Rapido Trains Inc. is proud to announce a new addition to its range of iconic Canuck freight cars in HO Scale, the first accurate model of the 3800 cu.ft. Cylindrical Hopper.
The prototype cars were designed for carrying bulk commodities like powdered minerals and industrial chemicals, including cement and potash. They are 100-tons in capacity with four hopper compartments totaling 3800-3850 cubic feet and are fitted with either round or trough hatches. Examples were built by all three of the major car builders in Canada and they have traveled to every corner of Canada and the contiguous United States.
The first delivery of these cars was from early 1965 with an order of 481 cars with round hatches and 3850 cu. ft. capacity for Canadian National, #370000-370480, painted light grey with red ‘noodle’ and lettering. Marine Industries developed the car from the uniquely Canadian aluminum 3400 cu.ft covered hoppers with flat top and curved sides, adopting a full cylindrical style body and increasing the interior length to 41’3″. A further 1100 cars arrived on CN before the end of 1967.
During 1974-5, CN acquired 2000 examples of the 3800 cu. ft. design with round hatches, with 1000 being delivered with CNIS reporting marks and branding for international service (i.e. in the US). The majority of these cars are still in service today and CN has been upgrading and repainting them in its smart mineral brown livery with www.cn.ca website brandings. Examples can be found wearing CN, CNIS and CNLX reporting marks.