North American Railcar - 11-10001004-03 - Covered Hopper, 4-Bay, Cylindrical HS 4550 - Canadian Pacific - 384554

Model Information: PWRS introduced this body style in 2008.

Prototype History: In the 1970's, Canadian National & Canadian Pacific developed a concept for a standard 4550 cubic-foot 4-bay cylindrical hopper. The basic design of this hopper was developed into two car types, one for grain and similar consistency products and another for potash, dry chemicals and fertilizers.

The most obvious difference between these two types of cars can be seen in the loading hatches on the top of the cars. The grain version of the car has trough hatches spanning the length of the body top, while the potash version has a series of round hatches spaced along the length of the body.

During the production life of the design, thousands of these care were manufactured in various production runs by three different manufacturers. Hawker Siddeley produced many of these cars over the production run, and in total produced 15 variations of the basic design between the grain and potash types of this car.

Today, thousands of these cars remain in service with Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and a number of other operators. Many can be seen in their original "Heritage" paint schemes, as well as more modern schemes, such as the colorful 2008 Green Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation scheme. Though they initially were primarily seen in Canada, they now travel the rails of North American from Canada to Mexico, with operations in many parts of the United States.

Road Name History: The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), formerly also known as CP Rail (reporting mark CP) between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railroad incorporated in 1881. The railroad is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX: CP, NYSE: CP), which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.

Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it owns approximately 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi) of track all across Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver, and as far north as Edmonton. Its rail network also serves major cities in the United States, such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City.

The railway was originally built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 (connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier), fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871. It was Canada's first transcontinental railway, but currently does not reach the Atlantic coast. Primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long-distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada, and was instrumental in the settlement and development of Western Canada. The CP became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada, a position it held as late as 1975. Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986, after being assumed by Via Rail Canada in 1978. A beaver was chosen as the railway's logo because it is the national symbol of Canada and was seen as representing the hardworking character of the company.

The company acquired two American lines in 2009: the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad. The trackage of the ICE was at one time part of CP subsidiary Soo Line and predecessor line The Milwaukee Road. The combined DME/ICE system spanned North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa, as well as two short stretches into two other states, which included a line to Kansas City, Missouri, and a line to Chicago, Illinois, and regulatory approval to build a line into the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. It is publicly traded on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CP. Its U.S. headquarters are in Minneapolis.

After close of markets on November 17, 2015, CP announced an offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Norfolk Southern Railway, at a price in excess of the US$26 billion capitalization of the United States-based railway. If completed, this merger of the second and fourth oldest Class I railroads in North America would have formed the largest single railway company on that continent, reaching from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast to the Gulf Coast. The merger effort was abandoned by Canadian Pacific on April 11, 2016, after three offers were rejected by the Norfolk Southern board.

Read more on Wikipedia and on Canadian Pacific official website.

Brand/Importer Information: North American Railcar is a manufacturer of N Scale model rolling stock. NAR is a subsidiary of Pacific Western Rail Systems, a hobby shop based in Surrey, British Columbia, founded by owner Dan Huberman. PWRS has been working with Micro-Trains for decades producing special runs of MTL cars for sale exclusively through their store. In 2008, PWRS started production of their own body styles - which are also exclusively sold through the PWRS storefront under the brand name North American Railcar. As of 2016 they produce three body styles each with several variations to achieve prototypical accuracy. In 2017 they announced production of a fourth body style.