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Rapido News Volume 83
©2016 Rapido Trains Inc.
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Dear Rapido customer,
I hope you've had a nice fall so far and I hope you've been getting some time in your workshop or layout room. We've been so busy making model trains we haven't a lot of time to work on our layouts!
In this issue of Rapido News:
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Own a limited-edition model of Rapido's own RDC #6133!
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Exclusive Fundraising Models of Our RDC #6133
Ever since we announced that we had purchased a real RDC we've received requests for a model. Well, we've finally listened.
To help us raise funds for the restoration of our RDC, we're producing a limited edition HO scale model in 6133's two most recent paint schemes: the scheme it last wore in service for VIA Rail Canada, and the scheme it will wear in service for Rapido. This is the only Phase 2 VIA RDC we are producing in this run. The real VIA 6133 operated in Ontario, Alberta and - famously - on Vancouver Island in VIA years. RPDX6133 will be operating mainly in Ontario.
The third VIA logo and wheelchair accessible logo on our model of 6133 are separate decals so you can date your model to any era. The RPDX6133 model includes decals of the blue and yellow Rapido logo that it wore on its mainline adventure (and still wears today). Click on the video below to watch 6133 pass by Rapido Galactic Headquarters back in March.
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RDC 6133 passes by Rapido HQ in March 2016.
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Here's the other side of our RDC with ALL THE GRAFFITI GONE!
Photo by Chris Fox, the guy who took off all the graffiti...
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We are only producing 150 pieces of each scheme, so please reserve yours now to ensure you don't miss this collector's item. Each 6133 model has a Phase 2 body and WORKING DITCH LIGHTS!
This is our first RDC model to come with working ditch lights. Below is the video of Chris Fox testing the ditch lights on our real RDC. Hey - it has ditch lights too!
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The real 6133 has operating ditch lights, too!
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These RDCs are only available through our on-line store. Click here to order.
The price is $325 plus shipping (flat rate $9.95 in North America, including Hawaii and APO/FPO/ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS). There is no limit to how many you can order. Your card will be charged now and the RDCs will be shipped in January.
If the cart says "sold out," give us a shout and we'll check if we have available models in the other currency. Our US and Canadian carts are separate so we have to guess how much inventory to allot to each one.
You're sure to be depressed after Christmas. Consider the Rapido RDC a nice New Year's present.
Click here to order yours, and thank you to everyone who does.
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New N scale baggage car paint schemes!
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New N Scale Baggage Cars (and cancellations?)
I've been very upfront in the past about models that are successful and models that are - ahem - less successful. The N scale baggage car is a model that we've been having trouble selling. Some paint schemes are doing very well, and others have been doing nothing at all!
So in an attempt to get this gorgeous N scale NSC baggage car to market, we're picking the low-hanging fruit. We're taking the stars of the planned "second run" and offering them now. They are CN (Noodle), Ontario Northland (Chevron) and Canadian Pacific.
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CN 9659 rests at Spadina Yard in July 1980.
Photo courtesy Kaluza-Mueller Collection.
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That's our baggage car model! ONR 414 is seen on the Northland in 1984.
Photo courtesy Bram Bailey.
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Our N scale baggage car is the first model of the common National Steel Car baggage-express car built throughout the 1950s. Our model comes with either Outside Swinghanger, Inside Swinghanger or 6-Wheel Cast trucks. It also comes with optional end (horse) doors. Our recent N scale Osgood Bradley 10-window coach was extremely well received, and it shows that our new factory really knows how to make an amazing N scale passenger car.
Click here for information on the baggage cars or to reserve yours.
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Our pre-production N scale baggage cars showing the two different ends.
On the left are the end doors and on the right is a standard end.
Since this photo was taken the tooling has been cleaned up
and the rivets have been added to the roof.
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Looking at our advance orders, the following paint schemes are at risk of being cancelled:
- Baltimore & Ohio
- Central of Georgia
- Erie
- Missouri Pacific
- Penn Central - BIG RISK
- Southern Pacific
These paint schemes are safe:
- Amtrak
- CB&W (Shadowline)
- Great Northern (End Doors)
- Milwaukee Road (1950 scheme)
- Northern Pacific
- New York Central (End Doors)
- All Canadian Schemes (as usual)
The new order deadline for the N scale baggage cars is Valentine's Day. You will need to show your love for these cars by then. Though to be honest, in order for Penn Central to be made, every Penn Central fan has to clone himself, provide the clone with disposable income, and indoctrinate the clone to love Penn Central. You need to do this between now and February.
We will start production in March with delivery in the middle of next year. Again, click here for more info or to reserve yours. Please... We really want to make these! (I've decided that if all else fails, it's best to resort to begging...)
