Rapido N Scale Announcements - July 2024

[djsmeltzer]

Are the differences big enough to notice?

There is some difference on the car bottom, but the most visible difference will be the car ends. The piping was quite obvious there.

[jagged ben]

There is some difference on the car bottom, but the most visible difference will be the car ends. The piping was quite obvious there.

I think there might have been a point behind that picture of Rapido cabeese.

[woodchip]

Conditional announcements, N scalers seem to be a vocal bunch it’ll be interesting to see how much real demand for these there is.

       

[nkalanaga]

thomasjmdavis:  I'll second your ATSF dome if you'll hope they also do the GN's version!

[CBQ Fan]

Have they released anything in Union Pacific lately in any scale?  Curious to see how their colors match other manufacturers.

[MRLX1020]

For any BN era Dinky fans, Curtis from BLI was at the St. Louis RPM meet this weekend and mentioned that BN 9900 E9Ams are up for the next run of N scale E8/9s based on the Rapido Budd Gallery announcement.

What a great time to be an N scaler!

[thomasjmdavis]

thomasjmdavis:  I'll second your ATSF dome if you'll hope they also do the GN's version!

OK, sure.  Although GN almost seems Lowell Smith territory. Or....?  More railroads had big domes than I would have thought.  Well, it's good to have multiple manufacturers competing for our dome and big dome dollars.

[Missaberoad]

Have they released anything in Union Pacific lately in any scale?  Curious to see how their colors match other manufacturers.

https://rapidotrains.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Union+pacific

https://rapidotrains.com/ho-budd-baggage-dorm-union-pacific-6002.html

[Ike the BN Freak]

For any BN era Dinky fans, Curtis from BLI was at the St. Louis RPM meet this weekend and mentioned that BN 9900 E9Ams are up for the next run of N scale E8/9s based on the Rapido Budd Gallery announcement.

What a great time to be an N scaler!

But will they be the post rebuilt units with HEP? Or just the E9 painted as such?

[nkalanaga]

So far Lowell hasn't given any indication that he's going to do the dome-lounges.  And, since there are many similarities between the ATSF and GN cars, if Rapido does one, most of the design work will be done for both.

Even relatively modern modelers can use a "GN" dome.  The Prairie View ran for several years, nationwide, as a private car for the San Luis & Rio Grande, in Empire Builder paint, sublettered for Iowa Pacific.  Looked very nice.

[learmoia]

So far Lowell hasn't given any indication that he's going to do the dome-lounges.  And, since there are many similarities between the ATSF and GN cars, if Rapido does one, most of the design work will be done for both.

Even relatively modern modelers can use a "GN" dome.  The Prairie View ran for several years, nationwide, as a private car for the San Luis & Rio Grande, in Empire Builder paint, sublettered for Iowa Pacific.  Looked very nice.

Didn't Intermountain / Centralia do GN Domes? or was that something similar painted to match?

[chessie system fan]

Those were Milwaukee Road domes (so a foob for GN).

[OldEastRR]

[Rivet Miscounter]

Well, modeling one of the most iconic stretches of railroad in the US is (maybe?) about to get much easier.

I have a connection to the "BN(SF) Racetrack" that is likely greater than the average railfan/modeler not from the area, but not by much.   But from about 1998 on, I frequented the Chicago area for various reasons and particularly the Aurora/Naperville area.   I was a BN (and eventually BNSF) fan long before, and spending time in the area was a great thing.   I was attracted to the mix of commuter, freight, and passenger trains and that is something that has stuck with me as I am attempting to model a similar mix of traffic as it also exists in the Dallas area...albeit on an extremely smaller scale.

Anyway, the Metra "Dinky" would be cool to have.   If money were no object I would get one or two sets.  Heck, if money were truly no object I might model Metra's yard at Aurora, which might cost 10k to do right!   

[thomasjmdavis]

SP domes. Whoop. Yahoo. Yow. Rapido making a car of which there were only 6, and ran on a limited number of trains, on one railroad. Whee. Hurrah. Zingo.
Meanwhile, they only made one version of a series of NH streamline cars in N (of course they made the whole set in HO), even tho you'd expect the people who bought every single one of the 8600 coaches would be interested in having more matching cars in the consist but ...
Wait! There's a screaming demand for SP 3/4 domes in N! THEY MUST BE MADE!
Why don't they just make a BigBoy or GG1 and join that crowd?
I hope you SP fans are dancing in delight. Yahoo.

Today's trainload of sour grapes?

I would speculate that Rapido looked at sales figures for Kato Daylights, and other manufacturers SP cars, and asked themselves "What's missing?"  Or maybe they just went with their own inbox, and the number of people who begged them to do those 3/4 domes in N scale, since they were released in HO.
The problem they face with doing more NH cars is simply that you sell one diner or parlor for every 5 or 6 coaches (assuming most people spending $50+ per car are modeling accurate trains).  So, the number of parlors you are likely to sell will be 1/5 the number of coaches.  Maybe a few more, because there are collectors who just buy one each of everything.
But I obviously don't speak for Rapido's marketing department, so perhaps they will produce whatever NH cars you want, if you ask politely, and a few hundred or thousand NH modelers join you....Rapido does have a link on their webpage for Product Suggestions (in the drop down menu labeled Product Support).  Maybe that would be a more useful place to post your "request" than Railwire, although I think if it were me, I would leave out the sarcasm about their choice to produce something other than what you want.