Con-Cor - 0001-004407 - Passenger Car, Commuter, Budd Bi-Level, Coach - Amtrak

Specific Item Information:
0001-004407 With Rigid Face Couplers $26.98
0001-040526 With Micro-Trains® Couplers $31.98

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 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.