60' EMC Gas Electric St. Louis Car Body Ready-to-Run -- Maryland & Pennsylvania

As more Americans bought automobiles in the early 1920s, rail passenger revenues dropped. Costs of operating full-size trains on branches and shortlines skyrocketed. To save money, railroads tried self-propelled rail cars but most were too big, too heavy, under-powered and unreliable. What was needed was a lightweight, economical unit with enough power to pull a coach or a few freight cars. In 1922, Electro-Motive Engineering Co. appeared with plans for just such a car. The prototype was completed by St. Louis Car Co. in 1923, with commercial production beginning the next year. When bigger and more powerful cars were introduced a few years later, many of these early gas electrics were bumped to shorter runs, sold to other railroads or rebuilt as maintenance equipment. Our HO Scale model is based on these early 60' cars which have never been offered in plastic. Like the prototypes, they're a complete train in one car, which makes them an ideal way t