Rapido Trains UK Railex 2025 Announcement No.3

©2025 Rapido Trains Ltd

We started this week with announcements for two different locomotives in two different scales, so we thought we should probably announce some new rolling stock too.

For Day Three of our announcements, Evolution continues at Rapido Trains UK with an exciting third batch of pre-grouping style passenger stock.

It has been one year since we announced this project and our first batch are well on the way through production in the factory and a second batch will shortly be joining them.

We have been inundated with email requests for further Evolution liveries, so we suspect many of you are keen to know which ones are going to be in Batch 3.

Jump on board, and we’ll take you through the new liveries!

New 48’ ‘Evolution’ Bogie Coach liveries - Batch 3 (OO Gauge)

Expanding our range even further, we are covering more of Britain's companies and have chosen a nice selection of additional liveries from across the entire length of the British Isles, including the other grouping companies we haven’t covered yet, British Railways, and many more! 

Which versions and liveries are we making?

Much like the liveries from the first two batches, ‘Evolution’ Batch 3 will include Brake Third, Third, First, Composite and Full Brake non-corridor coach body variants.

Multipacks will also be available for all mainline railway company liveries in Batch 3, and contain a Brake Third, Third, and Composite body version.

For modellers who wish to extend these rakes, a single version of each coach will be available; these will feature alternative running numbers to their multipack counterparts, alongside a Full Brake and First Class version.



You can look forward to ‘Evolution’ Batch 3, including liveries from the following railway companies:

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Mahogany

Great North of Scotland Railway Purple Lake and Cream

Southern Railway Olive Green

London and North Eastern Railway Carriage Brown

British Railways (E) Crimson

British Railways (S) Malachite

Batch 3 will also include a 3-pack set consisting of different roof and body types in National Coal Board livery.

Finally a selection of individual coaches of varying roof and body types will be included in the range in the following liveries:

British Railways Engineering and Departmental

Camping Coach

Generic Crimson

Generic Brown

Our 'generic' livery coaches will be available as a Brake 3rd and Composite and feature class markings on compartment doors along with markings such as "Guard" and "Luggage" but no railway company markings.

Additionally, an exclusive Kent and East Sussex Railway livery ‘Evolution’ two-coach set will be available exclusively via our own website. These coaches are being produced as a fund raiser - with all the proceeds going towards the upkeep of Peckett 1631 'Marcia'.

Proceeds go to the ongoing preservation and upkeep of the loco, which has been based at the K&ESR for many years.

Much like the coaches from the first two batches, ‘Evolution’ Batch 3 models are a selection of generic 48’ bogie coaches, each detailed with an array of key features that modellers associate with their pre-grouping railway of choice.

Arc, elliptical, and clerestory roof designs are included in the range, and the roofs are easily removable so that you can fit figures into your coaches should you wish.

There is also a multitude of separately fitted parts and interior details to bring the coaches to life, including luggage racks, picture frames on compartment dividers and passenger emergency alarm “butterflies” at one end.

All ‘Evolution’ coaches are fitted with internal working lighting controlled by our magnetic magic wand.

To complete the appearance of different gas and electric lighting fittings, the relevant models will feature separately fitted parts for battery and regulator boxes, a dynamo, roof-mounted gas lamps, plumbing, and gas tanks on the underframes.

The coaches also feature Fox pattern bogies fitted with electrical pickups. Some versions will feature extra footboards on the bogies, and there are also additional central lower footboards on some designs too.



Finally, each coach is fitted with NEM pockets and has optional close coupling bars (modelled on vacuum pipes) included.

Further batches are planned with the potential of additional tooling.



The order book is open for ‘Evolution’ Batch 3, and you can order yours directly from us today or from any of our Official Retailers.

Evolution Batch 1 Painted Samples Have Arrived!

This news was too exciting for us to make you wait for the end of September newsletter; we aren’t that cruel. We have just received a handful of painted samples of the OO Gauge Evolution Batch 1 liveries.



Not every livery in Batch 1 has been completed, but as we had some of them, we thought we would show you the incredible level of detail these coaches are going to have. 

Coinciding perfectly with the arrival of the SECR O1, which should be winging its way to customers as this newsletter hits your inbox, we have the first painted SECR Evolution samples. Don’t they look great together! Beautifully lined and finished in the sharp SECR livery, these will look awesome behind any OO Gauge SECR loco. 

Staying on the south coast, the next eye-catching livery that we have received is LBSCR. Fitted with arc roofs and finished in the two-tone umber and white colour scheme, these look really smart. We’ve coupled a few to one of our E1s so you can see just how good they look behind a Brighton-based loco. 

Our final group of samples is the delightfully deep blue livery of the Longmoor Military Railway. With the S160 progressing nicely, we look forward to grouping these together into a well-regimented train. 

It's not just the exteriors that have been painted; each of these samples also features a fully painted interior. So, it will give you a good idea of what you have to look forward to, even if your chosen livery wasn’t included in these samples. 

We will be bringing these samples to Railex, so if you want to be amongst the first to see them, grab yourself a ticket and come and join us!

There is a very limited amount of stock still available for some versions of Evolution Batch 1, so if you haven’t placed your pre-order yet, we recommend doing so as soon as possible, as these are due to arrive in Q4 of this year.

Evolution Batch 2 Order Book Closing Date

To coincide with today's new announcement, we have decided to close the order books for Batch 2 of our Evolution Coach range.

Order books close for all OO Gauge 48’ ‘Evolution’ Bogie Coach liveries that are in Batch 2 on Monday the 27th of October.

With yesterday’s announcement of the Highland Railway Loch Class, you are going to want to get your pre-orders in for the Highland Railway Livery coaches in Batch 2 right away!

Remember, if you want to pre-order any of these models, you can do so directly through our website or with any of our Official Retailers.

That’s three massive announcements for this week already, and we are only just past the halfway mark! Watch out for more announcements tomorrow; we don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The Rapido Trains UK Team