I had a chance to run some of my new Rapido cars at a train show last weekend on the Wasatch N Scale layout. Our track is code 55, nicely ballisted and mostly flawless. I first ran a Southern Pathetic (Pacific) coach at the end of a fairly long UP passenger train. The car bounced and rocked all over the place and occaisionally derailed not at switches. There appeared to be alot of axel wobble as well. So I coupled the car between two Walthers Sleepers and it ran only marginally better,somettimes it derailed, but remained coupled to the car behind it. This didn't bode well for my plan to run a Via Rail train with some of the new cars coupled behind Kato Via cars. Well I decided to be brave and chance it anyway,so I pulled out my custom painted VIA Life Like FA diesels and both Kato and Rapido Via Cars. That is when I encountered the MT coupler problem mentioned in Rapido's newsletter. Some cars have faulty moulding on coupler boxes so they will not stay coupled . Jason says send a SAE and request the number of replacement couplers needed and he will send them sometime this month when he recieves them. Well I had not had a chance to test any of my cars on my home layout so I was not sure if I would have this problem. Out of five cars only two would stay coupled, so I put Kato cars inbetween the Rapido cars and this worked. Ran a 10 car train. The VIA cars seemed to have less bounce problem, and less axel wobble, the rear car tried to do like the SP car ,but not as much. The color blue used on these cars is darker than KATO ,but I'am sure more correct,my loco is colored to match the Kato cars. Let me qualify things by saying that the Rapido cars are not the only ones with problems. Some of the latest runs of Wheels O Time Harriman cars have had wheel wobble, and I have a couple with coupler height issues,but the Rapido SP coach really does simulate the era when SP wanted to get out of the passenger business. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.
