Rapido UK Newsletter No. 47

©2024 Rapido Trains Ltd

The British summer is in full swing and following a somewhat moist July it's been rather nice to see the sun for a change.

With two big exhibitions getting ever closer our designers and factories have done everything in their power to arm us with a plethora of updates and samples, so you have plenty to come and see.

At the time of writing we are getting ready for the International N Gauge Show at Leamington Spa and we are confident that what we have packed will put a smile on your faces. More on that later.

This month's exciting updates also include some of our biggest and smallest OO Gauge loco projects, so for those of you who are eagerly awaiting updates on the Manning Wardle, S160, and Y7 sit tight, you're going to like this newsletter.

Right, let's get stuck in and show you what we’ve been working on throughout August. 

New Announcement



Manning Wardle L Class 0-6-0ST (OO) on Sale!

Manning Wardle is a manufacturer held dear by many industrial railway enthusiasts. With a long tenure building some of the world's most eye-catching and often somewhat quaint-looking engines, Manning Wardle's origins go back to the earliest days of railway history. 

With Manning Wardle sending locos around the globe, an element of standardisation within their design and manufacturing process was deemed a sensible step forward. So, the Manning Wardle designers conceived these standard classes, a selection of locomotives of varying sizes and power. This allowed contractors and private owners to choose suitable locos for their needs. Each class was simply given a different letter to denote its type.

The L Class was a loco that was favoured by civil engineering contractors and also worked on several light railways, with two versions surviving into preservation. Our General Manager passed his steam locomotive driving test on one of the preserved engines, so it was the obvious choice when we decided to produce a ready-to-run Manning Wardle in OO Gauge. 

Originally intended to be a smaller version of the larger M Class, the L Class design was changed so it became a souped-up version of the K Class and inherited the K’s wheelbase, barrel length and cylinder diameter. However, it received a larger boiler diameter and cylinder stroke. This gave the Ls a greater tractive effort while still retaining an unmistakably Manning Wardle aesthetic.

Although standard locomotives had a similar frame, boiler and overall size and power to their classmates, there were a multitude of detail and cosmetic differences that could be chosen by the new owner. These included alternate wheels, buffers, steps, smoke boxes, lubricators and options with or without a covered cab. The L Class is no different. 

Around 100 L Class Manning Wardles were built, with examples being shipped to places such as Sweden, Mexico, Hong Kong and China. Of course, we can't forget the eclectic mix of British contractors that also had L classes on their books, completing a multitude of work the length and breadth of the nation.

Despite their modest size and range, the Manning Wardle’s distinctive look has always been popular with industrial railway enthusiasts. This popularity favoured them in the preservation era and a healthy number of standard and narrow-gauge locos survived across the world, with 2 Class Ls amongst them. Both of these engines can now be found at the Middleton Railway in Leeds.

The Rapido L Class model will feature a smooth-running mechanism, a factory-installed speaker, NEM coupler pockets, and an ESU Next18 decoder socket. Individual models will include variations of the cab, cab steps, frames, wheels, buffers and buffer beams, smokebox and smokebox doors, valves, tanks and backhead.

The models can be personalised with a selection of interesting extra parts in the accessory bag such as vacuum pipes, coupling chains and dumb buffers. 

The order book is open, and you can pre-order your DCC Ready (RRP £149.95) or DCC SOUND (RRP £259.95) versions directly from our website today or from any of our Official Retailers. This model is currently in tooling and we hope to receive samples early next year.

Engineering Samples Arrived

USATC S160 (OO)

Sometimes images speak louder than words ever could and these pictures of engineering prototypes for the USATC S160 in OO Gauge illustrate this perfectly. 

As you can see these samples show off the multitude of separately fitted parts and the wonderfully high level of detail that we are squeezing into these locomotives.

These samples also show of the great number of variations we are offering between locos including different tender fronts, left- and right-hand drive, different tender styles and various different individual components like air pumps.

You will be pleased to hear that the debut of the S160 engineering prototypes will be at Rapido RailEx next month. So, if you would like to be among the first members of the public to feast your eyes on them, grab your tickets and join us for the festivities!

Production Samples Received

NER H Class / LNER Y7 (OO)

We have recently received painted pre-production samples of this rather twee Tynesider and to say we were absolutely blown away would be an understatement.

