That’s right, Banana Van!

No, not the crime-fighting alter ego of a schoolboy named Eric (only folks of a certain age will get that reference), we are of course talking about the steam-heated fruit vans that graced the Great Western Railway and Western Region for many years.

Just as the title of the newsletter says, Rapido is going absolutely bananas this spring. We are pleased to announce that we have a fruity new bunch of ‘OO’ gauge vans heading your way.

So, without further ado let’s unpeel this exciting new announcement.

The origins of the ‘Y4’ date back to May 1918 when the order was given to turn 300 general-purpose Dia. V16 ‘Mink A’ vans into insulated meat vans to cover a shortage of such vehicles. You may have seen these in the December newsletter, if not you can find out a little bit more about them here.

Continuing a life in which they would be repurposed more times than a bag-for-life, these converted vans were given the new diagram number X6 and were re-coded as ‘Mica A’. The changes were internal as the bodies were insulated with cork, and meat hooks were fitted to the roofs. The conversion was only deemed a temporary measure and in 1922, work began to once again modify 258 of the ‘X6s’, this time into banana vans.

Primarily working from Avonmouth docks where a dedicated terminal had been built, these vehicles functioned in the exact opposite way to the refrigerated vans that had transported food products for years. Block trains of banana vans left Avonmouth for destinations like Paddington, Birmingham, Cardiff, Plymouth and Salisbury. At their destination, portions of the trains would have been divided up and sent on to other destinations meaning that the vans could be seen over a large proportion of the GW network.

Fitted with steam heating and a new adjustable end ventilator, these sauna-like vans would ripen the popular yellow fruit as they were transported across the country, having initially arrived un-ripened. These newly converted wagons would be designated as the Diagram Y4.

Only due to the outbreak of World War 2 did the banana’s popularity drop, mainly because of understandable shortages caused by the steamships that carried them being converted for wartime use. At this point the vans were repurposed once again, this time as meat vans. When the war concluded banana traffic resumed in December 1945 and the Y4s reverted back to their original purpose. Traffic continued from Avonmouth into British Railways days until 1967 when imports of bananas were consolidated into the terminal at Southampton, with the Avonmouth terminal closing soon after.

Rapido’s new ‘Y4’ will feature an all-new body, sharing its chassis with the ‘V16s’, which will be supplemented with the addition of steam heating pipes.

There will be numerous Diagram Y4 GWR variants available for you to add to your collection:

We couldn’t make both the V16 standard vans and the Y4 banana vans without including the transitional period. So, we have added a Mica A (diagram X6) to the range.

For those who wish to model the banana van in its twilight years, we will be making two BR Diagram Y4s in the BR Bauxite livery, each featuring different running numbers.

The final addition to the range of vans is a Rhymney Railway Type 4. The GWR built 50 ‘V16s’ for the RR in 1921. They were classified ‘Type 4’ by the RR before being absorbed into the GWR’s own fleet after the 1923 Grouping.

At an RRP of £32.95, and an estimated arrival of early 2024, your ‘avin’ a ‘nana if you don’t pre-order a Diagram Y4, Diagram V17, or Type 4 now! 

If the 34 different ‘OO’ gauge RCH 1907 opens that we announced in last month’s newsletter weren’t enough, there are 9 more coming!

Sporting a variety of glorious privately-owned liveries, these regional wagons will be available from several independent model shops across the country. We are proud to have partnered with The Hobby Shop, Derails Models, Malc’s Models, and Frizinghall Models to bring you a selection of unique wagons. These will only be available directly through their stores.

Here are a few sneak peeks of different versions you have to look forward to:

As you can see, many of these liveries are local to the stockists with whom we are in partnership, so we are expecting these to be rather popular with local modellers. These are a limited run so be sure to get your order in before they sell out!

Click on the wagon images above to head to the relevant retailers' pages and order yours today.

In case you missed the RCH 1907 opens announcement in last month’s newsletter, you can find out more and pre-order them here. 

We have been totally blown away by the wave of positive comments we received about the ‘OO’ gauge Hunslet 16in 0-6-0ST, so we thought we ought to do another batch!

This fresh selection of eye-catching liveries features locos which are either currently in preservation or served a variety of collieries from across the country, so there is plenty for you to choose from. With so many liveries that could have been selected for the Hunslet’s first run, but didn’t make the cut, we were quickly able to make our choices for this batch.

There is also a good chance that Andy may have had a hand in this selection. We missed his favourite off of the first batch, and haven’t heard the end of it since. Not that we are biased or anything…

Our highly detailed Hunslets are of die-cast metal and injection moulded plastic construction and feature a high-quality motor and mechanism, a Next18 decoder socket, NEM coupler pockets, sprung buffers, and an eclectic mix of separately fitted parts for you to detail and personalise your model to your heart’s content.

