Con-Cor - 8507 - Passenger Train, Diesel, North American, Transition Era - Lackawanna - 8-Unit

Specific Item Information: Lackawanna "Limited Edition Set": 2 diesel locomotives and 6 streamline smoothside cars.
- Diesel Locomotive PA-1 (powered) and PB-1 (dummy)
- 6 Röwa cars: Coach, Pullman, Slumbercoach sleeper (x2), Dome, Observation

Though this set is labeled "Limited Edition Set", it was actually never listed as such in Con-Cor list of Limited Edition Sets. So, given it is composed of Röwa passenger cars, it is more logically classified as "Special Edition Set".

Series Information: Con-Cor "Special Edition Sets" or "Special Limited Edition Sets" were the result of Con-Cor using the last of their stock of cars. Several new molds had to be made to accomplish this project as the original molds by Röwa had been destroyed in a fire. Several Röwa passenger cars in these sets were delivered unnumbered.
There has been two subseries:
First subseries - mid to end 1980s: These sets are furnished with usual wood-grained cardboard box that was used for the "Limited Edition sets'. The label does not have any mention of "Special" or "Limited" set. They contain locomotives and cars.
Second subseries - early 2000s: These sets were delivered in the colorful packaging 'Great American Trains' that was also used for the latest of the "Limited Edition Sets". They are marked " Special Edition Set" on the side label. They contain only cars; the matching locomotives were sold as separate items.

In this series, we have also listed sets that were delivered in the "Limited Edition Set" packaging, though not necessarily being 'Limited' in the sense that the locomotive and cars were generally available from open stock.

Prototype History: The transition era (1939 - 1957) was the heyday for passenger rail. The industrial boom triggered by the second world war created tremendous capacity for production which was no longer needed for war production. The North American factories turned to consumer goods and services and the rail system was a major recipient of this ouput.

The interstate highways system as we know it now was still a thing of the future and long distance travel by highway was simply not practical and aircraft travel was still a luxury for the well-to-do. People traveled the country by rail and there was a huge variety of railroads and services available to the traveler. Innovation was constant, and the materials and machinery employed by the railroads was evolving as fast as the engineers could think of new things to entice the fickle consumer to ride a particular route or particular service.

This all came to an end when the automobile and airplane replaced the passenger train as the preferred vehicles of transportation in the 1960s.

Road Name History: The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company (DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, a distance of about 400 miles (640 km). Incorporated in 1853, the DL&W was profitable during the first two decades of the twentieth century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining traffic in coal and competition from trucks. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad.

The Liggett's Gap Railroad was incorporated on April 7, 1832, but stayed dormant for many years. It was chartered on March 14, 1849, and organized January 2, 1850. On April 14, 1851, its name was changed to the Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The line, running north from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Great Bend, just south of the New York state line, opened on December 20, 1851. From Great Bend the L&W obtained trackage rights north and west over the New York and Erie Rail Road to Owego, New York, where it leased the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad to Ithaca on Cayuga Lake (on April 21, 1855). The C&S was a re-organized and partially re-built Ithaca and Owego Railroad, which had opened on April 1, 1834, and was the oldest part of the DL&W system. The whole system was built to 6 ft (1,829 mm) broad gauge, the same as the New York and Erie, although the original I&O was built to standard gauge and converted to wide gauge when re-built as the C&S.

The Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad was chartered December 4, 1850, to build a line from Scranton east to the Delaware River. Before it opened, the Delaware and Cobb's Gap and Lackawanna and Western were consolidated by the Lackawanna Steel Company into one company, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, on March 11, 1853. On the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, the Warren Railroad was chartered February 12, 1851, to continue from the bridge over the river southeast to Hampton on the Central Railroad of New Jersey. That section got its name from Warren County, the county through which it would primarily run.

In the wake of Hurricane Diane in 1955, all signs pointed to continued financial decline and eventual bankruptcy for the DL&W. Among other factors, property taxes in New Jersey were a tremendous financial drain on the Lackawanna and other railroads that ran through the state, a situation that would not be remedied for another two decades.

To save his company, Lackawanna president, Perry Shoemaker, sought and won a merger agreement with the Erie Railroad, the DL&W's longtime rival (and closest geographical competitor). The merger was formally consummated on October 17, 1960. Shoemaker drew much criticism for it, and would even second-guess himself after he had retired from railroading. He later claimed to have had a "gentlemen's agreement" with the E-L board of directors to take over as president of the new railroad. After he was pushed aside in favor of Erie managers, however, he left in disillusionment and became the president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1962.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Con-Cor has been in business since 1962. Many things have changed over time as originally they were a complete manufacturing operation in the USA and at one time had upwards of 45 employees. They not only designed the models,but they also built their own molds, did injection molding, painting, printing and packaging on their models.

Currently, most of their manufacturing has been moved overseas and now they import 90% of their products as totally finished goods, or in finished components. They only do some incidental manufacturing today within the USA.

Important Note: The Con-Cor product numbering can be very confusing. Please see here in the article how to properly enter Con-Cor stock numbers in the TroveStar database.