Con-Cor - 0001-04061G - Passenger Car, Lightweight, Corrugated Mid-Train Dome - Santa Fe

Specific Item Information: Price listed in 1971/72 /Con-Cor catalog.

Model Information: This car is a bit of an odd-ball. It was apparently originally made in the 1970s by Kato for Con-Cor. Early examples are labeled Sekisui/Con-Cor Japan. Later examples have the label milled out and replaced with 'Con-Cor'. This would presume that the tooling was moved from Japan to the United states at some point.
Early versions came in kit form with Rapido couplers. Later versions are Ready-to-Run (RTR) and come with either dummy knuckle "Rigid Face" couplers or Micro-Trains couplers.
It is modeled after the 46-seat dome-coach built by Budd for the CB&Q (Burlington Route) in 1956 to run on the Denver Zephyr (DZ). It is very similar to the 46-seat dome-coach built by Budd for Great Northern’s 1955 Empire Builder, the latter having “slab panel” sides instead of corrugated sides.

Despite the model having corrugated sides, Con-Cor marketed and packaged it either as a 'Corrugated Dome' (stainless steel finish) or a 'Smoothside Dome' (painted finish). The Con-Cor literature refers to it as a 'mid-train dome', which means it is not a dedicated tail car and can be used between other passenger cars.

Yet, in spite of the Con-Cor labeling and manufacturing , the Con-Cor website sometimes refers to this model as a 'Rivarossi Corrugated Dome', with a stock number starting with 0003- or 003- that is the company prefix used by Con-Cor for Rivarossi products. This is actually to complement the Rivarossi lightweight corrugated range that is missing a dome car, in particular in the Con-Cor/Rivarossi 5-car corrugated passenger sets.

So, though the 'corrugated' and 'smoothside' versions are marketed with different denominations by Con-Cor, they are technically of the same model type, hence are all regrouped in this single body style.

Warning: Con-cor designed subsequently another mid-train corrugated dome, inspired by another Budd dome built for the California Zephyr, that is not to be confused with this one.

Prototype History: A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car, sleeping car or observation. Beginning in 1945, dome cars were primarily used in the United States and Canada, though a small number were constructed in Europe for Trans Europ Express service, and similar panorama cars are in service on Alpine tourist railways like the Bernina Express.

In North America, dome cars were manufactured by the Budd Company, Pullman Standard and American Car & Foundry. Southern Pacific Railroad built its own dome cars in its Sacramento, California, shops. In the 1990s Colorado Railcar began producing dome cars. Generally, seats in the dome were considered "non-revenue" like lounge car seats. When dome cars operate today in excursion trains, the dome seats often command a premium fare.

Road Name History: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that (at one time or another) included a tugboat fleet and an airline (the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway). Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The ATSF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film, The Harvey Girls (1946).

The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

Read more on Wikipedia.

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.