Con-Cor - 0001-004425 - Passenger Car, Commuter, Budd Bi-Level, Coach - Santa Fe

Prototype History: In Chicago an Edward G. Budd Car Manufacturing Company bi-level stainless steel commuter car is as common as clout in City Hall. There are actually two distinct styles. The first was built for the CB&Q and has fluting consistent with a standard single level intercity Budd passenger car like a car on the California Zephyr. The second is a narrow fluting more like what is found on the roof of a standard Budd built car but the entire body has this narrow fluting. These cars were built for the Rock Island and the Milwaukee Road.

All the cars were transferred to the Regional Transportation Authority or RTA and then to RTA's rail operation Metra. Metra has been retiring the oldest of the former CB&Q cars which have been finding homes with new commuter agencies after a freshening up. The former Milwaukee and Rock Island cars still are used every day. In recent years Metra has stopped using the Budd cab cars in that role and removed the horns, headlights and in some cases blanked the cab windows.

Road Name History: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that (at one time or another) included a tugboat fleet and an airline (the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway). Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The ATSF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film, The Harvey Girls (1946).

The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

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.