Rapido Newsletter Vol. 112
©2019 Rapido Trains Inc.
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Dear Rapido Customer,
I promised I would be in touch before our big order deadline and product launch, so here is a very quick newsletter... by Rapido standards, at any rate!
June 24th is a big day for Rapido fans. It's our Canadian dealer open house, and it's also the order deadline for four big products. We build to order so you need to reserve in advance.
In this newsletter:
- Big Canuck Product Launch – June 24th!
- June 24th Order Deadline: FA-2 and FB-2
- June 24th Order Deadline: New Haven Dining Car
- June 24th Order Deadline: LRC Coaches
- Deadlines Postponed: Pullman-Standard Diner, New Haven EP-5
- Dining Car – First Sample Photos!
- New Video – Rapido Visits a Conrail Layout and Tony Koester
- Watch Our US Product Launch in HD... ish.
- You Gotta Have Fun Or What's The Point?
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Last Year's Canadian Dealer Open House
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Big Canuck Product Launch – June 24th!
We will be hosting a
Facebook Live product launch from our warehouse here at Rapido HQ at
2 p.m. EDT on June 24th. I can say with certainty that this product launch will be a game changer for the Canadian N scale modelling scene. We will be announcing more new Canadian N scale models than all of our previous N scale models combined. There is also a big new HO announcement, but this truly is N scale's moment in the spotlight. Mike would be proud.
Please
click here to visit our Facebook page. Because we will be broadcasting from our network, the picture quality will be fine.
If you are a dealer in the USA or Canada and you wish to join us at our upcoming open house, we offer travel credits of up to $500 for visiting stores. Please get in touch.
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Pre-production samples of the FA-2 and FB-2
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June 24th Order Deadline: FA-2 and FB-2
Our next big locomotive project to enter production is the
Alco/MLW FA-2/FPA-2 and FB-2/FPB-2. The first run of FA-2 models was a huge success, and we hope you will help us make this new run a success as well.
In addition to our new FB-2 model, we can proudly say that we are the first manufacturer to offer
FPA-2 and FPB-2 models in plastic. These are the passenger versions of the locomotives, and they contain a larger fuel/water combination tank under the frame as well as steam generator vents on the roof. We are also offering locomotives with and without dynamic brakes.
Click on any image below to download the linked sales brochure containing prototype info, product numbers and pricing.
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Click here to watch the FA-2/FB-2 product features video.
And...
Click here to download the Canada-only CPR FA sales pack! You are only allowed to download this if you spell colour with a U and you drink beer from a bottle rather than a can.
I think we've covered all our bases. Please order your locomotives today! Delivery will be in late fall 2019. Maybe even in time for Christmas...
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Pre-production samples of our New Haven dining cars
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June 24th Order Deadline: New Haven Dining Car
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Interior with fully-laid tables!
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Gorgeous end detail including etched-metal end gates!
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These
New Haven Dining Cars are a must-have for New Haven fans and modelers, and we are delighted to continue to build our reputation as the foremost New Haven manufacturer on the planet, bar none.
The molds are 99% ready for production and the factory will start ordering materials in the coming weeks. This is your
FINAL, FINAL deadline to order these cars. Our New Haven 8600s go for silly money on the secondary market. Why wait and pay more?
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Order them from us, from your local hobby shop, or from
NHRHTA. Whatever you have to do... please make sure you order by the 24th!
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June 24th Order Deadline: LRC Coaches
We only gave you a couple of months to order the
HO Scale LRC Coaches, because the factory is hot to trot. Place your orders by June 24th for:
- LRC Coaches - Original, "Canada," and Green Schemes
- LRC Club Cars
- LRC Business Class Cars - NEW TOOLING!
- LRC Canada150 and VIA40 cars
Click on the image below to download the LRC sales brochure.
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The
Bombardier LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) coaches need no introduction to Canadian modellers. They have formed the backbone of Ontario-Quebec "Corridor" services since 1981. Celebrate their upcoming 40th birthday with a new fleet for your layout or display case.
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Pre-production sample of our Pullman-Standard Dining Car
Cars are also available with skirts.
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Deadlines Postponed: Pullman-Standard Diner, EP-5
As much as we would like to be able to start production on the HO scale Pullman-Standard Dining Cars and New Haven EP-5 locomotives next month, we aren't ready for production just yet. So we are postponing the deadlines for these. We know some dealers hate when we postpone deadlines, but we don't believe in closing the order desk until we are ready to start production. So please hang in there!
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Pre-production samples of our New Haven EP-5
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HO Scale EP-5: Order Deadline Coming ASAP
The
HO scale EP-5 tooling is ready, but we are still not happy with the pantograph mechanism. Mohan and John Sheridan are working together to redesign the mechanism to give us greater control of pantograph movement. The factory had designed a mechanism that basically copies what other manufacturers have done in the past, and Mohan rightly thinks that a Rapido model deserves better. With over 30 years of engineering experience to draw on, Mohan is the man to improve it.
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This Jet's a Beauty! Click on the image to download the sales pack.
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As soon as the pantograph issue is solved, we will upload a YouTube video and give you the final order deadline. We expect it to be over the summer, so if you are one of the many hobbyists who leaves the hobby for the golf course until September, we suggest you just order yours now.
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Just look at that fine china!
Gorgeous Eero Saarinen seats (shown above) are installed in some cars.
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HO Scale Pullman-Standard Dining Cars
New Order Deadline September 9th
We've just received our first samples of our new
Super Continental Line Dining Cars, and they look wonderful. Based on the CN prototype, our diners are typical of lightweight diners from the 1950s and as usual our models feature an insane amount of detail.
