The Canadian

[Angus Shops]

Now don’t be telling the whole world about the secret of Bedroom F!  The cars look pretty much perfect; I can’t wait to get mine. They’ve even got the “stretcher case” windows (the sleeping cars each had two rooms (a section actually, and a bedroom) that had widows that could be opened (swing upward) to allow persons on stretchers to be passed through the window. I imagine this would have been a fair bit of work!), these are the windows with the silver rather than black ‘gaskets’. And the car names on the end doors - wow!

[CNR5529]

Park Car

Brining up the markers on Canadian Pacific's flagship train is none other than the 1 drawing room - 3 double bedroom - lounge observation dome car, aka the Park Car. Able to accommodate 13 passengers in the observation lounge, 12 in the mural lounge, and another 24 passengers in the scenic dome, the Park Car is definitively the signature element of The Canadian. Named after national and provincial parks located along the CPR's route, each car was furnished with artwork meant to inspire travelers to want to explore these areas of the country. The mural lounge, which is located under the dome, was so called because giant murals were installed depicting the car's namesake park, which were commissioned from members of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts (some of which were also members of the famed Group of Seven). There were two murals in each lounge, a main mural on the back wall, and a side mural on the window wall of the lounge, which were supposed to liven up the fairly cramped area with dramatic scenes of the park. A third mural was located in the bullet lounge, to the right of the curved staircase to the dome, which showed a map of the park, an inset of where the park was located within a smaller map of the country, and the whole thing was decorated with imagery of flora and fauna which could be found in the park.

Rapido's rendition of the graceful tail end car is simply stunning.

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Unfortunately, I have to report that my Park car has a few minor issues which will need to be addressed. First up, the end wall in this car seems to have been knocked out of alignment during assembly. It shouldn't be too hard to secure with a bit of glue.

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The second issue on my car is that the drumhead logo was installed at a slight angle. It isn't clear yet if I will be able to reposition it or not, so I may actually have to call Rapido for support on that one. Their customer service is always top notch though, so lets see how that goes.

The third issue, as mentioned with the Skyline, is an apparent lack of glass tinting (though really this issue applies to the whole train).

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Check out that full interior!

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This closeup shows the back wall where the main mural would (or should I say will) go. The side mural would be on the inside of the shell, surrounding the windows.

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Interior of the bullet lounge, showing the curved staircase up to the dome. This photo also shows another tiny hidden detail that some keen eyed observers may pick up on: the trucks actually have the CAN-CAR logo embossed on them! I think the slightest bit of weathering will make that and so many other undercar details really come to life. This car is also screaming for a true scale coupler.

[peteski]

Yes, the interior details are very well done.  Impressive!
Was the prototype's drumhead illuminated?  Doesn't appear that the model has an illuminated drumhead. 

[CNR5529]

I was starting to wonder the same thing, as you point out there appears to be no light at the drumhead. The prototype definitively was illuminated. Rapido has come up with a simple, elegant solution: open the back of the drumhead up to the rest of the car so a small amount of ambient light makes the drumhead glow softly. As you know, pictures on a cellphone hardly do miniature lightling justice, but you will get the idea. The default state for the marker lights is off, so a wave of the want turns them on.

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Oh, and the lighting is fairly flicker free, though I wouldn't say it is like a "keep alive". Just a fraction of a second worth.

[peteski]

The cellphone photo did plenty of justice - simple idea, but works really well.  Nice!

But the interior lights look to be very bright - a common "problem" with illuminated N scale passenger cars.

[bbussey]

It appears the illuminated drumhead mounts from the inside and I suspect not cemented but rather snapped in place.  With the bodyshell removed, it's not possible to adjust the tilt on the drumhead?

[Scottl]

These are amazing cars.  @rapidotrains seems to have hit a homerun with these as they did the Dash 8 cowl locos.

[CNR5529]

It appears the illuminated drumhead mounts from the inside and I suspect not cemented but rather snapped in place.  With the bodyshell removed, it's not possible to adjust the tilt on the drumhead?

Good idea Bryan, I'll give that a try.

[CNR5529]

Multi Mark (I'm told its not called a Pac Man...  )

When I picked up my set and add-ons, there was a second Canadian sitting in my pile... this one belonging to @craigolio1, who had arranged for me to pick it up and keep it safe until his next trip in the area. Well, seeing as I have it, and he cant do anything about it, I figured I could take a few cars out and show them off to the world.

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The only thing better than a Park car, is two park cars!

Its worth noting that the Park cars as delivered shouldn't have the tail light, only the side markers. Not sure exactly when tail lights were added, but I believe it was well into the VIA Rail era. I know... I just complained about having too many details 

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Unfortunately, it appears that this Park car also has a loose end wall. Hopefully this is not an issue with all the cars out there. Similarly, neither sets have tinted glass. Where the CPR cars would be smokey grey tinted glass, the CP Rail cars should have green tinted glass by that era. On the plus side, the different coloured interiors are clearly visible here.

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Manor and Chateau Sleeping Cars. Just like the CPR set, the Action Red set is beautifully decorated with crisp paint and lettering, and all sorts of fine detailing.

[nickelplate759]

I passed on ordering these, 'cause I already built a VIA Canadian out of Con-Cor cars (none of which are quite accurate for this) but mine doesn't look nearly this good and I'm all but drooling over all these pictures of beautiful models.

[craigolio1]

I passed on ordering these, 'cause I already built a VIA Canadian out of Con-Cor cars (none of which are quite accurate for this) but mine doesn't look nearly this good and I'm all but drooling over all these pictures of beautiful models.

@CNR5529 better not be any of your finger prints on my trains, hahaha.

@nickelplate759 I too build a VIA Canadian out of Concor cars. I did some body modifications but not enough to be “accurate” models. More to look the part. It’s a decent model (not great) so I opted for the CP Rail set so that I could have both, and also mix the two together with some CN cars and have a super ugly late 79’s CN/CP/VIA transition train. 

However, seeing these pics has me seriously considering finding a VIA set. I know it’s not needed, but man is it tempting! 

Craig

[Point353]

However, seeing these pics has me seriously considering finding a VIA set. I know it’s not needed, but man is it tempting! 

http://www.ovrtrains.com/Passenger-Cars/

[craigolio1]

http://www.ovrtrains.com/Passenger-Cars/

Hahahahaha. Bunch of enablers on this forum.  I’ve opted to spend $3200 on my transmission instead.

[CNR5529]

Hahahahaha. Bunch of enablers on this forum.  I’ve opted to spend $3200 on my transmission instead.

Lame. Get a VIA set, all the cool kids are doing it.

Oh and no finger prints, but the little one found some nice red striped shiny teething toys to slobber on!

[craigolio1]

Lame. Get a VIA set, all the cool kids are doing it.

Oh and no finger prints, but the little one found some nice red striped shiny teething toys to slobber on!

She gets a pass..... not you.