Con-Cor

[locochris]

I didn't realize Con-Cor still makes stuff because I never see them on any retailer sites, but I just stumbled upon their page noticed they still make a number of things.  Anyone know how their 85' streamlined passenger cars compare to Walthers Mainline?  Also interested in their 1880's-1930's wooden box cars.

[cemr5396]

Oct 3, 2023 19:26:13 GMT -8 locochris said:

Anyone know how their 85' streamlined passenger cars compare to Walthers Mainline?

uhhh.......

let's just go with 'not favorably'

[Mr. Trainiac]

Con-Cor is basically equivalent to old IHC or AHM equipment. They've mostly fallen off, and I've never seriously considered their models. Their Superliners look pretty bad, and I remember seeing them in a hobby shop around 10 years ago where the model was packaged upside down in the box.

What they need to bring back are the streamlined trains like the M-10000 and the Zephyr. Those were the best models they made, and leagues ahead of their regular passenger and freight cars. The North Shore Electroliner is extremely desirable and rare. I'm sure many people would buy reruns of these models just for the novelty of it.

[lvrr325]

Those Con-Cor cars are awful. I could have bought one for $5 at the flea market Sunday and passed. That's all it's worth.

They most recently made some nice PRR MP54 electric MUs and a foobie locomotive-hauled version in other roads.

The wood box cars are probably someone else's tooling, would have to look at them to see what they might have originated as. I would guess maybe the Pocher cars that AHM once imported, though.

[pjm20]

Oct 3, 2023 21:19:01 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

Those Con-Cor cars are awful. I could have bought one for $5 at the flea market Sunday and passed. That's all it's worth.

They most recently made some nice PRR MP54 electric MUs and a foobie locomotive-hauled version in other roads.

The wood box cars are probably someone else's tooling, would have to look at them to see what they might have originated as. I would guess maybe the Pocher cars that AHM once imported, though.

The PRR sold a lot of MPM62s (combine mail MP54) to other railroads, some of those are actually not foobies. Even up to the 40s there was still a decent amount MP54s (MP54E_ are the commuter cars) on the PRR. Con Cor can bring the MP54s back, I'd grab some. 

[edwardsutorik]

I believe a bunch of the non-powered MP54 coaches were used in commuter service for the shipyards in Vancouver WA during WWII.

I believe SP&S picked up three of them for MOW service, as crew diners. Car 502 appears to be the final one, lasting until 1970.

Con-Cor missed that one, but I picked up one in some road or other, for conversion. The decaling will not be difficult.


Ed

[NYSW3614]

Same comments, newer CC is quite good.

My mis-guided PRR modeler friends picked up a bunch for MP54s and were quite impressed. They run well and the rolling quality of the non-powered ones is FANTASTIC.

Same friends are very hopeful that CC will do the Silverliners but no luck, yet.

The Reading Crusader sets were received well. I urged them to consider some other northeast standard/streamline steam but no dice.

Joshua

[edwardsutorik]

And let's not forget this one:





I've got one, though it's never left the box. I know someone else who has one, and it's been run on Free-mo setups.



Ed

[cpr4200]

B&M had a lot of ex-Pennsy P54's in Boston commuter service.

[gevohogger]

Oct 3, 2023 21:19:01 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

They most recently made some nice PRR MP54 electric MUs and a foobie locomotive-hauled version in other roads.

LOL I can only imagine!  Did they do SP Daylight?  Santa Fe?  Western Maryland? 

Con Cor has a long history of foobies.  They set the bar for Legendary Liveries.

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

Oct 4, 2023 5:55:04 GMT -8 edwardsutorik said:

And let's not forget this one:


I've got one, though it's never left the box. I know someone else who has one, and it's been run on Free-mo setups.

Ed

I have one.Currently in the box still, but has been out and run well the few times I ran it. Growing up along the Chicago-Detroit NYC Mainline it was a frequent after dinner venture for Dad to take us trackside to watch it pass. It was probably the first pre-order I'd ever made. At the National train show in Detroit Jim Conway had one on display....when I excitedly told him I had one pre ordered, he replied, " Oh, so YOU'RE the one...

I also had an M-10000 that I never did take out of the box..It was a beauty. Never "needed" it like the Aerotrain. Held it's value on resale.

[Mr. Trainiac]

Oct 4, 2023 5:55:04 GMT -8 edwardsutorik said:

And let's not forget this one:

Ed

And also the New Haven Comet. That's another unusual one that doesn't show up on eBay very often.

I've thought about buying the Aerotrain a few times. The GM Demo set would be cool. The only thing I wish they did better was the silver finish. The Aerotrain and the Zephyr look a bit dull. I own the Postwar Zephyr with the dual headlights, and I am tempted to strip it and repaint it with Alclad. The running qualities are great, but it doesn't hold a candle to the plated brass models.

