Red Caboose - RN-17529 - Boxcar, 55 Foot, Thrall All-Door - Triangle Pacific - 3-Pack

Prototype History: Lumber has always been difficult to ship by rail. Box cars provide protection but are hard to load and unload. Flat cars eliminate those problems, but loads have to be tarped to protect them from the weather.

In 1967, Thrall took the best of both ideas and created a unique car that would solve these problems. The All-Door Box Car had no true sidewalls, but was equipped with four large doors which could be opened in pairs. This provided a 25' wide opening that made loading and unloading a breeze! And since it was a box car, the loads were completely enclosed for the entire trip. As the housing boom began in the 1970s, the cars became a common sight at lumber mills and yards across America.

Thrall Door boxcars arrived in Detroit in the early 70s. They were used to carry hardboard products to Ford plants in the Detroit area.

Road Name History: Triangle Pacific Corp (TPC) was started in the 1970's, by the founder Abe Meltzer, and the father of the current CEO of Triangle Building Products, Bruce Meltzer. TPC went on to expand to 17 lumber yards on the east coast, 3 sawmills on the west coast, and became a manufacturer of kitchen cabinets and wood flooring. It was listed on the NYSE before being acquired by Armstrong World Industries.
Bruce wanted to re-establish a business on Long Island, and so in 1993 re-purchased the original Medford location and created Triangle Building Products Corp to cater to the construction needs of major developers in the Long Island and New York area. Triangle Building Products Corp has grown to become the only manufacturer of construction components on Long Island. We work with developers and contractors to provide custom manufactured wood floor trusses, wall panels and roof trusses. The company remains the only truss plant and pre-fabricated wall panel manufacturer in the metropolitan New York area.

Brand/Importer Information: Originally Red Caboose was a manufacturer of HO and N Scale model railroading items. It was located in Mead, Colorado, and was founded in 1990 by Leon Fairbanks. Red Caboose manufactured highly accurate, well detailed N, HO, and O Scale freight cars and locomotives.

Red Caboose closed its doors in January of 2015. Red Caboose N Scale has been sold to Fox Valley Models and HO was sold to InterMountain Railway. Many of the Red Caboose toolings have seen re-releases from Fox Valley since the acquisition. We just wish they would clean up the underframes. Red Caboose always went light on the details where they thought people wouldn't look.

Manufacturer Information: While they were in business, Red Caboose split its production runs between the US and China. Which models were produced where was a function of which body style and which run. Furthermore, which Chinese company was used for production is something we would love to find out.