For such a tiny loco the LNER Y7 is an eye-catching little beauty, particularly in its vibrant pre-grouping North Eastern Railway (and preserved) guise. These wonderfully detailed examples also show just how many subtle tooling differences we have managed to squeeze into the range, each with its own story to tell and place in the history of the railways of the North East. 

These are progressing nicely and the factory is adding the final touches to them as we write this. If you have ordered one for your collection, keep an eye on your email. 

We have sold out of them directly through our website. However, many of our Official Retailers have taken stock of them, so if you are still considering adding one to your collection we recommend contacting your retailer of choice to see if they still have stock before they are all gone! Final assembly is now taking place and we hope these will leave our factory in the next two weeks.

Class 44 'Peak' (N)

Much like their real-world equivalents, we have started our highly anticipated N Gauge ‘Peak’ project with the BR Class 44. We are pleased to say that their development has moved on leaps and bounds in the last few months, so much so that we have received the first Engineering Prototype.

Despite being tiny, they are packed with detail. This includes multiple tooling variants in body types and the inclusion of inner sandboxes, water tanks, and multi-working jumpers on different versions in the range. We think you will agree that the BR Class 44 raises the bar in N Gauge detail and design. We also listened to the community and modified the cab handrails to be moulded rather than wire in order to achieve the correct shape.

We are conducting a full review of these prototypes and will be closing the orderbook on MONDAY 16^th SEPTEMBER before moving the models straight into production. It's not too late to place your order, you won't want to miss this one. You can order your Class 44 directly from us or from any Official Retailer.

In our pursuit to produce the most accurate models possible, we occasionally uncover a discrepancy in our own research much later in the process. This has been the case with No. 44008/D8 “Penyghent” in BR Blue with bodyside stripe (SKU 984008 and 948508).

During 1979 44008 was renumbered D8 and became a minor celebrity. In 1980, after withdrawal it was renumbered 44008 again but upon preservation was re-renumbered as D8! With this information now to hand, we are producing these models with D8 on both sides, the prototypically accurate number for this loco at the time of withdrawal and preservation.

Want to see these pretty prototypes for yourself? Head to The International N Gauge Show on the 14th and 15th of September where they will be making their public debut. The order books will be closing straight after on Monday 16th September – so don't delay and order today.

Production Updates

GWR B Set

Our B Set coaches have been making steady progress through the paint shop with nearly all the bodies now complete. Focus will now move to painting and assembling interiors. We hope to have some fully finished and assembled samples on show at Rapido RailEx in September.

Highland Railway Jones Goods

The Jones Goods is also making steady progress. This has been one of the most intensive painting and decoration exercises we have ever undertaken with so many intricate liveries to reproduce. The factory team are working hard and the models are now being assembled with a planned completion of early October.

Shipping Updates

The good news is that since our last newsletter our Metropolitan E class locomotives, Leyland Fleetline and Bedford OB buses and N Gauge SECR wagons have all arrived in our warehouse and been shipped out to our Official Retailers and direct customers.

The LNWR D88 vans and Lowmac wagons are at sea and on the way to the UK. With a fair wind these should be with you by the end of September.

Show Season Starts

Let's take a look at which shows we have coming up and what you have to look forward to if you come and visit us.

The International N Gauge Show – Stand No. 25

14^th & 15^th of September

With an unexpected heatwave last September, 2023's TINGS was scorching, and although we are hoping this year's show has somewhat more mild weather, we've turned up the heat on what we have to show this time around. You can look forward to the following:

• Production examples of OAA Open Wagon and SECR Freight Packs
• Engineering prototypes of the BR Class 44 diesel
• An exciting new announcement
• Meet members of the team involved with N gauge projects

You can find out more and get tickets for The International N Gauge Show HERE.

Rapido RailEx 2024 – 27^th & 28th of September

Over the last few newsletters we have looked at the lovely layouts and terrific traders that will be at the show, but we have been rather coy with what we will be doing there ourselves.

We always like to do something different, and a show that we can personalise from the ground up offers the public something different to a normal show. You can get up close and personal with all things Rapido and we will have everything on show.

Unsurprisingly, we are going to have a sizable Rapido Trains UK stand with all of the latest developments and samples for you to enjoy. On the stand, you will find the following:

• Brand new announcements
• The USATC S160 engineering prototype - its first show appearance
• The Andrew Barclay Fireless engineering prototype - Its first show appearance
• All of the new N Gauge prototypes and releases shown off at TINGS, including the Class 44
• Customised Rapido Wagons - Order your own uniquely decorated Private Owner wagon at the show!
• Meet the Team - Members of the team will be on hand to discuss all things Rapido with you.

