several other European road names up until the early 1980's.
With a length of 138mm, this car is shorter than the UIC-Y prototype; it should be 153 mm at N scale (1/160) to be prototypically correct.
For a short period of time after 1968, this body style has also been used repainted with North American paint schemes, until Lima introduced more prototypically correct body styles of North American Passenger cars.

Prototype History: The UIC (Union International des Chemins de fer) type Y is a type of passenger car defined in UIC bulletin 567 together with UIC type X. Initially ordered by the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), with 24 manufactured, they have primarily been produced for the French SNCF with 1,327 manufactured from 1963 to 1976.
The East German railways (DR) derived their OSJD/OSShD type B cars to deliver from 1966 to 1970 a new series close to the UIC-Y, and then from 1969 a series of type Y/B 70 that is compatible to UIC-Y standards. These Eastern German cars have been acquired by several railways of Eastern Europe: : Czechoslovakia (ČSD), Poland (PKP), Hungary (MÁV), Bulgaria (BDŽ), Romania (CFR).

• Ferrovie dello Stato (FS): 20 Az (1st class), 1 ABz, 1 Bz, 1 AcBcz and 1 Bcz;
• French National Railway Corporation (SNCF): 185 A9 (1st class), 43 A7D (1st class + Baggage), 53 A4B5 (1st/2nd class), 305 B10 (2nd class), 118 B5Dd2 (2nd class + Baggage), 175 A4c4B5c5x (1st/2nd class sleeper), 448 B9c9x (2nd class sleeper);
• Eastern Germany Railways (DR) - type Y : 22 Age (1st class), 66 ABge (1st/2nd class), 142 Bge (2nd class)
• Czech Railways (ČSD) - type Y/B 70 : 43 Ame (1st class), 60 Bme (2nd class), 7 BDmse (2nd class + Baggage).

With a standard length of 24.50 m (80' 4-9/16")), they are shorter than the UIC-X and UIC-Z types. They are qualified for at least 120 km/h.
The east-German UIC-Y cars have a higher roof than the French and Italian ones.

From Wikipedia (in French)

See also these detailed articles (in Italian) for more information about both the prototypes and the N scale models: UIC-Y and UIC-Y from SNCF.

Road Name History: Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (reporting marks: FS), previously Ferrovie dello Stato, is a state-owned holding company that manages infrastructure and services on the Italian rail network (English: Italian State Railways).
Ferrovie dello Stato was founded in 1905, and marked an important milestone in the process of the unification of Italy.
In 2000, to comply with European regulations, the company's two main divisions, service and infrastructure, were separated and two different independent companies were created: Trenitalia, responsible for transport service, and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), responsible for the management of the rail infrastructure. Both companies were still subsidiaries of Ferrovie dello Stato Holding SpA.
In 2017, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane acquired 100% of TrainOSE, the Greek national railways.

Read more on the company's historical timeline.

Brand/Importer Information: Lima N scale European models were numbered with 3 digits until 1978. They were renumbered after 1978 by adding "320" before the previous number. e.g. "306" became "320306".

Manufacturer Information: Lima S.p.A (Lima Models) was a brand of railway models made in Vicenza, Italy, for almost 50 years, from the early 1950s until the company ceased trading in 2004. Lima was a popular, affordable brand of 00 gauge and N gauge model railway material in the UK, more detailed H0 and N gauge models in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States as well as South Africa, Scandinavia and Australia. Lima also produced a small range of 0 gauge models. Lima partnered with various distributors and manufacturers, selling under brands such as A.H.M., Model Power, Minitrain and PMI (Precision Models of Italy). Market pressures from superior Far Eastern produce in the mid-1990s led to Lima merging with Rivarossi, Arnold, and Jouef. Ultimately, these consolidations failed and operations ceased in 2004.

Hornby Railways offered €8 million to acquire Lima's assets (including tooling, inventory, and the various brand names) in March of the same year, the Italian bankruptcy court of Brescia (town near Milan, last headquarters of Lima) approving the offer later that year. In December 2004, Hornby Railways formally announced the acquisition along with the Rivarossi (H0 North American and Italian prototypes), Arnold (N scale European prototypes), Jouef (H0 scale French prototypes), and Pocher (die-cast metal automobile kits) ranges. As of mid-2006, a range of these products has been made available under the Hornby International brand, refitted with NEM couplings and sprung buffers and sockets for DCC (Digital Command Control) decoders.

From Wikipedia