Micro-Trains - 803 00 010 - Reefer, Ice, 40 Foot, Wood - Colorado & Southern - 1102

Model Information: Micro-Trains introduced a Nn3 narrow gauge range in 1988 that includes a 30' boxcar, a 30' gondola, a 30' flat car and a caboose. The models are re-run occasionally since then.

Prototype History: In 1924 and 1926, the D&RGW shops in Alamosa built one last class of refrigerator cars, still made mostly of wood: twenty "long" reefers, with a length of 40ft and a capacity of 25 tons (#150 to 169). They rode on Andrews trucks and were designed to have the same capacity as a small standard gauge refrigerator car, to facilitate transhipments at the gauge changing points. In 1967, 12 of these refrigerator cars were still active on the Rio Grande. Today, four long reefers are conserved on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (#157, 163, 166 and 169), two at the Colorado Railroad Museum (#159 and 167), one on the Georgetown Loop Railroad (#153) and #168 is part of the Sumpter Valley Railway collection.

Road Name History: C&S was formed in 1898 with the consolidation of the Union Pacific Denver & Gulf and the Denver Leadville & Gunnison, both of whom had been under the control of Union Pacific prior to falling into receivership. C&S was best known for their 3’ gauge lines built westward from Denver by the Colorado Central (the so called “Clear Creek Lines” to Black Hawk, Central City, and Georgetown including the famous Georgetown Loop) and the Denver South Park & Pacific (southwest to Como, Climax, Leadville and for a short time, Gunnison.) However, the narrow gauge portion was a small fraction of the Colorado & Southern system.

The standard gauge portion started from a point north of Wendover, Wyoming south through Cheyenne, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad and on to Texline on the New Mexico – Texas border. There they connected with their subsidiary Fort Worth & Denver City Railway to Fort Worth and other Texas cities. C&S also controlled the Trinity & Brazos Valley which gave them friendly connections all the way to the port of Galveston. (We’ll cover the FW&D, T&BV and other C&S subsidiaries on future RRotD’s.) The mainline also included the famous “joint line” used by C&S, Santa Fe, and Rio Grande between Denver and Pueblo.

In 1908, Chicago Burlington & Quincy (who connected with C&S in Denver, Cheyenne and Wendover) bought about two thirds of C&S shares and took control. CB&Q was jointly controlled by Great Northern and Northern Pacific and the goal was to secure a through route from the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf of Mexico. C&S adopted CB&Q practices for steam locomotive designs and before long the “Burlington Route” shield appeared on tenders but with C&S lettering on the cabs. Other than that, C&S and FW&D were left to manage their own affairs to a large extent.

In 1937, the old South Park narrow gauge mainline was abandoned leaving only a short stub between Climax and Leadville to connect a molybdenum mine to a standard gauge Rio Grande branch. Four years later, the Clear Creek lines were abandoned and the Climax branch was standard gauged bringing an end to all C&S narrow gauge operations. The Climax branch would go on to host the last regular standard gauge freight service with a steam locomotive by a Class 1 railroad. 2-8-0 #641 would last drop its fire on October 11, 1962.

C&S pressed on through the diesel era with locomotives in CB&Q and later successor Burlington Northern paint but sub-lettered for C&S. Colorado & Southern was finally merged into Burlington Northern on the last day of 1981.

Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.

Manufacturer 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.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide