Rapido News 160 - Lights! Commuter! Action!

[jonklein611]

New Announcements!

• NEW! HO Scale HEP E-units - BN, Amtrak and Metro North
• NEW! HO Scale E-units - Conrail Office Car Special
• NEW! HO Scale Budd Gallery Cars
• NEW! HO Scale Superior Stainless Budd Coaches - HEP2 Details!

At Rapido we always strive for accuracy, but sometimes economics get in the way. For instance, it is not always economical to tool all the variations between roadnames, or every type of underbody arrangement.

However, we are delighted to be able to announce some news about our forthcoming VIA Rail Canada HEP2 coaches in HO scale. The advance orders for these cars have been so strong, that we are now going to tool up the correct HEP2 underbody arrangements for these cars. Josh and Jason took a tour underneath a real HEP2 car to get all the photos and measurements. Click here or on the image above or below to watch the video. Warning: there are shenanigans.

So what does it mean by HEP1 and HEP2? Here are the VIA Rail HEP1 and HEP2 Budd Coach features:

Realistic stainless steel finish
HEP2 cars feature an all-new windows, body skirt details and all-new HEP2 underframe details.
HEP1 and HEP2 cars feature all-new end tooling with HEP receptacles and cables
HEP1 and HEP2 cars feature working end marker lights
Track-powered interior lighting compatible with DC and DCC layouts
Full underbody detail including separate air, steam and electrical lines
Separate metal grab irons, stirrups and end gates
Accurate D22 brake equipment and piping
Super-detailed 41-NDO-11 trucks with end frames
Full, multi-color interior detail
3D CP beaver shields on CPR models
Sprung diaphragms

The HEP2 cars will have accurate HEP2 underframes and bodies, but currently they will have the long-distance coach interiors. If the orders are strong enough, we will also tool the correct interiors. So please get your orders in for these beautiful models. We'll announce a new order deadline once we have samples. We expect it will be in the spring. Click here for more info or to order direct.

General Announcements

• People Moving People: The History of VIA Rail Canada
• N Scale Rohr Turboliner - A Success!
• HO Scale UP and GN Boxcars
• Order Deadline Extended to Feb 16th, 2023

December Order Deadlines - December 15th, 2022

• HO Scale Budd Slumbercoach
• N Scale Procor 5820 Covered Hopper Car
• N Scale ATSF RR-56/60/61 Reefer

January Order Deadlines - January 16th, 2022

• HO Scale BART Trains - Conditional Announcement
• HO Scale Canadian Piggyback Flatcar
• HO Scale Canadian 26' Can-Car and 45' Trailmobile Trailers

Second Section

• New Videos
• Upcoming Shows
• New Arrivals / Shipping Dates
• HO Scale ATSF RR-56/60/61 Reefer - In Stores NOW!
  HO Scale Budd Manor Sleeper Cars - Shipping NOW
  HO Scale Budd Baggage-Dorm Cars - Shipping NOW
  N Scale AutoFlood III Coal Hoppers - Shipping NOW
  HO Scale Heartland AutoFloods - January 2023 Arrival
  HO Scale X-3 Tank Car - January 2023 Arrival
  HO Scale E-units (Amtrak, CB&Q, CPR, CP, E-L, NYC, VIA) - January 2023 Arrival
  
• Factory and Tooling Updates
• Jason's Globe and Mail Article - Passenger Rail Awareness

[trainboyy]

Conrail... brown?

[edwardsutorik]

I thought UPS owned "brown".


Ed

[lvrr325]

Conrail's OCS train was painted a variant of Brunswick Green, the art appears to be correct.

[klinn]

Some more info about Conrail's OCS trains here.

[fr8kar]

The trailers look pretty good but the wheels are still ugly. Flatcars are nice, too.

[trainboyy]

Dec 9, 2022 15:48:45 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

Conrail's OCS train was painted a variant of Brunswick Green, the art appears to be correct.

The color seems very lighting-dependent so I won't argue for or against it being correct. It just looks more "brown" than "green" to me. Could be my monitor too

[Mr. Trainiac]

I always thought it was black, but there is definitely a difference between the trucks and body in trainboy's photo. Lionel has made the train in O scale, and it's DGLE.

Will anyone offer the Conrail OCS cars in HO though? I've seen a few scratchbuilt or kitbashed cars online, but this paint will be difficult to match to for anyone who starts with the Rapido model.

