E-R Models - 040-70352 - Tank Car, Vinegar - Standard Brands - 1682

Model Information: Roco produced this car starting in 1969 for Atlas. Atlas briefly re-issued the car in the 1980s, and E-R Models imported another run from Roco in late 90s.

Prototype History: Looking like something from another era, wood-sided tank cars remained the best mode of transportation for vinegar well into the mid-1900s.

Special tank cars were built to carry a lot of liquids besides petroleum. However, most of us wouldn’t think of vinegar. Standard Brands Industries among their many other products, was in the vinegar bottling and sales business. One of their subsidiaries (Fleishmen Transportation Company) built vinegar tank cars in 1950 out of cypress and fir wood. The tank cars were painted silver to reflect sunlight and to help to keep the vinegar cool. The tanks had a relatively short track life.

Vinegar is highly corrosive to metal and would have destroyed the early steel tank cars. Today, special liners can be applied to prevent this problem. For the older cars, steel was used for the frame and bulkheads however which gave the car the structural integrity necessary to be handled in trains of all-steel cars.

Brand/Importer Information: E-R (Euro-Rail) Models was based at 1000 South Main Street in Newark, New York. The owner's name is Al Muniz. They produced reprints of various models using toolings discarded by Atlas (and possibly other manufacturers). They also produced their own locomotive, the Baldwin RF-16 Sharknose. The model was manufactured by Bachmann in China. E-R filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Manufacturer Information: The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in HO scale and the smaller N scale. TT scale was also subsequently added to the product line. The model rail product line covers many European countries including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and also the USA.

On July 15, 2005 ROCO Modellspielwaren GmbH was declared bankrupt. From July 25 the company continues as Modelleisenbahn GmbH, but still uses the Roco brand and associated logo. On October 1, 2007, distribution of the 'Minitank' product series was assigned to the German model car manufacturer Herpa.

Since February 2008 Modelleisenbahn also owns Fleischmann, which like Roco had gone bankrupt. The two companies continue as separate brands under Modelleisenbahn GmbH, while benefiting from economies of scale through joined development projects, marketing and procurement.

From Wikipedia