The new range of Hunslet 16in 0-6-0STs include:

We are delighted to announce that the second production run of ‘OO’ gauge Hunslet 16in 0-6-0ST will be at the same RRP as their counterparts from batch one. At £129.95 RRP, we think you’ll agree that these are a great value for money loco. For those of you who prefer to hear as well as see your locos chuffing around your layout, all five of the new Hunslets will be available as sound-fitted versions too, at an RRP of £229.95.

Andy thoroughly enjoyed driving Beatrice when it visited the Middleton Railway in 2015. We wonder if you can guess which model Andy’s looking forward to the most?

Batch one was immensely popular. So, if you missed out, be sure to pre-order one of the new Hunslet 16in 0-6-0ST direct from us or from any Official Retailer to avoid disappointment. If all goes to plan, these should be with you towards the tail end of this year.

Each week we receive requests to expand our range of Titfield Thunderbolt models. More locomotives, cars and even traction engines are often asked for (never say never) to accompany the train packs that are in production.

With the announcement of our RCH 1907 PO wagons and our "Not quite Minks" the opportunity has been taken to produce a batch of wagons "inspired by" the film, as our competitors might say... These wagons will be available only in a special triple pack each containing:

RRP for this special pack is £99.95. You can order from your local Rapido Trains UK stockist or by clicking here. Don't delay - the order book closes on the 28th May!

Don't miss a product - order before the orderbook deadline to ensure you don't miss out. You can order direct from us via our website or from any Official Retailer.

With nine liveries available to order featuring operators from all over the country this little coach has gone down a treat with modellers. We won't be making many extra so order today to guarantee your model.

It's all go at Rapido UK HQ with several exciting projects almost ready to despatch to customers. Behind-the-scenes design work is continuing on both announced and as-yet-unannounced projects, whilst our expert toolmakers are preparing moulds for several new production runs. Here is a run down of what is going on this month:

Our SR 8 plank wagons have left the factory and are on their way to the UK. Limited numbers of each livery remain available to order.

Hot on the heels of the SR 8 planks are the GWR-designed Loriot Y and AA20 'Toad' brakes which will leave the factory in a few weeks. Featuring a wealth of detail these wagons have been really popular. Head to the website to order yours before they sell out!

The 6w SECR brakes will also be leaving the factory within the next month. These fabulous little brake vans complement our previous range of SECR freight stock. A limited number of our SECR ballast wagons and box vans remain available to order. All they need now is a loco...

Following on from the pictures of Dan's house last month we are pleased to say that Thunderbolt (and Lion) are making great progress. These models feature some really intricate livery application that cannot be rushed. Whilst we had hoped to have the models ready for delivery in March they have been delayed and we now hope to receive them in late July or early August.

Our factory has been making good progress on assembling the myriad of parts that go together to make a 15xx. We recently took our sample to Chatham MRC to carry out a load test on their steeply graded reverse loop. See how it performed by clicking on the video above.

Our GWR B set coaches are in tooling and we expect samples in late May. Until then why not have a peek inside and look at all the lovely detail that will be included? To ensure the carriage contains sufficient weight the floor level has had to be raised. However this is not noticeable through the windows and when fitted with some passengers from the likes of ModelU (thanks to the removable roof) you will never notice.

Alongside the GWR B set our RCH 1907 open wagons are also in tooling. With so many colourful liveries there is surely something for everyone?

Design work is continuing on our 44xx prairie tank. Work is now well advanced on the first of our planned range of prairies and we hope to soon be able to announce the planned range of liveries and numbers alongside opening the orderbook.

"What about all the other stuff?" we hear you ask. Progress on other projects has not been forgotten and we will bring you more news as things develop. Watch this space!

A couple of gremlins managed to crawl into last month's newsletter and we thought we had better correct them:

We have had such a blast bringing The Titfield Thunderbolt to you, and love to hear how excited everyone has been about the models of such an iconic film. It got us thinking… What other licensed products could we do?

Would people be interested in other one-off licensable projects such as the Railway Children or Great St Trinians or even Back to the Future?

Is our display layout long enough to get a loco up to 88 miles per hour?

Suffice to say, this idea has sparked much conversation in our office, as we all have our favourites.

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks for making your way to the end of a fairly hefty update. Hopefully by the time the next newsletter reaches you we will have a warehouse full of wagons and some more exciting updates to share - until then we shall leave you with this delightful image of some of our forthcoming steam locos.

Best wishes,

On shed at Chatham Model Railway Club are our Lion, 15xx, Met 1 and Jones Goods samples.