Interail Intermodal Models - 94850.2 - Container Car, Articulated Well, Thrall Lo-Pac - APL Logistics - 5-Unit Set # 2118

Specific Item Information: 5-Unit articulated well car for APL Linter Train

Model Information: This model was designed by InterRail in the 1990s. the InterRail version was produced as a 'craftsman' difficulty kit. Deluxe Innovations later acquired the tooling and produced an RTR (Ready-To-Run) version. This product features 5-unit articulated double-stack well cars for container transportation.

Prototype History: Gunderson cars were selling like crazy. So well in fact that Gunderson couldn't keep up with the orders. Thrall wanted in on the business, but couldn't use Gunderson's proprietary design, so they came up with their LoPac 2000 low sided container car. The distinctive rib sides of the Thrall are a ready spotting feature that Thrall cars carry to this day. The Thrall cars were designed to take a 40 foot container in the bottom and a forty footer on top. Some of the cars were equipped with hard points to attach 2 20 footers in each well. All were able to carry a 40, 45, or 48 foot container in the upper position, once the use of IBC's (Inter Box Connectors) became common practice.

The LoPacs were contemporaries of the Twinstack, and sales efforts between the two companies were fevered. The Thrall group reached the lucrative APL company with their car, and snagged a number of sales. They made two distinct versions of the car for APL, and then sold them to other entities. The first was a "normal" well car for use with dry box containers. The second version was a powered version specifically designed to carry reefers. The car was colored red and a generator was mounted at one end. Extension cords were strung from the generator to each individual container to provide power to the reefer units mounted there. The Thrall braking arrangement on this car is the same as the Gunderson on the twinstack- one brakewheel at the B end. In later versions, there is a brakewheel painted orange at both the A and the B end. This arrangement indicates the longer 48 foot wells and dual braking system installed on the more recent production. Thrall has remained a force in Intermodal railroading with their more recent all purpose well car, continued 5 unit production, and many many spine cars. Their most recent product in the intermodal world is a three unit car capable of carrying 53 foot containers in the upper and lower positions of each well.

Road Name History: APL (formerly American President Line) offers a comprehensive suite of services extending from international freight forwarding to both origin and destination services, including freight consolidation, warehousing and distribution management. We employ innovative Information Technology (IT) to deliver maximum supply chain efficiency, visibility and control. APL Logistics is a Singapore-based global cargo transportation and logistics company. APL, along with its parent company CMA CGM, is the world's third-largest container transportation and shipping company, providing more than 80 weekly services. APL operates a container-ship fleet, including 153 container vessels.

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded in 1848. In 1912, Congress banned ships owned by railroads from using the Panama Canal, and so Pacific Mail was sold to W. R. Grace and Company, where it operated as a subsidiary from 1916 till 1925, when the company's trans-Pacific fleet was bought over by the Dollar Shipping Company for $5,625,000 in cash. In August of 1938, the United States Maritime Commission judged the company unsound and assumed control over it, appointing William Gibbs McAdoo to succeed R. Stanley Dollar and Joseph R. Sheehan as the new president of the line. The first item of business was an amendment to the corporate charter, renaming the line as "American President Lines". In 2009, APL moved to a new headquarters in Singapore. Previously, APL had been based in Oakland, California.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Interail Intermodal Models was founded by Paul Ingraham in 1982 and was based in Oakland, California. Products included kits for intermodal containers, trailer chassis, and Thrall 5 unit Lo-Pac rail cars. The tooling was sold to Deluxe Innovations in 1997.