[rockfan]

Don't waste your money on con cor.

They made a Rocket trainset, I bought it. I ended up taking it back to the hobby shop and it finally sold on consignment.

Go with walthers, great cars. I put 58's on them and they couple so close they are hard to separate.

[crblue]

Oct 4, 2023 5:35:44 GMT -8 NYSW3614 said:

Same comments, newer CC is quite good.

My mis-guided PRR modeler friends picked up a bunch for MP54s and were quite impressed. They run well and the rolling quality of the non-powered ones is FANTASTIC.

Same friends are very hopeful that CC will do the Silverliners but no luck, yet.

The Reading Crusader sets were received well. I urged them to consider some other northeast standard/streamline steam but no dice.

Joshua

I suspect that they won't, as - except for Silverliner I's which were really Pioneer III's - IMW produces all of them. You might want to shoot this link over to your friends.

islandmodelworks.com/philly.html

[lvrr325]

Con-Cor has been all over the map both importing things made elsewhere by Kato and Roco, producing former Revell pieces, and coming up with their own products like the MP15. When they were the importer for Rivarossi they did improve some of the steam with Kato motors, but you also got Rivarossi E8 pairs in every roadname you can imagine (for instance, D&H blue and grey). So sometimes they've had things that were decent or even top quality for the era they were made, while other times they've produced items barely above 80s train set level junk.

Some of my favorite goofy things are the N UP Turbine in various roads - I had a Great Northern one a couple years ago - and the Rivarossi streamlined Hudson they turned into a Lehigh Valley Pacific. I have a Kato made N center cab diesel, a Japanese prototype, with a Con-Cor label and painted Norfolk & Western black here too.

[grabirons]

They made some 5 unit intermodal husky stack cars in the late 90's that were descent. They had blackened brass wheel sets ect. They weren't a good car to pull around empty but still descent. I remember them being 35$ per set. I had 2 sets of SP cars. I don't think they ever did more than one run of them.

[hudsonyard]

the LIRR MP54's they did look great....the drives in them are shit. a friend models a significant chunk of LIRR electrified territory and most of his powered units are sidelined with some kind of issue, he might be the only one whose put that many hours of run time on them though. most LIRR "modelers" are guys who buy boxes to put on a shelf.

[locochris]

Today I tried comparing the 85' Amtrak legacy cars with the ones on rrpicturearchives.net. The closest one to the prototype was #9354, a PS mid-train dome. The roof was completely wrong, but the rest looked close. The other cars were even worse, like a PS car that was really supposed to be a Budd, that kind of thing.

[wagnersteve]

October 4, 2023, starting about 9:30 p.m., EDT, with a long interruption for getting ready for bed

Some of Con-Cor's earliest HO kits were not very good. As indicated above, some of their later products were very good indeed. As others have noted, the PRR MP54 MU cars are excellent, and as cpr5200 correctly noted, the B&M did have quite a few of them. (The B&M acquired steel coaches from some other railroads as well to replace wood-bodied cars in commuter trains.) I have one undecorated one I want to decal for the B&M and would love to find another.

My particular favorite was Con-Cor's kit for single-bay Airside covered hopers built by General American in its earlier style, with the diagonal end bracing fully exposed. They were certainly easier to build than E&B Valley's "flat" kits of the same type, which didn't have cast-on locators allowing easy squaring of the sides and ends, and somewhat easier than the Walthers version in which the diagonal braces had to be carefully trimmed. Con-for managed to cast the underbody with the end bracing in the same piece. I wrote decades ago that I thought that was one of the best casting jobs since Benvenuto Collin's bronze casting of Perseus holding the head of Medusa during the Italian Renaissance. I was glad to relate that to Con-Cor's owner a few years back.

The Electroliner model was very appealing, and I've seen movies and videos of the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee's operations; but I never got to ride that line before its abandonment. However, the oldest of my younger brothers and I occupied the "railman's seats" next to the motorman's cab on the first revenue run of a Liberty Liner that the Phila. Suburban Trans'n Co. (the Red Arrow Lines) converted from an Electronliner; and if Con-Cor ever produced a model of that I'd be strongly tempted to buy one.

P.S. I think I saw earlier models based on the Aerotrain flop, possibly made by Varney, at the memorable toy department of Wanamaker's, the grandest department store in Philadelphia's Center City, in the late 1950's or early 1960's.

[lvrr325]

Varney made a fairly decent for the time Aerotrain, yes. I have one, plus some spares, plus a few pieces from Bowser's re-release.

