Ex-Pillsbury Cylindrical Grain Cars

I saw a post by George Dutka on the excellent White River Division blog about ex Pillsbury covered hoppers. I’ll chime in with my own observations.

These blue, often rusty, cylindrical grain hoppers can be seen with SOO reporting marks on Canadian Pacific’s lines. These are 263,000 lb cars built in 1979 for Pillsbury and acquired by SOO in 2006, according to George’s post.

SOO 125040 in Portage la Prairie, MB, Feb 2015.
SOO 125040 in Portage la Prairie, MB, Feb 2015.

So far I’ve seen SOO 125025, 125027, 125018, 125020, 125040, 125114, and 125116.

SOO 125020 outside Winnipeg, Jan 2016
SOO 125020 outside Winnipeg, Jan 2016

These cars seem to all be highly rusted, with rust streaks down the sides along the seams.

SOO 125018, Portage la Prairie, MB, Feb 2016
SOO 125018, Portage la Prairie, MB, Feb 2016

They are starting to get long in the tooth – almost 42 years old at this time. I imagine they are going to be scrapped in a few years as they are approaching the Association of American Railroad’s 50 year age limit for cars that can be interchanged between railways.

SOO 125116 in Lethbridge, AB, May 2016
SOO 125116 in Lethbridge, AB, May 2016

I like seeing these cars as they are fairly distinctive. The blue really stands out.

SOO 125025 at Tobiano outside Kamloops, BC, May 2017
SOO 125025 at Tobiano outside Kamloops, BC, May 2017
SOO 125027 near Winnipeg, August 2020
SOO 125027 near Winnipeg, August 2020
SOO 125027 near Winnipeg, August 2020
SOO 125027 near Winnipeg, August 2020
Censored SOO 125114 at the Viterra grain elevator in Rosser, MB, March 2014
Censored SOO 125114 at the Viterra grain elevator in Rosser, MB, March 2014

See Also

Just One More Thing

I just finished reading “The Three-Body Problem“, a science fiction novel by Cixin Liu. This is a great book, the first of a trilogy, a relatively “hard science” book reminiscent of a Jerry Pournelle or Larry Niven novel.

What’s unique about it – beside the three-body problem, a well-known physics problem – is that Cixin Liu is Chinese and wrote it in his native language. It was translated to English with great care by Ken Liu and is quite readable. You can tell that it “comes” from a different culture but I think that enriches the book. It’s refreshing to read something not written from a North American or English point of view.

I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the trilogy.

You can buy The Three-Body Problem on Amazon or find it in your local bookstore or library.

My Amazon links are affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission if you buy something using that link, at no additional cost to you.

8 thoughts on “Ex-Pillsbury Cylindrical Grain Cars”

  1. These are such colourful cars, not just the blue, but the fading and weathering, making each unique – great (and very useful to the modeller) post.

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