Rapido Newsletter Vol. 94
©2017 Rapido Trains Inc.
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Dear Rapido Customer,
Welcome to another edition of Rapido News. In this issue:
Please share this email with your modelling friends and encourage them to sign up for our emails. We haven't had a new subscriber in seven years. The "share" link is way at the bottom. Thanks. Both of you. |
Our mid-train dome... back from the dead!
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HO Scale Mid-Train Dome: Order Deadline November 20th
Our
Mid-Train Dome is the most detailed passenger car model on the planet. There - how's that for an opening line?
We hope that those of you who already own our HO scale Budd passenger cars will agree with our bold (outrageous?) claim. We include a ridiculous amount of detail because we think passenger cars are just as important as locomotives. That stuff visible under the floor and through the windows - it needs to be treated with respect. It's the stuff that makes the passenger car unique. A few blobs of moulded-on plastic won't cut it.
Have a look at the underbody on a typical HO scale model:
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Typical HO scale dome car underbody detail
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Now have a look at the underbody detail on our Mid-Train Dome:
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Our Mid-Train Dome underbody
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Those two photos say it all. The insane level of detail extends from the lowliest pipe to the top of the roof.
If you love detail, you will love our
Mid-Train Dome. Here are the paint schemes:
- Amtrak Phase I
- Baltimore & Ohio
- Canadian National (Noodle)
- Canadian National (American Spirit)
- Canadian Pacific (Maroon)
- CP Rail
- Delaware & Hudson
- Illinois Central
- Missouri Pacific (Eagle)
- Norfolk & Western
- Seaboard Coast Line
- VIA Rail Canada
- Wabash
- Stainless Steel Finish, Unlettered
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The dome seating features see-through armrests and antimacassars!
Unless the railroad in question was too cheap to install antimacassars.
In which case, we'll leave them off too.
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Click here for more information or to place your order. Remember the order deadline - November 20th!
Delivery of our Mid-Train Dome will be some time in 2018. We will soon be retooling some more Budd cars so you will be able to expand your fleet over time.
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New Haven's famous 8600-series coaches!
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N Scale New Haven "8600" Coaches
The New Haven's
8600-series coaches are a must-have addition to your N scale New Haven fleet. They could be found on trains system-wide from delivery until the Penn Central years. Around three quarters of the coaches were later sold to MBTA and they remained in service in the Boston area until 1988!
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Coupler cut levers! Separate grab irons! Etched end gates!
Hand-painted, pre-production sample
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If you model the New Haven in N scale, you want our
New Haven 8600 Coaches. The model specs can be found on our web site.
The paint schemes are:
- New Haven - Delivery With Skirts
- New Haven - McGinnis With Skirts
- New Haven - McGinnis Without Skirts
- MBTA - Without Skirts
- Penn Central - Without Skirts
- Painted, Unlettered
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Iconic New Haven 8600 Coaches
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Click here for more information or to order direct. You need a whole fleet.
Remember the order deadline - November 20th. Don't wait until the last minute!
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Relaunching the GMD-1 in N scale!
Photo courtesy Darrel Wendt.
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N Scale GMD-1 Relaunch: 1100-Series and More
We are pleased to announce that we are relaunching the N scale GMD-1 and we're also including an entirely new version!
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1149 in all her glory. Photo courtesy Ken Goslett.
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1100-Series GMD-1
The real GMD-1 locomotives were a huge success. When CN started closing down the branchlines for which the GMD-1 locomotives had been designed, it was decided to rebuild the reliable locomotives for general service and renumber them into the 1100-series. The rebuild included new 2000-gallon fuel tanks and 2-axle Flexicoil trucks salvaged from retired lightweight GP9 locomotives. In total, 46 1000-series GMD-1 locomotives were upgraded to 1100-series units. These 1100-series rebuilds were outshopped between 1983 and 1988 and lasted in service as late as 2006.
You can read the complete history of the GMD-1 in our Master Class, located here.
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Pre-production sample, 1400-series GMD-1
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1400-Series GMD-1
In the late 1990s, the 1600-series GR-612a GMD-1 locomotives were retrucked with even more 2-axle Flexicoil trucks (those poor lightweight GP9s!) and became 1430-1444. These things have really lasted - several are still in service!
Like the 1100s, the 1400s saw service all over Canada. They were not restricted to the Prairies.
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One of the wacky Cuban Bo-A1A GMD-1 locomotives!
Photo courtesy Ken Goslett.
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Weird Cuban GMD-1
Cuba purchased a fleet of GMD-1s secondhand in the late 1990s, but the 4-axle trucks were too much for many of the light-rail lines in Cuba. An ingenious solution was found - replace one truck with a three-axle truck taken off the GMD-1s when they were converted to four-axle trucks!
