The NSC Potash Service 3 Bay Covered Hopper
Today at the Ottawa Train Expo 2013, North American Railcar Corporation announced a new model, the National Steel Car Potash Service 3 Bay Covered Hopper. Introduced in 1999, this car is seen in large numbers across Canada and the United States. It is often seen in combination with the larger Hawker Siddeley 4550 cu ft Cylindrical Hopper. Though it has less capacity than the Hawker Siddeley car, it makes up for it in shorter car length of only 47 feet versus the Hawker Siddeley at 59 feet. This allows a train of these cars to carry more Potash then a train of comparable length made up of the Hawker Siddeley hoppers.
This car operates at a gross rail load of 286,000 pounds, the current maximum limit. However, it is actually designed for a gross rail load of 315,000 pounds. It is currently produced and equipped with 100 ton nominal capacity trucks to suit present 286,000 lb. gross rail loading. If the maximum weight limit is increased, these cars can be produced and upgraded with 125 ton trucks allowing for maximum cargo capacity going forward.
These cars are currently operated in large numbers by both Canpotex and the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, and in smaller numbers by other operators. To date, over 7,000 have been produced in five versions. These cars are seen on a daily basis traveling across the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, BNSF, CSX, NS and Union Pacific rail networks.
North American Railcar Corporation will produce the Canpotex and Potash Corporation cars in the first release of this new model in HO Scale.
Feature:
Click links for information about each of the cars:
Check out the cars in the videos below:
These cars are hauled by most of the Class 1's in Canada and the United States, not just Canadian Pacific & Canadian National. We do not have any video of these cars on KCS tracks, but have seen other PotashCorp cars, so it seems likely these would be seen on KCS as well.
Canadian Pacific Canpotex Unit Train
Canadian National Canpotex & PotashCorp Unit Train
Norfolk Southern Switching PotashCorp Cars
Union Pacific Canpotex Unit Train
BNSF Potash Train With PotashCorp Cars
CSX PotashCorp Unit Train
Check Out The Show Flyers For These Cars Below:
Click links for information about each of the cars:
Coming In December 2013
JMP