Con-Cor - 0001-006057 - Open Hopper, 3-Bay, 100 Ton Greenvile - Presidential Cars - 100

Specific Item Information: This hopper car commemorates Donald Trump's first 100 days in office and his comittment to the coal industry. Product code 0001-006056 comes without a piece of display track.

Model Information: These models were made in China for Life-Like by Sanda Kan. They were also imported by Industrial Rail and Con-Cor. They have been repainted by Bev-Bel. They are sometimes referred to as "45 Foot Rib Side Hoppers". They have nickel-silver plated deep flange wheels and Rapido Couplers.

With the model in the TroveStar library, we found that the parts just don't fit together very well. The underframe simply doesn't line up with the body.

Prototype History: The 1960s brought about a growth in car size (and capacity). Railroads that transported coal moved away from the older 2-bay 55-ton USRA standard to newer 90- and 100-ton three bay hoppers. On the WM, the first 90 ton cars were purchased for stone service to Sparrows Point around 1963. These cars were effective and long-lived. Many railroads swapped out the trucks on these cars to increase the capacity to 100 tons. Many companies produced these, including Pullman, Bethlehem, Evans, Greenville, Trinity and Ortner. Details, of course, vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but typically they were rib-sided. As of 2007, the NS still had lots of 90 ton hoppers in coal service.

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.