There is a reference by Con Cor about the hi level passenger cars in the 2008 Walthers HO reference book. It doesn’t mention a release, just prototoype description. Has anybody heard anything else about this?
If they beat Train Station Products to the punch on a lounge life would be really nice. They also mentioned the baggage dormitories (which I had to build myself using brass car sides). This would be another big plus for modelers. I realize these cars have been done in brass, but I am looking forward to seeing some releases is plastic.
I also realize there was another thread about this, but I can’t find it.
I recall hearing rumors a few years ago another manufacturer would try the plastic Hi-Level market. I guess it might now be Con-Cor. What I remember though is that Con-Cor planned to make N scale versions only.
I know the photo says HO, but after waiting 6 years + on the lounge I’ve about given up on one in plastic. I’m not ready (just yet) to get my hopes up again []
Here is that other thread you mentioned:
Con-Cor Hi-Levels
And here is the photo Charlie posted in that thread:
There were more than 2 cars converted to dorms for the Hi-Level El Cap, but I’m assuming mentioning just 2 means Con-Cor plans to make the Budd version…if they intend to make these at all.
I called the number on the Con Cor website and spoke to someone there, and they had no idea what I was talking about. He told me that Con Cor did the hi levels some years back, but they are discontinued. I wasn’t about to tell him that he was dead wrong though. I wonder if he wasn’t mistaking the Superliners for the hi level cars. It is trivial that they would throw that up in the '08 Walthers book with no explanation, though.
I also e-mailed them and haven’t heard back yet. Who knows…
As far as the baggage/dorm goes, I wish somebody would do the P/S cars. Here is a pic of what I had to do. This is an old pic. The car is finished. It is lettered, painted, roof details added, grabs added, and has shades installed.
By the end of all this I’m going to end up having three sets of El Caps (2 without lounges). What a waste of money this train has turned out to be [xx(] And I thought Hi-Levels were economical [(-D]
First the TSP kits, then the Intermountain ready to runs, and now Con-Cor. I haven’t even finished the interior detailing on the Intermountains yet [banghead]
I have three Lounges with interiors, but the Overland’s are not cheap.
I would hope they do the new Con-Cor cars with plating to look like Stainless steel and match the Genesis F units, and then I could sell of some Hi-level train sets.
I hope that the lounge matches reasonably well with the TSP cars because I don’t want to have to purchase a whole new fleet of hi levels and go through painting, decalling, and detailing all over again. I enjoy that aspect of this hobby, but I don’t like to do things over again.
I like the finish on the Zephyr sets they did. That would be fine by me if they used that same finish for the hi level cars. I am also anxious to see if they are going to be the same high quality of their latest releases, or the same low quality of the older Superliner cars they did. If they are going to be like the Superliners, I won’t even bother wasting my money.
I will say that most of Concors older stuff is pretty lousy. I once owned their Superliners and of course they were all that was available at the time but they weren’t very good. The trucks were competely wrong and the corregations didn’t wrap around the roof like they should. As soon as Walthers produced their Superliner I’s, I sold off my Concors. I used to have Concor budd domes for the California Zephyr and most of that line was only vaguely similar to the CZ cars and that in only a few cases (Dome-coaches, Dome-obs and 10-6 sleeper). My concor passenger cars were sold off as soon as they could be replaced with something more accurate (1st a brass CZ set and now the BLI CZ cars).
That said, I haven’t seen their recently tooled stuff and I would certainly hope they have little resemablance to the old Concor junk. If they do Santa Fe hi-level cars better check them out before buying. All I need are the transition coach-dorm cars for Amtrak 80’s era on the Amtrak Superliner CZ. I have on order a TSP car coming in Phase III paint RTR via Intermountain.
I hope that Con Cor has learned from their previous models and produce the High Levels that are comparable in detail to Walthers, BLI and Rapido. Smitty, did you receive the package of detail parts?
]