You can find out more and get tickets for Rapido RailEx 2024 by clicking on the button below:

NATIONAL FESTIVAL OF RAILWAY MODELING

23^rd and 24^th of November



A little further down the line, if you’ll pardon the pun, is the new National Festival of Railway Modelling and we are immensely proud to be one of the main sponsors for this exciting new event. Warners have taken the reins and continued the tradition of an end-of-year model railway event at the NEC in Birmingham and we can’t wait to see what new ideas they have in store for you at the show.

In addition to the latest prototypes, our lovely staff who are on hand to answer your questions and our usual displays on our biggest show stand to date, we will have some rather interesting demonstrations you are going to want to see. More on this closer to the event!

Thought of The Month

Why are we planning an exhibition?

We have RailEx approaching, and in previous newsletters, we have gone into detail about what you have to look forward to by attending and when and where it will be, but we haven’t really gone into much detail about why we chose to do it in the first place.

With all that is required in the planning and execution of such an event, at the same time as trying to run a model railway company, let us assure you, we have asked ourselves on several occasions why on Earth are we doing an exhibition! This thought has occupied all of our minds for a while, so it feels like it’s the most appropriate thing to put to paper for this month's Thought of the Month.

The idea of putting on our own show goes back to the beginning of the year when a nuke was dropped on the model railway event calendar. We sadly lost the Warley National show, and for many of us in the model railway world, this had quite the impact, with plans and finances planned years ahead that incorporated product launches and more that focused on this key date and event.

However, as a business and individuals, we aren’t ones to wallow in self-pity about plans that have been put to the sword and things that are way beyond our control. We even wrote a Thought of the Month talking about moving with the times and the industry constantly having to evolve. So, looking forward rather than back, we were hunting for an alternative solution, and fast!

Reading comments on online forums and social media, many individuals were waiting for others to react, but the mindset of “Ah, it’ll be fine, someone else will take over doing Warley” didn’t really ring true with us and put a lot of risk in conjecture and optimism. Now, as we are now aware, someone has effectively done this, and we are very much looking forward to attending the National Festival of Railway Modelling in November. But when we were planning our year out in early January this wasn’t the case.

Then Andy had an idea. Why don’t we do our own show?

Initially, we laughed it off as a silly idea, but the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. We could bring all of you to us and put on a cracking event, all the while tailoring our planning and releases around the event to make both the announcement and the event itself memorable. Our sister company in Canada have held similar "open house" events before so we thought it was our turn.

From a community engagement perspective, it had some real plus points too, as all of our staff can be on hand to talk to customers about our projects, we could invite as many of our favourite layouts to fill the hall (therefore making it about quality over quantity), and we didn’t have to worry about limiting our own stand size based on whatever square footage is available/affordable. So, by doing it ourselves we can show off everything we wanted to and talk to everyone.

While we are on the subject of costs, if you weren’t aware, attending shows is also quite costly for a business. The expense isn’t just how much the stalls cost (or how much the multitude of retailers extract from our wallets while we are there), but also includes time. To give you an example, Model Rail Scotland is an awesome show, but as the majority of us and the business itself reside in the Garden of England, it costs us around 5 business days (not including the prep time) and requires about a third of our staff to be able to attend the 3-day show. As a result, projects and other work during this time have to be put on the back-burner.

By organising a show local to our office our travel, accommodation and moving costs are dramatically reduced, meaning we have more funds to put into our venue of choice, and what will be there for you to see, and more importantly, we will have more time to design and produce our upcoming models.

We aren’t the sort of business to wait for others to act, so with our hand forced and a bunch of awesome new announcements in the pipeline, something had to be done. So, after giving these reasons some serious thought and (at the time) no National show to work around, we thought we would take the leap of faith and give it a go.

The mad idea of Rapido RailEx 2024 was born.

What we have crafted is a local show that is all things Rapido - fun and friendly, with quality and value. There will be a few of our Official Retailers, some friends from within the trade and a number of exceptional quality layouts to see alongside the biggest ever Rapido Trains stand.

We can’t wait to see all of you at RailEx, and we suspect you will like what we have on show. But you are just going to have to wait and see what that is.

Keep an eye on your inbox and on social media as we will be dropping announcements in the days and weeks leading up to RailEx. It's going to be a wild ride!

Until next time,

The Rapido UK team