Dealers: we'll be sending out sales sheets for the new baggage cars later this week.
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Janet has had enough of Jordan in one of our bus videos.
We had to reshoot this scene because she really did throttle the poor guy.
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New YouTube Videos
We've been doing our best to upload YouTube videos more frequently, and we've introduced a series of "Rapido Quickies" videos that are less polished but get the idea across about our new products and full-size train and bus adventures. Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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In Rapido Bus - Volume 1, we visit AK Coach in Calgary to see the progress on the restoration of our real New Look bus. It's progressed since the video was shot. The latest photos can be found at the bottom of this email. Click here to watch the video.
P.S. Do you like our new Rapido Bus logo? Snazzy, eh? We'll be using it on our bus model branding.
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Rapido Quickies: New Haven Coaches
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In Rapido Quickies: New Haven Coaches, I unbox our latest HO scale passenger car models to arrive from our factory in China: the New Haven 8600-series coaches. I've been in the model passenger car business for 13 years, and I can honestly say this is the finest passenger car model I've ever seen. I wish we were making models this nice a few years ago. It's the first passenger car model from our own factory so we had much more control over how it went together. The build quality is really on a new level and we've heard a lot of good things from our customers. Click here to watch the video.
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In Rapido's Real Train Car Restoration: 3, our own Dan Garcia takes you on a tour of our sleeping car, Edmundston, and shows you why you should never buy a real passenger car... Like our bus, Edmundston has progressed since the video was shot. A more recent photo can be found at the bottom of this email. Click here to watch the video.
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Jordan Smith shows off some of the railfan goodies in our Swag Store.
Boy is he skinny. Give him a hug and you'll get a paper cut.
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Rapido Railfan Christmas Gifts
The summer is over so it must be Christmas season. Or rather that's the impression I get every time I go shopping now.
Jumping on the Christmas bandwagon I just wanted to let you know that we have a whole bunch of railfan stuff IN STOCK NOW in our Swag Store which would make excellent gifts for the railfan in your life, or the youngster with his pants around his hips playing video games day and night that you would like to turn into a railfan.
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Having a cocktail party? You need our cocktail party stuff!
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We railfans are a social bunch and we like to have our buddies over for drinks and snacks. In our Swag Store you can buy CP and VIA monogrammed cocktail napkins, whisky glasses and even swizzle sticks! We've got your next Railfan Wedding or Bar Mitzvah covered....
Click here to visit the Swag Store. Hurry! There are only TWO MONTHS before Christmas!
All of our Swag Store items are shipped by Moose so it's already too late to get them by this Christmas. The Moose left last Tuesday and he's currently munching on the thistles about 200 feet down the road from our office.
(I'm kidding. It's not too late. Really. Dan will go and bring the Moose back.)
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Dave Viveiros makes us proud at the Rutland Railway Association
Model Train Show in Rutland, Vermont. Thanks, Dave!
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American Ambassadors of Rapido - Update
I've been meaning to give you guys an update on our "AAR" program for the last several months but our newsletters have been so massive I haven't had the chance.
If you live in the United States and you are a fan of Rapido's models, we'd love for you to help us get the word out about Rapido, our products, and what our company is all about. That's why we have the American Ambassadors of Rapido program. More people should know about the wacko model train company run entirely by train nuts (and Janet).
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American Ambassadors of Rapido
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To be an ambassador, click here to sign up for your free T-shirt. Send us a photo of you wearing it in a model railroad environment and you will be entered into one of our contests for $250 of Rapido products.
We've sent out about 300 T-shirts so far but we've only received a handful of photos - not enough to start the contests for free stuff. If you have sent in a photo, no worries - the people who have submitted photos so far will be entered into the first contest, which will be held next month.
We've uploaded an introductory brochure you can print on your computer to take to shows, and we'll soon be printing a glossy folded brochure which you will be able to order - free of charge - from our web site. Please help us get the word out that we make American model trains and they are - to quote Monty Python - Ahhh Verra Nice!
Please click here to visit the AAR web page.
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RDCs in production at the factory...
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Factory/Delivery Update
All New Haven 8600 coaches have been shipped to stores with the exception of Penn Central. Due to a miscommunication with the team in China that was entirely our fault, the factory used PC freight car (jade) green instead of PC passenger car green. So they are making new shells and we will ship the correct Penn Central coaches to customers in January.
The factory is working flat out on HO scale RDCs. At this point, all of the Phase 1 RDCs are scheduled to leave the factory by AIR around November 15th. All going well, they will be en route to stores around December 1st. The Phase 2 RDCs - including our 6133 exclusive - will leave the factory in mid-December by ocean, and will be sent to stores in January.
Everyone has been asking about our HO scale New Look Bus. We'll be formally announcing the bus in about a month when we get our first samples. So stay tuned for that.
