Dear Rapido Customer,

Gosh! The RDC-2 and RDC-3! Finally!

In this issue of Rapido News: 

We're very proud of our Budd RDC model. It was our most ground-breaking North American model, we sold more RDCs than any other powered model, and it was extremely well received. Model Railroad News wrote about our RDC:

We are pleased to announce the all-new RDC-2 and RDC-3, along with new variations of the RDC-1.

The Budd RDC (Rail Diesel Car) was a hugely popular passenger car and locomotive in one, purchased in large quantities in the 1950s by railroads eager to reduce the losses from offering passenger services. Economical to purchase and operate, the RDC was a huge success. There are still RDCs in mainline service today.

The RDC-2 contained a 17-foot baggage section followed by a coach section with seating for 70 passengers. The baggage section had a 4-foot wide door on each side and there was a bathroom in the passenger end.

The RDC-3 contained a 17-foot Railway Post Office (RPO) section followed by a 17-foot 9-inch baggage section followed by a coach section with seating for 48 passengers. It contained a common bathroom at the end of the passenger section and another in the RPO section.

A full history of the RDC can be found in our RDC Master Class, available by clicking here or clicking on the image below.

We can't forget the RDC-1, which is being offered in new paint schemes in this production run. The RDC-1 was the most common RDC, with a massive seating capacity of 90 passengers. Rapido saved a real RDC-1 from the scrapper and is currently restoring it. You can read more about that by clicking here.

Here is a complete listing of our new RDC paint schemes and versions. Railroad paint schemes in red are completely new. Railroad paint schemes in black are companions to first-run RDC-1 models.

• ALASKA - RDC-2
• AT&SF REBUILT - RDC-1, RDC-1m (more info below)
• B&M (McGinnis) - RDC-2, RDC-3
• B&M (Minuteman) - RDC-2, RDC-3
• B&O - RDC-1, RDC-2, RDC-3
• BC RAIL (Blue) - RDC-1, RDC-3
• C&O - RDC-1, RDC-2
• C&NW - RDC-1, RDC-2
• GREAT NORTHERN - RDC-3
• LEHIGH VALLEY - RDC-1, RDC-2
• LONG ISLAND - RDC-2
• NH (Script) - RDC-2, RDC-3
• NH (McGinnis) - RDC-2, RDC-3
• NYC (Delivery) - RDC-1, RDC-2, RDC-3
• NORTHERN PACIFIC - RDC-2, RDC-3
• READING - RDC-2, RDC-3
• ROCK ISLAND - RDC-3
• VIA RAIL CANADA (Blue Stripe/Yellow Ends) - RDC-1, RDC-2
• WESTERN PACIFIC - RDC-2
• UNLETTERED - RDC-1, RDC-2, RDC-3

Click here for more info, including illustrations and product numbers. 

 

Our Canadian customers will notice a lack of Canadian paint schemes in this run. With so many Canadian products being delivered in 2018 (including our hugely popular HO scale SW1200RS - it's on track to outsell the GMD-1), we did not want you to skip models that you want due to budgetary constraints. Please rest assured that the next run of RDCs will contain RDC-2s and RDC-3s in the other Canadian paint schemes. 

If you haven't seen our RDC models in person, I recommend you ask your modelling buddies if they have one you can see. They need to be seen to be believed. Just a few of the many features:

• Full interior detail with no motor visible through the windows
• Unbelievable underbody detail
• Designed from 3D scans of the real RDCs (Phase 1 and Phase 2)
• Working headlights, number boards, marker lights, interior lights
• Working nose door Gyralite and ditch lights where appropriate
• Gorgeous stainless steel finish

Despite rising production costs, the MSRP remains unchanged at $325 (DC/DCC/Sound) or $225 (DC/Silent).

The RDC order deadline is February 9th, 2018. Delivery is later in 2018. So you have lots of time to budget for these beautiful new models.

Full information is available here. You can order your new RDCs from your local dealer or directly from Rapido.

