Rapido Newsletter Vol. 99
©2018 Rapido Trains Inc.
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Dear Rapido Customer,
Welcome to the last newsletter in double digits! Does anyone remember the first newsletter in 2006? We'll do a bit of a retrospective in issue 100 - coming up in just three weeks!
In this newsletter:
- N Scale TurboTrain - New Video and Final Order Deadline!
- Rapido's Silliest Hits - New Video!
- HO Scale RDC - (Almost) Final Order Deadline
- HO Scale Dash 7 - New Roadname!
- Shipping and Delivery Update
- HO Scale Exclusive DCC Sound Decoders In Stock!
- We're coming to York (England) and Calgary (Canada)
- Rapido @ Ogden - You're Invited!
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N Scale TurboTrain - New Video and Final Order Deadline
Just in time for the order deadline, we've uploaded a full and proper video on the
N scale TurboTrain. It includes the model's sound and lighting features, as well as an overview of all of the different Power Dome Car and Intermediate Car variations we have made. The models in the video are hand-painted, pre-production samples of the Amtrak TurboTrain (5-car set) and the CN Turbo (5-car set plus 4-car add-on set). Dan Darnell did the brilliant paint jobs - he really is spectacular.
Click here or on the image below to watch the video. Please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel so you can see our videos as soon as they are posted.
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The
TurboTrain is available in the following configurations:
- USDOT/New Haven - 3-car
- Penn Central - 3-car
- Early Amtrak - 5-car
- Late Amtrak - 5-car
- CN - 5-car plus 4-car add-on set
- VIA - 5-car plus 4-car add-on set
Models are available as DC silent, or as DCC/DC/Sound models with full lighting features.
If the TurboTrain passed through your home town in the summer of 1971 while on its 31-state American tour, you will want the "Early Amtrak" version, shown below.
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The TurboTrain is greeted by a huge crowd in Santa Barbara, 25 August 1971
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We are waiting for the final tooling revisions to the shells, which includes adding the rivets and strengthening the coupler supports. But many moulds/molds are ready for injection now. This means we are starting production
immediately after the order deadline of next Monday, March 26th.
Yes, next Monday, March 26th, is the order deadline!
We will make a few extra trains for latecomers, but the only way to guarantee you will get the TurboTrain of your choice is to reserve directly with us or with your dealer by Monday. Dealers need to get their orders in by Tuesday and distributors have until Wednesday.
Click here for more information or to order direct. You can also
click here to download a PDF order form to take to your favourite/favorite hobby shop.
We're very proud of this model, and we're sure our dear friend, the late Mike McGrattan, would be too. A couple of days before he passed away in 2016, I asked him what N scale model he wanted us to make for him. I told him to name anything. His response was one word: Turbo. I was surprised as I was sure he would say "The Canadian." But no - he wanted the Turbo. This one is for you, Mike.
Remember the order deadline: it's
NEXT WEEK!
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Rapido's Silliest Hits - New Video!
The videos on our YouTube channel have been viewed over two million times (woo-hoo!). Most people - us included - don't watch YouTube videos right to the end. But in Rapido's videos, that's where most of the silly stuff happens.
We've put together a collection of Rapido's Silliest Hits - ten minutes of what we think are the wackiest and craziest parts of our videos. We've included some new footage so you'll also get to meet the entire Rapido team, some of whom have never appeared on camera before.
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A lot of time and effort goes into our videos. We've never hired anyone to make them for us - we do them all ourselves (as if you couldn't tell!). So please share this new video with your friends and encourage them to subscribe to our
YouTube channel. Thanks for watching!
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Phase 2 RDC-3 - Pre-production Sample
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HO Scale RDC - (Almost) Final Order Deadline
We're proud to say the RDC is our most popular model ever. Our new run of
RDC-1, RDC-2 and RDC-3 models (plus the
Santa Fe two-car set) is almost ready for production. The order deadline is next Monday, March 26th.
However, we have not yet approved the final samples of the new Santa Fe RDC tooling. We've just seen the first injection sample of the shell, below.
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Santa Fe DC-192 - First injection test of the unique shell!
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Compare the
Santa Fe RDC shell above with the prototype, below. If you are a Santa Fe fan, did you
EVER THINK anyone would make these in plastic?
And include all of the unique ATSF modifications? We're proud to be the only company crazy enough to attempt it!
(By the way, did we mention we will donate 5% of all direct Santa Fe orders to the restoration of DC-191?
Click here to order!)
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Rebuilt RDC DC-192 in Topeka, 1959.
Photo by William A. Gibson Sr (Bill), courtesy of William A. Gibson Jr (Art).
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We're finalizing the tooling now, and we will keep the order desk
OPEN until we have final samples to show you, both in this newsletter and in a YouTube video. We anticipate having the samples some time next month. The video will come first, so please
click here to subscribe to our channel if you are not already a subscriber.
In the meantime, please contact your dealer or
click here to order your RDC. You can also
click here to download an order form to take to your hobby shop. It includes all of the paint schemes, road numbers and product numbers.
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Transkentucky Transportation B36-7 5815, a former Seaboard and CSX unit of the same number, is a real looker. We 3D scanned this locomotive back in the summer of 2016, braving 104-degree heat and 300% humidity to get the data.
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HO Scale Dash 7 - New Roadname!
You asked for it! Rapido Trains Inc. is pleased to be able to add Transkentucky Transportation to its roster of great paint schemes in the first run of its already lauded
HO Scale General Electric B36-7 locomotive. Everyone is talking about the accurate proportions and amazing levels of detail on this model, and if you’re a fan of the TTI, or just want to show your appreciation for one of the largest second-hand operators of B36-7s in North America, then you can now add these sharp looking locomotives to your fleet.
