Micro-Trains - 102 00 852 - Boxcar, 60 Foot, High-Cube - Santa Fe - 5996

Specific Item Information: N Honoring Mergers of Class 1 RR - Santa Fe A Class 1 railroad is defined as any railroad with annual revenue of more than $504,803,294 (the 1992 threshold of $250 million, set by the ICC, adjusted for inflation). There are six Class 1 Railroads operating in the United States; BNSF, CSX, CN, CPKC, NS and UP. Burlington Northern was formed through the mergers of Great Northern and Northern Pacific in 1970, and then merged with ATSF in 1996 to form BNSF.

Series Information: This series was launched in 2024. There are expected to be six cars in the series.

Model Information: This body style models a Boxcar, 60 Foot, Riveted Side, Double Plug Door, High Cube.

Prototype History: High-Cube boxcars are made by a number of manufacturers. They typically have a 100+ ton car capacity. They feature an inside length of 60-feet; an inside width of 9-feet; and a zero weld protrusion smooth interior wall with an interior height of 13-feet, 1-inch. The cars feature a variety of different door types which are typically 12 feet high. The floor is 4-inches high, composed of 70,000 pound nailable knurled steel. The cars can come with lading strap anchors, floor anchors and 15-inch end of car cushioning.

Road Name History: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that (at one time or another) included a tugboat fleet and an airline (the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway). Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The ATSF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film, The Harvey Girls (1946).

The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.

Manufacturer Information: Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide