In September 1994, as production of the venerable 4550 cubic foot cylindrical hoppers was coming to an end after 23 years, National Steel Car started production of their new covered hopper design, the 4850 cubic-foot car. This design differed generally from the 4550 cubic-foot cylindrical style with four hopper bays by having curved sides (similar to the ACF center flow) and three bays and the coupled length (distance between coupler faces) being reduced from 59 feet, zero inches to 55 feet, 8 inches. 2,700cars of this design were built for Canadian Pacific (with SOO reporting marks) between September 1994 and December 1995 at the Hamilton, Ontario plant.

By July 1996, the new curved-side design morphed into the 5200 cubic foot design, stretched to fifty-seven feet between couplers. Canadian Pacific (SOO) received 1600 of these cars between July and November 1996 while Canadian National (CN) received 200 between November and December 1996.

National Steel Car then came up with the still larger 5300 cubic-f0ot design with a considerably shorter coupled length of 55 feet, eight inches, the idea to get more grain into a shorter length car so that more cars could be added to a unit train of the same length. This concept increased unit train capacity from roughly 112 cars to 134 cars, an increase of over four million pounds of grain, per train!

NSC built 3,454 of the 5300 cubic foot design between July 1997 and August 2006 for Canadian Pacific (five orders, SOO) and another 214 cars for NOKL (one order, leased to Canadian National) between November 2007 and January 2008.

The first four orders for SOO were delivered with seven welded side panels, ten running board supports, three gravity outlet gates and 100-ton trucks with 36” wheels. The fifth SOO order and the NOKL order were delivered with eleven welded side panels, ten running board supports, three gravity outlet gates and 100-ton trucks with 36” wheels.

There were production changes incorporated during the production run of the NSC 5300, so let’s take a dive into the individual series to see what the variations are where they were incorporated

V01A (SOO  118750-118904  ) Blt: July-Sept 1997
- Body: Type 1 (7-panel)
- End ladders: Type 1 (All straight grabs)
- Trucks: Barber S-2 HD9C Frame Brace
- Brake rigging: Early layout
- Trainline Pipe: Double

- Universal model 4493-3 (long release handle) AAR IP-93 intermediate power hand brake
- Outlet gates: 118750-118904 - Procor Toggle-Lock gravity outlet gates
- Vibrating bracket pads.

V01B (SOO 118905-119071) Blt: July-Sept 1997
- Body: Type 1 (7-panel)
- End ladders: Type 1 (All straight grabs)
- Trucks: Barber S-2 HD9C Frame Brace
- Brake rigging: Early layout
- Trainline Pipe: Double
- Universal model 4493-3 (long release handle) AAR IP-93 intermediate power hand brake
- Outlet gates: 118905-119071 - IEC-Holden gravity outlet gates
- Vibrating bracket pads

V02A (SOO 119072-119083) Blt: July-Sept 1997   
  - Body: Type 1 (7-panel)
  - End ladders: Type 2 (Drop grabs at the top)
  - Trucks: Barber S-2 HD9C Frame Brace
  - Brake rigging: Late phase layout
  - Trainline Pipe: Single

  - Universal model 4493-3 (long release handle) AAR IP-93 intermediate power hand brake
  - Outlet gates: Procor Toggle-Lock gravity outlet gates

V02B (SOO 119084-119149) Blt: July-Sept 1997  
V02B (SOO 119150-120521) Blt: Sept 98 - Mar 99 
V02B (SOO 122000-123031) Blt: Jul 99 - Dec 99
  - Body: Type 1 (7-panel)
  - End ladders: Type 2 (Drop grabs at the top)
  - Trucks: Dofasco Barber S-2
  - Brake rigging: Late phase layout
  - Trainline Pipe: Single
  - Universal model 4493-3 (long release handle) AAR IP-93 intermediate power hand brake
  - Outlet gates: Procor Toggle-Lock gravity outlet gates

V03A (SOO 124000-124499) Blt: May 06 to Aug 06
  - Body: Type 2 (11-panel)
  - End ladders: Type 2 (Drop grabs at the top)
  - Trucks: Dofasco Barber S-2 HD
  - Brake rigging: Late phase layout
  - Trainline Pipe: Single
  - Universal model 4493-3 (long release handle) AAR IP-93 intermediate power hand brake
  - Outlet gates: Procor Toggle-Lock gravity outlet gates 

V03B (NOKL 853000-853213) Blt: Nov and Dec 2007
  - Body: Type 2 (11-panel)
  - End ladders: Type 2 (Drop grabs at the top)
  - Trucks: Dofasco Barber S-2 HD
  - Brake rigging: Late phase layout
  - Trainline Pipe: Single
  - Universal model 4493-3 (long release handle) AAR IP-93 intermediate power hand brake
  - Outlet gates: Procor Toggle-Lock gravity outlet gates   
  - Vibration brackets

This is an important car in the evolution of National Steel Car covered hoppers as it bridges the standard 100-ton designs with the current 112-ton designs. Until recently, the NSC 5300 was a common sight mixed in the 4550 cubic-foot cylindrical cars, the NSC 4850/5200 curved side cars as well as the current NSC 5431s that are in production.

Features about PWRS/NARCorp plans for releasing of car:

Features of the model as appropriate per the prototype:

• Meticulously researched and designed in North America
• Two different body styles (7 and 11 side panels)
• Two different end frames (straight and drop grabs)
• Two different outlet gates (Toggle-Lock and IEC-Holden)
• Two different hand brakes (conventional and “Intermediate Power” Universal)
• Two different North American Railcar high-performance, low friction 100-ton trucks (braced and non-braced) with semi-scale metal wheels
• Etched Morton (round tread pattern) running boards
• Etched Morton (round tread pattern) crossover platforms
• Wire coupler cut bars
• Real Kadee #158 semi-scale couplers (not cheap knock-offs)