Welcome to the latest edition of Rapido News. We're just three issues away from #100. That is a totally meaningless statistic, but we thought we'd share it with you anyway.

In this issue: 

The New Haven EP-5 Jets are electric locomotives delivered in 1955 to power trains between New Haven and New York's Grand Central Terminal. They quickly became iconic locomotives for their unique appearance, modern styling and gorgeous color scheme. Their status was also helped by hugely popular tinplate models made by American Flyer and Lionel back in the day.

With a small fleet of only ten locomotives and electric ones at that, you'd think that the demand for Jets wouldn't be that great. Since we did a soft launch of this model last week we've been inundated with orders. Iconic locomotives are just that - iconic - and would look equally at home on your layout or in your display case. Like the New Haven? Love the Jet!

The New Haven Jets were modified soon after delivery with large body-side vents to help cool down the electrical equipment inside. We are tooling both the as-delivered version and the modified version. The Jets wore a number of different paint scheme variations, including the experimental yellow scheme, the as-delivered New Haven scheme, the modified New Haven scheme with smaller nose logos, and Penn Central. We're doing all of these schemes, hence 15 product numbers for a fleet of ten locomotives!

We're not doing the short-lived freight version with only one pantograph as we don't think they would sell enough to cover the tooling costs. If you really, really want one, your first will cost you $20,000 and the rest will be regular price...

Above is a 3D rendering of the roof detail. The model is in the tooling workshop now and we expect samples in late spring or early summer.

Our HO scale New Haven Jet is loaded with features:

• Accurate dimensions
• Numerous detail differences for each paint scheme
• Pantographs raise and lower in DCC
• Accurate Jet sounds - and no we didn't just record a vacuum cleaner
• Working headlights, class lights, ground lights, cab interior lights
  (DCC required for some lighting features.)

We have to thank Rick Abramson for putting the idea in our heads in the first place. If you watch our FL9 video filmed on his layout you'll see what I'm talking about. The title of the video is FL9: Encounter at Bridgeport. It's one of our best. I think Bill and I are the only people who have ever beamed down into Rick's kitchen. 

You have plenty of time to order your fleet of Jets. The order deadline is September 17th, with delivery in early 2019. As usual, we want to show you samples in our newsletter and on our YouTube channel before the order deadline.

You can read more about the Jets and/or order direct by clicking here.

Immediately after Chinese New Year we are starting production of our new N scale 8600-series coaches. Simply put, if you model the northeast, you need these coaches. The 103-strong fleet was the backbone of New Haven and many pool services from the 1940s until Penn Central, and many lasted well beyond that. The last 8600 coach was retired in 1988! By then they were in Boston commuter service.

Our N scale model features the usual Rapido detail, including full interior, "Easy-Peasy" lighting, etched metal end gates, and fully-rendered underbody.

Unlike our HO customers, N scale modellers - and N scale suppliers - in the United States have been used to getting Rapido models for months after the release date. That is because one of our distributors has been a huge supporter of the N scale market and would buy plenty of inventory to serve the N scale suppliers for months. That distributor is now retiring, and as a result we've seen a drop in our N scale rolling stock pre-orders of over 25%.

That means you can't expect to find N scale Rapido coaches sitting on the hobby shop shelves like in the past. Please make sure you pre-order these coaches or you will miss them.

Click here for more info or to order direct. Your hobby shop has to submit their orders by Tuesday February 13th. Distributors need to submit their orders by Thursday February 15th.

New Video! First Royal Hudson Steam Engine Sample

After more than two years of development we've finally received the first test sample of our new HO scale Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson. And I mean "first test sample." Usually the first samples - even of diesel locomotives - don't even run. This thing runs and has fully operating running gear.

Click on the images or right here to watch the video of Dan and me testing the sample for the first time.

This Royal Hudson sample weighs a pound and a half! It will have no problem pulling your CP passenger train, freight train or rhinoceros.

I have almost nothing to do with the Royal Hudson project - it's all Dan and Bill. They deserve all the credit. A lot of people think that Rapido is a one-man show. It's not - I may be the face of the company but the only projects I manage are the British buses, Turbos and GMD-1s. Everything else is handled by Bill, Gareth, Dan, and Josh. And Gomez does the sound. And Jordan handles the shipments. And Mike does the repairs. And Janet and Sidura run the back end... you get the idea.

We now have an order deadline for the Royal Hudson. It is July 1st, 2018 - Dominion Day. Rather appropriate, as the Royal Hudson most likely pulled the train of the same name.

