AZL - 90504-2 - Tank Car, Single Dome, Funnel-Flow - Cargill - 4-Pack

Specific Item Information: Set #2 -- Road Numbers: 16314, 16226, 16227, 16329

Model Information: Tank cars are specialized pieces of equipment. As an example, the interior of the car may be lined with a material, such as glass, or other specialized coatings to isolate the tank contents from the tank shell. Care is taken to ensure that tank contents are compatible with tank construction.

A large percentage of tank cars are owned by companies serviced by railroads instead of the railroads themselves. This can be verified by examining the reporting marks on the cars. These marks invariably end in X, meaning that the owner is not a common carrier.

Prototype History: GATX introduced the Funnel-Flow series in the 1960s. The Funnel-Flow® tank design slopes to the center of the car to assure quick, complete unloading. As result, they have a distinctive "dip" in the center of the car. These cars were developed by the Union Tank Car Company (now UTLX Manufacturing Inc.) in the 1960s. Designed for liquids that can be unloaded by gravity (as opposed to pressurized unloading), the car is lower in the middle so the tank acts like a funnel to facilitate unloading.

Road Name History: Cargill, Inc. is an American privately held global corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2015, number 12 on the Fortune 500, behind McKesson and ahead of AT&T.

Some of Cargill's major businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grain and other agricultural commodities, such as palm oil; trading in energy, steel and transport; the raising of livestock and production of feed; producing food ingredients such as starch and glucose syrup, vegetable oils and fats for application in processed foods and industrial use. Cargill also operates a large financial services arm, which manages financial risks in the commodity markets for the company. In 2003, it split off a portion of its financial operations into a hedge fund called Black River Asset Management, with about $10 billion of assets and liabilities. It owned 2/3 of the shares of The Mosaic Company (sold off in 2011), one of the world's leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients.

Cargill declared revenues of $136.7 billion and earnings of $2.31 billion in the 2013 fiscal year. Employing over 140,000 employees in 66 countries, it is responsible for 25% of all United States grain exports. The company also supplies about 22% of the US domestic meat market, importing more product from Argentina than any other company and is the largest poultry producer in Thailand. All of the eggs used in McDonald's restaurants in the US pass through Cargill's plants. It is the only producer of Alberger process salt in the US, which is used in the fast-food and prepared food industries.

Cargill remains a family-owned business, as the descendants of the founder (from the Cargill and MacMillan families) own over 90% of the company.[8] As a result, most of its growth has been due to reinvestment of the company's own earnings rather than public financing. Gregory R. Page, who is not part of either the Cargill or MacMillan families, is the executive chairman of Cargill. He succeeded former CEO Warren Staley in mid-2007, as Staley reached Cargill's mandatory retirement age of 65, before he in turn was succeeded by Dave MacLennan.

From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: AZL is the leader in North American Z scale locomotives and rolling stock. Since 2000, AZL has released a vast variety of freight, passenger and locomotives. AZL continues to push the boundaries of Z scale with amazing details and incredible performance. No matter if you are looking to run steam, or the most modern diesels, AZL has something for you.