ExactRail - EN-51751-24 - Open Hopper, 5-Bay Autoflood II - Burlington Northern Santa Fe - 650378

Specific Item Information: Delivered by Johnstown America in the early days of BNSF. The railroad went with a Santa Fe styled, brown scheme and lettering style on the reporting marks on this set of about 118 cars. BNSF would come back to Johnstown America in take delivery in 1999 of another 237 AutoFlood II hoppers in only the brown, Santa Fe style scheme. The brown scheme hoppers are commonly seen mixed with the green versions on coal or in manifest trains today.

Model Information: ExactRail introduced this model in March of 2019. Included with each AutoFlood model is an accurate coal load. Great care was taken to design the load shape to sit offset within the body of the hopper. Like the prototype, many coal flood loads start with a more gentle slope and end with a steeper, abrupt angle.

Prototype History: As 100-ton steel hoppers approached retirement in the 1980 and 1990's, railroads requested that car builders to lighten cars to improve tare weight and fuel economy. Johnstown America answered this call by producing the aluminum AutoFlood II coal hopper. Johnstown America provided an aerodynamic design with a lower center of gravity and the ability to be bottom or rotory unloaded. The AutoFlood II also included the all-new MegaFlo™ automatic discharge system. The result is a sleek, smooth-sided hopper with extreme, contemporary presence.

Road Name History: The BNSF Railway (reporting mark BNSF) is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) (its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight), and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has 48,000 employees, 32,500 miles (52,300 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide high-speed links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.[2] The BNSF and UP have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U.S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.

According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo. For instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation on September 22, 1995. This new holding company then purchased the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (often called the "Santa Fe") and Burlington Northern Railroad, and formally merged the railways into the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway on December 31, 1996. On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to "BNSF Railway," using the initials of its original name.

In 1999, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Canadian National Railway announced their intention to merge and form a new corporation entitled North American Railways to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The United States' Surface Transportation Board (STB) placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, which ended this merger.

On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF it did not already own for $100 per share in cash and stock - a deal valued at $44 billion. The company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt. On February 12, 2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition.

Brand/Importer Information: Dedicated to creating replicas that continue to define standards for precision and authenticity, through its unique expertise in mold creation and product design, Provo, Utah based ExactRail has produced some of the industry's most acclaimed models; true benchmarks for quality over the last decade.

With the N-Scale Series, ExactRail offers precision micro-tooled replicas in 1:160 scale. Each model features fine-scale detail, expert hand-assembly and the finest finish-work in the industry. ExactRail's N-scale Series offers enthusiasts innovative small scale replicas with unprecedented quality and design.

Manufacturer Information: ExactRail is dedicated to the creation of fine-scale replicas. Distinguished by our unique expertise in mold creation and product design, ExactRail's replicas are some of the most acclaimed models and the true benchmarks for quality of the last decade.

ExactRail is committed to serving the hobby with replicas that continue to define standards for precision and authenticity. They are located in Beautiful Provo Utah!