CIT Group/Capital Finance, Inc HO Scale Models

CIT Group/Capital Finance, Inc. operates as a railroad equipment lessor in North America, maintaining a fleet of locomotives and rolling stock available for lease to rail carriers and shippers under the reporting mark PLMX. The company functions as part of the broader CIT Group financial services enterprise, which traces its origins to 1908 when Henry Ittleson founded the Commercial Credit and Investment Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Over the course of the twentieth century, CIT evolved through numerous ownership changes and corporate reorganizations into one of the largest leasing and financial services companies in North America, eventually expanding its portfolio to include railroad equipment as part of its diversified asset leasing operations. The railroad equipment leasing side of CIT's business places it among the major third-party lessors that play an important supporting role in North American freight railroading. Rather than operating trains directly, equipment lessors such as CIT acquire locomotives and freight cars and lease them to Class I railroads, regional carriers, and industrial shippers who require additional motive power or car capacity without the full capital commitment of outright ownership. This model provides railroads with operational flexibility and allows them to adjust their equipment fleets in response to traffic demand. CIT's rail leasing activities are conducted alongside its broader transportation financing business, which has historically encompassed aircraft, vehicles, and other capital-intensive equipment. CIT Group experienced significant financial turbulence in the late 2000s, driven largely by losses in its education lending and subprime mortgage portfolios, which led the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2009. It emerged from that reorganization in December 2009 and subsequently worked to stabilize and streamline its operations under new leadership, including the tenure of former Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain. In January 2022, CIT was acquired by First Citizens BancShares, bringing the company under the umbrella of that North Carolina-based banking organization. The rail leasing operations, identified by the PLMX reporting mark, continued as part of CIT's ongoing asset finance business through these corporate transitions.