We go marching on into March!

It feels like we’ve had more exhibitions and dates booked in the diary than an Iron Maiden tour! We packed the flight cases, crammed everything in the tour (Luton) van and got on the road. Well Mark did, anyway. The rest of us got the train!

In the last month, we’ve managed to see many of you at Model Rail Scotland and the Tonbridge Model Railway Exhibition and had a blast at both; more on these later though. With barely enough time to reload the leaflet dispensers and check the samples we are back out on the Road again as the ever-busy London Festival of Railway Modelling is our next stop on the tour.

As if that wasn't enough, we've even managed to find the time to squeeze in another announcement, and these wagons have travelled almost as much as we have!

This newsletter isn't just a diary of our gallivanting to Glasgow and new announcements; we have tried to squeeze in as much progress on the other upcoming projects as we could and started planning an exhibition of our own.

Oh, and we’ve strengthened the squad with a spectacularly smiley Scouser!

Anyway, let's look to Ally Pally and beyond!

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We have an awesome batch of new announcements in the form of a brand-new tooling variant for the RCH 1907 spec 7-plank private owner wagons.

This time we have opted for a longer, 16' 6" prototype that was used by numerous mainline and privately companies. We have split these wagons into their respective owners to give you a better idea of their relevance to your collections. Let's begin...

To complement our first batch of incredibly popular OO Gauge RCH 1907 wagons, we thought we would reinforce them with a brand new plentiful and prevailing private owner wagon. This venerable version of the RCH 1907-compliant design is equipped with two side doors, perfect for the sort of job that doesn’t require an end door as seen on our first batch.

These wagons are also six inches longer than our first models, which thanks to the model's clever design we are able to cater for. Like our first batch of wagons these will feature a number of little variations in axleboxes, buffers and brake gear alongside a high-quality livery application.

During the 1914-1918 conflict the War Department ordered a large quantity of wagons to deal with the increase in freight traffic and to ensure there was a constant stream of raw materials heading across the channel to assist the war effort. Many wagons were even sent to Europe to help transport materials directly to the front lines. The example we have modelled was photographed sharing the famous 'train ferry' with two railway guns!

With the ink still fresh on The Treaty of Versailles, wagons were swiftly sent back to the UK. Of course, during the war, the War Department had requisitioned whatever wagons they needed from mainline companies across the country (such as the GWR O11 and V16s we have recently released) and in order to repay them for any lost or damaged while in their care, the WD offered replacements with wagons of this type.

After the War, numerous privately-owned businesses purchased the wagons in considerable numbers. So, at the Grouping when the railways were joined together to become the ‘Big Four’, wagons of this design could be seen across the UK in a variety of guises.

By the time the railways were nationalised, numbers of wagons had started to dwindle. Having survived for over 40 years and carried the burden of two World Wars' worth of goods and minerals traffic, they were tired to say the least. British Railways still utilised these wagons, but instead of giving them a lick of paint, they primarily left them 'as-purchased' and simply painted a new number with a ‘P’ prefix to denote ex-private owner stock.

We have produced a selection of liveries covering the history of these wagons from War Department service through private ownership and into their BR-era renditions.

In addition to this, we have produced 'The Big Four', fictitious liveries brandishing businesses named after some of the UK's most famous locomotive designers. These fictional liveries bare other “Easter eggs” relating to the engineers and the railways they worked for.

These wagons are available to pre-order now direct from us or from any Official Retailer.

SECR 12 Ton 7-Plank Mineral Wagon (SR Dia.1357) (OO Gauge)

As the 19th Century drew to an end, the newly-amalgamated South Eastern and Chatham Railway wasted no time in capitalising on the recently- discovered coal in and around Shakespeare Cliffs and the Kent coalfields. Hopeful that the black gold would pay dividends, they ordered a huge number of 12-ton RCH-compliant mineral wagons, which included a sizeable quantity of 7-Plank which would later become SR Diagram 1357. A total of 1850 wagons (including Dia. 1357 versions) were ordered between 1910 and 1914.

When combined with the substantial number that the SECR used as part of a business agreement with William Cory and Son of Erith, who owned some 5000 wagons of numerous types, it is fair to say that the Dia. 1357 were a common sight throughout Kent during this period. These numbers were further bolstered by some of the wagons that the War Department returned to the UK following the cessation of WW1, which ended up in Loco Coal use.

Most of the wagons passed into Southern Railway ownership at the Grouping gaining both liveries carried by the SR. A very small number survived into the BR-era but no evidence of any carrying BR livery has ever been found.

LBSCR 7-Plank 12 Ton Coal Wagon (SR Dia.1373) (OO Gauge)

Much like their Kentish counterparts had done the previous year, the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway began ordering 7-Plank 12 Ton Coal Wagons in 1911. 225 wagons were added to a previously ordered SECR batch by the LBSCR, so the astute builder (Hurst, Nelson & Company) sensibly constructed them using the same SECR drawings. The LBSCR regarded these as a non-standard wagon, and illustrated this by ordering further parts for them from the manufacturer only a year after delivery, instead of producing parts themselves in their own wagon works.

