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 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 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.

Highly detailed bodies, with separate add on parts where appropriate. Diaphrams between cars Full interior details LED interior car lightling with circuit boards in each car Electrical pick-up and metal wheelsets on all cars Dual flywheel drive 5 pole scewed 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. We are working on some additional collector's paper to be included with First Run Collector's Box. So if anyone out there has AeroTrain Timetables, brochures etc that we may borrow to copy and include with the set packaging we would like to hear from you. Any copies we make will be marked "as copies" so the value of the Original Collector's material will not be diminished.
Loco Cab interior
First run Special Edition Collector's Box.

We are working on some additional collector's paper to be included with First Run Collector's Box. So if anyone out there has AeroTrain Timetables, brochures etc that we may borrow to copy and include with the set packaging we would like to hear from you. Any copies we make will be marked "as copies" so the value of the Original Collector's material will not be diminished.

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.

Delivery:
We expect delivery of the "N" Aerotrain model a few months after the "HO" version is delivered.(about mid-2007)

Size of production run will be determined by number of advance orders we receive. Do not be disappointed reserve yours as early as possible.

**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 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.