Mehano - 52470 - Locomotive, Diesel, Alco FA/FB - Pennsylvania

Specific Item Information: Set contains one FA2 locomotive (no number) and four (4) freight cars:
- 40' Boxcar Conrail (Blue) - T471 Item: 13885 EAN: 3831000307625
- 2-Bay Hopper Lehigh Valley (Red) - T474 Item: 19858 EAN: 3831000307694
- 3-dome tank car Hershey's (Black) - T485 Item: 13955 EAN: 3831000307717
- Cupola Caboose Pennsylvania (Boxcar Red) - T488 Item: 20000 EAN: 3831000307779

Model Information: Mehano sold these train sets made of older models under its own brand at the end of the years 2000 (seen in their 2008 catalog). The design dates back to the end of 1960s - early 1970s.
Sets contain a FA2, four cars, a power pack and a 56.5 x 47 cm track oval.

DCC Information: The Mehano versions do not support DCC at all.

Prototype History: The ALCO FA was a family of B-B diesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and General Electric in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. They were of a cab unit design, and both cab-equipped lead (A unit) FA and cabless booster (B unit) FB models were built. A dual passenger-freight version, the FPA/FPB, was also offered. It was equipped with a steam generator for heating passenger cars.

Externally, the FA and FB models looked very similar to the ALCO PA models produced in the same period. Both the FA and PA models were styled by General Electric's Ray Patten. They shared many of the same characteristics both aesthetically and mechanically. It was the locomotive's mechanical qualities (the ALCO 244 V-12 prime mover) and newer locomotive models from both General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) and General Electric (the partnership with ALCO was dissolved in 1953) that ultimately led to the retirement of the FA/FB locomotive model from revenue service. Several examples of FAs and FBs have been preserved in railroad museums, a few of them in operational status on such lines as the Grand Canyon Railway and the Napa Valley Wine Train. ALCO's designation of F marks these locomotives as being geared primarily for freight use, whereas the P designation of the PA sets indicates that they were geared for higher speeds and passenger use. However, beyond this their design was largely similar, and many railroads used FA and PA locomotives for both freight and passenger.

Externally, the FA-1/FB-1 could be distinguished from the FA-2/FB-2 (FPA-2/FPB-2) by the position of the radiator shutters – the FA-1/FB-1's shutters were at the far end of the carbody, whereas on the FA-2/FB-2 they were further forward, the design having been modified to allow the installation of a steam generator behind the radiator.
The FPA-4/FPB-4 were visually different due to the additional radiator space that was positioned below the shutters.

From Wikipedia
Read more on American-Rails.com.

Road Name History: The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR) was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy," the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The PRR was the largest railroad by traffic and revenue in the U.S. for the first half of the twentieth century. Over the years, it acquired, merged with or owned part of at least 800 other rail lines and companies. At the end of 1925, it operated 10,515 miles of rail line; in the 1920s, it carried nearly three times the traffic as other railroads of comparable length, such as the Union Pacific or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads. Its only formidable rival was the New York Central (NYC), which carried around three-quarters of PRR's ton-miles.

At one time, the PRR was the largest publicly traded corporation in the world, with a budget larger than that of the U.S. government and a workforce of about 250,000 people. The corporation still holds the record for the longest continuous dividend history: it paid out annual dividends to shareholders for more than 100 years in a row.

In 1968, PRR merged with rival NYC to form the Penn Central Transportation Company, which filed for bankruptcy within two years. The viable parts were transferred in 1976 to Conrail, which was itself broken up in 1999, with 58 percent of the system going to the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), including nearly all of the former PRR. Amtrak received the electrified segment east of Harrisburg.

Brand/Importer Information: In 1952, the company Mehanotehnika was founded in Yugoslavia, which produced and sold metal and plastic products. The name comes from the name of the first puzzle toys the company made. In June 1953 production started in its own factory.
In 1959 production was moved to a new large production hall in Izola (now in Slovenia). In 1962 a new factory was opened in Materija. In 1971, the production of children's toys was moved to the factory in Materija. Besides under their own name, Mehano trains were often sold under the client's brand name such as Atlas, AHM, Life-Like, Tempo, Tibidabo and Model Power.
In 1990 the company changed its name to Mehano. In 2004 it was acquired by LIVE. In 2010 a new product line for children was launched under the name My First Train. Nevertheless, in 2012 Mehano became insolvent and was taken over by Lemke in Germany.

In the world of N Scale, Mehano products were produced under contract and imported by several other brand names for use in the US. However, a few models were imported with either "MT", "Mehano" or "Tempo" branding.

Manufacturer Information: Mehano is a Slovenian toy manufacturer located in Izola, Slovenija. The company was founded as Mehanotehnika and was producing toys starting in June 1953. They first exhibited at the Nuerenberg Toy Fair in 1959. Mehano produced a number of different locomotives and rolling stock models for the North American market in the 1960s and 1970s. Companies such as Atlas and Life-Like imported a huge variety of their products. Generally they can easily be recognized as they are stamped "Yugosolavia" on the underframe. The company was formally renamed "Mehano" in 1990. Izola today is part of the country of Slovenia since the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Mehano filed for bankruptcy in 2008, but still continued to exist and operate. Since 2012, Mehano products are distributed by Lemke.