Con-Cor - 0001-003886 - Locomotive, Steam, 4-8-4 GS-4 - Union Pacific - 837

Model Information: Con-Cor introduced this model in 1985. The locomotives were originally made by Kato under contract with Con-Cor. In 2001, Con-Cor moved the tooling to China and made some modifications. The early versions of this engine were an S-2 configuration. In 2002, Con-Cor used the same platform to develop a GS-4. The chassis is made of either brass or a zinc alloy and the shell is plastic. They have a fair amount of detail and they run pretty well. They handle surprisingly well on tight curves.

DCC Information: The original mechanism is DCC-Friendly at best. The redesigned version (2001+) is fully DCC-Ready and supports a 8 Pin NMRA Socket PC Board decoder.

Prototype History: The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive used on the Southern Pacific Company from 1941 to 1958. They were built by the Lima Locomotive Works and were numbered 4430 through 4457. "GS" stands for "Golden State" or "General Service."

Road Name History: The Union Pacific Railroad (reporting mark UP) is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Union Pacific Railroad network is the largest in the United States and employs 42,600 people. It is also one of the world's largest transportation companies.

Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP); both are headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Over the years Union Pacific Corporation has grown by acquiring other railroads, notably the Missouri Pacific, Chicago & North Western, Western Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, and the Southern Pacific (including the Denver & Rio Grande Western).

Union Pacific Corporation's main competitor is the BNSF Railway, the nation's second largest freight railroad, which also primarily services the Continental U.S. west of the Mississippi River. Together, the two railroads have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the U.S.

Read more on Wikipedia and on Union Pacific official website.

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.