The Canadian Wheat Board

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The Canadian Wheat Board (1/1973-present)

Background

During the early 1970s a major shortage of grain cars developed in Canada. Railways were reluctant to invest in new cars given the artificially low rate for moving grain in Canada, and as a result the Canadian government stepped in to provide the desperately-needed grain cars under the mantle of the Canadian Wheat Board. CNWX cars were assigned to service on the Canadian National, CPWX were assigned to the Canadian Pacific, and they rarely wander from their assigned road. All three major Canadian builders were involved in building a fairly standardized 100-ton cylindrical car which has become synonymous with Canadian grain movements. A slightly smaller 70-ton aluminum version (4100 cu. ft. vs 4550 cu. ft.) was also constructed during the mid-1970s for service on lightly-railed Canadian National lines — both for the prairie branch lines and for the line to Churchill. Reporting marks added 1/1973.

In recent times the Canadian Wheat Board has been attempting to sell the cars, but has received little interest as their perceived value for the fleet appears to be higher than that of any potential buyer. That being said, there have been a few transfers of cars: the Carleton Trail (CTRW) has received some, presumably to supply cars to elevators on their lines, and CP has also had some cars transferred (including at least one car that had been previously lettered for the CTRW). CN has listed all of the CNWX cars under their listings for some time now -- in two big number blocks including all of the CNWX cars, but until the discovery recently of a photo on the web showing a car with CN reporting marks, I had been unsure as to whether any transfers had actually taken place. Even now, because all of these cars are listed under CN and CNWX reporting marks, I still don't have any idea as to how many cars have actually been transferred.

Data has been taken from the following ORERs (MM/YY): 1/1973-1/2008.

CNWX

Number	AAR	Description	#Blt	In-Svc. Dates	IL	Cu.Ft.	Bldr.	Blt. Dates	Notes
100000-100499	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	500	1/1973-in svc.	47.11	4550	MIL	12/72-3/73	Stl.
100500-100925	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	426	1/1973-in svc.	47.11	4550	NSC	11/72-2/73	Stl.
100926-101185	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	260	1/1977-in svc.	47.11	4550	MIL	10-11/76	Stl.
101186-101285	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	113	10/1977-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	10/77	Stl.
101287-101299	"	"	"	1/1982-in svc.	"	"	MIL	9/81	Stl.
106000-107599	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1600	10/1975-in svc.	46.0	4100	NSC	9/75-8/76	Alum. 1 re#108998?, 1 re#108999?
107600-108423	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	824	7/1977-in svc.	46.0	4100	NSC	7-12/77	Alum.
108998	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	10/1993-in svc.	59.1*	4100	NSC?	9/75-8/76?	Alum. x106000-107599 series?
108999	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	7/1993-in svc.	59.1*	4100	NSC?	9/75-8/76?	Alum. x106000-107599 series?
109000-109449	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	553	10/1982-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	8-10/82	Stl.
109450-109552	"	"	"	10/1982-in svc.	"	"	MIL	10-11/82	Stl.
109554-109898	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	776	10/1983-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	8-10/83	Stl.
109899-110316	"	"	"	10/1983-in svc.	"	"	NSC	9/83	Stl.
110317-110329	"	"	"	10/1983-in svc.	"	"	MIL	/83-1/84	Stl.
110330-110393	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	64	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	9/84	Stl.
110394	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	10/1985-10/2007	47.11	4550	HST	/85	Stl.
110395-110686	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	292	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	10/84	Stl.
110687	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	83	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	/84-/85	Stl.
110688-110768	"	"	"	1/1985-in svc.	"	"	HST	/84-/85	Stl.
110769	"	"	"	4/1985-in svc.	"	"	HST	/84-/85	Stl.
110770-110873	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	104	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	1/85	Stl.
110874-110929	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	56	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	1/85	Stl.
110930-110943	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	14	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	/84-/85	Stl.
110944-110945	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	3	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	/84-/85	Stl.
110947-111000	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	54	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	11/84	Stl.
111001-111029	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	29	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	11/84	Stl.
111030-111047	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	18	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	11/84	Stl.
111048	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	/84-/85	Stl.
111049	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	1/1985-4/1986	47.11	4550	?	?	Stl.
111050-111051	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	2	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	12/84	Stl.
111052-111056	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	5	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	12/84	Stl.
111057-111060	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	4	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	12/84	Stl.
111061	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	1/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	12/84	Stl.
111062-111189	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	128	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	12/84	Stl.
111190-111519	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	330	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	NSC	12/84-2/85	Stl.
111520-111643	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	124	10/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	MIL	8/85	Stl.
111644-111868	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	225	1/1986-in svc.	47.11	4550	MIL	9-10/85	Stl.
111869-111877	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	9	4/1985-in svc.	47.11	4550	NSC	2/85	Stl.
111878-111929	LO	Cov. Hopper	52	10/1994-in svc.	59.0*	4550	NSC	8/94	Stl.
111930-111960	LO	Cov. Hopper	30	10/1995-in svc.	59.0*	4550	NSC	8-9/94	Stl.
112000-112026	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	27	4/1990-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	11/72-1/73	Stl. xCPWX 600000-601073 series.
112500-112645	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	146	4/1990-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	11/72-1/73	Stl. xCPWX 600000-601073 series.
395000-395999	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1000	1/1980-in svc.	47.11	4550	NSC	10/79-2/80	Stl.
396000-396799	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	800	1/1980-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	10/79-1/80	Stl.
396800-396999	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	200	1/1981-in svc.	47.11	4550	MIL	2/80	Stl.

