Model Power - 3491 - Covered Hopper, 4-Bay, ACF Centerflow - Saskatchewan Grain Car - 397321

Model Information: This tooling is a Chinese made knockoff of the Roco 'Centerflow' hopper that was originally imported by Atlas. The Roco model can be distinguished by the presence of 'Austria' stamped into the underframe.

Prototype History: Contemporary 2-bay covered hoppers, like ACF's Centerflows, were 100-ton cars designed to haul dense loads, like cement. Their larger 3 and 4-bay brethren, while usually still having 100 ton capacities, were designed for lighter-density loads, like grain or flour. Their sizes had to do with the fact that a low-density product like grain will "cube out" the cubic capacity of a smaller 2-bay car way before you hit the cars' tonnage rating. Conversely, load a 3 or 4-bay covered hopper to its cubic maximum with a dense product like cement, and you'll wind up with a seriously overloaded car tonnage wise. In short, keep the smaller 2-bay cars for heavy commodities, and keep the larger cars for lighter loads like grains, sugar, flour, etc.

Road Name History: Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation (reporting marks SKPX, SKNX) was a Canadian crown corporation owned by the Government of Saskatchewan established on October 2, 1979 to purchase and rent grain rail cars for the transportation of statutory grains between Saskatchewan and export ports. The corporation was governed by the Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation Act. In 1990 the government invested $55M in the corporation for the purchase of 1,000 new covered rail cars. Priority in the rental of rail cars was given to short-line operators in the province. In March of 2017, the Government of Saskatchewan announced that it would be selling off nearly 1,000 hopper cars as the Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation was going to be wound down.

Brand/Importer Information: Founded in the late 1960's by Michael Tager, the 3rd generation business specializes in quality hobby products serving the toy and hobby markets worldwide. During its 50 years of operation, Model Power has developed a full line of model railroading products, die-cast metal aircraft, and die-cast metal cars and trucks.

In early 2014, Model Power ceased its business operations. Its extensive portfolio of intellectual property and physical assets are now exclusively produced, marketed, sold, and distributed by MRC (Model Power, MetalTrain and Mantua) and by Daron (Postage Stamp Airplanes and Airliner Collection).