These Cuban GMD-1s would make an interesting addition to your "oddball" collection. We all have them - stuff we don't need but we buy anyway because they are neat. Well these wacky five-axle GMD-1s are neat!
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Our N scale GMD-1 poses on Samuel Ridge, one of the layouts built by the late
Mike McGrattan. This photo was taken just this week. Mike's modelling lives on...
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1000-Series GMD-1
We're doing three new numbers for our popular 1000-series GMD-1 in CN's original 1950s green. We say 1950s green, but some lasted in green until the 1980s! It's no wonder green was by far our biggest seller. And it's growing on me. I no longer loathe CN green quite so much... With the decaying state of railway preservation in Canada, I just want to see the stuff saved. I don't care what paint scheme it's in.
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- DC silent or DC/DCC/Sound
- Accurate prime mover recordings - 567C or 654C depending on number
- 5-pole, skew-wound motor with excellent slow-speed performance
- Revised N scale wheelset design for trouble-free operation
- DC models wired to match the rest of your DC fleet
- Heavy, die-cast chassis for great pulling power
- Accurate four-wheel Flexicoil trucks and 2000-gallon fuel tank
- Full cab interior oriented the correct way
- MSRP $159 (DC), $259 (DC/DCC/Sound)
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1600s and 1400s side by side!
Photo courtesy Ken Goslett.
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Like the real GMD-1, our N scale model won't die! It is our pleasure to finally be able to produce these. Our orders for 1400-series GMD-1 locomotives are as strong as in HO. But in HO we produced three different versions at once, so the overall numbers were higher. We just needed to add a few more N scale versions in order to get to our needed production minimums. So please order your 1100s and more 1000s by the bucket load!
If you have an existing order for a 1400-series GMD-1 there is no need to re-order.... unless you want
MORE!
You can find out more about our new N scale GMD-1 locomotives by
clicking here. They are available from all finer hobby shops as well as directly from us.
The new order deadline is February 9th 2018. Delivery is early fall 2018.
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A selection of Rapido's N scale models.
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Rapido's Commitment to N Scale
In contrast to our European namesake in the 1960s, we've only dabbled in N scale. We've generally tried to bring out one or two new N products a year. Things were going well until Mike got sick, and our N scale champion could no longer lead us. For a while we questioned if we would continue to produce N scale models.
After Mike passed away, we decided that we needed to renew our commitment to N scale in his honour. In 2017 we delivered the N scale baggage cars and FPA-4 and FPB-4 locomotives. In 2018 we will be delivering the TurboTrain, the GMD-1 and the 8600-series coaches. We have two new N scale locomotives and one new passenger car currently in the design stage, and we are working with Prairie Shadows on two exciting new projects.
Working with our project managers (mainly Gareth and Dan D.) and engineers, I am taking personal responsibility for our N scale line. I will make sure that the couplers work, the locomotives go the right way in DC, and the wheels stay on the rails! I also regularly run our N scale model designs and samples past Bryan Bussey at Eastern Seaboard Models. Bryan is considered one of North America's premier N scale modellers and manufacturers, and if a model is OK by his exacting standards, it is OK by us.
To make a long story short, we are 100% committed to bringing out new N scale models. Will we bring out as many models as Kato or Micro-Trains? Of course not. And we're not going to try to. We are happy to be a minor player in the N scale market, and we will continue to focus mostly on oddball prototypes. We will do all we can to ensure that our N scale models exceed your expectations.
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Installing my first RailCrew switch machine on my HO scale Kingston Sub
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RailCrew Switch Machines Arriving...
New "How To" Video
Finally -
FINALLY! - the first shipment
RailCrew Switch Machines with Rotating Switch Targets is arriving next month. These switch machines are completely and totally awesome. Jordan and I just installed one this week on my layout, and it is SO COOL to watch the handle and target rotate as the switch points are thrown.
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That is just so neat - it actually rotates!
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If you are a dealer, you'll be pleased to know that 6-packs and 12-packs come in this nifty point-of-sale display box!
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RailCrew Switch Machines come in a point-of-sale display box.
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We actually received the
RailCrew Switch Machines two years ago... and scrapped the shipment. Literally - the bits are in boxes in our warehouse. They just weren't reliable in the long term. For instance, if someone walked up to your layout and rapidly flicked the switch back and forth over and over, the unit would heat up and stop working... forever! Now they have a built-in temperature switch, so when a layout visitor decides to treat your toggle switches like egg beaters the switch machine will shut down rather than melt down. Once it cools off, it will turn on again.
You have to hand it to inventor Randy Schnarr - these switch machines really are impressive and it's entirely due to him. This isn't your typical "Variation on a Tortoise, Vol. VII" - this is a completely new switch machine design from the ground up and it works on completely different principals. The good news is that one 12V DC power supply can power a whole bunch of them.
