Aerotrain ,"Cute" and "Cool"!

[Nato]

    I recieved my Con Cor Aerotrain and add on sets today. On a 1-10 scale Con Cor gets a 12 atleast. Just the box that the train and the add on cars come in is worth the price of admission . The cover art is a beautiful reproduction of a 1955 Grif Teller Painting he painted for the Pennsylvania showing the train passing a Truc Train (piggy back) on the four track ,ain line. A note about the Calendar Painting on the side of the box explains that the lettering scheme on the train was not the way the train was actually marked when one of the two ran on the PRR. Now for the train itself. I opted for the Union Pacific "City Of Las Vegas" version. I don't think I have ever referred to a model train as cute, not even the Atlas Micro Ace 2-6-0 steam locomotives, but after seeing the tiny size in N of this train it is in some ways very Cute. The locomotive is heavely weighted for max tracking, the red-orange side striping looks dead on to me who got to tour one of the trains when it was hare in Salt Lake City in 1956. There are two painted crew figures in the cab which has a plastic interrior. The rear of tfe the locomotive has the plug (connector) that jacks into one end of a passenger car, pleanty of leingth has been left to allow for movement around tight curves. Each passenger car has a plug at one end execpt for the tail car (obs car) which has one end designed to accept the plug. Small magnets on diaphrams along with the plugs keep the cars coupled and provide a seamless connection between cars & loco that looks great. The cars have tan interriors and lighting gives that flourosent light look like on Con Cors Burlington Zephyr.            The first coach in the set is designed for DCC & Sound. There are perforations in the floor for speaker sound ,the complete instruction sheet just for this car explains how to remove the body, the interrior in this car has been scored so it can be carefully broken (snapped) appart to allow for decoder and speaker install. There is a complete instruction sheet for the locomotive along with spair parts listing including the locomotive body.An identical sheet is provided for the non DCC coaches and obs car. There are all kinds of extra goodies in the main set. An nice 13 page reproduction of a Gary Dolzall article on the history of the 2 trains and the 3rd loco that went to Rock Island to pull their Talgo Train,that was in "Rail Classics" magazine. A nice color flyer for the Grif Teller Memorial Art Fund with donation info on back. Then probably the coolest item if you don't count the train,A full color reproduction of theSeptember 1955 Popular Mechanics Magazine,reproduced full size, the cover story about the Aerotrain and other new lightweight trains including Hi Level El Cap Santa Fe train is done (not the entire magazine) the headline of the story "Ten Busses Grow Into A Train" referring to GM's use of modified bus bodies for the coaches. My UP version of the train copies how it looked after UP added a winged shield emblem to the pilot. When it first entered service "City Of Los Vegas"in red was on the bumper area above the pilot,this remained and is on the model, also the train name in white on the red side stripe on the locomotive. Of course I ordered two three car add on sets so I could have the full ten car train. The add on sets come in the same box, but with 3 Car Add On Set printed on top of cover. Instruction /parts sheet is in each box.One of my favorate railroad cars was created by the UP for this train. The name alone says it all the "Howdy Partner Chuck Wagon Bufett Car". Two of the coaches were converted into a bar lounge serving area with take out from the bufett (meals were free) to your seats. They served quite a spread with all the booze you could want from publicity photos I have seen. No ,Con Cor did not do this interrior just for this set. Too bad. I will have preformance testing reports here after I hook it up and run it on my layout over the next several days. Nate Goodman (Nato). "This is way cooler then my old HO Varney Aerotrain!"

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Bus bodies on steel wheels???  Nothing cute about that at all.  I'd take a BL2 or Train of Tomorrow over this "THING" any day of the week.  And from what I can see about its history, ,most railroads felt the same way.

Reportedly rough riding, only Rock Island got a fair amount of use out of those ugly things, and that in commuter service, where the passenger was treated like Cattle.

