American Limited - 8306 - Passenger Car, Lightweight, Smoothside

Specific Item Information: N Diaphragms for ConCor Superliners, 6 car set (gray).
Phase II or III with MicroTrains® #1129 or Rapido® Couplers.
Kits have instructions to help install the diaphragms on any appropriate car.

Prototype History: In the post-war period, passenger rail service boomed. In order to increase efficiency, the railroads set to replacing their old wood, steel and concrete heavyweight passenger cars with newer lightweight, streamlined cars. The new cars were made from stainless steel, aluminum and Cor-Ten steel. These cars required less motive power to pull and were cheaper to manufacture. Production was also concentrated in a few manufacturers rather than each railroad making its own. This led to standardization which further reduced costs. The new "lightweight" cars were also given "streamlined" designs to make them more visually appealing. Budd, Pullman Standard and ACF were all well known manufacturers of these cars.

Smoothside cars are typically painted, unlike their corrugated brethren. This meant that they typically required more maintenance, but this also allowed the railroads to apply distinctive paint schemes to their fleets, typically matching the paintwork on their locomotives.

Road Name History: No applicable company.

Brand/Importer Information: American Limited Models, a division of San Juan Car Company, Inc. is owned and directed by Bob Staat, member of the Model Railroad Hall of Fame, and John Engstrom, former marketing director of a major model railroad manufacturer.