Con-Cor - 0001-008712 - Boxcar, 60 Foot, Material Handling - Merry Christmas - 1990

Series Information: Several manufacturers have a tradition of releasing an annual Christmas car.
- Con-Cor has been making an annual “N” Christmas Collectors Car since 1975.
- Bev-Bel has been making Christmas and Holiday cars at least since 1978 (until their end of business).

Model Information: This model was introduced in 1989 and has been regularly re-run since then. It features trucks with metal wheelsets. Initially equipped with Rapido couplers, it was subsequently offered with Con-Cor dummy knuckle couplers, and then with Micro-Trains knuckle couplers.
This model is based on Amtrak MHC-1 design of 1986. It has been available in Amtrak phase III, IV and V paint schemes, and as well in REA Express car paint scheme.
The only prototypically correct models are the Amtrak 1400-series of the MHC-1. Amtrak 1500-series are MHC-2; Amtrak 70000- and 71000-series are standard boxcars; Amtrak 74000-series 'ExpressTrak' are reefers.

Prototype History: Late in the 1980's, Amtrak's California Zephyr trains began to run new box cars called "material handling cars" The original 1400-series MHC-1 cars were built by Thrall in 1986 utilizing rebuilt trucks from former REA express cars with a short wheelbase.The MHC cars had pass-through cabling for HEP and usually operated on the head end of the train. The Southwest Chief usually had four or five daily. The MHCs were used primarily for handling bulk mail.

In 1989 Amtrak began receiving a second version of the MHC, the MHC-2, which carry road numbers in the 1500-series. These cars differed in some notable ways. The trucks were a new design that had a longer wheelbase than the earlier cars. Further, there was a body snubber anchor mounted on the sides of the car above each truck. These two details are the most obvious differences between the two car series, however the body and roof are entirely different from the earlier cars.

Unfortunately, the express-freight business indeed turned out to be a loser, particularly because Amtrak could not manage to complete the network expansion that it announced when it started handling the traffic. That resulted in the conventional boxcars, and later the ExpressTrak reefers, being parked in 2003.

Read more on UtahRails.com.

Road Name History: Well, it is not really a company, but there are a ton of model railroad cars which sport Christmas as the Railroad.

Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is prepared for by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an Octave. The traditional Christmas narrative, the Nativity of Jesus, delineated in the New Testament says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies; when Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds who then disseminated the message furthermore. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by the vast majority of Christians, as well as culturally by a number of non-Christian people, and is an integral part of the holiday season, while some Christian groups reject the celebration. In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family.

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.