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Rapido Newsletter Vol. 210
©2025 Rapido Trains Inc.
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Dear Rapido Customer,
Summer may be winding down, but things at Rapido are just getting started! This month we’re bringing you big product announcements, long-awaited project updates, and other cool developments. Plus our American employees have a commemorative announcement you won’t want to miss.
This newsletter got so huge that we'll be focusing almost exclusively on new announcements this issue, with order deadline news coming next week.
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In this 210th issue...
- America 250 Special Announcement
- GP9u+Slug and SW9 Updates and Additions
- Santa Fe's Unique SW9s!
- New Announcements
- New Videos
- Rapido's New Warehouse Sign
- Events and Shows
- Tooling, Factory and Shipping Updates
If you are using a web-based email service such as Gmail, be sure to click on the link near the bottom of the email that says something like "[Message clipped] View entire message". That will ensure you don't miss any of this newsletter.
Please note that all renders, pre-production samples and artwork are subject to change before the final product release.
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NEW! America 250 Special Announcement
Are you ready to celebrate America's 250th birthday? We're gearing up for the "semiquincentennial" with some throwback models of yesteryear! Yes, you read that right: bring on the 1976-era bicentennial paint schemes! We are introducing our own series of red, white and blue collectible models, some based on the prototype and some based on what we think would have looked really cool!
Many of the launches will be surprise arrivals throughout next year. Please keep an eye on our social media, newsletters and our America 250 web page.
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HO Scale CF7 Locomotive — Santa Fe 2526
This is one that should have been made, so we're making it! As you may recall, the Santa Fe painted a number of SD45-2s into a bicentennial scheme in 1976, which inspired this design.
The Santa Fe 2526 comes with all of the features of the other CF7s and includes the neat Stratolite on the cab roof! Order your Bicentennial CF7 by October 15th.
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HO Scale Northeastern Caboose — Lehigh Valley 1776
Anthracite modelers, here comes the Lehigh Valley Bicentennial Northeastern Caboose! In December of 1975, the LV painted caboose 95085 into a patriotic red, white and blue scheme, complete with stars on the ends in anticipation of America's Bicentennial. It rolled out of the shops as their #1776.
While the railroad would eventually fold into Conrail later in 1976, the caboose continued to proudly wear its Bicentennial scheme before it received a coat of blue.
Order your Bicentennial Caboose by December 15th.
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NEW! HO Scale MLW S-13 and RS-23 Samples
Hello friends, look what we just received: S-13 and RS-23 sample photos! These were JUST taken at the factory and we plan to receive these models in a few days, once they ship them to us. For now, look at that amazing etched-metal grillework and fan housings. Boy do they look GREAT!
Keep checking our Facebook page for more photos once we get them!
| | Kris Lundt photo, courtesy of the Kevin EuDaly collection. | Is that what we think it is? You'll just have to wait and see. 😉 | | |
HO Scale GP9u and Slug
CHOP! Let's not forget about the HO Scale GP9u and Slug! This month we're bringing these rebuilds back into the limelight with an added bonus of some photos of GP9us operating in the States on Canadian Pacific's Delaware & Hudson and Soo Line subsidiaries. By the way, these now have an order deadline of October 15th.
Check out this video update featuring the Project Manager, Dan Darnell. Click here or on the image above to watch.
Here's our latest decorated sample:
| CP 1610 looks fabulous sitting outside. Note the e-bell and rear strobes, denoting this as a mother to the slugs. | |
CP 8224 meets a D&H GP38-2, with the one-of-a-kind yellow lettering.
Photo courtesy of Michael Herman.
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Did you know the CP GP9u Locomotives weren't just limited to Canada? Many were assigned to CP's subsidiaries in the United States. A handful of Geeps were repainted in the STL&H scheme, but many would roam these areas in full CP livery.
It wasn't uncommon to see a six or more operating out of Binghamton, New York, on Delaware & Hudson's network. Or on D&H trains into New Jersey or Philadelphia. In fact, these became staples on yard jobs at different D&H yards into the early 2000s.
| CP 8229 leads long hood forward in Albany, NY. Photo courtesy of Rob Pisani. | |
Check out our GP9u Masterclass for a more detailed look into these neat locomotives, rebuilt by CP. There's simply too much info to list here!
This next photo fooled Jason. He thought it was a prototype photo. Good work, Jordan!
| Here are the early pre-production samples, basking in the sun outside our office. Photos simply cannot display how gorgeous these will be! | |
How about those neat SW Slugs? Glad you asked! Starting in 1993, CP converted various end-cab switchers to slugs by decommissioning or removing the prime mover. traction motors from the mother unit.