The factory won't have an available slot to make these until September, so we are postponing the order deadline until
September 9th. We will get a features video online well before then. Check out some of these sample photos:
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The usual Rapido insane underbody detail.
This is the most we've ever crammed under a Pullman-Standard car.
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Interiors feature one of three layouts: 40-seat diner, 48-seat diner, and 32-seat diner-lounge. Note the fully-laid tables and optional groovy seats.
Above is the diner-lounge version.
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Cars feature kerosene markers in the box and etched-metal end gates installed.
Note there is now a prototypical space between the push bar and the end door.
That's a first for our Super Continental Line.
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These
Dining Cars are even more detailed than the Budd diners we made for
The Canadian back in 2012. They are solidly built, and they certainly elevate our Super Continental Line passenger cars to a new level.
Since announcing these cars, we added Grand Trunk Western in both the 1954 scheme and the 1961 "Noodle" scheme. Click on the image below to download the sales pack.
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Order your diners today from your dealer or direct. Remember that deadline - September 9th. Delivery is expected in early 2020.
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New Video – Rapido Visits a Conrail Layout and Tony Koester
After our US Dealer Open House we had the pleasure of visiting Dave Abeles's
Onondaga Cutoff layout at his home in Lebanon, New Jersey. Being relatively close to Newton, New Jersey, we also took the opportunity to visit Tony Koester's famous St. Louis Division of the Nickel Plate Road.
These were two fabulous model railroads, and there is no better way to celebrate two model railroads than to make a silly video about them. We had a lot of fun with this. Please
click here or on one of the two images below to watch our latest creation.
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Watch Our US Product Launch in HD... ish.
If you missed our big product launch on June 3rd, you can watch a really choppy/blurry version on our Facebook page by
clicking here or you can watch a crystal clear version on Trainworld's Facebook page by
clicking here. If you are anti-Facebook (and many people are), you can watch Trainworld's abbreviated YouTube video from the launch by
clicking here.
Jordan asked to come on this trip and we told him to go back to packing steam engines. We then discovered why it's Jordan who usually organizes the Facebook Live events because he's much better at it than we are. Next time we do a US product launch we're planning to extract the data from his brain and leave him behind like usual.
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You Gotta Have Fun Or What's The Point?
We make a lot of silly videos here at Rapido, and sometimes they really rub people the wrong way. I wish I could show you some of the crazy negative comments we get on our videos. I delete them all before they are published, but man - some people have a lot of anger.
You know what? I
CAN show you some. Have a look (all grammar/spelling is per the original messages):
This is a moment that you need to put your biusness to rest and show respect and not use it to promote your company.. I'm surprised that you didn't do some stupid attempt at comedy like you do in all your videos.. This is a shirt and tie moment, do you actualy have at least a dress shirt?.. You look like a British fish monger in this video
Or how about:
You know what I really thought when I was a child to boy at these things could make the noise and do all the s*** they're doing today boy that would be incredible one thing I've discovered I hate the f**** sound excuse my language that s*** drives me crazy every time I watch one of these videos and that noise comes on it just drives me crazy I'm sorry people but I just I just can't stand it just it's stupid but thank you they did make my dream as a child come true but again sometimes dreams aren't always what they turned out to be God bless and God bless you people
This is one of our favourites. We let this one through because it was so funny. Next time we'll be sure to wear our white spats and Arrow collars:
~~~> Bad Video... Professionalism when selling a product. Not sure I want to hand my money to someone with a kazoo as an opening theme song. And wearing a T-shirt, not a collar!?!? At a minimum, please know what your are going to say. Bad Video.
Below are some screen grabs from our compilation video,
Rapido's Silliest Hits.
Click here or on the image to watch.
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Like all hobbies, model railroading is meant to be a break from the hustle and tussle of "real life." It's a chance to unwind and immerse ourselves in miniature worlds where there is no stress and there are no deadlines.
Yet some people can't leave their anger behind when they go into the layout room. Sure, our sense of humour may be different from theirs, but to hold onto that anger and spit it back at us (and, no doubt, at other people) is not healthy. If model railroading is getting you all worked up, if you are getting so frustrated that there is no joy left for you in the hobby, it's time to take a step back and start asking some tough questions.
Why am I getting so frustrated? If something is really bugging you in the layout room, put it aside or even get rid of it altogether. Maybe consider changing your modelling focus. This hobby should be a source of joy.
How can I make this hobby something that reduces my stress rather than adds to it? Maybe the way you are approaching the hobby needs to change. Sometimes we see the amazing, finished layouts in videos and magazines and then we look at our own layouts (or lack of layouts) and we feel terrible. Why isn't my layout remotely finished? What magic skills or resources do these guys have that I don't? Why doesn't my scenery look like that?
Comparing ourselves to the superstars isn't at all productive. We can be inspired by them, but we should not feel that our efforts are meagre in comparison. Everybody's situation is different. You don't know what kind of
tsurris - problems - that other people have in their lives. Maybe outside their layout rooms they wish they could be in
your shoes.
If this hobby is not bringing you joy, start to ask yourself some questions and get to the root of why. It all comes from inside you and is in your power to change.
See you on the 24th,
Jason
Jason Shron
President
Rapido Trains Inc.
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USA: PO Box 796, Higganum, CT 06441
Canada: 500 Alden Road, Unit 21, Markham, ON L3R 5H5
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Check out our YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter!
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