Trainworx - 45308-02 - Trailer, 53 Foot, Box - Zellers - 5550

Specific Item Information: Road Numbers: HBZ 5496, 5550, 5572 & 5645

Prototype History: For the longest time, the 48-foot dry van was the de facto standard in trucking, owing largely to older regulations which limited the overall length of the vehicle to 75 feet. Once the length laws went bye-bye in the late 1980s, the industry was quick to adopt the now-ubiquitous 53-foot vans - room for thirteen rows of pallets, plus a foot of leeway to make sure the doors could close easily. 53' are the longest that can go anywhere. Just checked with Caltrans for one of my projects and they said in CA 53' is max without special permit. Some states allow 57' (yep, they are out there, and they are BIG), but most will only do so by special permit. Truckers and shippers continue to push for 57' everywhere, along with double/triples (2 53' or 53' + 28' or 3 - 28'), plus heavier load limits. Watch out; if 57' and heavier loads become permissible everywhere, plus double/triples, large amounts of intermodal will disappear back to the roads.

Box vans are known as such for their rectilinear proportions. Their simple design makes them easy to manufacture and maintain.

Road Name History: Zellers was a Canadian discount store chain founded by Walter P. Zeller in 1931. It was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978, and after a series of acquisitions and expansions, peaked with 350 locations in 1999. However, fierce competition and an inability to adapt during the retail apocalypse resulted in Zellers losing significant ground in the 2000s.

In January 2011, HBC announced that it would sell the lease agreements for up to 220 Zellers stores to the US chain Target for $1.825 billion. In turn, Target announced its intention to convert many of them to Canadian locations of Target, and re-sell the remainder to other parties such as Walmart Canada, resulting in their liquidation and eventual closure. While HBC initially retained 64 Zellers locations, it announced on July 26, 2012, that all of them would be liquidated and closed by March 31, 2013, due to their lack of profitability. Ultimately, all but three selected stores were closed in 2013.

When the chain ceased, HBC converted the three Zellers-branded locations into liquidation outlets for The Bay (since renamed Hudson's Bay), with the last of those stores closing and ending the brand on January 26, 2020. As of 2023 however, the Zellers brand name has been formally reintroduced as a store-within-a-store concept inside Hudson's Bay department stores, complemented by online shopping.

Brand/Importer Information: Trainworx was founded in 1999 by Pat Sanders and is located in Delta Colorado. Their first freight car was the Quad hopper and it was released in 2000. They have been making N scale products ever since. Their website can be found at www.train-worx.com. As of 2016, they have produced 8 different rolling stock body styles as well as a range of different highway vehicles in N Scale. Their limited edition runs have proven a huge success with collectors and modelers enjoy the accuracy of all their products.

Trainworx sells their products both through tradional retail channels as well as directly by phone order. When asked "What prompted you to found Trainworx?", Pat Sanders responded "There was a freight car that hadn't been done in N scale that I just had to have and it didn't look like anyone was ever going to make it."

Commissioner Information: Pacific Western Rail Systems (PWRS Retail Ltd.) is a model railroad store, and they also do a lot of special runs. They do most of their business by mail order. Please call ahead of time if you would like to visit in person.
Pacific Western Rail Systems is located south of Vancouver at 15515 24th Ave in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Pacific Western Rail Systems (Co-Op), the club in Surrey, BC, created and developed PWRS Retailing, LTD. A lot of their original business was selling limited-run cars. PWRS Retailing, Ltd. is a business. It was formed because the club's relationship with suppliers grew from a few special run cars, to ordering some locomotives for members, to helping a few friends, to the point where it was a full-time job and a large investment. Volunteer labor was not sufficient. The main owners of the business are those individual members of the club who chose to invest their own money and time in the business. The club members each own a minority interest in the store, but the club and the store are separate entities. Some of the original goals, such as developing a showcase, interactive layout with a sales point for the public, remain works in progress, and the shareholders of PWRS plan other achievements for the future of model railroading as well.
PWRS is a company incorporated in the Province of British Columbia and is owned by over 130 individual model railroaders. Their shareholders live in Canada, USA, Switzerland, England, and Australia.