HONEYFORD, NORTH DAKOTA, US — Farmers Elevator Company of Honeyford, the oldest cooperative elevator in North Dakota, earlier this month became the first US Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) shipper to load an 8,500-foot grain train.

According to an article in the Grand Forks Herald, Farmers Elevator Co. on Nov. 1 loaded a 142-car train filled with 550,000 bushels of corn. The corn was grown by farmers in a 50-mile radius of Honeyford and was shipped to an Alberta grain company.

“They were the first to invest in this new, revolutionary model in the United States and we’re excited to be able to see this train put together and loaded out to Alberta to feed some cows,” Jon Harman, CP managing director of marketing and US grain sales, told the Grand Forks Herald.

Harman said the ability to load an 8,500-foot train, which carries a minimum of 134 grain hopper cars, increases the grain-carrying capacity by more than 20% over 112-car trains. If the 8,500-foot train features high-capacity hoppers it can fit up to 144 cars and can increase total capacity by as much as 44%, he said.