For a number of years, I was caught up in that ignorance is bliss thing with my ConCor passenger trains thinking they were all complete and so forth, and they were according to ConCor. They all included a baggage car, mail car, sleeping car, coach, dining car, dome car and observation car. But I eventually found out that what I had was in fact just fantasy trains made up by the company… Oh well. They looked good on the tracks going around my layout. I still however believe in the old saying of - If it’s fun, let it run!.
So what recent event showed you the light? If you lived in ignorant bliss for a number of years, why now? It would be useful to all of us to know what changed your mind.
I have N-scale Con-cor Budd cars for VIA Rail. They seem to be quite fine, although some say that the ridges are reversed.
Their Park Observation (bullet lounge) car is modelled after one that really exists. Indeed, I got to ride in the real Yoho Park last May on my trip to Halifax on VIA Rail’s The Ocean.
Don’t know who is feeding you info but you are a little off base here.Here is the list of prototypes for the HO cars.Most of the N scale were made off the same plans. Info per Andrew Harman.
Don’t know who is feeding you info but you are a little off base here.Here is the list of prototypes for the HO cars.Most of the N scale were made off the same plans. Info per Andrew Harman.
Smitty you are erntitled to your opinion, but that does not make it fact. The original poster said they were made up which is not true, unlike the current IHC cars. The fluting is not correct, but the tooling was made iun the 70’s in Austria when the tool maker had never seen a real Budd car. I think you are unfairly comparing them to current BLI/Walthers which in the case of BLI are 4 times the cost $60 vs $18.
My “opinion” is fact in regards to incorrect fluting, incorrect underbody detail, and dimensions. For example, the Con Cor dome, which is based on a Santa Fe 500 series dome, is too short, and the window dimensions are wrong. All of their cars sit too high, and for the most part, the trucks are prototypically incorrect. Then you have to weight them and add couplers and other assorted details to bring them close to be being protypical. I spend countless hours of research when modeling passenger cars and these are the facts that I have found through my research.
I don’t understand how this is an unfair comparison. There are better cars on the market. It is that simple.
Smitty,Perhaps you are comparing cherrys to blackberries…One can’t justly compare cars made in the 70s with todays scale length super detailed offerings…You see thats like comparing a Athearn FP7 with a Genesis F7.There no real comparison between the two one is from a die made in the 50s while the other is a state of the art model…
The OP stated that he found that the cars were not prototypically correct and I was just agreeing to that. I didn’t realize that I was stepping on toes.
And the Genesis F7s compared to older offerings are much better models. The comparison is not unjust or unfair, it is just a comparison. My comparison isn’t based on price, but simply that there are better models available now as opposed to models with older tooling.
What looks more protypically correct? Six passenger cars running around your layout that are less than accurate or two detailed cars parked on a siding waiting for you to afford for the rest of your fleet to arrive( 6 X $18 vs. 2 X $60). It is just a matter of what your priorities and often times budget are. While the details are not correct a six car passenger train looks more protypical than a two car consist in most situations.
My major bone of contention with Con-Cor’s passenger fleet is the misguided paint jobs they just slap on them.
For example, the NH cars they are running these days have gray roofs, silver trucks, and a red window band that goes across the door. They should have black roofs, black trucks, and an orange window band that does not go across the door. These are simple painting mistakes, and shows a total lack of interest in accuracy on Con-Cor’s part.
I realize these aren’t NH prototypes (the NH’s stainless non-sleeper fleet had turtle back roofs), and I don’t expect them to put the 24.5" square NH logos over each truck. But they could easily paint the things the right colors.
At my club, we use Con-Cor cars for the club’s fleet of equipment. Why? Because they are cheap 85’ cars of better quality than the current IHC garbage. I can usually pick them up for under $10 ea., sometimes for $5. And when you want a fleet of club passenger cars (something like 30+ cars), you’ll take prices over accuracy. The nice thing about our club stuff is that it’s the first to go into storage when the members bring in their own equipment. So really it’s all “stand ins” for the good stuff.
I picked up some old Concor daylighters and I haven’t a clue as to how accurate they are, but I guaranty that most of the people who view my layout don’t either. So, until I come up with something better they satisfy my passenger train fix ( main priority ).
Everyone needs to remember that each person is at their own specific point in the hobby and that a perfect model can be difficult. For me, I plan to super-datail and research to better detail, but not a cost of having only a few models. I like to run trains and if they aren’t perfectly prototypical then oh well.
Alright, I was just pointing out, as the OP did, that Con Cor cars aren’t the greatest prototypical passenger cars. I could care less if someone else wanted to run heavyweight cars painted in Amtrak colors behind a pink Challenger. I hold myself to a higher standard when it comes to passenger car modeling, and no one else.
I apologize if I offended anyone while pointing out the facts about Con Cor cars.
I am definately with you on that. If I knew I was going to take any kind of heat for posting a couple of facts, I would have overlooked this whole thing.
Ah, I misunderstood what you meant at first. I thought you meant the train as a whole, not just the cars. I’ve noticed many people, even experienced modelers, will buy and make up trains of one type of each car. Trains made up in this manner are specialty car heavy with no place for the passengers to actually ride. In the train mentioned above, the only two cars definitely for fair paying passengers are the coach and the sleeper. The dome might be a coach, sleeper which would be good, but if it is a lounge it drops out of fair collections also.
To make up small passenger trains I usually start by dropping the RPO. From there I go with two coaches or two sleepers depending on the class of the train. I follow that by the diner, and then another coach or sleeper to match the front cars, followed by the observation.
A friend of mine that’s a detail freak came over one day a while back when I had one of my passenger trains running (Union Pacific) and announced to me - That’s not right dude… What’s not right I asked. Passenger trains weren’t arranged like that he replied, and went on to tell me that I should have had less of this and more of that in the consist. The only thing I could offer in my defense was that I bought the set like that and just took it for granite that was the way it was supposed to be run. I’m glad to know better now, but I still run it and the others just as I always have because it looks good. I admit though that now that I know better it’s just not the same…