Micro-Trains - 68050 - Trailer, 48 Foot, Box - Rock Island - 210384

Model Information: The trailers come with two styles of landing gear. The short landing gear is in elevated position when being hauled by tractors or carried on a flat car (supplied as separate part in the box). The longer extended landing gear is used when the trailer is standing alone (installed by default). The model features rolling wheels.

The model can be super-detailed by painting the inside of the wheels, brake and running lights, as well as the mud flats in order to bring out the Fruehauf name and star.

Prototype History: For the longest time, the 48-foot dry van was the de facto standard in trucking, owing largely to older regulations which limited the overall length of the vehicle to 75 feet. Overall length restrictions led to some ridiculously-skinny cabs. For example, Kenworth COE SlimLines were particularly notorious for flipping over forwards if you tried to stop without a trailer. Once the length laws went bye-bye in the late 1980s, the industry was quick to adopt the now-ubiquitous 53-foot vans - room for thirteen rows of pallets, plus a foot of leeway to make sure the doors could close easily.

Box vans are known as such for their rectilinear proportions. Their simple design makes them easy to manufacture and maintain.

Road Name History: The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RR) (reporting marks RI, ROCK) was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was better known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end of 1970 it operated 7183 miles of road on 10669 miles of track; that year it reported 20557 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 118 million passenger-miles. (Those totals may or may not include the former Burlington-Rock Island Railroad.)

Its predecessor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851, as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began October 1, 1851, in Chicago, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.

In 1980 Rock Island was liquidated. The railroad's locomotives, rail cars, equipment, tracks, and real estate were sold to other railroads or to scrappers. William Gibbons (the trustee) was able to raise more than $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors, bondholders and all other debts in full at face value with interest. Henry Crown was ultimately proven correct, as both he and other bondholders who had purchased Rock Island debt for cents on the dollar during the low ebb in prices did especially well.

Read more on Wikipedia and Rock Island Technical Society.

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