See, we haven’t forgotten you N Gauge modellers!

What better way to wrap up 2023 than with an N Gauge Christmas cracker of a newsletter?

(It's not all N gauge - scroll down for more OO gauge news too!)

It's not been too long since we put out the last newsletter (only a couple of weeks) but we felt it would make a nice little festive present to get this out in the wild as soon as we could. Oh, and none of us fancied thrashing out a newsletter while thoroughly bloated on turkey, port, and all things overindulgent.

Let's pop on our festive paper hats, read the bad joke (please see our previous newsletters for more examples of almost-funny jokes) and be merry for some delightful N Gauge gifts and general product updates.

What is Jean-Luc Picard's favourite model railway gift at Christmas?

N-Gauge!

(We did warn you the jokes are bad)

BR Class 44 Diesel in N Gauge is on sale.

You’ve asked and we delivered. Eventually....

It's been a lot of work, and we have had to politely bat off requests for more information on this long-awaited project for a while now, as much of what we were doing was either mechanical or subtle tweaks to the design that would have been rather uninteresting for the majority of people who read our newsletter. Now that we are finally able to take pre-orders for it, we thought it only fair to put into context what you’ve all been waiting so patiently for.

Back in October, we were very proud to win the Hornby Magazine Model Railway Award for best N Gauge loco for 2023, and we are immensely grateful to everyone who voted for us. However, we are always looking at ways to improve, and we felt that a tweak to the pickup design of our N Gauge locos going forward could change our models’ reliability for the better. We have also increased clearance tolerances which has taken some time to get right.

One of the other areas of the loco's design that seemed to rob us of time was the chassis. Now, we could have knocked out a Class 44 design significantly quicker, we won't lie, but we thought that it would be rather silly to design a bespoke chassis for the 44, then get to the inevitable Class 45 and 46 and realise that, though similar to the 44s chassis, it simply doesn’t work for the others. So we have designed the chassis to have interchangeable parts that are suitable for the Class 44, Class 45, and Class 46. However, this future-proofing has taken a fair bit of time.

So now you have a better idea of our design processes, here is a bit of historical info so you can see how widely travelled the Class 44 was.

BR ordered ten new Co-Cos from Derby Works as part of its appraisal of comparative locomotive designs (dubbed the ‘Pilot Scheme’). They were inspired by the pioneer diesel designs of the LMS and Southern and were outwardly similar to English Electric’s Type 4 (subsequently Class 40). Although fitted with a Sulzer 12LDA28 diesel engine capable of 2,300hp, the new BR Type 4s were heavy. Their 133 ton weight required a 1Co-Co1 wheel arrangement.

The first, D1, emerged from Derby in 1959 and was named Scafell Pike. The remaining nine locomotives were also named after English and Welsh peaks and the class soon gained the nickname ‘Peak’, which was also applied to the subsequent Class 45s and 46s.

Although a mixed traffic design, they were initially used on West Coast Main Line passenger services before being transferred en masse to the Midland Main Line. The subsequent arrival of the Sulzer Type 4s (later Class 45) meant that the BR Type 4s (which would become Class 44 on TOPS) were allocated predominantly to freight work radiating out from Toton. Consequently, they could be seen as far afield as York or Severn Tunnel Junction.

Any small class of locomotive was always under threat and the ‘44s’ were no exception. 44 003 was withdrawn in July 1976 and all had gone by the end of 1980. Happily, two survive; D8 Penyghent is based at Peak Rail and D4 Great Gable is owned by the Peak Locomotive Company and is based at the Midland Railway, Butterley.

Our new models will feature a variety of detail variants seen across the working lives of the locomotives, including plated-over steps on the body side, removal of inner sandboxes and extra steps on the bogies.

You can chose from nine different N Gauge Class 44 models, and they are available in DCC Ready (£144.95 RRP) and DCC Sound Fitted (£249.95 RRP) versions. You can pre-order them directly from our website, or from any of our Official Retailers now.

