Rapido UK Newsletter - NFRM 2025 Special

©2025 Rapido Trains Ltd

We wanted this year's National Festival of Railway Modelling to be a memorable one. Held this coming weekend on November 22^nd and 23^rd at the National Exhibition Centre, it is approaching fast!

So, before we pack the van and get ready to head to Birmingham, we thought we would surprise you with a new announcement!

OO Gauge LNER C12 4-4-2T (OO Gauge)

Rapido Trains UK is proud to announce that we are bolstering our expanding fleet of GNR locos with an attractive Atlantic tank engine, the stoic LNER C12 4-4-2T.

New locomotives were required for local passenger services in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Great Northern Railway’s loco designer, Henry Ivatt, set to work and swiftly settled on a wheel arrangement that had already proven successful for the GNR, the now famous Atlantic 4-4-2.

With the first ten locos rolling out of Doncaster works in 1898, the GNR classified them as the C2 Class tank engine. They quickly proved their worth, so the GNR continued building the class in batches of 10 until the 60th example was completed in 1907.

The final fifty of the class were built with condensing apparatus, so they were suitable to work through the tunnels of the Metropolitan Widened Lines in London.

When the N1 Class arrived the London-based C2 locos soon lost some of the heavier work on the widened lines and suburban services, but remained in service and covered many of the lighter trains. It wasn’t until the arrival of the N2 class in 1920 that they were finally usurped from underground work. 

They were still incredibly useful locomotives – packing quite a reasonable amount of power for their modest size – so were reallocated in 1922. This led to the GNR dispersing them to a multitude of locations such as Leeds, Peterborough, Grantham and Bradford.

Under their new LNER ownership in 1923, the C2 tanks were reclassified as the C12. The LNER subsequently spread the C12 way beyond the bounds of the old GNR network. In the early 1930s, ten examples were sent to Hull Botanic Gardens depot of the former Great Central Railway. Six more would follow shortly after. 

Ten of the class were withdrawn during 1937-8; the remaining members would be redeployed to other far-flung reaches of the LNER. This included the Manchester District, sheds on the former Great Eastern Railway, and the Midland and Great Northern Railway. 

The LNER scrapped only one more example before the Nationalisation of the railways in 1948. So, BR went on to inherit forty-nine of the class.  

The last surviving example was No.67397. It had spent most of its existence as a Hull-based loco, but was withdrawn at the end of 1958 from Grantham. Sadly, none was preserved, and the class has been consigned to the history books…Until now!

This highly detailed OO Gauge rendition of the LNER C12 4-4-2T will be available in a variety of liveries. These include several pre-grouping variants, and a selection of grouping and nationalisation era examples that were shedded across the wider Eastern region network.

Throughout the range, there are so many detail variations that only two models have the same selection of parts. These differences include chimneys, domes, safety valves, round and flared or square bunkers, round or square tank corners, condensing pipes, three designs of coal rails, and many more!

For models representing the pregrouping variants that were fitted with the condensing apparatus, we will include brass destination plates in the detailing bag. These fit neatly into your destination board brackets.

You can look forward to a smooth-running mechanism, diecast running board, factory-installed speaker, an ESU E24 DCC decoder socket, pre-fitted MoPower stay-alive, and firebox flicker with a dynamic fire draw effect.

So that the detail of the leading bogie isn’t compromised, the models will be fitted with NEM 363 coupler pockets on the front, and 362 on the rear of the loco. 

The order book is open, and you can preorder yours directly from us or from any of our Official Retailers now!

New Brake Van Livery Announcement! 

Additional liveries for the LNWR Dia.17B Brake Van range (OO Gauge)

Appearing out of thin air, we have two colourful new liveries to announce for our LNWR ‘Crystal Palace’ Brake.

We had the time, it was relatively easy, the dimensions of the model were the same, and we had space in the LNWR Dia.17B Brake Van range, so it was a no-brainer to add these explosive new liveries.

Jason, Rapido Trains’ owner has another love other than railways; It's almost as if he has two hearts. So, our first new livery leans into this love affair. Resplendent in blue and ready to be deployed in any metropolitan area, the Police Van is ready to assist those in dire situations. With all these windows, we suspect it’ll feel bigger on the inside.

Our second new livery is G Fawkes. With the recent announcement of our Iron Minks in this livery, we have decided to wrap up this popular spoof livery and complete the train with a brake van. Over the last few years, we have added several examples of this tongue-in-cheek livery to our range, and our friends at The Wagon Yard have added even more. G Fawkes fans now have everything they need to complete their rakes and bring all of their dubious deliveries in from further afield. You could even make your own layout around this nefarious theme should you feel particularly inspired. 

Although this draws a line under this livery for the foreseeable future, we may return to it in the future if we find a suitably suspicious loco or two!

The van's interior contains a guard’s desk, stove, and pigeonholes. So, there are all the necessary fittings for drafting plots or writing prescriptions. All versions are fitted with NEM Pockets, either disc or spoked wheels, and are finished off with brass bearings and a high-quality livery application. Finally, there is a selection of lamps in the polybag so you can personalise your model as desired.

The order book is open, and you can preorder both of these new liveries from www.rapidotrains.co.uk or from any of our Official Retailers now!

Come and see us at the NFRM Show! 

The National Festival of Railway Modelling isn’t just a place for us to tease you with exciting projects and make new announcements. We will also be bringing the following with us for you to enjoy:

• Loads of samples, including the painted samples for the 483, Evolution coaches, GWR ‘Open C’ and LMS Iron Ore Hoppers.
• Our test track, so you can see some of the upcoming models on the move.
• The Ivor the Engine layout, which includes so very tight radius curves.
• Bryn Stwffwl - Rapido Trains' own 009 Layout.
• Our staff who are keen to answer all your questions.

To go alongside our 009 layout and samples for our upcoming range, the Amerton Railway will be bringing Kerr, Stuart & Co. Sirdar Diana with them, and she will be on our stand. How cool is that!

While you're checking out our latest models, don't miss everything else happening at The National Festival of Railway Modelling - the ULTIMATE weekend for model railway enthusiasts!

• Explore 60+ of the UK's finest layouts

• Shop from over 120 top exhibitors - find second-hand treasures, the latest releases, and exclusive show offers

• Learn from the experts - enjoy inspiring talks and live demos at The World of Railways Stage

• Have some fun - try your luck on the World of Railways Marble Express Game, proudly sponsored by Rapido.

• Hop aboard - take a spin on the FREE Ride-on Train, courtesy of our friends at Accurascale.

The event is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham on November 22nd and 23rd. You can come and visit us and Diana at Stand 25. We look forward to seeing you all!



You can pre-order tickets and find out more about the event by clicking the button below:

STOP PRESS - LMS IRON ORE PAINTED SAMPLES

Just in time to take along to the NEC, some painted samples of our forthcoming OO gauge LMS Iron Ore Hoppers have arrived! More details and photos will be shown in the next newsletter but we thought we would offer a little tease for now. Why not come and see them for yourself next weekend?

We look forward to seeing all of you at the show! We can’t wait to hear which projects you are looking forward to the most, and we hope you enjoy all of the samples that we have on display.

The Rapido Trains UK Team