Once they had moved to Southern Railway ownership, they were issued a unique diagram number (Dia. 1373) despite having the same origin as their SECR cousins. These wagons carried both styles of SR goods livery prior to withdrawal. It is believed a very small number survived into the BR-era but, again, no evidence of them carrying BR livery has ever been found.

It wasn’t just the pre-grouping companies of the South Coast that had RCH 1907 7-Plank side door wagons in mainline company use. Following the end of the Great War, the Great Northern Railway were given 50 7-plank wagons by the WD as replacement for GNR wagons lost or damaged during the War and set them to work as loco coal wagons. Incredibly all 50 survived into LNER ownership, where they were issued the LNER Diagram code 4150.

The LNER also had an agreement with Belgo-Anglaise des Ferry-Boats of Belgium, to provide cost-effective continental ferry rail freight between Harwich and Zeebrugge. This service used a number of hired-in wagons that were very similar to our new model. These hired vehicles had a rather interesting livery as they were covered in an eclectic mix of both companies' information and could be seen on both sides of the channel.

We’re putting on a show! Over 2 days in September we are taking over the Market Hall in Maidstone with an exhibition of high-quality model railways.

This is also a chance for you to come and meet the Rapido Trains UK team in person to discuss projects past, present, and future, see new samples, as well as getting the scoop on some new and exciting announcements we will be making!

In addition to this, we’ll have trade stands for you to invest in your model railway including the chance to get 3D-scanned by Modelu for your own personalised 3D-printed figures, grab some rolling stock from some of our Official Retailers, beautify your layout with products from some of our partners and much more.

You will have the chance to order your own uniquely decorated Private Owner wagon at the show!

Simply fill in the form at our stand when you place your order and our graphic artists will draw up the artwork for you to approve on the day. Then your 7- or 5-plank PO wagon will be UV-printed with your chosen lettering and posted directly to you.

All our PO wagon designs will be made using templates created from our painstaking research into real-life signwriting to create the most authentic look.

There will be an exciting selection of high-quality layouts that are planning to attend, and our focus is on quality. We have already booked a large selection of some of the nicest layouts to grace the exhibition circuit agree to attend, and these cover various scales, eras, and locations. Keep your eyes peeled on our website HERE as more layouts and traders are announced.

Melton Mobray North (N gauge) makes a rare appearance at the show thanks to AIMREC. Photo courtesy of Hornby Magazine/Key Model World.

When: Friday 27th and Saturday 28th September 2024, 10:00am – 4:30pm

Where: The Market Hall, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 8LW

It's just a 5-minute walk from Maidstone West Railway Station and ample parking is available for those who wish to drive. The Market Hall is a wheelchair-friendly venue.

You can find out more about the event and grab your tickets here- https://rapidotrains.co.uk/rapido-railex/

Tickets for Rapido Railex are just £5 per adult. Kids are FREE when accompanied by a paying adult.

Each ticket covers 1 day of attendance at the show, and you are free to come and go during the day.

If you book your ticket now (via the website links below), then you are automatically entered into a prize draw to win Rapido Trains UK goodies! You’ll find out if you’re the holder of the winning ticket when you arrive at the show.

This month’s order book closures are big ones - with something for both Great Western and Southern fans to enjoy. Oh, and we also have a bit of news for the E1. Read on to find out more...

We will be closing the order books on Monday April 15th for the following:

Looking further ahead we will be looking to close the orderbooks on Monday May 20th for the following:

If you want to get your hands on these models you can still order them either directly through our website or from any of our Official Retailers.

These feature-rich branchline beauties are a must for any Great Western modeller, and having been seen up and down the GWR network from Cornwall to Birmingham and South Wales to Somerset, they will look brilliant behind any small to medium-sized Western locomotive. We have spoken about the coaches' history in previous newsletters, so we wanted to look at some of the incredible features this set includes in case you had missed them!

The windows of the B-set will be glued in lightly enough so you can pop them out, and included in the poly bag will be a number of open Droplight windows, so you can glue them back in their place. This means you can model someone looking out the window, be it a sightseer or even just an impatient commuter opening the door.

B-sets ran in pairs. As such, the duo of coaches were fitted with shorter buffers on the inside pair and were close-coupled. Modelling this in OO doesn’t really look right with traditional tension lock couplings, so, we have added a nifty close coupling mechanism so they can be run at a more prototypical distance from one another.

To ensure that the coaches remain lit on dead spots and slightly dirty track, we have included a small stay-alive for the lights, which gives you a little grace as you travel over these sections.