[up1950s]

Great review Nato , thanks . I am getting the same as you . IIRC weren't the ones on the UP set up with turquoise interiors ? And if so I hope I can dissemble easily for repainting , but only if I can find that article again . I have been hoping for this day for 54 years .

[Walkercolt]

"Big Jim" was at the OKC show with an undeced sample. Looked very nice(if the Aero-Train appeals to you) and ran flawlessly. He also had a test-shot of the M-10000 "engine" shell and it was very nice also. He had the HO versions also, the M-10000 shell being painted, but unlettered and no interiors. I almost asked Jim why he didn't "retire" ten years ago, as he's made more new products since his "retirement", but I was nice. At the N-Scale banquet, he was a guest speaker, he didn't reveal anything earth-shattering, but suggested more new items were in the works, no time line even hinted at. The Aero-Train or the M-10000 don't "push my buttons", but they looked nice and ran nicely. Pricing is in the eye of the beholder. For what you get, I think it's a decent value. He promised delivery before Christmas, but I have to say I'm surprised they're in stores now.

[randgust]

For those of you that really love this thing, remember that the 'survivor' is in the St. Louis Museum of Transportation.  They had it open when I was out there and got to climb all over it, inside and outside.  As an 'equipment inspector' I found it fascinating.  It was a blank sheet of paper expiriment with what EMD had; switcher parts, busses, a first-rate style and sheet metal bending plant.

If you're in St. Louis, you really want to take to time to go see it.

[asarge]

I saw a model at Trainfest. It looked pretty nice but I don;t really want one. But if they ever do an N scale North Shore Electroliner, I'm in.

[sundowner]

Cool yes, Cute no. I seen the HO version and it is very cool.

[NYC1956]

Nate, did you get your aerotrain direct from Con-Cor?
I just checked their web site - no announcement there.
Walthers isn't expecting theirs until January 15!
--Mike

[up1950s]

Nate, did you get your aerotrain direct from Con-Cor?
I just checked their web site - no announcement there.
Walthers isn't expecting theirs until January 15!
--Mike

I have noticed that Con Cor's web site is late in being updated on many things . I find that odd .

[asarge]

Con Cor's website is usually not up to date, kind of like Red Caboose. They just put alow priority on it.

[Denver Road Doug]

I saw what Walkercolt did at OKC.  Very nice models.  I have such a love/hate relationship with my PZephyr, but it IS a world-class model and these are from the same proverbial mold.

I met Big Jim...not really what I expected.  His "legend" paints a much different mental picture...he seemed pretty down to earth to me and we had a good exchange.

[Nato]

   Yes I pre ordered my train and cars from Con Cor,their site is usually out of date. Woman at Con Cor phoned me about a week & a half ago to say they were coming in, did I still want them and to update credit card info.Bodies are easy to remove,have locking tabs shown on instruction sheet. I too would like a train of Tomorrow,there is a nice book out there on the train published by Indiana University Press. Years ago I kit bashed the UP version of the dome sleeper usuing Con Cor Rowa dome coach & slumber coach bodies. The stock dome coach was close enough in appearence to satisfi me there. Obtained more domes to do  diner,obs car, but stopped due to complex end shape on obs car. Now the Con Cor SF Pleasure dome car offers a good start for obs car, or with filling several windows can represent the Moon Glow as it later ran on UP with squared off end. This car is undergoing very slow restoration by the Utah State Railroad Museum . Nate Goodman (Nato).

[Bob Bufkin]

I just received an E-mail stating that my set will be shipped shortly, however, they received the wrong add-on sets from Con-Cor and they asked me if I wanted to use a different add on set or wait.  I'll wait for the proper one, even if I do have to pay for added shipping.  My E-tailer stated that Con-Cor messed this one up and wil not win any accolades for their mix-up. 
At least I'll have the main set running my Christmas.

[Robbman]

Somebody needs to pull the Flexicoil truck from these and show it off...

[Ryan87]

What type of flexcoil trucks is used on these? Are they similar to the ones used on the GMDD SW1200RS & GMD1's?