Rapido Newsletter Vol. 108

©2019 Rapido Trains Inc.

Hand-painted pre-production samples of the B36-7.

The Conrail unit was painted by our buddy Mark Kaluza.

The Santa Fe unit was painted by our own Dan Darnell.

HO Scale B36-7 Order Deadline - NOW!

Our HO scale B36-7 has been a sleeper hit. When Gareth came to me with this project I had no idea it would take off like it has. Actually, I had no idea what a B36-7 was. I just assumed it was a GE U-Boat clone. Boy have I had an education...

If you, like me, are a B36-7 neophyte, I gotta tell you - these locomotives are hugely popular. They were like the A-B-B-A sets of the 1980s, hauling the hottest of the hot-shot freights across the United States. For many American model railroaders of my generation - guys in their late 30s to early 50s - these locomotives have been at the top of the "most wanted" list since childhood.

Pre-production Santa Fe unit. The amber beacon on the roof really works!

Our HO scale B36-7 model features a huge amount of prototype-specific detail, from high short hoods to cab roof air conditioning to different radiator baffle designs to working rock lights to working Stratolites to equipment boxes to FOUR different fuel tanks!

We're particularly proud of the handrails. They are metal, with the plastic stanchions injected around them. So no wibbles here! And we're proud of the working Stratolite with four tiny LEDs inside the lens that flash in sequence. You can thank Mohan, our resident electrical engineer, for devising that one.

The tooling is almost finished - we just need to do a few small tweaks, add the rivets and approve samples of the brass horns (which we haven't seen yet!). As soon as the factory is back from their national holidays, they will start getting ready for production. Delivery is expected in the fall.

All of the first-run paint schemes of the HO scale B36-7

When we launched the B36-7 locomotive last year, we stated that some of the paint schemes were conditional. We can tell you that BC Rail has already reached enough numbers to be made, and Minnesota Commercial is very close. TTI still needs about 100 orders to make the cut, so its chances are still good. If you are a TTI fan, please make sure you tell all your buddies to place an order by the deadline.

We will announce on our web site by February 18th if any schemes missed the target, and if that happens we will hold off closing the book for a few days so you can replace your cancelled locomotives with other locomotives.

Its hot shot intermodal days behind it, B36-7 CSXT 5854 (ex-Seaboard System) is partnered with B30-7 CSXT 5511 (ex-Seaboard Coast Line) at the head of a manifest departing Boyle Yard in Birmingham, Alabama, on October 13th, 2005.

Photo by Gareth Bayer.

In his own words, Gareth is a "nut job rivet counter." When he's not at the office designing model trains, he's out photographing trains or writing about trains for magazines. So the colors and other details on this model will be "pretty much spot on" as he likes to say. That's one of his photos above.

As always, if you have helpful information for the project please get in touch. Just reply to this email and write ATTENTION GARETH in the subject line. If you are sitting on a complete set of historical-association-approved B36-7 paint color chips, please don't wait until AFTER the model comes out before letting us know...

The Conrail B36-7 features bug-eyed marker lights front and rear.

Pre-production model shown.

The order deadline for these beautiful locomotives is February 11th. Please get your orders in by then, either directly from us or with your dealer. Dealers have until February 14th to submit their orders and distributors have until February 15th.

As I mentioned earlier, we are still tweaking the tooling. We will keep the order pages up until the factory tells us to lock in the numbers, and then the order pages will come down with no advance warning. So please get your order in by the 11th to make sure you don't miss out.

More information, including direct ordering, can be found here.

You can download the B36-7 catalog here. It's FULL COLOR! Wow.

Remember that deadline - February 11th!

HO Scale B36-7 – New Video!

It's only taken us about a year, but we've finally made a YouTube video all about the B36-7. It features the samples in action on the phenomenal North American Prototype Modelers layout in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It also features Gareth - he takes us through many of the prototype detail variations on the models. Please click here or on the image below to watch it.

This newsletter is read by over 10,000 people every month, but only 23.4% of you are subscribers to our YouTube channel. OK, I just made that up. We have no idea how many of you subscribe to our YouTube channel. But if you haven't already, please consider subscribing. It means you see the videos as soon as they come out.

We're doing more and more videos these days but we only send out a newsletter about once a month. Please click here to subscribe to our channel!

3D render of our new Flexi Flo hopper.

Lots of changes still to be done!

All-New HO Scale Flexi Flo Hopper – Pre-Launch Launch!

We showed off our plans for the Flexi Flo hopper at the Springfield show last weekend, and anticipation for these cars is building. They go into tooling after Chinese New Year. We were going to launch them today, but with half the team being away for the show we are a bit behind schedule. So this is the Pre-Launch Launch.

Please click here or on the image below to download a listing of our proposed paint schemes and car numbers. If you are a Flexi Flo expert, please have a look and let us know if there are any mistakes we should fix - such as "Bad choice - that car number was wrecked two weeks after it was painted!" or "Why isn't this available in VIA Rail?"

We would also love to see any high-res Flexi Flo photos that you have. If we use one of your photos for promotion or one of your photos has legible text for model decoration that we can't find elsewhere, we will give you a free Flexi Flo model!

To send us stuff or to point out a critical mistake in our Pre-Launch Launch, please reply to this email and write ATTENTION GARETH in the subject line. Once he gets through the oodles of B36-7 emails, he will turn his attention to the zoodles of Flexi Flo emails.

Full announcement to come in the next newsletter!

N scale 8600s – New Video!

