The Canadian

[peteski]

I'll have to remember that for kato diesel axles, but for this case, the axles and wheels are one piece. Pushing out the axles will change the gauge...

So the wheel and  axle  are machined from a single piece of metal?!  That is something I have not seen before.

[bbussey]

They are similar to Kato wheels, machined wheels with a plastic tubular center axle that the wheels plug into.

[peteski]

They are similar to Kato wheels, machined wheels with a plastic tubular center axle that the wheels plug into.

Kato uses machined metal wheels (nickel silver?) with a 1.0mm stainless still half-axle press-fit in the center.   The half-axles are then pressed into tubular plastic "muff".  The location of the wheel on the half-axle can be adjusted (just like the drawing I showed earlier indicates).

CNR5529  states that the Canadian's wheels and half-axles are machined from a single piece of metal (non-adjustable).

[bbussey]

That’s not what I saw on my D&H Skyline dome when I fixed the sled-rolling. Looks like Kato's design to me.

[Angus Shops]

I’m happy to report: careful filing of the center sill/frame has cured all my rolling quality issues. A few passes with the file over the deeper part of the center frame between the truck mount and the coupler over the outside axle on each truck did the job. Interestingly the Manor sleepers seemed to roll fine out of the box, so I left them alone. The Chateau sleepers were pretty good, but the got the treatment anyway. The rest of the cars had real problems that filing almost completely resolved. Some of the cars are still a little sluggish, but most of the cars will now roll away on their own on my 2% grade. Both domes also have an extra ‘frame protuberance’ that interferes with the inside axle under the ‘bullet lounge’ in the Park cars and under the lounge section of the Skyline. The treatment also got rid of the odd rubbing sounds so the train rolls along much more quietly and stately, as befits its Budd grandeur.
I’ve never been a fan of interior lighting (I know - heresy), and I’m pretty sure the ‘ default on’ feature would drive me to drink, so I disabled it by removing the brass springs concealed in the car interior that run the power from the floor up to the light board. I’ll may miss the marker lights though...
Those Rapido fellows are pretty sharp: they’ve designed the trucks so they can only be installed with the side frame detail oriented the right way, which is reversed on the dining car (never ‘diner’ on ‘The World’s Greatest Travel System) and the Park car.
Geoff

[Lemosteam]

Did anybody else notice the gap between the wheel back and the axle muff here?  Are the wheelsets even in gauge?

[CNR5529]

Kato uses machined metal wheels (nickel silver?) with a 1.0mm stainless still half-axle press-fit in the center.   The half-axles are then pressed into tubular plastic "muff".  The location of the wheel on the half-axle can be adjusted (just like the drawing I showed earlier indicates).

CNR5529  states that the Canadian's wheels and half-axles are machined from a single piece of metal (non-adjustable).

They are similar to Kato wheels, machined wheels with a plastic tubular center axle that the wheels plug into.

Not too sure if we are all saying the same thing or not, and I can't speak to Kato's designs at the moment, but I am confirming that the wheels and stub axles on these Rapido cars are a single piece of metal (plated brass I believe), and that two of these are assembled together with a plastic tube/muff/sleeve. There is no way to change the wheel position on the stub axle, and spreading the stub axles apart will change the gauge of the wheelset.

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Did anybody else notice the gap between the wheel back and the axle muff here?  Are the wheelsets even in gauge?

Although I did find a couple axles on the wide side, most were spot on according to the NMRA gauge. The tubes are somewhat shorter though, so it just looks odd.

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[CNR5529]

Those Rapido fellows are pretty sharp: they’ve designed the trucks so they can only be installed with the side frame detail oriented the right way, which is reversed on the dining car (never ‘diner’ on ‘The World’s Greatest Travel System) and the Park car.
Geoff

I found the trucks to be the "wrong" way on both the Park and Skylines, but prototypically opposite to the rest of the train on the dining cars. All cars should have the drag rods pointing towards the back of the train (except as noted on the dining cars). Either way, it was easy enough to reverse the trucks on the two dome cars.

[Sokramiketes]

Woohoo! I got mine today! Sure are purty.

I’ve always been perfectly happy with the slower pace of The Canadian; the more time spent on the train, the happier I was/am. In fact, the later the train was/is, the happier I was/am. The record so far (Via Rail) was 25 hrs late arriving in Toronto. Somehow the crew kept the standards high with three fabulous extra meals. Actually, know a little bit about how they did it; the crew radioed ahead before the stop in Hornepayne Ont. and had a the local food store deliver a few dozen eggs.

