Athearn - 2299 - Trailer, 28 Foot, Box - Estes Express

Specific Item Information: N RTR 28 foot Trailer w/Dolly

Model Information: Model: Introduction: 2006. ERA: 1960s to 1990s.

Features: Beaded side body, Razor-sharp printing and painting, Perfect for TOFC operation, Interchangable landing gear (raised or lowered), Working rear sliding bogie, Upgraded tooling from A-Line

Prototype History: The 28' trailer provided LTL service for instances where a full size trailer would not be the most efficient. Splitting a haul into two creates more efficiency as one trailer can be spotted and then the second taken to a different destination without repacking. Many of the 28' trailers can be seen in TOFC service to this day.

Box vans are known as such for their rectilinear proportions. Their simple design makes them easy to manufacture and maintain.

Road Name History: Estes Express Lines is a full-service freight transportation provider based in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States. Founded in 1931 by W.W. Estes, the company is still owned and operated by the Estes family. Robey W. Estes, Jr., became the company’s president in 1990, then chairman and CEO in 2001.
br> Estes has grown from a small local carrier into the largest privately held less-than-truckload (LTL) company in the United States. It currently has about 16,000 employees, more than 6,700 tractors and 30,000 trailers, and a network of 200+ terminals.[

Brand/Importer Information: Athearn's history began in 1938, when its founder-to-be, Irvin Athearn, started an elaborate O scale layout in his mother's house. After placing an ad selling the layout, and receiving much response to it, Irv decided that selling model railroads would be a good living. He sold train products out of his mother's house through most of the 1940s. After becoming a full-time retailer in 1946, Irv opened a separate facility in Hawthorne, California in 1948, and that same year he branched into HO scale models for the first time.

Athearn acquired the Globe Models product line and improved upon it, introducing a comprehensive array of locomotive, passenger and freight car models. Improvements included all-wheel drive and electrical contact. One innovation was the "Hi-Fi" drive mechanism, employing small rubber bands to transfer motion from the motor spindle to the axles. Another was the double-ended ring magnet motor, which permitted easy connection to all-wheel-drive assemblies. Athearn was also able to incorporate flywheels into double-ended drives.

The company produced a model of the Boston & Maine P4 class Pacific steam locomotive which incorporated a cast zinc alloy base and thermoplastic resin superstructure. It had a worm drive and all power pickup was through the bipolar trucks that carried the tender. This item was discontinued after the Wilson motor was no longer available, and was not redesigned for a more technologically advanced motor.

Athearn's car fleet included shorter-than-scale interpretations of passenger cars of Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad prototypes. The company also offered a variety of scale-length freight cars with sprung and equalized trucks. The cars could be obtained in simple kit form, or ready-to-run in windowed display boxes. The comprehensive scope of the product line contributed to the popularity of HO as a model railroad scale, due to the ready availability of items and their low cost.

Irv Athearn died in 1991. New owners took control in 1994, but continued to follow Athearn's commitment to high-quality products at reasonable prices. Athearn was bought in 2004 by Horizon Hobby. Athearn was then moved from its facility in Compton to a new facility in Carson, California. In mid-2009, all remaining US production was moved to China and warehousing moved to parent Horizon Hobby. Sales and product development was relocated to a smaller facility in Long Beach, California.

Read more on Wikipedia and Athearn website.