If you are about to email us and say, "I will only buy your new RDCs if you promise to make an RDC-4," then I suggest you go ahead and buy our new RDCs.

New! HO Scale Santa Fe REBUILT RDC-1 and RDC-1m

We are pleased to announce the unique and unmistakable pair of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Budd RDCs: DC-191 and DC-192. As they almost always ran together, this special pair is available in a limited-edition two-pack.

Following a major, fatal derailment in 1956, both units received an extensive rebuild at AT&SF's own Topeka shops. In mid-1957, the cars emerged like new, still retaining their striking Warbonnet paint scheme on opposing ends. DC-192, which was the leading car in the accident, was rebuilt with a substantial baggage section while DC-191 retained its full-coach interior. DC-191 is currently being restored at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.

Rapido's DC-191 and DC-192 models are the first available in HO scale to accurately recreate their unique appearance. These two units have all the amazing features of our other RDCs, with the addition of:

• All new body tooling including baggage section in DC-192
• Reinforced cab ends with striking Warbonnet paint
• Correct cast trucks as applied during rebuild
• Rebuilt pilot and stirrup steps
• Operating ATSF door-mounted Gyralite

The MSRP for the set is $450 (DC/Silent) or $650 (DC/DCC/Sound). Full ordering information can be found here. For every direct order of this set, we will donate 5% of the retail price to the restoration of DC-191.

Why don't you sell one sound and one silent together?
Unfortunately, we cannot offer one silent and one sound model in a pack as they will not run together without installing a decoder in the silent model and futzing around with all sorts of CVs. I'm pretty good at DCC programming and this is something even I wouldn't try.

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts we get asked this question ten times in the next month by people who didn't read this part of the newsletter. As you've read this, you can justifiably feel smug towards those who didn't.

Here's something a bit different! We have some gorgeous display cases in stock now. These feature:

• Elegant engineered wood base
• Clear acrylic cover
• Cover (inside): 10" long x 2 1/2" wide x 3" tall
• Base: 11 1/4" long x 37/8" wide x 3/4" tall

And the best bit? The introductory price is only $29.95! These display cases are ideally suited for an HO scale locomotive, such as a Rapido F40PH or F40PH-2D....

 

Full information can be found here. You can order them from your local hobby shop (or directly from us if you want two or more). 

 

We have about 200 cases in stock now but more will be arriving in the fall.

We've had a lot of kudos for the working ditch lights on our new HO scale rebuilt GMD-1 locomotives. Well now you can buy them for your own models!

Each HO scale Ditch Lights package contains two ditch light castings with a tiny LED mounted inside the ditch light and wires coming out the bottom. They are 3V "warm white" LEDs so you will need to add a 470 ohm, 1/4 watt resistor in series if you are wiring them to a 12V decoder function output. If you are using DC, add a stronger resistor.

HO scale ditch lights are product number 102082. The MSRP is $14.95 a pair. Please order them from your local hobby shop, though if you really want to order direct you need to order at least six pairs. More information can be found here.

Our "Noise Killer" Foam Roadbed is now in stock. This is made from very high density, flexible EPDM foam and is great at reducing your track noise so you can hear the awesome sounds on your Rapido locomotives.

It is available in two heights: mainline (3.5mm/0.14") and branchline (2mm/.08"). The MSRP is only $9.95 for a 25 foot box!

You can order Noise Killer Roadbed from your local dealer (any quantity) or directly from us (six packs only). Click here to visit the Noise Killer web site, where we also include some tips and tricks for working with the stuff.

This is just a reminder that we have a big order deadline coming up. I will send another reminder next month.

The following products must be reserved with your dealer or with us by September 15th to guarantee delivery:

• HO scale Amtrak Rebuilt F40
• HO scale Amtrak NPCU "Cabbage"
• HO scale SW1200RS

The N scale 8600-series coach order deadline has been postponed to October 31st. We are still playing "catch up" at our factories so we won't be able to start it until later in the fall.   

