N160 - NC24008 - Covered Hopper, 2-Axle, Cereal - SNCF - 2-pack

Specific Item Information: Wagon w. brake: 23 87 903 6 166-0
Wagon w. brake: 23 87 903 6 167-5

Model Information: 2-pack, one car with brakes, one car without brakes. FRANGECO type B

Prototype History: Use of this kind of car started in the mind 1950s, but really came into widespread use starting in 1968. Throughout the 1970s, long unit trains of this type were a common sight throughout Western Europe. The car design was adopted from an earlier coal-transportation railcar (they are similar to the Eds type). Likely large numbers of Eds cars were converted to use for cereal/grain transportation due to the replacement of coal by heating oil for residential and industrial usage.
A number have been built by FRANGECO (Compagnie Française de Matériel de Chemin de Fer et Générale de Construction), a former subsidiary of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. FRANGECO, then renamed TITAN CODER, stopped its activities in 1974 due to bankruptcy.

More details (in French) on this site.

Road Name History: SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français; "National society of French railways" or "French National Railway Company") is France's national state-owned railway company and manages the rail traffic in France and the Principality of Monaco. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network. Its functions include operation of railway services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure.

SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries around the globe. The railway network consists of about 32,000 km (20,000 mi) of route, of which 1,800 km (1,100 mi) are high-speed lines and 14,500 km (9,000 mi) electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily. The company has its headquarters in Saint Denis (93200), near Paris, 2 place aux Etoiles.

In 2010 SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500 list.

It is the main business of the SNCF group, which in 2014 employed 245,763 people and had 27.2 billion € of sales in 120 countries.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: N160 is a short-lived French brand specializing in N Scale, that only released one model of cereal covered hopper in the early 2010s.