Go on, why not treat yourself? It's Christmas!

This new announcement is ready to explode like a Christmas Cracker.

Our range of Iron Minks was an absolute blast in OO and loads of you have asked us to shrink them down to N Gauge. We have been mulling it over and we think that now is a good time to follow up on the popularity of the recently released Not-Quite-Minks, and Iron out the designs for our N Gauge fans.

The Great Western Railway’s V6 ‘Iron Mink’ is one of the most recognisable designs that came out of the Swindon wagon drawing office. What made these wagons so recognisable was the fact that they shunned traditional wooden construction and were made from metal instead. Shortages of timber forced the GWR to investigate building vans from metal but it wasn’t until 1888 that what could be called the ‘Standard Iron Mink’ appeared. This boasted a 16ft 6in underframe and a capacity of 8 tons. Over 4,000 were built up to 1901 when the GWR reverted to wooden bodies.

With war looming, the metal construction of the 'Iron Mink’ made it an ideal gunpowder van. The standard doors were replaced with thick metal ones and the end ventilators were covered with a plain panel. After the First World War, some of these ‘Iron Minks’ were converted back for goods traffic.

The ‘Iron Minks’ were long-lived with examples surviving into British Railways days in revenue and Departmental service. They could be found all over the UK railway network and some were recorded as far north as Inverness.

Luckily, several complete ‘Iron Minks’ (alongside several van bodies) have survived into the preservation at the Severn Valley Railway, Didcot Railway Centre, Swindon and Cricklade and South Devon Railway.

Though the GWR pioneered the ‘Iron Mink’, the basic design was adopted by not only private wagon builders but also other railway companies, who would use what was essentially the ‘Iron Mink’ body with underframes and fittings to their own design. Whilst not quite right we thought we would offer ready-to-run ‘Not-Quite-Minks’ that represent railway companies and private owner organisations where the pickings of RTR models are quite slim – we trust that modellers will overlook any slight prototypical inaccuracies in order to enjoy highly authentic and well-researched liveries on a beautiful looking and refined model.

Across the range we have a nice selection of tooling variants to cover some of the different guises the ‘Iron Mink’ had throughout its existence. These include plated or vented ends, Standard or GPV metal doors, and numerous brake configurations. There will be a swathe of livery options that cover the wagon's long history and well-travelled nature, including many of the same liveries that featured as part of the OO ‘Not-Quite-Mink’ range.

Rather than confusing you with tonnes of versions, we’ve combined as many of them into convenient Triple packs, similar to our previous N Gauge wagon packs. Of course, some of them just didn’t make sense in three packs, so, we’ve done a handful as individuals too.

We’ve made enough versions to catch the eye of steam-era modellers the length and breadth of the country, the question is which version are you going to treat yourself to? These wagons will shortly be going into tooling and we hope to have samples in the late spring. You can pre-order your N Gauge ‘Iron Mink’ packs directly from our website here, or from any of our Official Retailers now. RRP for triple packs is £69.95 and single wagons £24.95.

In the nick of time, and just minutes before this newsletter was due to go out, we received some beautiful production samples of the upcoming OO Gauge GWR O11, O15, V14, V16, X6 Mica and Y4 Banana Vans.

We know we have been showing off our hand-painted prototypes at recent shows and events, and lots of you have been singing their praises, so we considered making you wait until the next newsletter to see them. But that’s not really in the festive spirit is it, so here is an early Christmas prezzie for all of you eager Western modellers.

We have a bunch of them available to pre-order directly from our website via the links below:

Remaining stock is limited for this pre-order, and we have sold out of several variants already, so don’t miss out!

If we have sold out of your preferred livery you will be pleased to hear that many of our Official Retailers have ordered stock for them, so don’t hesitate to contact your retailer of choice and grab them before they are gone.

