Rapido UK Newsletter No. 50

©2024 Rapido Trains Ltd

Dear Rapido Customer,

That’s right, this is our 50^th newsletter!

Well, kind of. It's our 50^th monthly newsletter, so assuming we ignore the variety of special announcements and oddities, we can say Happy 50th Newsletter Anniversary!

Thank you to all our subscribers and readers. Your regular positive feedback about our newsletters makes them gratifying work indeed.

Over the last 50 newsletters we have given you insights into the business and the industry, announced an armful of projects, shown you continuous updates and images of these projects and waxed lyrical about our thoughts and feelings. You will be pleased to know that the 50^th edition is no different!

We have three exciting new wagon announcements, which you may have guessed if you visited our stand at the National Festival of Railway Modelling last week. We’ve also got a multitude of updates, some highly-anticipated engineering samples, and a rundown of everything that went on at the show in Birmingham last weekend.

Right, let's get stuck in, and start with these new announcements. 

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New Announcements

For those who attended the National Festival of Railway Modelling the following three announcements may come as less of a surprise. However, in the usual Rapido style we were a bit sneaky and had some fun. One was being designed LIVE on big screens at the show, which was quite the experience, so you couldn’t have missed it if you tried. More on that later though.

The other two were a tad different. Rather than wave them in your face we simply added some samples to our test track and said nothing, creating an Easter egg for the eagle-eyed amongst you. Standing back and watching from afar, many people saw them go round and didn’t realise that an unannounced product was right under their nose.

Did you catch us out? Or have we managed to pull a fast one on you?

In case you missed them, let's start with the sneaky ones first…

Great Eastern Railway Dia.17 5-Plank & Dia.48 7-Plank Opens (OO Gauge)

We are proud to announce we will be heading east and expanding our range of Great Eastern models with a brand-new range of General Merchandise Open Wagons in OO Gauge. These are quite interesting, and as there hasn’t been a huge number of ready-to-run GER rolling stock prototypes produced we thought we would go into a bit more detail about their individual history.

The Great Eastern Railway operated a vast network of lines serving North East London's densely populated suburbs and East Anglia’s agrarian market towns, villages, coastal resorts and ports. General merchandise traffic dominated the company’s goods receipts and grew further in importance during the 1890s, while mineral traffic maintained a steady growth. This area of the country was devoid of heavy industry and mines, so the company imported coal mainly from collieries in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. 

In the 1890s the company prepared against any disruption of its supply or services from strike action by employing a finely-tuned and aggressive coal-buying policy which paid dividends during the miners’ strikes of 1893 and 1912. Huge stockpiles at all the major depots waxed and waned in size as prices fluctuated, and to supplement the company’s dedicated locomotive coal trucks during times of heavy purchasing, a fleet of reliable all-purpose wagons suitable for carrying both general merchandise and minerals were built to help transport coal to the region from the Midlands.

The humble high-sided open wagon was the mainstay of the fleet, with Diagram 17 being the most numerous of them all. 

Diagram 17

Designed to replace the ageing 8-ton and 9-ton timber framed wagons of the 1870s and 1880s, the Diagram 17s were a robust steel-framed 5-plank wagon with a 9ft wheelbase, a set of doors on either side and an improved 10-ton load capacity. 12,050 examples were constructed between 1893 and 1903, accounting for 65% of the company’s wagons built during this period, and by the time the last one rolled off the production line they constituted 45% of the company’s total number of goods wagons.



In general use, they travelled way beyond the boundaries of the GER network delivering goods up and down the country. 

Wagons of the same design were built for the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway by outside contractors. The GER had offered the LD&ECR financial and political support which helped the relevant Bills pass through parliament. These weren’t altruistic acts by the Great Eastern Railway, but made under the proviso that the company would have running powers over the LD&ECR system, with full access to the area’s rich coalfields.



In 1907 the LD&ECR was absorbed by the Great Central Railway, which acquired all of the company’s rolling stock, including those built to the GER design. Under their new owner, the wagons were repainted in the GCR livery and given new running numbers accordingly. 

