Con-Cor - 8011 - Tank Car, Single Dome, Taki 3000 - Merry Christmas - 1980

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 tank car is a regular inclusion in Kato freight starter sets. It also appears in mixed freight box sets. It is a nice model and sports low-profile chemically blackened wheels. The roof detail is excellent and these are durable and nice looking runners. The model (as explained to me by the Kato USA rep at the last ARS show I attended in January 2018) is of a Japanese prototype. Further research proved this is correct and that it is in fact a model of a Taki 3000 car from the late 1950s.

Despite the fact that it is a model of a Japanese JNR fright car, it has been used both by Kato and by Con-Cor to stand in for various North American prototypes carrying livery for everything from Domino Sugar to Amoco Oil

Prototype History: The Taki 3000 Tank Car was built in the period of 1947-1964 with 1,594 cars and operated all over Japan. It is specialized for loading gasoline. It was not imported for use in North America.

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.