Production at the new factory starts this week. Here's a photo from last week:
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Boy there's still a lot to do...
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All of the walls and doors in the photo are new. Being used to drywall here in North America, we were very surprised to see the contractors plastering the walls. Wow - it takes us back to the 1950s!
We've hired our painting and printing masters and the first assembly workers. The assembly tables will be set up in a couple of days to start trimming parts for the HO scale GMD-1 (see below).
We've received new samples of the FA-2 (Jordan is putting together a video on it this week) and we're expecting the first samples of the various F40 models we've announced. We're still taking orders for these as we can't start production until the new year. (We're making way too many RDCs and British DMUs until then.) Please click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel as that is where we will be posting updates on these projects.
STOP PRESS
Our new HO scale CN Dash 8 model will now come with OPERATING DITCH LIGHTS in DC and DCC. Click here to reserve yours. More info to come. I've stuck this announcement this far down to see if anyone actually reads these newsletters...
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HO scale GMD-1 with working ditch lights!
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HO Scale GMD-1 Production Starts NOW
Parts trimming is about to begin for the rebuilt CN HO scale GMD-1 at our new factory. We have to finalize our exact numbers by the 26th.
If you have not ordered your rebuilt CN GMD-1 with operating ditch lights, you need to do so in the NEXT FEW DAYS. You can order from your dealer or you can order direct by emailing us with your order. We're not rebuilding the on-line cart just for a few days - it's too much work! Click here for info about the model. The GMD-1 will arrive early in 2017. We will be uploading a video when we get our first production samples later this fall.
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What could this be? Is it a red herring? Or is it for real?
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New Product Announcements on October 22nd!
In North America, Rapido is best known for its models two types of trains: Canadian trains and New Haven trains. The fact that our main office is in Canada and our American office is in Connecticut is JUST A COINCIDENCE. Really.
We're proud of our association with the New Haven, which dates back to our first HO scale Osgood Bradley coaches produced in 2010 (and even further back to our TurboTrain model which stuttered and shuddered onto layouts in 2008).
The New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association (NHRHTA) is hosting its train show in Essex, Connecticut on October 22 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Held on the grounds of the Valley Railroad, the show will feature hobby vendors, presentations and displays. The Valley Railroad will also be operating steam and diesel trains that day and the fall foliage should be at or near peak color.
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The beautiful Valley Railroad
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Our American VP, General Manager, Manager, Employee and Stock Boy - Bill Schneider - will be attending with a Rapido display. He will be giving a presentation on developing and producing Rapido models, and he will be announcing TWO new Rapido HO scale products. They may even have something to do with the New Haven. The official announcement could take up to a week to appear after the show, as I am away next week and I'm the one who writes these mammoth newsletters. Come up and see him, get the news, and have a great day out at the same time!
Here's a link to the show flyer.
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Isn't she a beauty?
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The Latest Photos of Our 1:1 Models
Progress is so rapid on our 1:1 scale models that it's hard to keep everyone up to date. We can't even update our web site fast enough.
Bob Merriam has just about finished the exterior paint job on
Edmundston. It was a lot of work, but we think you'll agree it looks mighty impressive!
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We never thought we'd see this on a real passenger car...
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Click here to read the latest Edmundston blog update from Jordan, including more photos of that amazing paint job.
Everyone is asking us for models of Edmundston. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the moulds for our Duplex Sleeper are in rough shape. We'll see if we can justify retooling them, but right now our focus is on tooling new projects rather than retooling old projects.
Have a look at our new baby (the final Rapido 1:1 mass transit vehicle for the time being, as Janet keeps telling me):
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Isn't she a beauty?
This photo was taken last week. Almost ready to go!
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We've printed a new front destination sign for our bus, featuring some generic destinations suitable for a film shoot:
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Dan Darnell surveys some of our new destinations...
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And each of us at the Rapido office got to choose a couple of real Toronto route exposures just because it's neat to have. Which do you think excites Dan more, the generic ones or the real ones?
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Bus routes that would NEVER have been on the same roll come together for
the Rapido Bus. Rapido Bus? Rapido Bus!
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Thanks to Josh Anderchek for the excellent roll sign artwork. He did a beauty job, eh?
Dan Darnell and I are driving our new baby across the Prairies next month, from Calgary to Winnipeg. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with our journey, and pray we don't end up in a snow bank. We both just got our bus driving licences and our collective bus driving experience is almost, erm, two weeks.
Wish us luck...
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We'll be in touch after Bill makes his shocking announcements later this month.
Until then, we all hope you are getting more time in your layout room than any of us here!
Talk to you soon,
Jason
Jason Shron
President
Rapido Trains Inc.
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