It wouldn’t be a proper B-set without them having shorter bogies than most other coaches, so we have included these prototypically short versions on ours for you to enjoy. Of course, shorter bogies do create a wider throw for each coach as they navigate curves and points, so we have tested them on Radius 2 curves and have seen ample success regarding clearance.

Take a look at the video below to see all the B set and all of its details up close.

As you can see there are plenty of details for you to enjoy. Make sure you get your pre-orders in now before the order books close to avoid disappointment.

Just before we shot off to Model Rail Scotland we received a lovely little parcel crammed full of exciting LBSC E1 samples. They look brilliant, and we can't wait to put them in your hands. Thanks to the great progress we have made and how happy we are with them, we have decided to close the order book on them so the factory can get to work on producing them for everyone.

Whilst at the Tonbridge show one of our samples escaped onto 'Old Parrock' - you can see this layout (and our E1) at Rapido RailEx in September.

We are also pleased to say that we are working in conjunction with The Brighton Circle to announce an all-new livery for the E1.

Locomotive No.110 (preserved at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway) will now be available in Marsh-era goods black livery with double red lining suitable for between 1912 to the locomotive’s sale into industry in 1924. Whilst there had been previous plans to offer this livery with another retailer the plans fell through, and the livery was not retrospectively added into the standard range.

After a recent approach from The Brighton Circle, we have agreed to offer this livery to modellers– subject to enough orders being placed prior to the order book closing date stated above.

The model will only be available directly from our website and sold on behalf of The Brighton Circle, who will donate the profits to LB&SCR-related preservation projects. A minimum of 100 orders will be required for the model to proceed. Both DCC Ready and DCC SOUND versions will be available. You can order your model of No.110 HERE.

With a new livery being added to the E1 alongside the newly-announced LBSCR livery wagons, there is no better time to be a Brighton-area modeller.

We would like to thank the Brighton Circle and its members for their encouragement, help and support with this and future projects.

This one got us all a little bit excited! The factory have sent us images of the various raw parts for our forthcoming SECR O1.

These parts are now being assembled prior to shipping to UK HQ ready for testing. With a fair wind we may have samples on show at the London Festival of Railway Modelling on 16th and 17th March.

As much as we would love to tell you we have made huge steps with every project, we simply can’t do so this month. Around the time of the last newsletter, our factories closed their doors so they could enjoy their New Year celebrations, and have only just reopened at the time of writing this newsletter.

As such – and understandably so – limited progress has been made, and we are awaiting a progress update on most projects ourselves. We hope to have more news for you in next month's newsletter though, so keep an eye out for further updates.

This, along with the ongoing challenges in the Middle East has had an impact on international shipping. However, on this front, we have much better news.

Both buses are working their way through the paint shop nicely and will shortly be heading into the printing and assembly stages. It is hoped that both buses will be complete in May ready for shipping to the UK.

While many of us were having a jaunt north of the border, the remaining staff had the fun of processing a massive delivery of GWR O11/O15, ‘Mink A’ V14/16 and Y4 Banana Vans.

Since arriving in our warehouse we have been working to get these out as fast as possible, and we are pleased to say that these should be with retailers now. Payment links were sent to those of you who ordered directly through our website around 10 days ago, so if you haven’t seen the email yet we recommend getting in touch with us.

Following last month's update of them being on the way and the turbulent nature of shipping, we are pleased to say we have a proper update on arrival dates now!

If everything goes to plan, these colourful wagons will dock in the UK on the 31^st of March, and then subsequently be shipped throughout April to retailers and those who have ordered from us directly. As our biggest single order to arrive to date, and one that contains a boatload (containerload?) of different liveries, we are expecting the processing and quality control checks to take a tad longer than normal, but we will get them out to you as fast as we can.

To many of the Rapido team the only Dave we know with a Scouse accent is Dave Lister, the last remaining (almost) human being who lives aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf. Thankfully we’ve added another one to our crew. So, we are pleased to say that we have managed to find a perfectly good smeg head that will fit in perfectly.

Dave Mylett is joining us as our new Product Developer. Many of you may know him from his long tenure at Hattons. We are pleased to welcome someone with a similar mindset to the rest of us and a spectacular portfolio of previous work.

Welcome aboard Mr. Mylett, Sir!

We just hope he doesn’t share Lister's obsession with eating curry... We don’t work in a massive office after all!

JASON: Dave, if you see little piles of white powder where your coworkers normally sit, DON'T EAT ANY OF IT.

RAPIDO UK: Right - that too.

Wow, what a trip! We knew it was going to be good, but the event just blew us away. With some of the nicest layouts you could have asked for, a brilliant selection of manufacturers and retailers and a small army of Scottish railway fans that were champing at the bit to see all the northern niceties we had on offer, it would be an understatement to say we had a blast.

