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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. At the same show GM showed a Solar Powered Automobile (Geeze this was 51 years ago!) -and still no solar automobiles.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 verrify used the AeroTrain is 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.Anyone who can help with photos of the AeroTrain running on other railroads would be appreciated. Just send us an Email on what you have. (Click on Email link at the bottom of this page.)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 cosmeticly restored about 5 years ago using a $10,000 donation from the NMRA.The Consist of each AeroTrainEach 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 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.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.Details on the "N" Scale version of the AeroTrain.
The AeroTrain will be as faithfully reproduced as we can make it. 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 set(s) to make a longer train if you so choose either immediately, or at a later date.Details on Con-Cor's "N" 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."N" Version: Introductory 4 car sets...(Engine, 2 coach cars, and tail end observation $429.98**0001-008760 Undecorated (painted Silver, no other paint or lettering) 0001-008761 G.M. Demonstrator color scheme 0001-008762 Pennsylvania Ry. (Pennsy AeroTrain) 19560001-008763 New York Central (ran as Great Lakes AeroTrain) (1956) 0001-008764 Union Pacific (ran as City of Las Vegas)(1957) 0001-008765 Santa Fe (ran as The San Diegan) 19560001-008766 Rock Island (1958-1966) "N" Version Add-On 3 car Coach set, Price "to be determined"0001-008770 Undecorated (painted Silver, no other paint or lettering) 0001-008771 G.M. Demonstrator color scheme 0001-008772 Pennsylvania Ry. (Pennsy AeroTrain) (1956) 0001-008773 New York Central (Great Lakes AeroTrain) (1956) 0001-008774 Union Pacific (City of Las Vegas)(1957) 0001-008775 Santa Fe (The San Diegan) (1956) 0001-008776 Rock Island (1958-1966) Call Pacific Western Rail Today to Order (866) 840-7777 |