Diagram 48

In early 1903, while wagons of the final order of Diagram 17 were under construction, the GER was busy preparing a new 7-plank design with both an increased carrying capacity and an improved load retention for low-weight but high-volume goods. Within two months a prototype of the new 7-plank design had been completed by converting an existing 5-plank Diagram 17 wagon originally built in 1898.



Trials of the wagon were successful, although the oil axle boxes which increased its load capacity to 12 tons proved to be unnecessary, and by the end of the year, the first examples of the new 10-ton production series rolled out of the workshop. Construction of the Diagram 48 wagons continued until the summer of 1908, by which time a total of 1300 had been built. To further increase the number in service at a minimal cost, an additional 650 were converted to Diagram 48 from earlier 5-plank wagons between 1904 and 1911. 

Although grouped under a single diagram, there were distinct visual differences between new builds and conversions, the most prominent being the length of the diagonal side braces. All new builds appear to have had the diagonal ironwork extended to the 7th plank, while many (but not all) of the conversions retained the original braces to the 5th plank only.

In Later Life

Wagons to both Diagrams 17 and 48 began to receive upgrades as various parts were damaged or worn out in service. During the Edwardian period, new open-fronted brake lever guards and ribbed buffers were introduced, and by the early 1920s some wagons had been fitted with a second brake lever, the Morton clutch, and a third brake block.



Most of these wagons survived through to the grouping era, and under LNER ownership it was decided that those built from 1897 onwards had sufficient working life expectancy to be given a full range of improved parts as they passed through the Works for repairs. Any wagons in this category that were not already fitted with them were given B1-type oil axle boxes, ribbed buffers, and the improved brake gear.

More than 400 of the wagons survived Nationalisation, but increasingly their twilight years were spent allocated to major depots and yards in the Eastern Region as internal use wagons, or in departmental service serving a wide variety of roles including Signal & Telegraph, Permanent Way and even breakdown trains. Although the final examples had disappeared from revenue service by the mid-1950s, the departmental and internal user wagons soldiered on into the 1960s.



Our new model will feature body tooling variants to cover Dia.17 5-Plank, Dia.48 7-Plank, and Dia.48 7-plank conversion variants. 

These will feature the usual wealth of full external, internal, and underframe detail, including different brakes, door types, builder's plate styles, buffers, axle boxes, safety loops, and brake lever guards. All models feature Great Eastern style 8-spoke wheels with distinctive retaining rings and are finished off with brass bearings, NEM 362 couplers and a high-quality livery application.

We are pleased to say that engineering prototypes have already been received, the order book is open, and you can order yours directly or from any of our Official Retailers.

LB&SCR 8-Ton (Dia.8) Goods Van (OO Gauge) 

The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway had a relatively modest number of covered vans within its fleet. It is speculated that this may be due to the number of open wagons that featured a sheet rail, so a substantial number of vans would have been unnecessary. Of course, it could simply have been that the region didn’t have the quantity of perishable goods traffic to justify a much larger fleet.



Almost 600 covered goods vans were built by the LB&SCR and had a standardised design. This included a 9’ 9” wheelbase and an overall length of 18’ 4” over the headstocks. Of these 600 vans, over 400 were built as Diagram 8s and were constructed between 1878 and 1915. 

Although they were primarily used for general goods and perishables, one particularly intriguing example of the Dia.8s was LB&SCR No.8145. This interesting van spent most of its life in departmental service, first as a weight-testing machine, then later as a stores van for Southern. It was sadly destroyed by enemy action in 1944. The LB&SCR painted the van's sides with a unique weight-testing machine motif, which it is believed was retained throughout its Southern days.



The Southern Railway inherited 429 Dia.8s and re-designated them as Dia.1433. They were used throughout the Southern network and beyond. 

Like many of the southern-based prototypes of the pre-grouping era, several examples of the then Dia.1433 were sent to the Isle of Wight by the Southern Railway in 1927, and this was where they would remain right through to the mid-1960s.



During their SR days, the island-based examples were mainly used to transport passengers’ luggage and to transfer fish from the ports. Following complaints from people who had received rather smelly luggage it was deemed appropriate to assign some as dedicated fish vans. As such, SR added bold signage of Fish Traffic Only to the body sides.

