Con-Cor - Limited Edition Set #40 / 8521 - Passenger Train, Diesel, North American, Post Transition - Amtrak - 8-Unit

Specific Item Information: Limited Edition Set #40 "The Presidential 1996 Election Tour, 'Whistle Stop' Tour Train": 2 diesel locomotives with 2 baggage cars, 3 Superliner Cars and a platform observation car. This set was not delivered in the usual "Limited Edition Set" wood-grain box, but in a new "Great American Trains" packaging.

- 2 Con-Cor PA-1 (one powered, one dummy) marked "The 21st Century Express / An American Journey" #2010, #2001
- 2 special lettered Amtrak baggage cars with the presidential candidates pictures on them
++ "Re-Elect Clinton and Gore for '96" #3401
++ "Elect Dole and Kemp for '96" #3402
- 3 Amtrak Superliners
++ Dining car #38009
++ Deluxe Sleeping car #32113
++ Sightseeing Lounge car #33003
- 1 heavyweight Observation car "Georgia" #300

Set also contains:
- two authentic campaign buttons (exact type may vary between sets)
- a description page by Con-Cor

Note: Road numbers indicated above are guessing based an low-res photos, so likely to be inaccurate.

Series Information: Con-Cor "Limited Edition Sets" or "Limited Edition Collector's Sets" were started after requests to 'custom paint' replicas of great passenger trains of the past. As these sets were very limited in quantity, many were sold out before they got to the retailer. While the quality of painting varied from time to time, they are a handsome addition to any collection and impressive on a layout.
With the exception of the first set, all were furnished in a wood-grained cardboard box with colored foam storage insert. For some sets, the manufacturer furnished additional cars or add-on sets.
The number of the set in the series is not printed on the box, but a listing was kept by Con-Cor and available as print-out in the most recent sets or on the (former) Con-Cor website.
Sets #1 to #13 were without stock number; stock numbers have been assigned and printed on the side label starting with set #14.

The wood-grained cardboard box has been used for other sets called "Special Edition Set" by Con-Cor, that only received a regular stock number, but were not accounted in the "Limited Edition Set" collection.

Prototype History: Due to the advantages of diesel locomotives, railroads in North America had retired 90% of their steam locomotives by the mid-1950. Also, major cities and their rail yards became unhappy neighbors in post-war America. People were no longer content to endure the large amounts of soot and smoke that coal burning steam engines produced. Early diesels, while dirty by today's standards, were a gigantic improvement in air pollution over steam.

Passenger consists were considered the most 'sexy' of any railroads operations, and hence usually got the newest flashiest equipment. A major exception, of course, was Amtrak, which had no competition and a huge inventory of cast-off locomotives and rolling stock acquired during its formation. Hence, rail service in the 1960s and 1970s was a hodgepodge of the newest, best-looking locomotives and railcars as well as a showcase for older makeshift equipment.

Road Name History: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium- and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States. Founded in 1971 through the government-sponsored consolidation of most of the remaining U.S. passenger rail companies, it is partially government-funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation.

Amtrak operates more than 300 trains each day on 21,300 miles (34,000 km) of track with select segments having civil operating speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and connecting more than 500 destinations in 46 states in addition to three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas; 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The name "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "trak", the latter itself a sensational spelling of "track".

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.