Our SW slugs are fully motorized and feature traction motor sounds too! But the fun doesn't stop there — we also want to note each slug is different from the other and is teamed with the correct mother GP9u. There's a mix of ex-SW8, -900 and -1200RS locomotives on this run as well, which means all six are unique! So you can collect all six for your layout.
Here's the prototype and model of GP9u 1610 with slug 1023:
| CP slug 1023 rests with mother GP9u 1610. Photo courtesy of Dave Minshall. | The same locomotives, but in model form! | |
Let's check out those awesome HO Scale CP GP9u Locomotive features:
- New Detail Addition: Cannon and Company licensed radiator and dynamic brake fans (where appropriate)
- Heavy diecast frame with super detailed piping and traction cables
- Detailed Blomberg trucks, with and without outside brake shoes
- Traction motor details on gearbox
- Working track lights, class lights, control stand lights and flashing belt pack lights on select mother-slug sets (late sets)
- Multiple battery box styles
- Spark arrestors or open exhaust stacks as appropriate
- Metal side handrails
- Working ditch lights
- Front and rear plows or curved plate pilots on appropriate road numbers
- Footboard pilots on mother units
- Detailed walkway tread
- MoPower capacitor for uninterrupted DCC power
- Suggested minimum radius: 18"
Check out the single locomotive schemes below.
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Now for the HO Scale Slug features:
- Fully powered! Motor tucked into frame and body
- Heavy diecast frame with super detailed piping and traction cables
- Detailed, road number specific AAR-style trucks or Flexicoil trucks
- Traction motor details on gearbox
- Metal side handrails
- Footboard pilots or curved plate pilots on appropriate road numbers
- Working head lights
- MoPower capacitor for uninterrupted DCC power
- Suggested minimum radius: 18"
- Both models will have: DC/Silent (21-pin DCC Ready) or DCC/ESU LokSound
Below are the six schemes and variations for the Mother and Slug units.
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Otter Valley Railroad is commissioning a special run of HO scale Ontario Southland GP9u locomotives. Two of these are painted in the incredibly attractive maroon and cream scheme. They will be offering three numbers in two variations: CP Multimark patchout (1591) and the corporate maroon scheme (1594/1620).
Don't miss out on these, as they won't last! Place your orders now through our friends at Otter Valley Railroad.
| This is the interactive part: ordering! Scoop up as many as possible and help push these into production! Don't wait! The order desk closes on October 15th. | | |
So many new products!
Click here or on the photo above to watch our new launch video. And please scroll down for more info about these exciting products!
And... Did you know we have a unique Santa Fe SW9 on offer? The first accurate Santa Fe SW9 ever produced in plastic? That's not actually a new launch but nobody seems to know about it. Read on!
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HO Scale SW9 Locomotive including Santa Fe
3... 2... 1... Relaunch!
Our SW9 Locomotives are back in the spotlight! They've come rumbling back to life with a final order deadline of October 15th. Along with some new schemes we also have some colorful renders to help highlight these very useful switching engines. Click here or on the image above to watch a new video all about our SW9.
We also wanted to mention that these locomotives need a bit of a push across the finish line. So with that said, let's take a deeper dive into the samples.
Rapido is the first manufacturer to make an accurate Santa Fe SW9 in plastic!
| The Santa Fe version shows off the classic canvas shades, unique louver arrangement and those neat spark arrestors. Also note the unique handrails! | |
And here's the prototype! Nobody has made that louver arrangement in plastic. Until now!
Photo courtesy Ed Chapman.
| Above is Illinois Central and below is Canadian Pacific with its unique numberboards (never before done in plastic!). Each model has prototype-specific details like these. | |
Did you know there were over 800 SW9 switchers built for American and Canadian roads? Illinois Central purchased the most SW9s, followed by the Atlantic Coast Line and New York Central. Many Class I roads would sell them off late in their careers — with some still in service today!
Check out the SW9 Masterclass by clicking here: everything you wanted to know about these neat switchers and then some! Have a look at the decorated of our Santa Fe unit!
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Here are the HO Scale SW9 Locomotive features:
- Highly detailed cab interior
- See-through metal etched parts
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HUGE NUMBER of road specific details
- First ever accurate Santa Fe SW9 in plastic!
- Heavy diecast frame
- Diecast gear boxes for added weight
- Rapido semi-scale metal couplers
- Full LED lighting, including: operating beacons/flashing lights where appropriate
- DC/Silent (21-pin DCC Ready) or DC/DCC/ESU LokSound
- MoPower capacitor for uninterrupted DCC power
- Suggested minimum radius: 18"
Below are the schemes for this initial run of SW9s.
