Broadway Limited - 7275 - Boxcar, 40 Foot, Steel Single Door - Chesapeake & Ohio - 2-Pack

Specific Item Information: Road numbers: 13260 & 13345

Model Information: Brodway Limited launched this model in January of 2018. It is a full 3rd generation model priced appropriately at $29.99 for singles $99.99 for 4-packs (which makes the 4-packs a bargain). It features metal wheels, body-mount couplers and enough detail parts to make most modelers and collectors feel they are getting their money's worth. Of special note is the fact that these feature opening doors. Operating doors are a bit of a rarity outside of Micro-Trains releases and it is nice to see other manufacturers note that modelers like these! Furthermore, I took my finger and tried to pop out the doors to test the reliability. These doors are in there well. That is not always the case as other manufacturers' operating doors sometimes come off at the least amount of jarring.

The model has a nice heft to it and the wheels run smoothly on Kato Unitrack. These two features can make operators/runners happy that these cars will track well. They feature MTL-lookalike couplers. Never as good as the real thing in my opinion but they cut a couple of dollars off the price and these appear to be relatively well-made clones.

The print quality and rivet placement both look good to my untrained eye. The color looks accurate and the underframe details are awesome. These cars feature a die-cast underframe with a plastic skeleton affixed to it. The result is an underframe that others should be jealous of. I know, I know - who looks at an underframe? I do, and when I see a half-hearted effort, I will call it out.

The features are: Beautifully Detailed and Accurately Modeled; Precision Paint, Color, and Lettering Schemes; Many separately applied details including hand rails; Detailed underbody & brake system; Composition: ABS; Minimum Operating Radius: 9.75 in.

Prototype History: Steel boxcars became a common site in the post-WWII period (also known as the transition era). Steel construction resulted in a lighter, lower-maintenance car that was less expensive to acquire and operate. The economies of scale that happened during the war along with a cessation of orders from the military resulted in a plentiful, inexpensive source of metal and aluminum for the railcar manufacturers which in turn led a complete replacement of the aging wood-sheathed fleets with new steel cars.

Road Name History: The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (reporting marks C&O, CO) was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond to the Ohio River by 1873, where the railroad town (and later city) of Huntington, West Virginia was named for him.

Tapping the coal reserves of West Virginia, the C&O's Peninsula Extension to new coal piers on the harbor of Hampton Roads resulted in the creation of the new City of Newport News. Coal revenues also led the forging of a rail link to the Midwest, eventually reaching Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo in Ohio and Chicago, Illinois.

By the early 1960s the C&O was headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. In 1972, under the leadership of Cyrus Eaton, it became part of the Chessie System, along with the Baltimore and Ohio and Western Maryland Railway. The Chessie System was later combined with the Seaboard Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville, both the primary components of the Family Lines System, to become a key portion of CSX Transportation (CSXT) in the 1980s. A substantial portion of Conrail was added in 1999.

C&O's passenger services ended in 1971 with the formation of Amtrak. Today Amtrak's tri-weekly Cardinal passenger train follows the historic and scenic route of the C&O through the New River Gorge in one of the more rugged sections of the Mountain State. The rails of the former C&O also continue to transport intermodal and freight traffic, as well as West Virginia bituminous coal east to Hampton Roads and west to the Great Lakes as part of CSXT, a Fortune 500 company which was one of seven Class I railroads operating in North America at the beginning of the 21st century.

At the end of 1970 C&O operated 5067 miles of road on 10219 miles of track, not including WM or B&O and its subsidiaries.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Broadway Limited Imports, LLC defines itself as "the world's foremost producer of top-quality HO and N scale model trains".

The company was founded in 2002 and introduced its first N scale model in 2009.

Broadway Limited Imports is composed of a team of 15 fun loving individuals who are dedicated to creating the most realistic model railroading experience possible, with the best customer service possible.

The Broadway Limited Imports headquarters is located in Ormond Beach, Florida at 9 East Tower Circle. It's just under an hour's drive from Disney World.

About Broadway Limited Imports.