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Rapido Newsletter Vol. 221
©2026 Rapido Trains Inc.
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Dear Rapido Customer,
We're back with two very big announcements and some passenger car updates. Plus, we have some exciting project updates. So buckle up and get ready to enter Newsletter 221!
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In this 221st issue...
- New Announcements
- New Videos
- Events and Shows
- Tooling, Factory and Shipping Updates
- Introducing Alex Stroshane
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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We will be sending out another newsletter and doing a Facebook Live event from the Springfield show this Saturday at 9:30 a.m. (EST). Please click here to visit and bookmark our Facebook page. Don't miss it!
Jason: Two newsletters in two days! Bobby hasn't slept in four weeks.
Bobby: ZZzzzzzzzz......
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NEW SCHEME ADDITIONS! HO Scale U25B and Early U28B Locomotives
The HO Scale U25B Locomotive is back! The details have been massively improved over our first run! Also, we have some new schemes on this relaunch as well as a scheme update for Southern Pacific. Let's get right into it with a new video. Click here or the photo box above to watch.
| Frog lights! Our pre-production decorated samples have arrived. Please note, there will be revisions and refinements for production. If you're coming to the show this weekend, you'll get to see this sample plus the CSX (Patch) and L&N! | | Here are the newest schemes in 3D CAD render form! | | |
So what's new with the HO Scale U25B Locomotive? We have FIVE new schemes: Great Northern Big Sky Blue, Southern Pacific, New York Central and Rock Island without those frog lights.
Also, the Great Northern Historical Society is doing an exclusive run of Great Northern's Phase IV U25B in simplified orange and green with the correct "five-step" stepwell.
The additional SP U25Bs feature the bloody nose but with the original nose numbers. The previously announced SP units feature the large "SP" letters, which was a staple of the 1970s and onward.
But wait, there's MORE! (Scroll down)
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The HO Scale U25B Locomotive has undergone MAJOR refinements as well as upgrades since you last saw it.
Let's check out a list of what was changed.
- Improved mesh grilles to be finer in appearance
- Revised exhaust stack (seen above)
- Newly-tooled, thinner end handrails
- Rapido’s innovative dead-straight metal handrails with plastic stanchions on the new phase 3 and 4 designs
- Working step lights - Bling!
- Revised AAR truck with separate lead springs and spinning bearings
- Improved front numberboard housing
The roof and cab roof curvatures were also redesigned. The contours now match!
And our U25B and U28B are the only models to have the class lights correctly on the corners of the nose and long hood. This cost us a mint to tool but we think it was worth it, and we hope you will agree!
Here are some photos to show what we're talking about.
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CSX 3416 was the last U25B in service for a Class I railroad.
Have you noticed that our U25B is the one to have the class lights correctly on the corners of the nose and shell?
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This rooftop view shows the radiator grilles, walkway and redesigned exhaust stack.
The fan housing looks amazing! We redesigned this part to be a bit more obvious.
| | Whoa whoa whoa! We want to remind you that we have a masterclass on the U25Bs, which gives you all sorts of history and facts about Erie's venerable 4-axle road switcher. It even includes roster info! Click here to check it out. | | |
The Rapido U25B and early U28B Locomotive features include everything mentioned above, plus:
- New Phase IV units representing late U25Bs and early U28Bs
- Working "frog lights" (Rock Island and MEC #225 and #228)
- BN with five-step stepwell
- Working SP light package
- Single front window or new double front window
- Both low and high-short hood versions
- Flat or new sloped low nose
- New side sill mounted handrails on Phase IV units
- Early high- and later low-style side doors
- Operating class lights in the correct locations
- Road specific details for each model
- Different exhaust stacks (depending on roadname)
- Road-specific battery box doors on engineer’s side
- MoPower capacitor for uninterrupted DCC power
- Suggested minimum radius: 18"
The new additions lead off the paint schemes below.
