Canpotex was was formed in the early 1970's to market and export the vast amounts of Potash mined in Saskatchewan. Canpotex, which is short for Canadian Potash Exporters, oversees the entire Saskatchewan potash exporting industry with the exception of the United States and Canadian markets. Currently, Canpotex is responsible for approximately one third of the world's supply of Potash.

Canpotex does not directly mine the Potash it transports, but instead works with producers in Saskatchewan including the Mosaic Company and the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. It operates a fleet with thousands of railcars in North America. These cars operate in large unit trains from Saskatchewan to the two main Canpotex export facilities in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada and Portland, Oregon in the United States.

Check the video below for more on Canpotex & their operations:

With such a large rail operation, Canpotex operates a variety of car types. These include the older 4550 cu. ft. 4 bay cylindrical hoppers, such as our own North American Railcar Corporation Hawker Siddeley hoppers, as well as the newer National Steel Car Potash Service 4275 cu. ft. 3 bay covered hoppers. While the 4550 cu. ft. 4 bay cylindrical hoppers made up the bulk of their cars in the past, the newer NSC cars are now making up the bulk of the fleet with over 5,000 cars in service. Both car types are used together and separately in unit train operations. With thousands of the National Steel Car hoppers in service, Canpotex has a variety of versions and schemes of the car.

Prototype Spotting Features:

• Car length of 47 feet
• Car capacity of 4275 cu. ft. with bell curve shape gaps between the hopper bays
• PTEX cars have 6 side panels and 11 running board supports and were delivered with braced trucks
  
• CEFX, CGLX &  CITX cars have 8 side panels and 12 running board supports

Modeling These Cars

North American Railcar Corporation will produce five different 24 car groups for Canpotex. Canpotex cars are operated in unit trains of 200 cars.

• Canpotex PTEX with Red/White reflective tape along the sill:
  • The first group of cars was built for Canpotex in 1999 and have PTEX reporting marks. These cars were distinctive with their alternating white and red reflective tape along the entire length of the cars sill. These will be of particular interest to modelers who model 1999 forward.
    

• The other four groups of 24 Canpotex cars are: 
  • Canpotex with PTEX reporting marks with yellow reflective tape. The original PTEX cars were updated to the newer AAR requirement to include yellow reflective markings post 2004.
  • Canpotex with CGLX reporting marks
    
  • Canpotex with CITX reporting marks
    
  • Canpotex with CEFX reporting mark

CEFX Reporting Marks w/Yellow Visibility Stripes:

CGLX Reporting Marks w/Yellow Visibility Stripes:

CITX Reporting Marks w/Yellow Visibility Stripes:

PTEX Reporting Marks w/Red/White Visibility Stripe:

PTEX Reporting Marks w/Yellow Visibility Stripes:

North American Railcar Corporation will produce these cars in 6 car sets. There will be Sets A, B, C, & D for each of the reporting marks associated with Canpotex. Typically there are roughly equal amounts of the 4 different reporting marks in a Canpotex train.

By combining sets, the modeler can build a typical proportionally balanced consist of PETX, CGLX, CITX, & CEFX cars in any length from 24 to 96 cars. Remember these cars are shorter in length than the older 4 bay cylindrical hoppers and allow more cars in the same length of track.

PLEASE NOTE: Although all cars are Canpotex operated cars, they are owned by different companies. Canpotex, General Electric Rail, GATX Rail Canada and CIT Group/Capital Finance all own cars. As they were built at different times, each car type is a slightly different shade of gray. When comparing the models from different companies, they will be different shades of gray, just like the real cars are.

Check out the show flyer for this car below:

NSC Potash Service 3 Bay Covered Hopper Main Page

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Hopper Page

JMP