Click here or on the image below to see all the neat features of the new N scale New Haven 8600-series coaches. The playback volume is low on some devices so please turn up the volume if you can't hear.

No, Bill's not about to explode. That's how he looks normally.

We have a very small quantity of these gorgeous N scale passenger cars in stock. Please contact your dealer.

We do, however, have Osgood Bradley lightweight coaches in stock! You can order them by clicking here. For a limited time, if you use coupon code OB10 you can get 10% off your order. The same deal applies to dealer orders. Dealers please get in touch.

WOW! Hand-painted pre-production models of our new EP-5!

HO Scale EP-5 - New samples!

Our obsession with the New Haven continues with our first pre-production samples of the iconic HO scale EP-5 "Jet" electric locomotive. There were only ten of them, but judging from the sales I think every New Haven fan on the planet is buying one!

Hand-painted pre-production Jet.

The pantographs can be raised and lowered remotely on DCC layouts!

Don't have catenary on your layout? Who cares? The Jet is going to look hot on any model railroad, pulling our new New Haven Dining Car and other Rapido New Haven releases. If we haven't got there already, I think that once the Jet and the Diner are out we've officially made more New Haven prototypes than any other plastic manufacturer... EVER. This is a badge we wear with pride.

Full information on the Jet can be found here. These will be ready for production in early summer and we anticipate a late fall delivery.

Rapido C&NW FA-2 and FB-2 haul a manifest freight on the North American Prototype Modelers layout in Milwaukee. Gorgeous!

EP-5 and FA-2/FB-2 – Order deadline extended

Here's a song you've heard from us before. The factories don't yet have capacity to make these locomotives, so we're extending the deadline to June 24th. We're sorry about this. Both factories have doubled in size over the last year but our production quantities have increased as well. We can't keep up!

By June 24th the last of the new details will be ready for the HO scale FA-2/FPA-2 and FB-2/FPB-2 models, and the EP-5 pantographs will stop dancing. We really should show the video from the factory - one goes up, the other goes down, repeat forever. We'll put it on our Facebook page.

Rapido C&NW and WM FA-2s on the NAPM layout.

Hand-painted pre-production samples shown.

The FA-2 and FB-2 are looking fantastic. Gareth and Josh filmed a video of them when they went to NAPM in Milwaukee, and we'll be uploading it in the next two weeks. Please click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss it.

More information on our new FA-2 and FB-2 to come in a future newsletter. Click here for more info on the FA-2/FPA-2 and click here for more info on the FB-2/FPB-2.

Come See Jason in Ottawa and on Facebook Live

I'll be giving a presentation on Tuesday February 5th at the Canada Science & Technology Museum. If you live in the area, I hope to see you there! If you can't make it, we'll be broadcasting live on our Facebook page.

In case the image above is illegible on your teensy-tiny telephone, the talk is on the subject of preserving VIA trains. It will be at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, 1867 St Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa. There will also be a Q&A in which I will be pleased to answer your questions about trains model and real. Should be fun!

The Rapido Bus at the Copetown Show, 2017

Upcoming Shows

Sunday 24 February • The Copetown Show

Copetown, Ontario

This is a lovely little show, part prototype meet, part train show. We've been at almost every one since 2005, and we've been a sponsor for several years. We have some new exhibitors including Signalogic Systems, a personal favourite of mine.

This year I will be driving the Rapido Bus to Copetown. Anybody need a lift?

2-3 March • Rocky Mountain Train Show

Denver, Colorado

This show is quickly becoming one of the biggest in the USA. We'll be there with bells on.

Saturday 16 March • Toronto Prototype Modellers' Meet

Toronto, Ontario

We always sponsor this great local meet.

13-14 April • Supertrain

Calgary, Alberta

Canada's largest train show returns for another blockbuster year. It's worth the schlep to Calgary!

Jordan takes a bite out of the most recent F40 shipment...

Delivery Schedule

We've been absolutely inundated with shipments. Here's a list of what is coming next. If the model you are waiting for is not listed, please click here to visit our full delivery schedule.

All are HO scale except where noted.

Just shipped to stores:

Arrived and shipping next week:

Arriving February:

Arriving March:

Keep an eye out for our next newsletter as we have a couple of surprise announcements for you!

Early prep work took place outside. Now the locomotive is indoors being painted.

FP9A #6309 Fundraising Update

6309 is now in the paint shop. We're pleased to report that Exporail has raised over $23,000 of the $35,000 goal. Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

The campaign is still short almost $12,000. Please click here to donate. Donations are tax receiptable.

Rapido's Own Product Of The Year Poll

Recently a North American model train magazine announced a poll for 2018 model of the year. Bizarrely, not a single Rapido product was included while all sorts of discontinued stuff from years ago was. We've thus decided to hold our own Rapido 2018 Product Of The Year Poll.

In each category, we've highlighted the model that we think deserves the prize.

Best Freight Locomotive 2018

Best VIA Rail Canada Locomotive 2018

Best Amtrak F40 2018

Best Brandest New Diesel Locomotive Model (Honest!)

Best Passenger Car Underbody Detail 2018

Best "Single" Steam Engine 2018

Best Model Bus 2018

Overall Model of the Year 2018

We hope you enjoyed that bit of fun. The guys wanted me to make the poll an actual, live poll but that is taking it a bit far, even for me. if you want to see who most likely did not enjoy that poll, check out some of our YouTube video comments. Especially this one. You can't please everyone...

I'll be in touch again soon with some new product announcements and videos for your viewing pleasure.

All the best,

Jason

Jason Shron

President

Rapido Trains Inc.