British Railways had several examples of Dia.1433 still in service when the railways were nationalised in 1948. Most were used as departmental vans, one of which was allocated to the Chief Mechanical Engineer at Ashford Works.



Despite their age, several examples avoided the scrap man and made it into preservation. All three now reside at appropriately Southern locations – the Bluebell Railway, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and Chatham Dockyard – all of whom we would like to thank for granting us access and accommodating our comprehensive surveys.

Our new model offers the usual wealth of full external and underframe detail, including different brakes, axle boxes, through-fitted and unfitted, and some versions with side steps fitted. All models feature either 8-spoke, 9-spoke, or 3-hole disc wheels and are finished off with brass bearings, NEM coupling pockets and a high-quality livery application.



The LB&SCR 8-Ton Goods Van has 19 different liveries for you to choose from and they are available to pre-order now directly from our website or from any of our Official Retailers.

New Engineering Prototypes

In the run-up to the National Festival of Railway Modelling we received several engineering prototypes. After carefully checking them over we packed them up ready to head off to the NEC for their first public appearance. In case you couldn’t make it to the show here they are in all their glory!

The Venerable Old Lady - LNER J52/2 (OO Gauge)

We have patiently waited for these prototypes, and we think our patience has been rewarded. These look really smart, highlighting all the wonderful details that this preservation hero has to offer.

With cab detail on par with recent releases such as Met 1 and the Y7, we think this pretty pre-grouping shunter will be a gem in anyone's collection. There are several corrections to be made but the progress so far has been great. Keep an eye on future newsletters for further info and orderbook closing dates. 

LLLLLovely Looking Loco - Manning Wardle L Class (OO Gauge)

Wardle you think of this! Arriving just in the nick of time we received these gorgeous engineering prototypes and couldn’t wait to show everyone how good they look. We think the detail is spectacular, and the open cab version really gives you an obstruction-free view of many of the separately fitted parts and details included. 

Those of you who attended the show last weekend and got to see them made some enthusiastic and positive noises, so we think many of you agree on how nice they look. Further testing will take place over the next few weeks before submitting any corrections to the factory.

With contractors nationwide using them for many years, they’ll be at home in any industrial or steam collection. Order books are still open for this impeccable industrial locomotive, and you can order yours directly from our website, or from any of our Official Retailers. 

Magnificent Mini Minks (N Gauge)

With the fantastic response we got to the 3D printed samples that we took to TINGS a few months ago we were pleased to be able to progress this project and now have full engineering samples for review. At first glance, we think you’ll agree that these prototypes highlight the wonderfully fine detail both above and below the underframe.

These will be reviewed over the coming weeks and if they are up to our standards will go into production as soon as possible

Order Books Closing

Last month we outlined our order book closing deadlines for the next 3 months, but in case you missed it we thought you might like a polite reminder of what’s closing on Monday 2nd December:

SECR O1 (OO Gauge)

A few weeks ago, we had a visit from YouTuber ‘That Model Railway Guy’ and gave him the DCC sound-fitted SECR O1 to play with, check it out!

We think this is one of the most impressive sound files we have done to date and includes a great selection of functions from 'Heavy Mode' to subtle details such as an audible steam reverser. What do you think?

The orderbooks close in just a few days time so get your orders in for this rather pretty tender loco today.

Andrew Barclay Fireless 0-4-0 (OO Gauge)

From fuel depots to papermills, if you were dealing with potentially explosive or flammable materials a loco which produces zero sparks of flames sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?

Seen up and down the nation and working in a multitude of industries, the humble Fireless loco has a place in everyone’s collection.

With the order books closing for this unconventional shunter on December 2^nd now is the time to get your orders in, and with some rather striking liveries, there’s bound to be one that’ll catch your eye!

Festive Period Delivery Updates

We’ve got some good news, and we’ve got some ungood news, unfortunately. Let's get the bad news out of the way and finish with the good news.

GWR B-Set (OO Gauge)

Thankfully these have been completed and shipped from the factory. However, we are reluctantly going to have to push their arrival back to some point in Q1 of next year. The unfortunate truth is that we have tried to get them in your hands for Christmas but won’t manage to, as they were just not complete in time for the Christmas sailings and have now joined the backlog of containers leaving China.