We are pleased to be working with Tony’s Trains of Rugby to add an unusual livery to our upcoming LNER/LMS 25t LOWMAC Machine Wagon range - Great Central No. 37752 in 'what if' Grey.

Having been inspired by the Not-Quite-Minks we have taken our new model and applied the GC livery as seen on the MAC N - the ancestor of the LOWMAC.

Tony has been one of our Official Retailers since the early days of Rapido Trains UK, so it is awesome that we are able to work together on their

very first exclusive project, hopefully the first of many. Its an apt choice - as the GC livery not only has a link to the LOWMAC, but also to Tony who is a fireman on the preserved Great Central Railway.

A limited number of these models is being produced, so if it takes your fancy pop over to the shop or order online HERE.

We’ve been working alongside Locomotion Models for many years to produce some lovely exclusive models, so we are very pleased to continue hand-in-hand with them on a deluge of upcoming exclusive models.

Kicking off this smorgasbord of eye-catching models is the GNR J52 NO.1247 in Museum Condition with lining and painting as seen in Station Hall. The Locomotion Models exclusive variant will accurately portray the physical and cosmetic condition of the locomotive as seen in the National Collection today, and features subtle changes to the 1960s version that we are offering directly.

To save you the effort of scouring our website here is a list of its unique features:

You can find out more about the exclusive GNR J52 NO.1247 in Museum Condition HERE.

The next delightful exclusive is the lovely LNWR Diagram 88 van No.21408, which is preserved in the National Collection at York and can also be seen in Station Hall.

This model shows the wagon in full LNWR livery as it would have been in its service life. You can find out more about Van No.21408 HERE.

Last, but by no means least, is our second exclusive LNER/LMS 25t LOWMAC. The Locomotion Models' exclusive LOWMAC is LMS 25t No.M700728, which you may have seen as part of the National Collection and is currently based at Shildon. You can find out more about their exclusive LOWMAC HERE.

Lastly, Locomotion Models are also producing a short run of N Gauge LNER Dynamometer Cars in "museum condition". This model mimics the condition of the dyno car as seen at York in LNER teak condition, with grey roof, no lining and lettering as per the preserved example. You can find out more HERE.

Don't forget Locomotion Models are also having another run of the Stirling single with the larger tender! You can find out more HERE.

And if you haven't made the trip, we implore you to make the pilgrimage to the Railway Museum at York, and Locomotion at Shildon. Both are only closed for a couple of days over Christmas (24^th-26^th Dec), but if you find yourself with a spare day or two throughout the winter we would highly encourage you to pay them a visit.

Alongside the GWR wagon samples shown above we have also received a sample of our exclusive N gauge CP Angus Van No.434677. Produced by our colleagues at Rapido Trains Inc., this model features markings and numbers as seen on the UK-based preserved example at Mangapps Railway Museum.

Only 50 models are being produced and these are selling fast! They are only available direct from us - click on the button below to order yours!

Our LNWR Diagram 88 vans have gone down a storm in recent months. With the engineering samples now fully assessed and revisions made we are pleased to say that the orderbooks will close on Monday 12th February 2024.

With a large number of liveries to choose from there really is something for everyone. These vans are available to pre-order direct from us or from any Official Retailer today.

Our factories work at a pace that would impress even the most productive of Santa's elves, but a fortnight really isn’t much time for us to expect them to magic something special out of thin air. However, progress is being made on the 1907 RCH Private Owner Wagons and Leyland Fleetline buses.

Santa has come a little early and in the two weeks between the last newsletter and this one we have received, checked and shipped out our Titfield Thunderbolt Standard Train packs, W&U Train Packs, and OO Gauge OAA Wagons. So, it's not just the N Gauge modellers who have a nice prezzie from Rapido this month!

Well, that title took a couple of rereads.

Anyway...

We have had a few locos that have come through our warranty department in the last few months including some rather beautifully weathered locos, be that a personal project, or by a variety of very talented professional companies and individuals. Sadly, this presents us with several issues.