CP’s route is no speedway. It’s took most of 24 hrs to get from Vancouver to Calgary on CP’s twisting, hilly route through BC. The Prairies were faster, but not like the UP. Then the long winding route through Northern Ontario.

The Atlantic Limited was equipped with the same order of Budd gear as the Canadian (with a few refurbished older cars I think), so you could ride a Park car from Halifax to Vancouver if you didn’t mind changing in Montreal.
Geoff

The last time I rode the Canadian, we took the International from Chicago to Toronto and then jumped on the Canadian after a stop at the Hockey Hall of Fame.  The whole point of the trip was to ride trains, so we were ticketed to Sioux Lookout, the last chance for us to hop off the westbound and catch the eastbound back to Toronto.

The conductor, upon hearing about our plan, said we could keep riding past Sioux Lookout.  They had to park the two trainsets next to each other to transfer some supplies between dining cars, and since they had to meet the eastbound, we were free to jump across at the same time.  He radioed ahead to line it up and we got a couple extra hours on the rails... and a great memory! 

I will note that as we rode past Sioux Lookout, the amount of beer bottles piled up along the depot made us happy we weren't going to spend 4 hours there...

[simsuper80]

Adding shims between the trucks and carbody might not be a bad idea after all. The rapido cars are slightly shorter then a kato budd car

[peteski]

Not too sure if we are all saying the same thing or not, and I can't speak to Kato's designs at the moment, but I am confirming that the wheels and stub axles on these Rapido cars are a single piece of metal (plated brass I believe), and that two of these are assembled together with a plastic tube/muff/sleeve. There is no way to change the wheel position on the stub axle, and spreading the stub axles apart will change the gauge of the wheelset.

So these are different than Kato.  The half-axle in Kato wheelsets can be totally removed from the wheel (it is just a piece 1mm diameter stainless steel rod).  That construction enables the adjustment of how much of the axle sticks protrudes out of the wheel.  Just like in that diagram I posted earlier.

[Angus Shops]

I found the trucks to be the "wrong" way on both the Park and Skylines, but prototypically opposite to the rest of the train on the dining cars. All cars should have the drag rods pointing towards the back of the train (except as noted on the dining cars). Either way, it was easy enough to reverse the trucks on the two dome cars.

Ha!, you’re right. I can’t believe Rapido screwed this up! And the drumhead on the Park car should be on a red background. Holy cats, what’s wrong with those guys! That’s it, I’m no longer interested. Two Canadian’s for sale.

Just kidding. You’re right (again); easy enough to fix, although I probably won’t bother. And I did find one photo in my reference collection that appears to show a white drumhead.

[CNR5529]

Ha!, you’re right. I can’t believe Rapido screwed this up! And the drumhead on the Park car should be on a red background. Holy cats, what’s wrong with those guys! That’s it, I’m no longer interested. Two Canadian’s for sale.

Well now the sets are used so they lost most of their value... I'll give you 50$ 

Good catch with the drumheads, I completely missed that. I only came across two photos with white drumheads, one of which appears to be on Strathcona Park. Indeed most photos show the red background. Something else to fix, though I need to straighten out my crooked drumhead anyways... 

Tomar Industries has (had?) the red The Canadian drumhead, as well as the white The Dominion. I like the idea of the two contrasting.

[nickelplate759]

So the wheel and  axle  are machined from a single piece of metal?!  That is something I have not seen before.

Sure you have - you pointed it out in your own review of the Con-Cor Aerotrain in the old Atlas forum.

[Kerbe Neun]

I have the Canadian VIA Hep version.  Nice detail, but subpar models at a premium price. 

The knockoff couplers are lousy and have a wheel set that fouls the DCC.  Rapido is sending replacements.  Only 1 of the 13 cars rolls adequately.  Sure, I can fix these, but expected much more.  Though, in Rapido’s defense if you look at the advertisement it never states they’ll operate smoothly:

Cars Feature

Accurate Budd fluting profile
Full interiors, including two optional Skyline interiors
Track-powered interior lighting on DC and DCC
Separate, etched metal grab irons and handrails
Beautiful stainless steel finish
Operating marker lights on all Park Cars
Operating marker lights on all HEP enabled cars

Kerbe