Micro-Trains - 56030 - Open Hopper, 2-Bay, USRA 55 Ton - International Harvester - 237

Model Information: This model dates back to 1979, making it one of Micro-Trains' earlier releases. It features operating bay doors - a feature unqiue in N Scale to Micro-Trains hoppers. It models a two-bay steel hopper commonly seen during the transition era.

Prototype History: The USRA 55-Ton hopper was designed by the United States Railway Administration during World War I as a standardized hopper to be used by all railroads in order to aid the war effort. After WWI many railroads continued to use the USRA 55-Ton hoppers, as well as build many thousands more clones. The USRA hopper was in use on North American railroads from 1918 until the 1970’s

Road Name History: The International Harvester Company (abbreviated first IHC and later IH) was a United States manufacturer of agricultural machinery, construction equipment, trucks, and household and commercial products. Its reorganized successor, after spin-off of several of those businesses, is Navistar International. In 1902, J.P. Morgan merged the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms, to form International Harvester. In 1985, International Harvester sold off most of its agricultural division to Tenneco, Inc., which merged it into its subsidiary J.I. Case under the Case IH brand. Following the terms of IH's agreement with Tenneco, the remainder of International Harvester (primarily heavy trucks) became Navistar International Corporation in 1986.

From 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: 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.
In October 1990 Kadee separated in two companies, with the newly created Micro-Trains® Line Co. continuing the Z, Nn3, and N Scale product ranges, with Kadee retaining the HO range.