Please note we've also added a few new schemes to the SW9 Locomotive project! Adding to the schemes already offered, we've launched Industrial Blue and all four Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo road numbers.
| | Now's your chance to reserve one of these beauties and ensure they make it into production! Make sure to have your orders in before October 15th. | | |
NEW! HO Scale Southern Pacific PC&F Economy Baggage Car
Rapido is pleased to announce the Southern Pacific PC&F 66-B-2 Economy Baggage Car in HO scale! That's right friends (... and Jordan), you are one step closer to assembling an entire SP passenger train out of Rapido models.
In case you didn't see the launch video, click here to watch it. When you get back, we have TONS of renders and photos to show off.
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Built by the Pacific Car & Foundry in 1962, this 100-car order was intended to replace aging mail and express equipment from the 1920s. 65 cars (6701-6765) were classified as “Mail Baggage Express” cars which did not have any heating or sanitary facilities, while 35 cars (6766-6800) included messenger facilities, heating, bathrooms and four additional roof vents. Another spotting feature of the “Train Baggage Messenger” cars included the star above the SP road number, signifying the TBM facilities.
These cars operated regularly across the SP system on famous trains such as the Lark, Coast Daylight, San Joquin Daylight, Sunset Limited, Shasta Daylight and many more. Just about any SP passenger train needing a baggage car could be equipped with these!
SP Economy Baggage cars were handed off to other railroads in Chicago, St. Louis, etc. and could be seen all over the United States from coast to coast. Penn Central leased a large number and they could thus be seen even more frequently out east in the late 1960s. By Amtrak days they could be seen country-wide, for many years still in SP colors!
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We see a "TBM" car above. The star above the road number denotes that aspect.
Photo courtesy of Robert J Zenk.
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Does your baggage car by any manufacturer not named Rapido have this kind of detail?
Tons of piping, conduits and boxes sit below the underframe.
| The SP Business car sets — complete with generator sounds! | | Check out the rooftop details on the generator cars. | | Economy Baggage Cars 295 and 298 saw service on Southern Pacific’s business train starting in 1984. If you have a Southern Pacific 4449 Northern model, you need 295 and 298 as they ran right behind the locomotive. And we're making them in a set!!! | | We're certain that Craig Walker fully intended to photograph just the Economy Baggage power car #295 back in 1989 but that pesky, obscure steam engine got in the way. | | |
The SP PC&F Economy Baggage Car features:
- Based on measurements and 3D scans of the prototype
- Full underbody detail including separate air, steam and electrical lines
- Separate metal grab irons, stirrups and end gates
- Power cars feature generator sounds
- Super detailed SP Class 4-T-1 trucks with full brake rigging
- Sprung diaphragms
- Accurate painting and lettering
- MoPower capacitor system for uninterrupted DCC power
- Suggested minimum radius: 22”
Now for the best part: the schemes! First up are the single cars. Note the Alaska Railroad car has generator sounds.
| | Next up are the 2-car sets with generator sounds. | | Ready to order these beauts? We anticipate these baggage cars will be popular, so reserve one or many now! These are in tooling now, and we'll announce an order deadline as soon as we have some samples. | | |
NEW! HO Scale Northeastern Caboose
The HO Scale Northeastern Caboose is back with a new variation and more exciting schemes! This time around we have tooled the popular Lehigh Valley "solid frame" version with the unique porthole end windows in a variety of roadnames. But that's not all! To help celebrate America's Semiquincentennial, we're also offering the iconic LV Bicentennial 1776.
Our first release of Northeastern Cabooses allowed you to upgrade the ancient models on your layout. But everyone asked us for the porthole window version. Well now you can finally get these unique cabooses with the full Rapido detail treatment and correct underframe!
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The popular Northeastern Caboose was originally designed by the Reading Company in the early 1920s. The Reading built 285 cars, spread through several classes. The earliest cars had solid underframes while later cars were equipped with Duryea cushion underframes. This design was so successful that other roads copied them, such as the Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh & New England, Lehigh Valley, Pittsburg & West Virginia and the Western Maryland.
Here are some initial run photos, highlighting all of the intense details offered on these cabeese.
| Details everywhere! Tons of variations and lots of details visible, even from far away. | The underframe, full of piping and rods. And how could we forget the amazing interior details! | Many of these cabooses were used well into Conrail and Chessie eras, being used in regular service until the end of mandatory caboose operations. Some would continue in local service while many were sold secondhand to other railroads — Class 1s and shortlines alike! In fact, on this run we are offering the Reading & Northern's 92844, which is still in use today. | |
Here are the HO Scale Northeastern Caboose features:
NEW! SOLID UNDERFRAME FEATURES:
- Based on Lehigh Valley design, sold to numerous second-hand users
- Porthole end windows
- LV sides with rain gutters above windows
- Etched metal Apex running boards
- Three-tread steps
- Etched window frames and screens where appropriate!
