N TurboTrain update

[rapidotrains]

Hi all,

Just giving you a quick update. With still over six weeks until the end of the early bird 5% discount offer on September 15th, we already have enough orders to cover about 85% of our tooling costs. If you recall, when we announced the Turbo we said that we would start the tooling after September 15th because we had no idea of the interest.

I won't give the official word yet, but it looks very much like this project is going ahead. The response has been amazing.

Here are some gorgeous Turbo photos to whet your appetite. The Penn Central photo is by Rick Abramson. The USDOT photo is by John Adams. And the late Amtrak photo is by Bob LaMay. The rest are press photos in the Rapido collection.

-Jason

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[nickelplate759]

Ooh!  Ooh! Ooh!

I'm sooooo hoping this happens.  I pre-ordered through my local hobby shop (glad such places still exist!).

I've never come across the third photo (United Aircraft ETU-1) with the nose door open before.  Thanks for posting it.

[central.vermont]

Came across these two shots while looking through the Nerail photo site.

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=239235


This is a great nose door shot!!!
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=239234

Jon

[Ngineer]

Why would they put a door in the front? Were these trains supposed to be MUed? At high speeds with no other provisions for pressure equalization between those doors?

   Javier

[arbomambo]

"I won't give the official word yet, but it looks very much like this project is going ahead. The response has been amazing."


wait a moment...I thought, based on ALL of the announcements, response, chatter, etc. , that this was a 'done deal'...
so, now, this is still something that may not actually come to fruition?
~Bruce

[CBQ Fan]

"I won't give the official word yet, but it looks very much like this project is going ahead. The response has been amazing."


wait a moment...I thought, based on ALL of the announcements, response, chatter, etc. , that this was a 'done deal'...
so, now, this is still something that may not actually come to fruition?
~Bruce

I just  wanted to make sure you realized this was a Raido N scale offering, not HO.

[coosvalley]

Came across these two shots while looking through the Nerail photo site.

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=239235


This is a great nose door shot!!!
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=239234

Jon

You beat me to it!

Recently a bunch of photos from D. Hutchinson showed up on the B&M modelers facebook page of the Turbo on the Conn. River Line...

[rapidotrains]

"I won't give the official word yet, but it looks very much like this project is going ahead. The response has been amazing."


wait a moment...I thought, based on ALL of the announcements, response, chatter, etc. , that this was a 'done deal'...
so, now, this is still something that may not actually come to fruition?
~Bruce

See our original newsletter announcement where we stated the situation clearly. The reason we are offering the 5% early bird discount is so that people will get their orders in early so we could gauge the demand. The designs are finished the model is ready to tool, but we did not want to tool it only to sell 12. We had no idea what the response would be.

Meanwhile, the response has been amazing. So I would not worry if I were you.

-Jason

[nkalanaga]

Javier:  I don't know, but suspect, that there was a coupler behind the door, in case the train had to be towed in.  It could also have given access for mechanical work, but I would think the side panels would be designed for that.

[peteski]

My pre-order was placed with Hogtrainz (even though I don't like their name, or the way they handle pre-orders, but the discount was very enticing).
After all the years of anticipation (and some begging) I wouldn't miss this one . . .

Thanks Puddy,  and thanks Jason!

[nickelplate759]

Javier:  I don't know, but suspect, that there was a coupler behind the door, in case the train had to be towed in.  It could also have given access for mechanical work, but I would think the side panels would be designed for that.

There was indeed a coupler, but it appears to be something like a Tomlinson coupler, which suggests it was intended for joining multiple Turbos together.  Jon posted a link to a picture of it above - here it is again -
http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=239234

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Dumb question: If the domes were for passengers, where did the engineer sit?

Is that his station behind the guy in the gray suit?

And if so... this area was open to passengers?

[wcfn100]

Dumb question: If the domes were for passengers, where did the engineer sit?

I'd love to get an Amtrak version but with the cost, I'd need to see how it looks and runs first.  Hopefully there'll be some overstock or maybe a second run.

Jason

[Point353]

There was indeed a coupler, but it appears to be something like a Tomlinson coupler, which suggests it was intended for joining multiple Turbos together.

Like this?