The first issue is the aesthetic problem. On occasion, a warranty repair may require a part to be exchanged. Of course, if someone has gone to the effort of weathering a loco, they don’t want one component looking unusually clean, so this makes us reluctant to replace bits where we would usually just swap them straight out.

Now that being said, we aren’t saying don’t weather your models, in fact we love seeing Rapido models weathered, it really helps bring them to life. We also aren’t saying that we don’t want to hear from you regarding warranty repairs if your model is weathered; weathering is just part of the fun of model railways. However, what we are suggesting is that you have some resolve and patience, which brings us nicely to our second point.

If you are going to do it, when should you weather a model? Common advice for creating a model railway is to lay the track and let it settle before applying weathering to the track and the ballasting, this is because the track naturally moves as the temperature changes. Those living in the UK will appreciate this, as a few weeks ago half the country was covered in snow, yet only 8 weeks prior, in early-to-mid October, we were still getting warm summer-like evenings. A piece of rolling stock, and more importantly a loco, is no different to your layout. You need to make sure it is mechanically sound before getting creative with paints and finishing effects.

Our instruction manuals recommend that you should run a loco in for an hour or so at various speeds in both directions before putting it under the strain of pulling a difficult train, or running up an incline. We think this little snippet of info is often forgotten or overlooked, as some over-enthusiastic artists bust out their airbrush or paints, and go to town on their newly acquired locomotive or wagon before properly running them in. Your weathering is permanent to a certain extent, so ensuring your model is mechanically sound before weathering is paramount.

For people who have chosen not to weather their model, this is much less of an issue. An unweathered loco means we can take the newly acquired model and diagnose it with relative ease. However, with a weathered model it’s not so simple. For example, if we receive a weathered model that isn’t running smoothly, we know how the model was created so we can methodically work backwards eliminating potential issues one at a time. This understanding of the model doesn’t account for pickups thick with paint, dirty wheels where they haven’t been cleaned after being sprayed or airbrushed, or paint and weathering powders that have built up in the rods. Unfortunately, we have seen models in our warranty department with the issues listed above and received them both from individuals and retailers.

It’s also worth noting that if the model ran nicely after running in, but then subsequently ran badly after it's been weathered, the problem with your loco may be staring you in the face. Give your models a clean and ensure all the wheels and pickups are clear of any grime, paint or powder. We use Track Magic, but other versions and brands are available. Then retest it, you may find that there is nothing wrong with your loco at all.

So, in summary, please weather our models to your heart's content, because we love it. But whatever you do, make sure you run them in thoroughly before your inner Neil Buchanan or Tony Hart gets a flash of inspiration and reaches for the brushes. Oh, and pleeeeease give it the once-over before getting in touch with us because it may just need a cleanup.

JASON: I love Vision On. It was repeated all through the 1970s and 1980s on TVOntario in Canada. They never showed my art in the gallery, though. My kids love this Vision On book we have called A Book of Nonsense with Some Sense In It. Can we just talk about Tony Hart for the rest of this newsletter?

RAPIDO UK: No.

As we were saying, if you are still experiencing any issues with one of our models after you've thoroughly cleaned it and got rid of all the stray weathering goop, please don’t hesitate to contact us via our Warranty Form here:

JASON: Can I just add that I had the hugest crush on Joanna Kirk from Hartbeat? She was SO CUTE.

RAPIDO UK: PLEASE GO AWAY.

A massive thank you to all of the dedicated modellers out there who have helped make 2023 awesome! From those of you who picked up your first Rapido Trains UK wagon as recently as Warley, right back to the early Rapido veterans who have a Stirling Single thundering around their layout, you have all helped us grow and given us the support so that we can continue to bring you the wonderful models you all love.

So full steam ahead and on to 2024.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and a Happy New Year from us all.

The Rapido Trains UK Team