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Place Your Reservation NOW!
From:
Now Accepting
Reservations for
the "HO" and "N" AeroTrain Collectors Sets
The AeroTrain name is recognized by most model railroaders, and yet finding
good information about it has been a challenge.
Brief History:
There were two AeroTrain consists (train #1000 and train #1001). Built in
1955 and debuted at the 1955 "GM Powerama" which was held at Soldier's
Field just south of Downtown Chicago.
The two AeroTrain demonstrator sets logged over 600,000 miles traveling
coast to coast and were open to the public for viewing in many major cities.
In addition to the roads listed below that we can verify used the AeroTrain
in regular service, we know it also ran on many other railroads such as the
Southern Pacific, New Haven, Canadian National, and spent a couple of months in
Mexico.
Today you can find parts of one Train Set at the Museum in St. Louis, and
parts of the other Train Set at the Museum in Green Bay. The one in St. Louis
was cosmetically restored about 5 years ago using a $10,000 donation from the
NMRA.
The Consist of each AeroTrain
Each AeroTrain consisted of the locomotive unit, 8-40 seat coaches and the
tail end observation car. A total of 10 units per train set. The Locomotive used
the drive train off the SW-1200 switcher (regeared so it could hit a top speed
of 102 mph), and the car bodies were built using parts from an inter-city bus
body that GM was building at the time.
The GM Designer responsible for the AeroTrain project Charles
"Chuck" Jordan is retired and living in Southern California.
"Chuck" was very helpful with Con-Cor in confirming design
specifications and details of the AeroTrain. "Chuck" was the primary
designer of the 1958 Corvette, and was named Cadillac’s Chief of Design in
1959. We owe a huge "THANK YOU" to Chuck for his help on this
project.
Details on Con-Cor's "HO" Model:
Con-Cor will offer the AeroTrain in a basic set of 4 units, the Locomotive 2
coaches and the Observation car. And "add-on" sets of 3 more coaches
will be offered. So a modeler can buy the basic 4 unit set, plus one
"add-on" coach set to make a 7 car "AeroTrain", or buy 2 of
the "add-on" coach sets to reproduce the full 10 car prototype train.
"HO" Version: Introductory 4 car sets...(Engine, 2
coach cars, and tail end observation $429.98**
MSRP: $429.98**
Reservation Price $339.98**
0001-008740 Undecorated (painted Silver, no other paint or lettering)
0001-008741 G.M. Demonstrator color scheme
0001-008742 Pennsylvania Ry. (Pennsy AeroTrain) 1956
0001-008743 New York Central (ran as Great Lakes AeroTrain) (1956)
0001-008744 Union Pacific (ran as City of Las Vegas)(1957)
0001-008745 Santa Fe (ran as The San Diegan) 1956
0001-008746 Rock Island (1958-1966)
"HO" Version Add-On 3 car Coach set, Price "to be
determined"
0001-008750 Undecorated (painted Silver, no other paint or lettering)
0001-008751 G.M. Demonstrator color scheme
0001-008752 Pennsylvania Ry. (Pennsy AeroTrain) 1956
0001-008753 New York Central (Great Lakes AeroTrain) (1956)
0001-008754 Union Pacific (City of Las Vegas)(1957)
0001-008755 Santa Fe (The San Diegan) 1956
0001-008756 Rock Island (1958-1966)
Features of the "HO" Model.
Con-Cor is still working on the design specifications and probably will not
have the final details until early Fall of 2006. But the design similar to their
"HO" and "N" Pioneer Zephyr models introduced recently but
with some added features.
Highly detailed bodies, with separate add on parts where appropriate. Diaphragms
between cars Full interior details LED interior car lighting with circuit boards
in each car Electrical pick-up and metal wheel sets on all cars Dual flywheel
drive 5 pole skewed armature motor Functional reversing front headlights, and
tail of observation back up lights. Flashing front headlights (in DCC mode) as
Prototype used for Grade Crossings Will come with a dual function circuit board
and chips for Analog (normal 12v DC) or basic DCC Functions built in. NMRA pin
array mounted on Circuit board for Optional installation of sound DCC (end user
supplies Sound Decoder, and speaker if desired). Loco Cab interior First run
Special Edition Collector's Box. Con-Cor is working on some additional
collector's paper to be included with First Run Collector's Box.
The AeroTrain will be as faithfully reproduced as possible. It is
designed so you can just buy the basic 4 car set and it will run just fine as a
4 car train with all the features. But it will be easy to add the extra
"Add-on" car sets) to make a longer train if you so choose either
immediately, or at a later date.
Size of production run will be determined by number of advance orders
Con-Cor receives. Do not be disappointed and reserve yours as early as
possible.
Delivery:
We expect April 2007 delivery of the HO models, the N models a bit later on.
** Estimated Retail price includes about a 10% inflation
factor for items to be delivered during 2007 due to rising oil, transportation,
wages and material costs in China that our China factory has already advised us
of.
As with all very complicated projects, this delivery date is
only an educated projection. Some delay may occur on any project of this size
and complexity.
The links below are to 3-D Computer Generated Preliminary
Design Drawings for the "HO" version. These are not final and for
reference for Con-Cor designers only. These are fairly large files and
will take time to download, so we listed them individually.
And Con-Cor repeats, these are not "final". Small
details and add-on pc are NOT shown in these early design views and much work
remains by the engineering staff.
AeroTrain Design Engine 3/4
Front View
AeroTrain Design Engine Nose
Front View
AeroTrain Design Engine
/Engineer Side View
AeroTrain Design Back View of
Engine
AeroTrain Design Engine Top
View
AeroTrain Design Engine
Underside View
AeroTrain Coach Car side
View
AeroTrain Coach Car
"A" End View
AeroTrain Coach Car
"B" End View
AeroTrain Coach Car
underside View
AeroTrain Observation Full
Side View
AeroTrain Observation 3/4
top View
AeroTrain Observation 3/4
Side View
AeroTrain Observation Tail
End View
AeroTrain Observation
Underside View
Information on the Con-Cor "N" Version of the AeroTrain follows:
Details on the "N" Scale version of the AeroTrain.
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