Description
Before shipping containers became standard, goods were loaded onto ships by hand in crates, barrels and sacks, and loading a single vessel could take days. Earlier railway systems such as the Conflat container improved things, but those boxes could not be stacked. The ISO container first appeared in 1956, credited to American trucking owner Malcolm McLean: an all-steel box with reinforced corners that could be stacked and moved between ship, rail and road without handling the goods inside.
Today ISO containers dominate long-distance freight, and container trains are one of the busiest flows on Britain's railways, linking the deep-sea ports with inland terminals across the country.
Dapol's O gauge container range models the types most commonly seen in use today, with different door styles reproduced on the 20ft, 40ft and 40ft High Cube boxes to suit particular liveries. They make ideal loads for O gauge container wagons or detail for yards, docks and industrial scenes.
This model: a 20ft general purpose ISO container (type code 22G1) in Maersk's light blue livery, running number MRKU 692581 9. Maersk is the largest container shipping line in the world and its blue boxes are a daily sight on Britain's intermodal trains to and from Felixstowe, Southampton and the inland terminals.
Features include:
• O gauge (7mm scale, 1:43.5)
• 20ft General Purpose Container
• Detailed moulded body
• Finely applied livery and markings
• Running number MRKU 692581 9
• Ideal as a wagon load or as scenery
In stock now at Rainbow Railways.
