Con-Cor - 0001-004410 - Passenger Car, Commuter, Budd Bi-Level, Cab - Undecorated

Specific Item Information:
With Rigid Face Couplers,$23.98 ea 0001-04410
With Micro-Trains® Couplers,$28.98 ea. 0001-040535
Corrugated Bi-Level

Prototype History: In Chicago an Edward G. Budd Car Manufacturing Company bi-level stainless steel commuter car is as common as clout in City Hall. There are actually two distinct styles. The first was built for the CB&Q and has fluting consistent with a standard single level intercity Budd passenger car like a car on the California Zephyr. The second is a narrow fluting more like what is found on the roof of a standard Budd built car but the entire body has this narrow fluting. These cars were built for the Rock Island and the Milwaukee Road.

All the cars were transferred to the Regional Transportation Authority or RTA and then to RTA's rail operation Metra. Metra has been retiring the oldest of the former CB&Q cars which have been finding homes with new commuter agencies after a freshening up. The former Milwaukee and Rock Island cars still are used every day. In recent years Metra has stopped using the Budd cab cars in that role and removed the horns, headlights and in some cases blanked the cab windows.

Road Name History: Although they may be molded in color, unpainted and unlettered, undecorated products are marketed to modelers who seek to custom decorate their models for private roads and/or road and/or company names that were not commercially produced by any of the major manufacturers.

Undecorated models are frequently also unassembled or only partially assembled and required modelers to be comfortable with glue, paint and sometimes solder in order to prepare their models for display. Materials for these models can vary but often include plastic, pewter and resin. Models may or may not come with decals or other decorations such as plastic signage, railings and ladders to enhance the appearance of the final product.

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.