Atlas - 20 004 861 - Covered Hopper, 3-Bay, ACF 3560 - Agrium - 2186

Body Style Information: True scale dimensions with accurate details. Weighted, detailed underframes. Equipped with AccuMate® Knuckle Couplers. Trucks equipped with free-rolling metal wheels. Accurate painting and lettering.

Prototype Information: Covered hoppers such as these are used to transport any dry bulk material that you don't want exposed to the elements. Salt, fertilizer, some dry chemicals, and bauxite are common loads for this car. Over 200 were built from 1967 to 1972. The three-compartment ACF® 3560 Center Flow Covered Hopper was designed for the transport of high-density dry bulk ladings of 50 – 60 pounds per cubic foot. The 100-ton car was designed to fit into the smallest modern plate diagram dimensions, Plate B.

Road/Company Information: Agrium was a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia and a wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and a supplier of specialty fertilizers in North America. Agrium was founded as Cominco Fertilizers (short for Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company) in 1931 and changed its name to Agrium in 1995. Agrium is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Crop Production Services, Inc., a subsidiary company, is based in Loveland, Colorado and is the location of Agrium's Retail Business Unit head office. The company is a part-owner of Canpotex, which manages all potash exporting from Saskatchewan.

On September 12, 2016, Agrium announced that it had agreed to merge with PotashCorp, which will make the combined company, Nutrien, the largest producer of potash and second-largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer worldwide. Agrium will divest certain U.S. assets. The merger closed on January 1, 2018.

Brand/Importer Information: In 1924 Stephan Schaffan, Sr. founded the Atlas Tool Company in Newark, New Jersey. In 1933 his son, Stephan Schaffan, Jr., came to work for his father at the age of sixteen. Steve Jr. built model airplanes as a hobby and frequented a local hobby shop. Being an enterprising young man, he would often ask the owner if there was anything he could do to earn some extra spending money. Tired of listening to his requests, the hobby-store owner threw some model railroad track parts his way and said, "Here, see if you can improve on this".

Atlas has made a ton of wonderful products throughout the years and we often get questions one whether we have run a certain road name on a particular model. It should be noted that Atlas locomotives and rolling stock are greatly appreciated for their superior operating and running characteristics. Atlas products are also well known for their outstanding collectability not only due to their superior prototypical workmanship, details and decoration, but because there are relatively so few of them made. Each and every production run has been carefully built to market demand, meaning almost every piece in any given run is sold out by Atlas on arrival or shortly thereafter, thus creating a built in collectors market.