Con-Cor - 0001-000137 - Covered Hopper, 4-Bay, ACF Centerflow - Klemme Coop Grain - 3-Pack

Specific Item Information: 3-Pack 58 foot covered hopper set: Klemme COOP Grain RRRX 2023 , Albert City COOP RRAX 3117 and Farnhamville Iowa RREX 4293

Model Information: AHM contracted Roco to use the create the "jumbo hopper" in the late 1960s. The model scales to a prototypical length of about 60 feet. It was marketed in early AHM catalogs as simply a "Covered Hopper", which distinguished it from the "Center Flow Hopper" which is also made by Roco but has a distinctly different appearance. After AHM stopped ordering these from Roco, Con-Cor started releasing the same mold.

Prototype History: Contemporary 2-bay covered hoppers, like ACF's Centerflows, were 100-ton cars designed to haul dense loads, like cement. Their larger 3 and 4-bay brethren, while usually still having 100 ton capacities, were designed for lighter-density loads, like grain or flour. Their sizes had to do with the fact that a low-density product like grain will "cube out" the cubic capacity of a smaller 2-bay car way before you hit the cars' tonnage rating. Conversely, load a 3 or 4-bay covered hopper to its cubic maximum with a dense product like cement, and you'll wind up with a seriously overloaded car tonnage wise. In short, keep the smaller 2-bay cars for heavy commodities, and keep the larger cars for lighter loads like grains, sugar, flour, etc.

Road Name History: Klemme Coop (Cooperative) was a grain elevator in Klemme, Iowa. The elevator was built in 1977. It was acquired by 3 different co-ops including Farmer’s Cooperative New Hampton in 2001. Eventually Farmer's took sole ownership. Farmer's Cooperative New Hampton changed names to Five Star Cooperative in 2003.

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.

Manufacturer Information: The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in HO scale and the smaller N scale. TT scale was also subsequently added to the product line. The model rail product line covers many European countries including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and also the USA.

On July 15, 2005 ROCO Modellspielwaren GmbH was declared bankrupt. From July 25 the company continues as Modelleisenbahn GmbH, but still uses the Roco brand and associated logo. On October 1, 2007, distribution of the 'Minitank' product series was assigned to the German model car manufacturer Herpa.

Since February 2008 Modelleisenbahn also owns Fleischmann, which like Roco had gone bankrupt. The two companies continue as separate brands under Modelleisenbahn GmbH, while benefiting from economies of scale through joined development projects, marketing and procurement.

From Wikipedia