AZL - 91256-1 - Gondola, 60-foot, Thrall - Trinity Industries - 35230

Model Information: A gondola is an open-top type of rolling stock that is used for carrying loose bulk materials. Because of its low side walls, gondolas are used to carry either very dense material, such as steel plates or coils, or bulky items such as prefabricated pieces of rail track.
Thrall Car was started by “Pops” Thrall in Chicago Heights, Illinois, as a railcar repair facility. Over the years Thrall expanded to a railcar builder with plants across the United States and in Europe. Thrall car passed between the family until it was sold in 2001 to Trinity Industries of Texas.

Road Name History: The company, first known as Trinity Steel, was founded by C. J. Bender in Dallas in 1933. W. Ray Wallace, an engineering graduate of Louisiana Tech, worked for Dallas's Austin Bridge Company in 1944 before joining the company in 1946 as its seventeenth employee. At the time Trinity Steel manufactured butane tanks in a Dallas County mule barn. In 1958 Trinity Steel merged with Dallas Tank Company, which was also founded in 1933, and Ray Wallace became the new firm's president and first chief executive officer. At the time Trinity had revenues reaching $2.5 million and employed 200 workers. While some employees of the firm in other states eventually unionized, Texas workers never formed a union. For a time the company profited by producing larger tanks that enabled it to enter the petroleum business and do steel fabrication for refineries. In addition, to free up capital, it established an investment company to buy trucks and lease them back to the firm. Nonetheless, by 1957 Trinity faced competition and declines in the petroleum industry. Dallas Tank, Trinity Steel, and Bender-Wallace Development Company merged in 1958 to form Trinity Industries, Incorporated, and went public.

The Trinity Industries Rail Group, TrinityRail, is a leading North American provider of railcar services and products providing a single source for comprehensive rail transportation solutions. TrinityRail offers extensive manufacturing resources and a complete product line of new railcars. Included is a full menu of state-of-the-art covered hoppers, flat cars, gondolas, open hoppers, box cars, automotive equipment and tank cars. In addition, TrinityRail offers one of the fastest growing railcar lease fleets in North America and a broad portfolio of comprehensive railcar services. Our wide-ranging railcar service offerings provide our customers with enhanced transportation efficiencies and optimized fleet utilization.

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Brand/Importer Information: AZL is the leader in North American Z scale locomotives and rolling stock. Since 2000, AZL has released a vast variety of freight, passenger and locomotives. AZL continues to push the boundaries of Z scale with amazing details and incredible performance. No matter if you are looking to run steam, or the most modern diesels, AZL has something for you.