Click here or on the image below to watch the video. Yes, we got a bit silly. That's Jordan. In a headlock.
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Jordan in a headlock. Noogies are next.
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Click here for more information or to order direct. We will keep these in stock at all times and you can order them from your local dealer. The second shipment is due to leave the factory in about three weeks.
We know that Tortoise will always be the world's number-one-selling switch machine, but...
WE WANT TO BE NUMBER TWO!
If you want to find out more about the layout visible in the background,
click here to visit my Kingston Sub Facebook page.
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TTC New Look Bus models in production
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Factory Updates/Photos
Lots of updates from our factories.
1. Our
New Look "Fishbowl" buses are in production now. First delivery is STCUM (Montreal) and TTC (Toronto). The modern buses above are an exclusive for the TTC shop, and you can still order -
click here to order. The STCUM bus below is an exclusive for the STM shop, and you can still order those too!
Click here to order. These are expected in early December.
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CTCUM/STCUM New Look - Montreal
The standee windows haven't been installed yet.
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2.
N scale Pendolino production is nearing completion. We expect these to be finished next month.
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N gauge Pendolino power cars
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New Haven Parlor Car interiors - check out the antimacassars AND
the see-through armrests! No big lumps of beige plastic here!
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HO scale 3800 Hoppers are ready for final assembly.
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5. HO scale
Northern Pacific 10000-series double-sheathed boxcar tooling has been recut with the correct board spacing. Our first attempt wasn't good enough so we didn't show it to you. Have a look! We should have complete samples of this in a couple of weeks. We will be relaunching this project in an upcoming newsletter and delivering next year.
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Northern Pacific 10000-series box car shells
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6. We are starting to test the
HO scale Royal Hudson moulds. This one is the boiler. It's a metal diecasting mould, but we tested it by injecting it in ABS plastic to find any flaws.
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Royal Hudson boiler - test shot
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Regular updates from our factories are uploaded to our
Facebook page several times per week. If you want to keep up to date, please
click here to visit our Facebook page and "like" us.
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Some dude and his kid at Trainfest.
That kid is thinking: "Rapido should really do a Metra engine."
Trainfest photo.
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Come Visit Us At Trainfest!
This year is our fourth at
Trainfest, though to be fair the first was in 2007... Trainfest is one of North America's best model train shows. It's in Milwaukee every November. This year it's on
November 11th and 12th.
Click here to visit the Trainfest web site. Dan, Jordan and Josh look forward to seeing you there!
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A nice plume of exhaust from 6133's engines
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RDC 6133 - Operational!
We're really, really pleased to report that
6133, our preserved Budd RDC, is almost fully operational. Now both engines are running, new rads and fans are installed, and we're almost up to full potential, as in "83 MPH" potential...
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Exhaust from both stacks means both engines are running.
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The only reason 6133 is operational is because of Chris Fox and John and Dave Carey. Chris has led the restoration efforts and John and Dave have been his fearless assistants. You can imagine how Chris felt pressing the "START" button on engine #2. When 6133 arrived, that engine had been completely shot. We had to go to Moncton and buy two spare engines so we could get the needed parts.
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Click here to read the latest blog posting about 6133's restoration. 6133 will soon be joined in Toronto by our sleeping car, Edmundston. The maintenance centre in Toronto is a more secure location where we can finish the restoration and upgrade of Edmundston to full Head-End Power.
You can still buy a fundraising model of 6133 to help support our restoration efforts.
Click here to get yours.
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Janet, Theresa (Bill's wife), Bill and Dan
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Thinking of Bill
Bill Schneider has been a core part of the Rapido team for more than eight years. He is our "US Division," as he works full-time from his home near Hartford, Connecticut. Most of our US products and all of our "APT-E and earlier" British models have been designed by Bill.
Last month, Bill lost his dad. This month... he lost his mum. You can imagine what kind of a time he is having now. Please keep him and his family - wife Theresa, daughters Laura and Kayleigh - in your thoughts. Obviously if you've sent an email to Bill and you are wondering why he's taking so long to reply, you now know.
If you would like to make a donation in memory of his folks, you can make one to the Norfield Congregational Church or the Kiwanis Club of Weston.
Bill doesn't want us to end on a sad note, so here again is that photo of me putting Jordan into a headlock. Noogies!
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Can you tell I've been working out? :-P
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We'll be in touch soon with another update. I'm heading to China in early December so I'll be posting more factory photos on
Facebook and hopefully a video on
YouTube.
If you haven't yet seen the tour of our LRC factory from my last China trip,
click here to watch it. On the next trip (number 18, the fifth in two years - I really should buy an apartment there), we're going to see if we can move the Rapido factory up the road. 350
MILES up the road.
Should be interesting....
Talk to you soon,
Jason
Jason Shron
President
Rapido Trains Inc.
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