CNWX

Number	AAR	Description	#Blt	In-Svc. Dates	IL	Cu.Ft.	Bldr.	Blt. Dates	Notes
60	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1	7/2000-10/2001	59.0*	4550	?	?	Stl.
600000-600699	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	1062	1/1973-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	10/72-2/73	Stl. 173 re# CNWX 112591-112620.
600700-601073	"	"	"	1/1973-in svc.	"	"	NSC	11/72-1/73	Stl.
601074-602473	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	2152	4/1977-in svc.	47.11	4550	HST	3-11/76	Stl.
602474-603213	"	"	"	7/1976-in svc.	"	"	MIL	5-11/76	Stl.
603214-603225	"	"	"	4/1977-in svc.	"	"	HST	11/76	Stl.
603226-603713	LO	Cyl. Cov. Hopper	5382	7/1977-in svc.	47.11	4550	MIL	5-9/77	Stl. 4 sliding drs., trough hatch.
603714-604301	"	"	"	7/1977-in svc.	"	"	HST	7-9/77	Stl.
604302-605301	"	"	"	7/1980-in svc.	"	"	HST	4/80-2/81	Stl.
605302-606301	"	"	"	7/1981-in svc.	"	"	NSC	9-11/80	Stl. some 605302-605551 series cars re#CTRW 605302-605551 & CP 392000-392049 (some via CTRW numbers).
606302-606318	"	"	"	10/1981-in svc.	"	"	MIL	9/81	Stl.
606319-606818	"	"	"	1/1983-in svc.	"	"	NSC	8-10/82	Stl.
606819-607045	"	"	"	1/1983-in svc.	"	"	MIL	8-10/82	Stl.
607046-607110	"	"	"	7/1983-in svc.	"	"	NSC	8/83	Stl.
607111-607616	"	"	"	7/1983-in svc.	"	"	MIL	9/83-1/84	Stl.
607617-607662	"	"	"	7/1983-in svc.	"	"	NSC	9-12/84	Stl.
607663-607666	"	"	"	10/1983-in svc.	"	"	?	?	Stl.
607667-608320	"	"	"	1/1985-in svc.	"	"	NSC	9-12/84	Stl.
608321-608591	"	"	"	7/1985-in svc.	"	"	MIL	10/85-1/86	Stl.
608592-608607	"	"	"	1/1995-in svc.	"	"	NSC	9/94	Stl.
(note: the exact group breakdown of CPWX cars is a little uncertain)*

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