On April 26, 1956, a revolution in shipping began when the first container ship, a converted oil tanker named Ideal X, left Port Newark, NJ headed for Houston. The brainchild of truck-driver-turned-shipping-magnate Malcolm Purcell McLean, containerization was a giant step forward in shipping efficiency, security and cost.
Two decades later, McLean and the Southern Pacific Railroad pioneered the double-stack intermodal car, designed with the help of ACF Industries. The idea was slow to catch on, but in 1984 the SP and American President Lines ran the first coast-to-coast all-double-stack train. In the ensuing years, double-stacks, also known as husky stacks, have become one of the most common cars on American rails, delivering containers loaded at all points of the globe to destinations across our continent.
In addition to two removable containers, this model features an illuminated, flashing ETD, or end of train device (also known as a FRED, or flashing rear end device). Attached to the last car of virtually every freight train today, the ETD became a fixture on American railroads after rules requiring cabooses were eliminated in the 1980s.
High quality, traditionally sized RailKing Freight Cars provide detailed bodies and colorful paint schemes for the O Gauge railroader. MTH makes an enormous variety of RailKing Freight Cars, including many different car types and roadnames. No matter what era or part of the country you are modeling, RailKing is sure to have something for you.
