Micro-Trains - 1502 - Freight Train, Diesel, North American, Transition Era - Cambria & Indiana - 4-Pack

Specific Item Information: No track or power pack. Includes Life-Like SW9 switcher (985 10 002). Road numbers: 36, 1776, 1976 and 56.

Model Information: Micro-trains Table Top sets are boxed sets that contain working locomotives. Sets that contain only rolling stock (and dummy units) are considered normal "Runner Packs" for this classification purpose.

Table Top Sets may or may not contain track and/or a transformer.

Prototype History: A freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, transporting cargo all or some of the way between the shipper and the intended destination as part of the logistics chain. Trains may haul bulk material, intermodal containers, general freight or specialized freight in purpose-designed cars. Rail freight practices and economics vary by country and region.

Diesel engines during the transition era were relatively primitive compared to their modern equivalents. Canada, Mexico and the United States are connected by an extensive, unified standard gauge rail network. Partially from Wikipedia

Road Name History: The Cambria & Indiana was born in 1911 with the renaming of the Blacklick & Yellow Creek Railroad. The line ran in its namesake counties in Pennsylvania. Built as a lumber hauler, coal quickly took over as the primary commodity. In the 1930s and 40s, the C&I was the richest railroad per mile of track in the country but when oil and gas became more popular for home heating, some of this traffic disappeared. C&I had always owned many more hoppers than they could possibly load on their own line. This large fleet was rented to other railroads to load where needed. In 1950, the railroad was sold to Bethlehem Steel who could then keep their own freight car production lines busy between orders building hoppers for the C&I. Those hoppers could then be rented out. In 1963, Bethlehem Steel opened a new coal mine on the line which fed considerable traffic to the C&I for the next 31 years. The closure of this last mine on the C&I led to the closure of the railroad in 1994. Like the Conemaugh & Black Lick, C&I eventually adopted the yellow and black paint scheme used for all of Bethlehem Steel's shortlines.

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