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Nov 16, 2018 - HO Scale
Major HO Scale Announcement from North American Railcar re K+S (Update) Test Shot Car
Update Nov 16th 2018:
Dear Customers:
We just got back from the Milwaukee Train Show. At the show our factory in China brought with them the first test shots of the new K+S car. So here is the first shot for you to enjoy. We have given them permission to start production. We suggest if any of you want cars order now, a number of customers dropped by the booth at the show and doubled their orders now that they have seen the car.
Update Oct 13th 2018:
Dear Customers:
We received yesterday test shots of the new roof for the K+S cars. Although most of could not have seen the difference, the new Blue K+S cars actually have a new roof arrangement. So we had to undate our tooling to create this new version. The test sample to the right is not painted, nor does it have grab irons applied. The image is just to show customers the structural difference.
We know from our reservations there is alot of interest in the new Blue K+S Cars coming in the fall from North American Railcar.
One of our customers was resently in the Canadian Rockies near the Banff / Lake Louise area and shot a beautiful long exclusively K+S Potash Train on its way to the West Coast.
Here is the link, we know you will enjoy:
Dear HO Modelers: New K+S Domestic Cars
About eleven years ago we sat down with the Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation (Government of Saskatchewan) and made some suggestions as to possible color and graphic schemes to be used on their newly repainted 4550 cylindrical hoppers. The result was the green Saskatchewan car pictured below.
Photo Courtesy of Eric Aucoin
More recently, K+S approached us asking if we could make a model of their new car being built by National Steel Car. The first batch of cars, approximately 1100, are two feet shorter than the NSC 4300 cu ft cars and are designated NSC 4045 cubic foot potash car.
These gray K+S cars will be used to transport potash from the Legacy mine site near Regina to Port Moody, BC for export to customers overseas. We have agreed to do this new model for K+S in the near future.
Photo of New International Car Fleet (4045 cu ft car)
The Big News
K+S will also be purchasing cars almost exactly like the NSC 4300 cubic foot car currently being used by Canpotex and Potash Corp. This second batch of new cars from NSC would be used exclusively for domestic shipments of potash throughout North America and will be seen on all major North American railroads.
Earlier this year, we asked K+S if we could make a few suggestions for paint schemes on the new cars. They took our suggestions, made a few minor changes and you can see the results in the photo below as the first car rolled out of the paint shop in Hamilton, Ontario last Friday.
Isn't this a lot more fun to look at than a bunch of plain brown cars with only reporting marks as decoration?
Photo of New Domestic Car Fleet (4300 cu ft car)
Can you picture a string of a hundred of these cars rolling across the Southern Saskatchewan prairie pulled by three red Canadian Pacific engines with the blue and yellow canola seed in full bloom on a hot summer evening?
We need to make some modifications to our existing tooling before we can go into production.
K+S has changed the arrangement of the hatches on the roof to allow for faster loading of the cars. Notice the car has ten roof supports not eleven or twelve like on the Canpotex and Saskatchewan potash cars. This change will be incorporated into our tooling.
We plan to release 48 cars in eight different six car sets. Expect delivery is 2019.
We woud also like to take this opportunity to thank K+S, for allowing us at PWRS and NARC to be involved in this process.
Click on this link to watch video of the opening of the new Legacy Mine
DSH
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