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EXCLUSIVE MODEL: Great Northern Historical Society U25B
We're pleased to announce the Great Northern Historical Society is offering the U25B in the attractive simplified green and orange scheme along with the correct "five-step" step well. They'll have two roadnumbers: 2515 and 2523. To order them click here.
| | Order the U25B and early U28B locomotives to fill out your eclectic motive power roster. You can get them from your favorite hobby shop or directly through us. | | |
NEW! HO Scale Trinity 6221 and 6241 Plastic Pellet Hopper
One of the most common car types out on the rails today now joins the Rapido fleet! This is the HO Scale Trinity 6221 and 6241 Plastic Pellet Hopper!
Click here to watch the video and learn more about these common but vital hopper cars.
| Jumbo pellet hoppers! They might appear "bland" but they serve a very important purpose. | Plastic pellets are one of the most common commodities carried by rail. Most, if not all manifest trains have at least one pellet hopper in their consists. Beginning in 1997, Trinity built a larger “high cube” 6,221 cu. ft. hopper design to haul these pellets. These supplemented older 4-bay cars as fleet sizes underwent a massive expansion. There are tens of thousands of the 6,221 and 6,241 Trinity cars running on the rails today and the 6,241 versions are still being built! | This is a 6221 hopper with FPAX marks. Photo by Jeff Lassahn. | |
Now let's swing it over to Jeff, the Project Manager for these cars.
Jeff: The Trinity 6221 and 6241 Plastic Pellet Hopper has an immense roster. We challenge anyone to bring us an authoritative roster that includes every single one of these cars! We’ve been hard at work on data for both versions, and the early 6221 cars alone have OVER 10,000 examples built. The later 6241 cars are still in production, today and far exceed the 6221s in size.
Thanks, Jeff!
| A 6241 hopper wearing EQUX marks. Photo by Jeff Lassahn. | |
As mentioned above, the Trinity Pellet Hoppers are everywhere! We'll bet that there are at least five pellet hoppers in every manifest you might see. These cars get everywhere: from the northeast to the southwest. Many off-loading operations are team tracks, rather than an actual industrial complex. This means you can park these cars on any siding where a semi truck and trailer can transfer the plastic pellet contents.
Out here in New Jersey, there are MANY team tracks for this exact service as well as a large refinery where these pellets are manufactured. (Subtle hint: this means you need TONS of these cars if you are a modern modeler!)
| A BNSF Dash 9 trails as the DPU locomotive coupled up against a pellet hopper in downtown Chicago. Photo by Jeff Lassahn. | |
The HO Scale Trinity 6221 and 6241 Pellet Hoppers feature:
- Two overall carbody designs: 6221 and 6241
- Multiple roof hatch styles and arrangements
- Multiple outlet gate designs
- Etched roof walks and end walkways
- Spare hatches and different outlet gates included in polybag to let modeler modify for era
- Separate metal grab irons installed at the factory
- Full end cage details
- Accurate paint and lettering
- Multiple road numbers available for each scheme
- Suggested minimum radius: 18”
- Available as single car or six-packs unless noted
Here are the schemes.
| | Order those Plastic Pellet Hoppers now! You can do so from your favorite hobby shop or directly through us. | | |
NEW SCHEME ADDITION! HO Scale Budd Coach — Amtrak Phase III
Amtrak fans, rejoice! We're adding Phase III, with HEP details, to the Budd Coaches. These are the former Southern Pacific cars with the smaller windows. They'll fit right in, mixed in a long distance or short-haul consist. The end details tend towards the VIA-ish, but even Amtrak officianado Alex Stroshane wants these models so they must be close enough!
Don't forget the order deadline is February 16th, along with our other Budd Coaches. Order them from your favorite hobby shop or directly through us.
