USA Trains

Charles Ro Supply Company was established in and it started out as a beauty shop business of 4 salons with sixty hair-dressers but moved into the hobby business when Charles Ro, Sr. began selling used Lionel trains at one of the storefronts in Everett, Massachusetts. In 1972, Ro started purchasing directly from Lionel to sell them mail-order. By 1980, Ro had completed Lionel's first million dollar order. Also at this time, the company moved to a new location in Malden, Massachusetts into an old supermarket building. [4]

In 1982, Lionel moved production to Mexico, not producing model trains for 9 months. To make up for this, Ro began selling German-made large-scale model trains that were suitable for outdoor use. Realizing their popularity, Ro began making his own large scale model trains under the name Charles Ro Manufacturing Company. In 1989, business was moved into a new building, its current location, in Malden, Massachusetts with 3 stories and over 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of area. Until 1995, when manufacturing was moved offshore, USA Trains were manufactured at this new location which also served as the store. USA Trains manufactures locomotives, boxcars, work trains, and an extensive line of billboard reefers—early 20th century iced refrigerator cars with billboard-style advertising graphics on their sides. Many of these are limited edition collectibles, and in addition to prototypical cars, the reefer series includes special commemoratives and dated holiday-themed cars.