Rapido Cryotrans Reefers

[Ed Kapuscinski]

While they officially announced that they're doing them in HO, they said they're doing them in N with an official announcement coming soon.

[Philip H]

Which means the old ConCor ones will get dumped for low prices

[DirtyD79]

Cool to see they're doing the Cryotrans reefers with the updated tractor trailer style refrigeration units. We've needed them for quite some time. The SP, Cotton Belt, and Golden West boxcars look good too.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Which means the old ConCor ones will get dumped for low prices

Walthers?

[basementcalling]

Great news, if they roll and stay on the track, and aren't so delicate you break off details taking them out of the box.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

These are not cryo reefers but mechanical cars similar to those made by Exactrail and BLMA. I'm not sure if the porotype started out as cryo cars and cut down with a reefer unit added or they were built like that from the start.

[Spades]

Which means the old ConCor ones will get dumped for low prices

The Walthers car, soon to be slightly retooled and released by Atlas.

[nickelplate759]

I have a few of those old Walthers cars.  A decent shell for it's day, but the chassis/frame was awful and sometimes not even functional.

[GaryHinshaw]

This is awesome!  This car was #5 on my most recent top-5 list, posted last December.  Since then, 3 of the 5 cars on that list have been announced.    I was very impressed with the Rapido 5280 hoppers and the centerbeam flats (aside from their minor brake line issue), so I'm hopeful these reefers will be good.

I've had embarrassingly good luck getting my top-5 wishes filled over the years.  Items that are due to show up soon: Athearn acid tanks, Scale Trains 82' reefers, Aurora Gunderson boxes,  IM 3281 hoppers,,... $$$

[John]

Those would make good foobie tropicana cars

[MetroRedLine]

Walthers?

Wasn't Atlas supposed to come out with a slightly-retooled version of the Walthers models?

I bought one of the old Wathers Cryo-Trans reefers at a LHS for cheap last year. I body-mounted MTL couplers, put new trucks and replaced the stirrups.

But these Rapido models are of a different prototype (with an outdoor reefer unit).

For the modern-era modelers, the Cryo-Trans reefers are gradually vanishing as they're being replaced by C-T's new owner Lineage Logistics. Orange and white is being replaced by green and white.

[Mark5]

Wasn't Atlas supposed to come out with a slightly-retooled version of the Walthers models?

Yup!

https://shop.atlasrr.com/c-1583-n238.aspx

Atlas’ upgraded models will feature:

•Body mounted couplers
•Improved brake wheel
•Improved stirrups
•Improved crossover platform

[Rivet Miscounter]

These are not cryo reefers but mechanical cars similar to those made by Exactrail and BLMA. I'm not sure if the prototype started out as cryo cars and cut down with a reefer unit added or they were built like that from the start.

This is important to this discussion, as it seems that wires are getting crossed here.

These cars are NOT the Cryo-Trans cars that Walthers did in N, and Atlas is doing after acquiring the tooling.  While I do believe some of those o.g. Cyro-Trans cars did get converted, these are not them.

The proto for the Rapido cars were built by Greenbrier in the mid-2000s.

[DirtyD79]

This is important to this discussion, as it seems that wires are getting crossed here.

These cars are NOT the Cryo-Trans cars that Walthers did in N, and Atlas is doing after acquiring the tooling.  While I do believe some of those o.g. Cyro-Trans cars did get converted, these are not them.

The proto for the Rapido cars were built by Greenbrier in the mid-2000s.

Unfortunately, it's the best we're gonna get for a while. Foobies have always been a fact of life in this hobby. It is what it is.

[Rivet Miscounter]

Unfortunately, it's the best we're gonna get for a while. Foobies have always been a fact of life in this hobby. It is what it is.

Who said anything about Foobies?   Nothing in my post stated anything about that.

Initially, the post seemed to indicate these were an updated version of the old Walthers cryo car.  This isn't the case.   The Rapido car is based on a 2005 design built new by Greenbrier.  Thus, any car Rapido does is unlikely a foobie, although it certainly could happen at some point.  It does seem the schemes are valid for the first run anyway...Although admittedly I have not dug into them since it isn't of relevance for my era, and I otherwise have not had time to check.   Also, I suppose the Greenbrier car could have been an exact clone of the older Cryo-Trans cars, but I would be surprised if that is the case. (but again, I don't know with 100% certainty without further digging.)

And likewise, I don't recall foob schemes on the Walthers cars although it very well could have happened...more likely that a Walthers car from 30 years ago would have fudged a scheme or two.   There a few schemes that might seem fake but aren't, like the Carnation car for example.  Saw plenty of those in the early 90s.

So, if you model after 2005, look at the Rapido cars, if you model before 2005, look at the Walthers/Atlas cars.  (technically I think the cryo cars were all gone or repurposed earlier than that, but you get the idea.   There may have been a few stragglers.)   No Foobification necessary.