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NEW SCHEME ADDITION! N SCALE RDC-2 — Amtrak Phase I
Amtrak fans, twice in one month! We're excited to add Amtrak RDC-2s to our new run of N scale RDCs! These wear the attractive red, white and blue with the iconic pointless arrow logo. Whether you're modeling the Midwest, the Northeast or just Anywhere USA, these RDCs will look right at home running intercity rail service on your layout.
Order them from your favorite hobby shop or directly through us.
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Railroad Hobby Show (Springfield) — January 24th and 25th, 2026
The Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show is this weekend! This year we have an all-new booth location and a much larger setup at the Better Living Center, Pole/Booth 23. Check out our latest samples, newest announcements and say hello to: Natasha, Jordan, Bill, Lystra, Jeff, Alex, Dan — with special appearances from Aime, Cale, James and Jason and Bobby on Sunday! More about this "Alex" guy below.
And don't forget... we'll be making a LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT at 9:30AM Saturday. See us in-person or watch the livestream on social media. We'll have a newsletter go out following the start of this announcement.
In case the Live Stream is totally unintelligible from the seething mass of humanity in our booth on Saturday morning, at least we will have a newsletter out.
Also, for those of you who love the snow and don't like crowds, we suggest you come to the show on Sunday. It will be much more laid back and we'll still have all the samples on display.
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Tooling, Shipping and Arrival Updates
LOTS of new items are here and shipping!
Please note, all of our hobby shop shipments are up to date. If you haven't received your new product orders, please speak with your dealer. All dealers in good standing have received their shipments.
Don't see the model you're looking for, above? Click here to visit our delivery schedule to find out where it might be.
| | The FT samples are here — here's the B&M version. | |
The top and rear of the FT.
Those are not the fan grille designs. The factory used old parts for this sample.
Note: the B&M had MASSIVE backup lights.
| | The decorated pre-production P32AC-DM samples are here! They'll also be on display this weekend at the show. They look great! | | |
It's in the details: the traction motors and undergear of the Krupp-MaK high speed "bolsterless" trucks as well as the third rail electrical gear.
Below, we see the radiator section of the P32AC-DMs.
If you are using a P42 stand-in on your layout, it is time to upgrade!
| | The GP39 and SWMT slugs also have decorated samples! They'll be on display this weekend, too. Check out some closeups. | | |
This angle shows the Cannon and Company licensed fan designs.
Below we see the RCL cab roof design with the strobes.
| | The DRGW Steel Cupola Cabooses are almost ready to ship! These are the models we pulled to photograph, direct form the warehouse. | Check out the 1937 AAR Boxcar samples we just received. | The Southern Pacific C-40-3 Caboose samples are here! | These cabooses have full interiors and lighting effects. Check out the interior and marker lights on the one below. | | The Balloon Tops getting their lettering applied. | | Need more SP? Early preproduction samples of the Economy Baggage cars just arrived. Below is the Business Car, complete with generator details. | |
Look at those rooftop details.
And how can we forget the underbodies! A maze of piping!
| | The CryoTrans reefer production models look amazing! | The N scale CryoTrans Reefers getting ready at the factory. | We'll close it out with AutoFlood production samples. This is the BNSF version. | | |
Introducing Alex Stroshane
Alex Stroshane recently joined the Rapido team, coming from a background in engineering and manufacturing. He's been fascinated by passenger trains and rapid transit all his life, especially Amtrak. (Makes sense coming here, right?). In fact, he has helped behind the scenes with many of Rapido's previous Amtrak-related models. Above is a photo of an O scale model of Alex on his basement O scale THSR empire. We're particularly impressed with the realistic catenary and the tiny stubble on O scale Alex's face. He even weathered the underside of the platform canopy. Talk about a serious modeler!
He's originally from Boston, but now lives in Maine, which pretty much makes him an hono(u)rary Canadian, eh?
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This closes out the first section of the January newsletter train. The second section will follow on Saturday, just after 9:30AM. What could be in it? Could it finally be the Ingalls 4-S? You'll just have to join us or check out your emails to see!
Bobby Allard
That wasn't an interception.
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