"SKW Trostberg" Train Set.

SKW Trostberg has been merged with Degussa-Hüls to form Degussa, Inc., the worldwide marketer in the area of special chemicals. Until the end of 2000 SKW Trostberg was an independent concern with headquarters in Trostberg, Bavaria, from which 200 companies with 18,000 employees are managed around the globe. It all started in 1908 with the founding of the Bavarian Nitrogen Works, Inc. (BStW) in Munich and with the production of the fertilizer lime nitrogen. In 1939 the firm was renamed the South German Lime Nitrogen Works, Inc. (SKW) that in 1978 was again renamed the present day SKW Trostberg, Inc. SKW Trostberg has owned its own fleet of freight cars for many decades, including carbide cylinder cars. These cars are quite striking in their appearance because they are a distinct departure from the usual picture of more familiar freight cars. They are also not to be found anywhere else in this form. The steel containers have a capacity of 40 metric tons and remind one very much of bottles laid on their sides. These bottles are mounted in 2 square frames made of U-shaped metal profile pieces that can be loaded and unloaded easily and that are mounted over the trucks. The carbide cylinder cars are used on the route from Garching to Trostberg and on a 5 kilometer / 3 mile long plant railroad extension. Calcium carbide is still transported between Garching and the SKW complex in Hart as in the past.