[grahamline]

There was also a fish belly 50' gondola that matched up to something, and a acceptable PFE reefer that slotted in between the 40'and 57' Athearn models. And the switchers made with Kato drives that ended up on bargain tables because of so-so body shells.
But the line seemed to be pretty random and repeat runs were infrequent.

[sd80mac]

For the most part, on par with the old AHM and Life Like stuff. That being said, the UP M-10000, Pioneer Zephyr, and Aerotrain sets they made were actually quite nice.

[locochris]

I ordered a couple of the old style wooden box cars. Will report back as to how they are. The passenger cars were too non-prototypical for my liking, plus no interiors.

[drolsen]

I wrote off Con-Cor years ago and am surprised they are still in business. No ill will towards them, it’s just that their models that were kind of on par with others in the 1990s and found in most hobby shops never really advanced and subsequently disappeared from shelves. I never want to see a model railroad manufacturer fail, so I’m glad they’re still in business. It just would never cross my mind to search for any of their products.

Back in the day, they were the only source for Amtrak Superliners and MHCs, plus they had a smooth side baggage car that resembled an Amtrak Heritage car. Those models are pretty crude by today’s standards. I actually hope to one day graft the roof from a Con-Cor MHC I onto a Walthers MHC II to kitbash a better MHC I.

Having said all that, they also made a North Shore Line Electroliner set that I’ve always wanted. My dad grew up riding the North Shore Line and still talks about it. I’d like to have one just to display, but I’ve always balked at the price.

Dave

[soolinerr]

There was a PCC streetcar a few years back that was quite nice

[lvrr325]

The gondola and the switcher shell are Revell tooling circa 1956, maybe that reefer too. Con-Cor got most of the Revell stuff except the structures. Some of it they never used, like the F9 shell. Some of it they ran until the dies broke - the set of 7 1961 Chrysler cars, the later sets some of the parts are pretty rough, the grilles/bumpers needed a lot of cleanup and the accessory parts nearly unusuable. With the demand for decent HO autos I am surprised someone doesn't restore or recreate the grille/bumper tool and run more of them.

I would agree they were on the random side given easily 75% of their items originated elsewhere. They even did custom painted runs of both Athearn and Proto 2000 locomotives, a-la Bev Bel.

[grahamline]

The R-70-12 etc reefers appeaared in the 1980s or early '90s and originated with Con-Cor. The body molding was as good as anything at the time but the lettering was not as good as it might have been.

[locochris]

I received the two Con-Cor boxcars today. I knew I was in trouble when I saw on the outside of the boxes the phrase "Famous trains of your childhood". Yikes. I definitely got ripped off, but I knew that would be a risk going in. Plastic wheels, push pin trucks, push pin coupler box lids (one of which broke when taking the lid off). The door sliding mechanisms had small plastic tabs that were already partially broken off; very flimsy. I was astonished that these things even had McHenry couplers instead of horn hook, but they had installed a washer in each coupler box to keep the McHenries straight. I guess the only good thing I can say about them is that the archbar trucks actually look better than the Bachmann archbar trucks.

[grabirons]

I was looking at a used train site and i noticed these, www.trainz.com/collections/ho-scale-model-trains/products/con-cor-ho-scale-assorted-freight-cars-w-trailers-620162-62017-513901-3-ln-box?queryId=e1fdea13ddfcb3481a2f244b46d19b01&objectId=43421498703994

This site is often over priced on items, such at those.

I didn't even know they made those, these must have been from the late 1990's as well?

They made 5 unit car sets too as I noted above in post. These are all below Mainline series in terms of detail. Extremely light weight plastic cars with metal painted weights.

[jonklein611]

Oct 13, 2023 11:00:26 GMT -8 grabirons said:

I was looking at a used train site and i noticed these, www.trainz.com/collections/ho-scale-model-trains/products/con-cor-ho-scale-assorted-freight-cars-w-trailers-620162-62017-513901-3-ln-box?queryId=e1fdea13ddfcb3481a2f244b46d19b01&objectId=43421498703994

This site is often over priced on items, such at those.

I didn't even know they made those, these must have been from the late 1990's as well?

They made 5 unit car sets too as I noted above in post. These are all below Mainline series in terms of detail. Extremely light weight plastic cars with metal painted weights.

It always annoyed me that BN used red for their well cars. As a young sprout, I remember ordering a Husky Stack set from Athearn via my local hobby shop. I picked BN from the list thinking they would be different (BN stuff is green!), had I known they were red, I would have chosen the TTX option. Oh the joys of times before the internet...

ConCor used to be one of the "decent" superliner options, but are now grossly behind Walthers / Kato.