Atlas - 40 002 120 - Locomotive, Steam, 4-4-0, American - Detroit & Lima Northern - 7

Prototype History: Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 4-4-0 represents the arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, usually in a leading bogie, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels. Almost every major railroad that operated in North America in the first half of the 19th century owned and operated locomotives of this type. Due to the large number of the type that were produced and used in the United States, the 4-4-0 is most commonly known as the American type, but the type subsequently also became popular in the United Kingdom, where large numbers were produced.

From Wikipedia

Road Name History: The D&LM was established in 1895 as the Lima Northern. In 1896, they opened a line from Lima, Ohio north to the Michigan state line. The “Detroit &” was added to the name the following year. The Detroit & Cincinnati Railway was established to build north into Michigan. In 1896, they reached a connection with Wabash at Lenawee Junction and trackage rights were arranged to the Detroit area. The D&LM merged with the Ohio Southern Railway in 1901 to form the Detroit Southern Railroad. The DS was later reorganized as the Detroit Toledo & Ironton. D&LM #7, which has been restored to its original paint, is currently in operation at Greenfield Village in Michigan. #7 now wears its delivery paint scheme. Even in 1895, this paint scheme was a throwback. The ornamental era was already drawing to a close beginning in the mid-1880s (when a growing number of new locomotives were delivered in basic black with just a bit of white striping) and died off almost entirely with the Panic Of 1893.

Brand/Importer Information: In 1924 Stephan Schaffan, Sr. founded the Atlas Tool Company in Newark, New Jersey. In 1933 his son, Stephan Schaffan, Jr., came to work for his father at the age of sixteen. Steve Jr. built model airplanes as a hobby and frequented a local hobby shop. Being an enterprising young man, he would often ask the owner if there was anything he could do to earn some extra spending money. Tired of listening to his requests, the hobby-store owner threw some model railroad track parts his way and said, "Here, see if you can improve on this".

In those days, railroad modelers had to assemble and build everything from scratch. Steve Jr. created a "switch kit" which sold so well, that the entire family worked on them in the basement at night, while doing business as usual in the machine shop during the day.

Subsequently, Steve Jr. engineered the stapling of rail to fiber track, along with inventing the first practical rail joiner and pre-assembled turnouts and flexible track. All of these products, and more, helped to popularize model railroading and assisted in the creation of a mass-market hobby. The budding entrepreneur quickly outgrew the limitations of a basement and small garage operation. Realizing they could actually make a living selling track and related products, Steve and his father had the first factory built in Hillside, New Jersey at 413 Florence Avenue in 1947. On September 30, 1949, the Atlas Tool Company was officially incorporated as a New Jersey company.

In 1985, Steve was honored posthumously for his inventions by the Model Railroad Industry Association and was inducted into the Model Railroad Industry Hall of Fame in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, Steve was nominated and entered into the National Model Railroad Association Pioneers of Model Railroading in 1995.

In the early 1990s, the Atlas Tool Company changed its name to Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc.