MTH 20-94258 O Santa Fe 40' Steel Reefer – Your Source for Gaming Essentials* Trains

Description

This is MTH 20-94258 O 40′ Steel Reefer, SF. 40′ steel sided reefer car: Santa Fe. Car numbers: 34525, 34523. The coming of the railroad changed the way America ate and drank. Before the iron horse connected every town of any importance to the outside world, most food was grown or produced locally. The arrival of cheap, fast, refrigerated transport – in the form of the woodsided reefer with ice bunkers at each end – enabled local brewers, dairies, meat processors, and other food businesses to become players on a national scale. Among other things, the reefer enabled Chicago to become Hog Butcher for the World; in pre-reefer days, livestock had been transported to local markets and butchered as close as possible to the final consumer.

In the 19th Century, ice for reefers was harvested from frozen ponds each winter and stored as well as possible in insulated icehouses. The advent of mechanical ice making around 1900 greatly increased the capacity of the reefer fleet, which at its height consumed over one million tons of ice annually. Since loaded cars needed to be re-iced about once per day, icing stations were erected around the country on shipping routes that could be as long as coast-to-coast.

Famed railroad historian John H. White referred to reefers as the most conservative of all American freight cars, as reefers retained wood frames and sides long after other types of cars had converted to steel construction. Steel-sided reefers like this Premier model became common only after 1940, and many wood reefers ran well into the 1960s. Mechanical reefers, with self-powered refrigeration units in each car, became the norm in the second half of the 20th century, and the practice of stopping a train to re-ice during shipment gradually disappeared.

MTH Premier O Scale freight cars are the perfect complement to any manufacturer’s scale proportioned O Gauge locomotives. Whether you prefer to purchase cars separately or assemble a unit train, MTH Premier Rolling Stock has the cars for you in a variety of car types and paint schemes.

Virtually every sturdy car is offered in two car numbers which makes it even easier than ever to combine them into a mult-car consist. Many of MTH’s Premier Rolling Stock offerings can also operate on the tightest O Gauge curves giving them even more added versatitlity to your layout.

Its key features are:
Intricately detailed durable ABS body
Metal wheels and axles
Die-cast 4-wheel trucks
Operating die-cast metal couplers
Colorful, attractive paint schemes
Decorative brake wheels
Separate metal handrails
Fast-angle wheel sets
Needle-point axles
1:48 scale dimensions
Opening car doors
O scale Kadee compatible coupler mounting pads
Unit measures: 11 3/4 x 2 9/16 x 3 1/2
Operates on O-31 curves

Condition: Factory New (C-9)
Operational Status: Functional
Original Box: Yes (P-9)

Manufacturer: MTH
Model Number: 20-94258
Road Name: Atchison Topeka Santa Fe (ATSF)

Scale/Era: O Modern
Model Type: Freight Cars

The Trainz SKU for this item is P12106838.

Trainz Product Id: 12106838