Con-Cor - 0001-0426113-(1) - Passenger Car, Lightweight, Budd, Parlor - Via Rail Canada - 5732

Prototype History: Budd was one of the leading producers of lightweight streamlined passenger cars during the postwar period. The corrugated design permitted extra strength to the car sides. Budd built many different designs such as sleepers, coaches, dome cars and diners. The cars were built from stainless steel.

A parlor car (or parlour car outside the United States of America) is a type of passenger coach that provides superior comforts and amenities when compared to a standard coach. Parlor cars came about on United States railroads to address the absence of separate class accommodations. In the United Kingdom and Europe, passenger trains carried first-, second- and third-class coaches, with the first-class coaches offering the best seating and costing the most money. In contrast, American trains offered a flat rate and standard accommodations. For nineteenth century writers this represented a difference between class-bound Europe and the democratic United States. Most parlor cars were found on daytime trains in the Northeast United States. In comparison to a standard coach, a parlor car offered more comfortable seating and surroundings, as well as food and beverages, but it was far inferior to a sleeping car for an overnight trip.

Road Name History: Via Rail Canada (reporting mark VIA) (generally shortened to Via Rail or Via; styled corporately as VIA Rail Canada) is an independent crown corporation, subsidized by the Minister of Transport, mandated to offer intercity passenger rail services in Canada.

On January 12, 1977, CN spun off its passenger services as a separate Crown corporation, VIA Rail Canada. At its inception, Via acquired all CN passenger cars and locomotives. Following several months of negotiation, on October 29, 1978, Via took over operation of CP passenger train services, and took possession of cars and locomotives. Passenger train services which were not included in the creation of Via Rail included those offered by BC Rail, Algoma Central Railway, Ontario Northland Railway, Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, various urban commuter train services operated by CN and CP, and remaining CN passenger services in Newfoundland.

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.