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Micro-Trains - NSE MTL 17-111 - Covered Hopper, 2-Bay, GATX Airslide 4180 - Boston & Maine - 5835

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N Scale - Micro-Trains - NSE MTL 17-111 - Covered Hopper, 2-Bay, GATX Airslide 4180 - Boston & Maine - 5835 Copyright held by TroveStar
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Production TypeSpecial Run
Stock NumberNSE MTL 17-111
BrandMicro-Trains
ManufacturerMicro-Trains Line
Body StyleMicro-Trains 098 Covered Hopper 2-Bay 50 Foot Airslide
Prototype VehicleCovered Hopper, 2-Bay, GATX Airslide 4180 (Details)
Road or Company NameBoston & Maine (Details)
Reporting MarksBM
Road or Reporting Number5835
Paint Color(s)White with Red and Green Stripes
Print Color(s)Black
Additional Markings/SloganWednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day
Coupler TypeMT Magne-Matic Knuckle
Wheel TypeInjection Molded Plastic
Wheel ProfileStandard
Multipack ID NumberNSE MTL 17-114
Release Date2017-04-01
Item CategoryRolling Stock (Freight)
Model TypeCovered Hopper
Model Subtype2-Bay
Model Variety50 Foot Airslide
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Scale1/160



Specific Item Information: In 1912, three Italian immigrants founded a pasta Company on Prince St in Boston. Their products were extremely popular, and the company grew. New owners produced an iconic commercial that resonates with Northeasterners to this day.

The now iconic 1969 Commercial went like this; A Woman leans out the WindoW Of her Boston North End apartment and calls for her son (Anthony Anthonyl) to Come home for dinner. As Anthony races through the streets of the famous Italian neighborhood, his family prepares their weekly Prince spaghetti dinner. "Most days, Anthony takes his time going home," the narrator says, "But not today. Today is Wednesday, and as every family in the North End of Boston knows, Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day." Grinning, and out of breath, Anthony arrives home, just in time for his bowl of Spaghetti.

The commercial is remembered to this day, and even when the company moved to Pennsylvania, it continued to run and trade on the catchphrase. The cars represented here are a result of the popularity of the campaign.
Model Information: This is Micro-Trains model of the GATX 4180 c.f. covered Airslide hopper.
Prototype History:
The first Airslide covered hopper was introduced by General American Transportation Corporation (GATX) in 1953 and had a capacity of 2600 cubic feet. The Airslide is primarily designed for the bulk shipment of dry, granular or powdered commodities. The design of that car is such that it can be loaded and unloaded quickly and with little spillage through the use of air pressure. The most common commodities carried include: flour, sugar, starch, plastic pellets, cement, powdered chemicals and carbon black.

Due to customer demand for larger covered hoppers capable of handling bulk commodities, General American Transportation Corporation introduced the larger 4180 c.f. model in 1963. GATX produced more than 5,000 of the 4180 cubic foot Airslide covered hoppers between 1963 and 1980. These very common cars continued General American’s “Airslide” family innovations from the 1950s, and proved valuable to bulk shippers who wanted a larger car than the earlier-design 2600 cubic foot cars provided.
Road Name History:
The Andover and Wilmington Railroad was incorporated March 15, 1833, to build a branch from the Boston and Lowell Railroad at Wilmington, Massachusetts, north to Andover, Massachusetts. The line opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. The name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 18, 1837, reflecting plans to build further to Haverhill, Massachusetts (opened later that year), and yet further to Portland, Maine, with the renaming to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839, opening to the New Hampshire state line in 1840.

The Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835, and the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad was incorporated March 12, 1839, in Maine, both companies continuing the proposed line to South Berwick, Maine. The railroad opened in 1840 to Exeter, New Hampshire, and on January 1, 1842, the two companies merged with the Boston and Portland to form a new Boston and Maine Railroad.

The B&M flourished with the growth of New England's mill towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but still faced financial struggles. It came under the control of J. P. Morgan and his New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad around 1910, but anti-trust forces wrested control back. Later it faced heavy debt problems from track construction and from the cost of acquiring the Fitchburg Railroad, causing a reorganization in 1919.

By 1980, though still a sick company, the B&M started turning around thanks to aggressive marketing and its purchase of a cluster of branch lines in Connecticut. The addition of coal traffic and piggyback service also helped. In 1983 the B&M emerged from bankruptcy when it was purchased by Timothy Mellon's Guilford Transportation Industries for $24 million. This was the beginning of the end of the Boston & Maine corporate image, and the start of major changes, such as the labor issues which caused the strikes of 1986 and 1987, and drastic cost cutting such as the 1990 closure of B&M's Mechanicville, New York, site, the largest rail yard and shop facilities on the B&M system.

Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Technically, Boston & Maine Corporation still exists today but only as a non-operating ward of PAR. Boston & Maine owns the property (and also employs its own railroad police), while Springfield Terminal Railway, a B&M subsidiary, operates the trains and performs maintenance. This complicated operation is mainly due to more favorable labor agreements under Springfield Terminal's rules.

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
Item created by: George on 2017-05-17 18:22:10. Last edited by CNW400 on 2020-07-13 10:19:03

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