Click here for more information or to order direct.

Two years ago we saved an RDC. We had no choice - it was going to be scrapped and we just had to save it. We had no business case for saving it, but railway preservation is near and dear to all of us here at Rapido (except for Janet). We're pleased to tell you that 6133 is almost fully operational, and just a couple of weeks ago we took it for a spin - and caught it all on camera!

Click here or on the images to watch the video, which includes a tour of 6133 by Chris Fox and John Carey, the two guys who got it running.

There is still quite a bit to do on 6133, but nothing too difficult (thankfully!). We plan to lease 6133 to a tourist railroad and use the funds to finance the restoration of our Pullman-Standard sleeping car, Edmundston. Now that is a huge project. Bigger than the RDC, even. But it's our baby and we have to nurse it back to health.

You can support our restoration efforts by ordering a model of 6133 here.

We also have a new run of HO scale RDCs available to order. This includes RDC-2s, RDC-3s, more roadnames for the RDC-1, and Santa Fe's unique two-car RDC set, DC-191 and DC-192. More information below. Read on!

Our factories have been catching up a lot lately, but they are still a little behind. So we're pushing back some order deadlines. This will also give us time to show you more videos of these models in operation before the deadline.

Order deadlines are important. We made an extra 500 SW1200RS locomotives beyond our pre-orders. The models have not yet arrived and they are all sold out! We turn away SW1200RS orders every day - no exaggeration. All the guys who sat on the fence have to hope that some stores still have stock available. Please make sure you order your Rapido models by their respective deadlines!

N Scale TurboTrain
The first sample just arrived a few days before the big Springfield show. It doesn't have rivets yet and the interior lighting is bright enough to be seen from the moon (so still a few things left to do!). That being said, it is AWESOME! And it runs like a Swiss watch - a far cry from our HO Turbo in 2008 which ran like a bus with no tires and an elephant on the roof.

The new order deadline is March 26th. Production will begin immediately afterward. We've uploaded a quickie video to our YouTube channel ( click here to watch it) and we'll be uploading a full video to YouTube later this month. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Click here for more information or to reserve your Turbo.

HO Scale RDC
We should have our first samples of the rebuilt Santa Fe RDC set later this month, as well as newer samples of the RDC-2 and RDC-3. We actually tooled these in 2016, and the samples we've been using for publicity were knocked together using old shells lying around the office! We will film a new YouTube video once the samples arrive.

Here is some info about the accuracy of our new run of RDC models (click on a roadname to see an illustration and unit numbers):

• Santa Fe RDCs are all-new tooling and are accurate for the real DC-191 and DC-192. They are not standard RDC models painted in Santa Fe colors.
• Great Northern and VIA Rail Canada RDCs will have the correct windows blanked, as per the prototype.
• VIA Rail Canada RDCs #6148 and 6215 will have snack bars installed at the factory. Sorry the snack bars are just decorative - the mini-fridge doesn't actually work.
• We've tooled extra details, such as the Northern Pacific snow plough, the Western Pacific number boards, the Chesapeake & Ohio roof bell and door light, the Alaska Railroad strobes and diaphragms, the Rock Island sun shades, and the BC Rail step covers

The new order deadline is March 26th. Click here for more info or to order direct. 

N Scale GMD-1
The tooling is all done for this project, but we won't have production time available until the spring. This is a "last hurrah" for the N scale GMD-1. I can't see us doing another run for another four or five years at least.

Available in this run are:

• 1400-series rebuilds (with stripes)
• 1100-series rebuilds (as shown above)
• Cuban oddballs
• 1000-series CNR 1954 (green) new numbers

The new order deadline is April 30th. Full information can be found here. 

The floodgates have opened. Here's the latest shipping schedule. Not everything is included here. For a full schedule, please visit our web site.

• In stores now: HO 3800 cu. ft. Cylindrical Hopper - first shipment
• Arriving next week: HO scale New Haven Parlor Cars; the rest of the Montreal buses
• Arriving February 20: HO 3800 cu. ft. Cylindrical Hopper - final shipment
• Arriving March 5: HO scale New Look Bus - all remaining liveries
• Arriving March 15: HO scale SW1200RS (CN); HO scale Amtrak F40PH; N scale Pendolino

There will be no more shipments until late April or early May due to the Chinese New Year break.  

