Has anyone used Con-cor passenger cars? Not to concerned about their running as they will be primarily there as part of the "scenery". I had in mind their coach and observation cars in Southern livery to go with a Southern 2-8-0 locomotive I have. I am to model the village of Montpelier Statio VA as there is a cluster of buildings including a depot, NS mainline track, general store with gas pumps and a couple of dwellings that would nicely fit my tiny (30"x33") layout. It also fits perfectly since it was intent to modael the layout on the old Southern Railways line which ran from Alexandria to Charlootesville VA. Since there is a spur to a baggage shed from the depot (which was originally constructed by Wm. DuPont in the early 1900's when he owned Montpelier (the former plantation of Pres. James Madison and his family in the 1790-1830 or so time frame) I wanted to have a few passenger cars on the siding representing either excursion trains (or Pullman cars of Mr DuPont and his guests). The mainline will be running an early diesel (Atlas H15-44) in the same livery and will be hauling a mix of appropriate vintage freight cars.
Well, yes but I run all mine It sounds as if you are interested in the old heavyweight cars that Con Cor imported from Rivarossi. These have been around since the late 1960's when Atlas first imported them and are still about the best heavywieght cars available. (which means there really is not much available) The coach is close to what ran on the Southern but the observation is a Santa Fe prototype. However they should do just fine in a static display.
Thanks Russell. That sounds excellent as I can get the units I need at an LHS. I am not doing absolute true prototyping here, just trying yo get a feel for the general impression which I intend to model. The "cluster" I will be doing is quite impressive as it inlcudes an overpass, main line, state highway and four buildings that are very compact in proximity. Also, while industrial scenes seem to be the "path" of choice for most n-scalers my wife and partner in this "crime" would like houses and perhaps some horses and cows as well. It happens that the plantation has a steeplechase and small flat track as well as meadows that can work in too over time.