Hundreds of you kindly took the time to drop by our stall and have a chat. Some people even got rather excited about the colour samples of the Highland Railway ‘Jones Goods’ 4-6-0 we had on show. Oh, and while we were on tour, we thought we would take the Jones on a little jaunt around the arena and beyond. Numerous members of the local clubs welcomed our running sample to their layouts and gave us a chance to grab as many pictures as we could. The O1, Fireless and Caley vans even dropped in on a couple of layouts for some fun photos.

The overall reaction to what we had on show at the stall was immense positivity and excitement, with lots of interest in the newly announced AB Fireless, Caley Vans and previously mentioned Jonesy.

Thank you to everyone who spoke to us, let us commandeer their layout for a few moments and generally made our journey to Bonnie Scotland feel very much like a worthwhile trip.

Model Rail Scotland, we will be back!

With Scotland sadly behind us, we look to more local ventures. This time we will make the annual pilgrimage to the London Festival of Railway Modelling.

We had such an awesome time last year when we announced the 1907 RCH PO wagons at the show, we thought we would do it all over again but with the side door variant.

It's not just about the fantastic freight we have on offer though. Southern fans will have plenty to feast their eyes on at the festival. The running samples of the E1 will take pride of place in our cabinets, and if we are really lucky, we may have early engineering samples of the O1 for you to see. But we won't know if we will have these to show off until just before the show, so keep an eye on our social pages for further updates.

The London Festival of Railway Modelling 2024 will be at its habitual home at Alexander Palace on the 16^th and 17^th of March.

You can find us and all of our delightful prototypes at Stand 9. We don’t think you will be disappointed!

A couple of months ago our Thought of the Month section of the newsletter covered Rapido's thoughts about the massive shifts that had occurred within our hobby as we began 2024. We thought it would be sensible to return to the subject a couple of months later and review where we are now. Because if we were to be frank, it doesn’t look too bad at all!

Often people dwell on the negatives without looking back and seeing what positive changes have occurred during the difficult times. If you have any pessimism left, we are hoping we can change your views going forward by sharing what we have experienced!

So, looking back at January we lost both Hattons and the Warley show, which was a fairly big blow to the hobby. At the time, our assessment was simple: that’s a real shame, but let's move on to new ventures. With the national print and online media keen to peddle their latest brand of doom and gloom, sadly these changes (and our hobby overall) came into their crosshairs. Many saw this as the final nail in the model railway coffin, but without quantifiable evidence to prove this wrong all we could do was to try to look at the positives.

When we visited Model Rail Scotland we had an absolute blast, but we also came back with a newfound spring in our step and a reinforced positive outlook.

Over the three days of the show, we had the pleasure of engaging with a swathe of people from across the model railway hobby, and we don’t just mean you, our loyal readers and customers. We had a lovely time speaking to members of model railway press, YouTubers, retailers, and even other manufacturers. The nice folks from BRM and Hornby Magazine spent a fair amount of time talking to us, and it may surprise you that we had a good chat with several staff from Hornby, Accurascale, Heljan, and Bachmann, along with numerous other vendors.

The one thing that came up time and time again was the aforementioned negative rhetoric and the ongoing future and state of our hobby. I'm pleased to say that the consensus from all parties flew in the face of the naysayers and was immensely positive. Everyone we spoke to believes things are looking up, times are changing, and if you move with the times rather than against them, the hobby will continue to thrive.

It's lovely to see that all of the manufacturers and media present believe that the hobby has a bright future, and seeing the diverse range of ages and interests at the show has helped reinforce this opinion. The incredible number of people we saw through the door of both Model Rail Scotland and the Tonbridge show speaks volumes about the level of interest we are still seeing in hobby, and the overall reaction to what we had on show was really gratifying.

So, what’s changed since the model railway D-day occurred in early January?

Accurascale has taken on many of the Hattons projects; Rails of Sheffield has taken on the delivery of the remaining Genesis coaches, and even taken on ex-Hattons employees; and Warners/BRM have stepped up to the plate by announcing a whole new National show at the NEC in Birmingham.

And of course we have Dave Mylett, another Hattons alumnus, already working here at Rapido.

“There have been times, lately, when I dearly wished that I could change the past. Well, I can’t, but I can change the present, so that when it becomes the past it will turn out to be a past worth having.” – Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight

This upheaval doesn’t come without its challenges, and we accept that. But with the experienced staff taking their skills to new places within the industry, previously-announced projects continuing, customers not being let down, and a set of new ideas being brought to the table for the National show, it is difficult to see how good things won't come from the situation.

So, we put this to you: we believe we are looking forward to a bright future in the hobby, so are the other manufacturers, and so are the model railway media. If you haven’t already, what’s stopping you from seeing the positives too?

With that, we sign off yet another newsletter and prepare to see many of you lovely and positive people at Ally Pally next weekend.

Happy modelling!