- Andrews or Birdsboro trucks
DURYEA UNDERFRAME FEATURES:
- Two different cupola roofs
- Two-tread or three-tread steps
- Full Duryea Cushion underframe details
- Two running boards: Integral diamond-tread and Alan Wood
- Multiple optional parts including stacks, window blanks, etched window frames and screens, toolboxes and more!
- Three different sides — standard, CNJ or LV with rain gutters above windows
- Three different end walls — solid (RDG, CNJ) and single window (LV)
- Three styles of truck: Andrews, Birdsboro and Taylor
All models feature semi-scale metal knuckle couplers, operating interior lights and MoPower capacitor for uninterrupted DCC lighting.
Now we see the schemes for this run of Northeastern Cabooses!
| Order one, two, or all of them! OK, maybe that's a bit much, but there's plenty of variations on this run to order! | | |
Buffalo Warehouse — Our New Sign!
What's more Buffalonian than beef on weck, Goldie on WNED, jumping through folding tables and... Rapido? Yes, Rapido! Our new warehouse now has a brand new sign and it pays homage to the New York Central.
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Did We Just Discover a NEW RS-23 Feature? — The S-13 and RS-23s
Did you want to learn more about our "underappreciated" HO Scale MLW S-13 and RS-23 Locomotives? Nat heads out to the Ontario Southland Railway to see one of their RS-23s... and discovers a new, explosive feature!
Click here or the photo above to watch.
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Model Train U — GP40 Handling
Have you acquired one of our HO Scale GP40s recently? Nat guides you though how to pick up your locomotive without dropping or breaking it. Pretty simple, but we thought you might need a bit of guidance because Jason dropped his... Our warranty team thanks you.
Click here or the photo above to watch.
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HO Scale NSC Ballast Hopper Unboxing
Nat's back (AGAIN) with Jordan in this HO Scale NSC Ballast Hopper unboxing vid! I guess we really did get rid of Jeremy... Anyway, tune in to this video to see all of the neat features this highly detailed car has to offer.
Click here or the photo above to watch.
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NHRTHA Train Show and Reunion — September 7th
Come visit the annual New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association's 2025 Reunion at the Holiday Inn in New London, Connecticut. Bill will have our New Haven models on display as well as answer any of your questions. There may be a New New Haven announcement... Come on out September 7th to join in on the fun!
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Mid-Atlantic Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet — September 13th-14th
If you're in the Baltimore-Washington DC area around September 13th and 14th, head on over to Linthicum, Maryland for the annual Mid-Atlantic Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet! Come say hello to Bill (again!) and see our samples we will have on display.
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Colorado Rail Prototype Modelers — September 27th & 28th
It's the second annual Colorado Rail Prototype Modelers Meet, located in Greeley, Colorado! We'll have a selection of sample models on display and you can ask your questions that you have for Dan and... Bill!
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Tooling, Shipping and Arrival Updates
LOTS of new items will be arriving soon! There are currently six shipments on the way from the factories in China, with more leaving in the next couple of weeks. It promises to be a busy fall!
| | The HO Scale SP Dome Lounges are shipping now! | | Time for a Greenbrier Coil Car update! Here are the production samples that just arrived. | | Check out the gray AEI Tag, interior pads and etched-metal walkways/ | | |
C36-7 galore! Did you know that these have rotating bearing caps?
We kind of kept that secret. And since there's only about eight of you reading this caption, it shall remain secret for another while yet...
| | The Ferromex C36-7 might be our most modern locomotive — solely due to it being repainted not long ago. | | The BN C33-7 looks rugged. Dig those red numberboards. | Early N Gallery Car samples are here and we're super excited! | It's been a while since we had a Super Continental Line cars. Here are a few samples we just received. | Those interiors look amazing. | | Classic CN above and the executive CP, below. | | Here come the DODX flats! Our first samples and get a look at that deck finish. | | The N scale SP Dome Lounge samples have just arrived! | | |
Ready for one of the most detailed passenger cars in N scale?
This is the SP general service scheme.
| Daylight! Perhaps one of the most recognizable passenger paint schemes in American railroading. | | We can't forget to show all of that incredible underbody detailing. Check out those pipes and conduits. | | The retooled N scale F40PH-2Ds are here! We want to point out that the radiator fans have been opened, to allow for better sound as well as see-through fan details. | | How about N scale Bilevels? Here are the early test samples. Check out the interior lighting. | | |
Newsletter 210 was a monster but if you got this far, we salute you! We'll be back in a little bit with September and October order deadlines. Until then, happy modeling!
Bobby Allard
Newsletter Reporter
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