This is the difficulty with trying to time any international freight around the festive period and we are sorry we haven’t been able to deliver them in Q4 of this year as planned. Fear not, we will get them sent out as soon as they arrive and have passed our QC checks.



Now that’s out of the way, lets move on to the good news.

Highland Railway Jones Goods and GNR Stirling Single (OO Gauge)

Hot on the heels of the recently arrived LNER Y7 are the ‘Jones Goods’ and GNR ‘Stirling Single’. The Jones Goods has now arrived in our warehouse and will start to ship as soon as we can.

The Stirling Single will be arriving in the next two weeks and as soon as these are here, we will aim to turn them around as soon as possible with the plan being that they will arrive in your hands in time for Christmas.

The National Festival of Railway Modelling 2024

We told you we were going to bring out the big guns for the very first National Festival of Railway Modelling, and we don’t think we let you down!

Over the weekend we designed the newly announced LB&SCR 8-Ton Goods Van. If you looked carefully, you may have seen the shackles that we used to ensure our designers didn’t get too far for their PC*. 

*No designers were harmed in the making of this wagon.

We also had a wealth of new samples on show for you to see including the newly arrived engineering samples of the J52, Manning Wardle L Class, Evolution Coaches and N Gauge Iron Minks. Oh, and those Great Eastern opens we sneaked in too…

There were also samples and prints for all of our Autumn announcements on show. The feedback we got from those who attended was really great, and it's lovely to hear how much you are all looking forward to what's to come.

The custom wagon service made its second public appearance and proved just as popular as it did at RailEx. Over 120 wagons were ordered in a variety of whacky and creative designs. With the assistance of The Wagon Yard and their expertise, we are looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Save the date - Rapido RailEx Returns

Returning to the office from the National Festival of Railway Modelling last weekend we were on an exhibition high, so we discussed what we might offer at shows next year, and of course, the subject of RailEx came up.

Feedback from our show in September was so positive we think it would be foolish to do one and leave it at that. So, we are very pleased to announce that RailEx 2025 will be held on the 19th and 20th of September at the Market Hall in Maidstone, Kent.

What would you like to see there? What do you think we are going to do to top this year's show?

Thought of The Month

The Bandwagon

No, this month's Thought of the Month isn’t about wagons that may upset those with a limited sense of humour or wagons that feature amusing names (see A. Pratt, J. Allbutt, and Star Bleaching Co). Nor will we be announcing an Oasis commemorative wagon…

No, this one’s about scale and gauge , or more specifically the new trend for broadening the hobby with ready-to-run versions in a multitude of new or refreshed scales or track gauges. 

In recent years we have seen Hornby reignite a fire under TT, with their launch of TT:120 two years ago. More recently Bachmann has produced NG7 (0-16.5 to you and me), which is based on their 009 RTR range. This latter scale has seen a huge boom in recent years, with several locomotives, wagons, and carriages becoming available from several manufacturers who have entered the 009 market.

Reading through comments online, there is cynicism from some of the more vocal members of the model railway community that these offshoots and new ranges are a fad and are just distracting people from the more traditional stuff. We have a more objective view of these developments and regularly consider our position in the market. Don’t get too excited yet, but we are considering jumping onboard the bandwagon!

So, do you think we should have a hand in new scales or gauges? Should we squeeze our rails together and produce our first 009 locomotive? Should we convert some of our existing range to TT:120, and complement what's already available? Should we go big and join in the NG7 fun? Should we do something altogether different and explore opportunities for new scales that are yet to be made, covering other narrow gauges, broad gauges, or even monorails (though we hear those things are awfully loud)? Or should we just concentrate on what we already do?

We would love to know your thoughts! We always like to chat at shows so why not come and find us? We also monitor all the suggestions made via our product suggestion form – why not add your voice and let us know what you think we should make? Click on the button below to submit your thoughts. 

So, hopefully, you enjoyed the 50^th edition, and fingers crossed there are many more to come, cheers!

The Rapido Trains UK Team