These are all 2018 deliveries, so you need to reserve by the 15th but you don't actually need to pay for any of these until they arrive next year.  

 

NEVER PAY IN FULL UP FRONT FOR PRE-ORDERS. Most dealers request a deposit so you have some skin in the game, which we think is a reasonable request. But you should never prepay in full for a pre-order. The dealers don't pay us in advance so you don't need to pay them in advance. If your dealer insists that you pay in full in advance, find another dealer. 

Remember that orders placed for the N scale TurboTrain by September 15th qualify for a 5% early-bird discount. Click here for more information or just call your dealer and say "Mmmmm... Turbo" into the phone.

In fact, the Turbo is so completely awesome that here is a Turbo photo:

Mmmmm... Turbo.

Sorry... I need another one.

Mmmmm... Turbo.

Pre-order yours here.

The factory is very busy with HO scale FA-2 production as well as - finally! - the RailCrew Switch Machines with rotating switch stand targets.

The first FA-2 shipment (CPR, NYC, PRR) is due to arrive in late August, with the remaining models arriving in late September. The RailCrew Switch Machines will arrive in October.

We will be uploading a new "how to" video for the RailCrew products in the fall. RailCrew Remote Uncouplers are currently in stock. Click here to watch the video and see them in action.

The Brampton Train Show - soon to be renamed the "Greater Toronto Train Show" - is the weekend of September 30th and October 1st.

Rapido will be at the show, and our Rapido Bus will actually be inside the venue! We will be hosting model railroading clinics inside the bus!

Please click here to download a flyer about the show. We hope you can join us!

No, we haven't bought another bus...

We know that there is a lot of overlap between our customers in Canada, the United States and the UK. So we're letting you know that Rapido has jumped into the British model bus market with our first double decker bus model, a Birmingham New Look Bus in 1:76 scale. I'm not sure why we keep making buses called "New Look" but this is sure to confuse some (a lot of) people. You can read about the bus model and pre-order yours by clicking here. If you are in the UK, click here instead for our British site.

Gareth and I had a great time in England last week, where we did a 3D scan of the real bus at the Transport Museum, Wythall - just south of Birmingham (not Alabama). Click here or on the picture below to read the blog about our journey. Gareth just finished writing the final instalment, so as far as the blog is concerned, we just got back from the UK about five minutes ago. Jolly good, old chap!

Rapido now makes Canadian, American and British trains and Canadian, American and British buses. That's enough for us. I can't see us expanding beyond that as these are the areas we know about. I'm the British bus nut (though I am slowly brainwashing Gareth); Dan G., Dan D., Josh and I are the North American bus nuts; Bill, Gareth and I are the British train nuts; and everyone (except Janet) is a North American train nut. As you can see, the common thread throughout this is that we're either nuts or we're Janet.

Interestingly, a number of people have criticized us for expanding into British models or into the bus market. Apparently if we make models that are outside their interests, we are "losing our focus."

I disagree completely. Now if we expanded into Honduran hover trains, I could understand the complaint. We don't know anything about those, especially as I just made them up.

We make what we know. We know trains and buses in North America and the UK, so that is what we make.

I am very fortunate that I am surrounded by an amazing and talented team that loves trains and buses just as much as I do. The combined knowledge base in the Rapido office is phenomenal. If I come across a freight car I know nothing about (and there are a lot of those), I ask the guys at lunch. Someone at the table will know what it is, another will know exactly which railroads used it and where, and another will be able to say on the spot whether they think a model would be worthwhile or not.

They know that kind of stuff, AND they can design models, repair models, design ads, and go out in public without scaring people. That combination of talent is rare.

So we will continue to make models for North America and the UK. And we will continue to make models of buses alongside trains. We're proud of our growing and diverse product range. An N scale Pendolino or an HO scale Fishbowl Bus may not be your cup of tea, but that does not mean they aren't worthwhile and brilliant models to produce.

Until next time,

Jason

Jason Shron
President
Rapido Trains Inc.