FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ANY SCALE

The National Steel Car 

Potash Service 3 Bay Covered Hopper

The first release of our new North American Railcar Corporation HO Scale National Steel Car Potash Service 3 Bay Covered Hoppers are coming in on Wednesday, February 3, 2016. We ask that our local customers not come to the store on Wednesday, as our staff will be occupied bringing the cars into stock.

Modelers who have not previously ordered these cars, or who would like to order additional cars are encouraged to do so now. Many of the schemes have high reservation rates with limited numbers remaining available for reservation. Remember, like all North American Railcar Corporation rolling stock, these road numbers will never be released again.

We will process orders as quickly as possible. There are a large quantity of orders in addition to the normal orders to be processed, so this may take 3-4 weeks. Modelers in Canada will receive their cars first with modelers in the United States and elsewhere receiving their orders as we clear cars through customs to our United States warehouse.

Modelers with these cars on order are advised to review and verify the following: 

• Payment Information: Is payment information for your order correct and up to date? If not, this will delay ordering processing. If a modeler has requested to be called when the cars are in for payment information, this will also result in delays.
• Goodie Box: As modelers may have other items on order, modelers should review their orders to see if they want these cars shipped immediately, or held in their Goodie Box. Modelers are reminded that items shipped separately will have separate shipping charges.
• Shipping Address: Please ensure the shipping address on the order is correct and up to date. Obviously if the shipping address is incorrect or incomplete, there will be delays and possible loss of products in shipment.
• If modelers know they need to update the information above, or want to review their accounts to ensure it is correct, please call out toll free number at (866) 840-7777 between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM Pacific time Monday through Friday. Or you may e-mail [email protected].

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.

The first release of these North American Railcar Corporation HO Scale NSC Potash Service 3 Bay Covered Hoppers includes cars for Canpotex and Potash Corporation.

Feature:

• Modern model accuracy of this modern prototype, fully researched and featuring prototypically accurate details
• 5 different versions of the model consistent with road name and road number of prototype car
• Accurate painting including variations in shade consistent with production date and owner of prototype car
  
• Accurate lettering, including correct graphics, fonts and locations per prototype scheme
  
• Many separately applied detail parts, including photo etched brass and lost wax metal castings
• Body mounted Kadee couplers
  
• NARC High Performance Low Friction trucks and metal wheelsets for reliable operation
• Properly weighted for smooth tracking and superior performance

Painted samples of each scheme in this release:

Version 1 - Canpotex (PTEX) - Gray w/Black Lettering, Green Logo, Red/White Visibility Stripes

Version 1 - Canpotex (PTEX) - Gray w/Black Lettering, Green Logo, Yellow Visibility Stripes

Version 2 - Canpotex (CGLX) - Gray w/Black Lettering, Green Logo, Yellow Visibility Stripes

Version 3 - Canpotex (CITX) - Gray w/Black Lettering, Green Logo, Yellow Visibility Stripes

Version 4 - Canpotex (CEFX) - Gray w/Black Lettering, Green Logo, Yellow Visibility Stripes

Version 4 - PotashCorp (POTX) - Light Salmon w/White Lettering & Logo, Yellow Visibility Stripes

Version 5 - PotashCorp (POTX) - Dark Salmon w/White Lettering & Logo, Yellow Visibility Stripes

To get a sense of the level of detail on these cars, examine this close up image of the end of the car on the slope sheet. Note the text for the "Equalizing Resevoir" and "Defect Cards"

Note the differences of the floor on the ends of the different versions of the Canpotex cars in the image above. The cut outs on the Version 1 car on the right are for possible later use of 38 inch wheels. Later versions of the car do not have this cut out as Canpotex decided againist switching wheel sizes.

Different versions of the car have differences including different roof designs. Note the different features including hatches (flat vs raised), elongated cross walk, and diamond vs round holes pattern on the walkways, 11 roof supports vs 12 roof supports. 

Click links for information about each of the cars:

Canpotex Hopper Page