Micro-Trains - 123 52 030 - Boxcar, 60 Foot, NSC Excess Height - CSX Transportation - 173572

Specific Item Information: National Steel Car company was one of three manufacturers enlisted by Trailer Train Company to build their new fleet of 60’ excess height boxcars in 2003. These heavy-duty cars featured double plug doors giving the customer a 12’ opening to easily load everything from paper products, appliances to consumables. Referred to as “Super Duty” cars, they join the growing fleet of “Plate F” cars providing higher capacities for shippers looking to streamline their deliveries. Built by National Steel Car in the early 2000s, these 286,000-pound capacity, 60’ rib-side high-cube boxcars feature double-plug doors and belong to a fragmented series totaling 7 cars of this type. These cars have a 7234 cubic-foot capacity and can be found in trains hauling general freight all-across North America both on CSXT routes and others.

Prototype History: National Steel Car company was one of three manufacturers enlisted by Trailer Train Company to build their new fleet of 60’ excess height boxcars in 2003. These heavy-duty cars featured double plug doors giving the customer a 12’ opening to easily load everything from paper products, appliances to consumables. Referred to as “Super Duty” cars, they join the growing fleet of “Plate F” cars providing higher capacities for shippers looking to streamline their deliveries.

Road Name History: CSX Transportation (reporting mark CSXT) is a Class I railroad in the United States. The main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation, the railroad is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns about 21,000 route miles (34,000 km). CSX operates one of the three Class I railroads serving most of the East Coast, the other two being the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and Canadian Pacific Railway. It also serves the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Together CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway have a duopoly over all east-west freight rail traffic east of the Mississippi River. As of October 1, 2014 CSX's total public stock value was slightly over $32 billion.

CSX Transportation was formed on November 1, 1980, by combining the railroads of the former Chessie System with Seaboard Coast Line Industries, and finally with the Seaboard System Railroad in 1986. The originator of the Seaboard System was the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which previously merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967, and later with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, as well as several smaller subsidiaries such as the Clinchfield Railroad, Atlanta & West Point Railroad, Monon Railroad and the Georgia Railroad. The origin of the Chessie System was the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, which had merged with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the Western Maryland Railway.

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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