Our next newsletter will feature an all-new HO scale locomotive announcement. Above is a photo from the new tooling - we are expecting our first samples any day now. More on that at the end of this newsletter.

Winnipeg, Barrie, Denver, Copetown, Philadelphia, York, Calgary, Toronto

We don't do a lot of shows but it seems we're very busy with them for the next couple of months. And I have managed to obtain some exit visas from my wife so I will be at several of the events.

Thursday February 15th, 6 p.m.
Jason Meet & Greet, Warehouse Hobbies, 265 Rouge Road, Winnipeg

February 17-18
Barrie Model Train Show, Barrie, Ontario

March 3-4
Rocky Mountain Train Show, Denver, Colorado

March 4th
Copetown Train Show, Copetown (Hamilton), Ontario
I will be driving the Rapido Bus. Unfortunately it doesn't fit in the hall...

March 17th
Toronto Railway Prototype Modellers, Toronto, Ontario

March 23-25
Railroad Prototype Modellers Valley Forge
Valley Forge (near Philadelphia), Pennsylvania
Bill will be there with bells on! (They are on F1.)

March 31 - April 2
York Model Railway Show, York, England
Come see Gareth and Bill in the UK!
(Two shows in two weeks. Bill's wife is about to revoke his exit visa.)

April 14-15
Supertrain, Calgary, Alberta
I will be the guest speaker on Saturday night. Bring your ear plugs and sleep masks.

April 28-29
Great British Train Show, Brampton, Ontario
Bill will be at that show too. Bill will by then be living out of his car.
We're going to let him sleep in the bus.

We're clearing out our warehouse and we've got a tonne of old stuff we want to get rid of. We put some number boards on our web site a few days ago and they have been selling like hot cakes. We have RS-18 and S-13 number boards still available. One or two LRCs. An M420. And even an old NW2. Click here to order. If you are outside Canada, see what you want and then reply to this email and Jordan will handle your order manually.

We also have two of these available:

The train above was a wooden toy that VIA asked us to produce. After making the prototypes, we decided that we did not want to take the liability risk of making children's toys.

We have two prototypes available for sale. That's it. The only other trains we made have been destroyed by my kids and Dan's nephew. These two prototypes have never been played with.

We're opening a silent auction for one or both of these. Make us an offer by replying to this email. All proceeds will go to the restoration of Edmundston. These are totally unique wooden trains. We suggest you put them on display rather than giving them to your nearest three year old.

My prototypes were left outside in the sandbox for six months....

Over the last couple of weeks we've had some interesting forum discussions about modelling the transition era. I started the discussions after seeing so many wonderful posts on Facebook and on forums about our new Dash 8 locomotive (please keep them coming, guys).

But then I thought about the fact that photos of our transition era models online are few and far between. James's photo of his B&M RDC, above, is one of only a handful of RDC photos we've seen. Would you believe that the RDC outsold the Dash 8 by 50%? So where are all the RDC photos?

Clearly the reason for this is that the modern models, such as the Dash 8, appeal to younger modellers, who are more connected online and more likely to share photos of their modelling efforts.

If we want to see more transition era photos and videos, we need more of you to share your photos and videos!

We'd like you to share photos of your Rapido models - especially on layouts, in action, weathered, etc. Tag us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram if you are using those platforms. Use the hashtag #rapidotrains. You can send us your photos in an email. Send us a link if you are sharing a video on YouTube. Modern, transition, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s - all photos are welcome.


We will share your photos with our customers, and later in the spring we will go through all the photos that were shared with us and randomly select one of the photographers to receive a complimentary, sound-equipped diesel locomotive of their choice.

That's it for this newsletter - another shorty. The next newsletter will mostly be about our new locomotive announcement. I can tell you it's modern(ish) and the original was built in the USA. Most significantly for us, the new project was managed from start to finish entirely by Gareth Bayer. Gareth may be a yobbo raised in a blooming bog, but he doesn't half know his Yankee thrashers. (Translation: Despite being raised in rural England not far from the fens of Cambridgeshire, Gareth is very knowledgeable about American diesel locomotives.)

I plan to get Gareth to write the next newsletter so he can tell you all about it himself, but he's going to have to stop using all that silly English English. In case he forgets: "factory fitted" means "factory installed," "stockist" means "dealer," "whilst" means "nobody talks like that over here you pretentious git," and "pants" means "underwear."

Hopefully you don't think the new locomotive is pants.

Best regards,

Jason

Jason Shron
President
Rapido Trains Inc.