Based out of Paris, Kentucky, TTI had a fleet of as many as 14 former CSX B36-7 locomotives, and one ex-Conrail locomotive. The former Louisville & Nashville route was mostly used to haul coal from eastern Kentucky to a transloading facility at Maysville on the Ohio River.
Over the years, TTI adopted a number of paint schemes, and we’ve decided to offer our HO Scale model in two of them. #5815 is the pride of the TTI fleet and wears a unique blue and silver scheme, while #5911 is one of four locomotives to wear similar blue and white paint. These locomotives were often used in matched sets of four of five units to haul long coal trains along the beautiful 50-mile route.
As with our other B36-7 locomotives, we will be happy to do unnumbered TTI units but they must be ordered in batches of six and must be ordered directly from us and not through a wholesale distributor. You or your dealer can get in touch by replying to this email.
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Our TTI
B36-7 model is correctly based on former SBD/CSX units with late style body with additional grilles, no anticlimber, hinged drop step, CSX/SBD sunshade brackets, CSX specific pilot with large plow, and plated class lights. It also has the CSX/SBD fuel tank with the correct filler/gauge locations, large Salem air dryer, and frame-mounted operating, flashing ditch lights.
As you have probably guessed, Gareth wrote this stuff for me as I don't know anything about these engines. They aren't the TurboTrain, nor are they a double-decker bus. I don't even know what a Salem air fryer is. How do you fry the air?
Please note that this is a conditional announcement. If these locomotives don't make our minimum quantities then they will not be made, which would be a terrible shame as they would be the highlight of any Kentucky-based layout!
In other news, we've changed three of the Seaboard unit numbers. See our web site for info.
You can find more details and pre-production sample photos on our main HO B36-7 locomotive page.
Click here to go there.
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Shipping and Delivery Update
The rest of our 1/87 New Look Bus models have arrived! Wooo-hoooo! However... there is a catch.
We have found that the mail service and the courier companies were so violent with our Toronto and Montreal bus models that the shell occasionally got knocked off the chassis. We've done tests at the office and you literally need to throw a bus model in its shipping carton
across the room to cause this to happen.
So the factory has made us some PVC blisters, as you can see below. These are arriving on Monday and then next week we are bringing in a bunch of friends to open up 5000 bus models and put these blisters on them.
That won't be mind-numbing at all. But we feel it is worth the one-week delay to ensure your bus arrives in one piece.
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New clear PVC blister protects the shell from flying off when thrown.
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Here's the rest of the delivery schedule. There have been major delays in west coast ports so everything is arriving a bit later than expected. Our cash flow loves that. All deliveries are HO scale except where noted.
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HO Scale Exclusive DCC Sound Decoders In Stock!
Most people love the sounds on our models. Well, except the guy who thought the RDC sounded wrong and it should really sound like an F7. We'll get right on that.
We record most of the locomotives ourselves, and we record them under load - i.e. hauling a train or some other heavy thing. Others are customized for us by ESU so they are unique to Rapido.
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That's Bill and me setting up the recording equipment on the roof of an FPA-4!
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You can order exclusive Rapido ESU LokSound decoders - in both 8-pin and 21-pin varieties - from your dealer or from our web site by
clicking here. You can also
click here to download a product list.
We try to keep decoders in stock at all times. Sometimes it will take a week or two if we have to burn a new batch of decoders, but never longer.
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Typical crowd at a Rapido show booth in the UK
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We're coming to York (England) and Calgary (Canada)
Is there another Calgary?
The crazy Rapido show schedule continues! Bill and Gareth will be at the
York Show - that's York, England and not York, Pennsylvania. It takes place over Easter weekend and is regarded as one of the best shows in the UK. The venue is gorgeous. As the York show almost always falls during Passover I will once again be giving it a miss...
However, I will be with
My Two Dans at
Supertrain in Calgary, which takes place on April 14th and 15th. I will be in our booth at the show on the Sunday, and I will also be the guest speaker at the
Supertrain Saturday Night Gala. I haven't decided what to talk about yet. I've been told "no British buses, no Klingons, and no Daleks." That basically scuppered my entire planned talk, so I have to start from scratch.
You can still buy tickets to the gala. They are $35 each.
Click here to send an email to Supertrain to reserve your spot. But please note you have to go to Supertrain on one of the days or join the
Calgary Model Railway Society to come to the gala.
We hope you can join us at one of these two great shows!
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Rapido @ Ogden - You're Invited!
We have a special offer open only to our favourite customers - that's you, because you read to the end of our newsletters!
Rapido is hosting an open house at the Royal Canadian Pacific Pavilion. This is the one-of-a-kind building in CP's Ogden Yard that features the railway's extensive collection of heritage equipment. The open house will feature tours of some of the passenger cars and will allow you to get up close and personal with CP Hudson #2816. Light refreshments will be served.
This equipment is not accessible to the public. Don't miss this chance of a lifetime!
This is a railfan's dream come true...
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Rapido @ Ogden is strictly limited to just 150 people. You need to reserve online, and tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
When: Sunday April 15th, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: CP Royal Canadian Pacific Pavilion, Calgary
Cost: $30 per person
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And this brings another action-packed newsletter to a close. Our next issue, #100, will feature two new HO scale product announcements and a big update about our new factory.
We also have an N scale locomotive in tooling right now but we're not announcing it until our Dealer Open House in late June - so hold tight!
I wish a very meaningful Easter and a stress-free Passover to our customers who celebrate these special days.
Until next time,
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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