[cemr5396]

yawn....... nothing I need here, no real update on most of the stuff I'm waiting for already. I wonder if they will fix the nose/headlight on the E units.


At least they are finally producing the CP wide vision vans, it's only been 2 years+ since they were announced.... I've noticed their lead times are ballooning - the more stuff they announce and dump into the pipeline, the worse it gets.

[gevohogger]

I would need to see a picture before I'd believe there was still an early CB&Q Budd bilevel still functioning as a cab car, with the lights and striping, Metra and BNSF logos and "Burlington" in the letterboards.

[12bridge]

Didn't Atlas already announce gallery cars?

[cemr5396]

Dec 9, 2022 17:26:41 GMT -8 12bridge said:

Didn't Atlas already announce gallery cars?

those were the newer ones IIRC, these are the originals.

[edwardsutorik]

For some reason, Rapido is offering BN 802, a cab car. This car did NOT have letterboards, while the Rapido version appears to have them.

It DOES make it easy to decide which of the two sets to order, though.

Over on the Burlington io group, there's people who "know things". That's where I got the above information. It might be wise for Rapido to contact them.

Will they?





Ed

[wagnersteve]

Friday, Dec. 9, 9:14 p.m., EST

I think I recall reading somewhere years ago that when Conrail was new it briefly considered painting its locos brown, if I'm recalling correctly, with yellow graphics. This was before it settled on blue with white.

[ambluco]

Brown was briefly considered but the Es are not brown.

[Baikal]

Dec 9, 2022 18:28:13 GMT -8 ambluco said:

Brown was briefly considered but the Es are not brown.

Trains mag blog from June 2012 speaks of Pullman brown and PRR-like brown (Brunswicke Brown?  DBLE?).  I'm just the messenger.

cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archive/2012/06/01/fifty-shades-of-blue-how-conrail-s-paint-scheme-changed-from-brown-to-blue.aspx

"The consultants presented Conrail top management and public affairs people with two options: blue and brown,” DeYoung says. “The brown was based on the UPS and Pullman experience: it holds up well in adverse environments. The blue was chosen, as the story was related to me by PR folks, because it was a complete break from all predecessor roads (the brown was deemed too ‘PRR-like’)...

To me, color photos of the CR executive train look like PRR DGLE or a maybe a bit lighter.  If people are mistaking it for black, it's pretty dark.  Definitely not brown.

[trainboyy]

Dec 9, 2022 18:15:47 GMT -8 wagnersteve said:

Friday, Dec. 9, 9:14 p.m., EST

I think I recall reading somewhere years ago that when Conrail was new it briefly considered painting its locos brown, if I'm recalling correctly, with yellow graphics. This was before it settled on blue with white.

Yes, this was true. But the "brown" (actually green) and yellow-lettered E-units only came after L. Stanley Crane, former Southern Railway CEO, had the OCS locomotives (which were *blue*, along with the rest of the OCS fleet), painted green. The color is green; the Rapido artwork shows brown. However, Brock Kerchner (renowned CR OCS expert, co-wrote a book about the OCS) is working with Rapido on getting the artwork color fixed so it is green and not brown.

Also I would like to add that the Conrail units did not have two seperate colors for the trucks and the carbody. It was all painted the same dark pullman green all around.
The trucks are green, on both the passenger cars and the locomotives.

[Mr. Trainiac]

Dec 9, 2022 16:52:06 GMT -8 gevohogger said:

I would need to see a picture before I'd believe there was still an early CB&Q Budd bilevel still functioning as a cab car, with the lights and striping, Metra and BNSF logos and "Burlington" in the letterboards.

Good point. The Nippon Sharyo cars were delivered beginning in 2005, which is when the Budd cars lost cab car duty. 2005 was also when BNSF introduced the new logo. Before that, the cars had the BNSF circle-cross.

Most of the car numbers they offer lack letterboards in the first place. If we ignore that, most modelers will have to backdate the swoosh logo, or use the Rapido cab car mid-train with a newer Atlas model in the lead.

[gmpullman]

1997 Railfest in Altoona. Carbody is definitely "greener" than underbody in the morning sun:

Conrail E8 4022 OCS by Edmund, on Flickr

Definitely not DGLE. In my estimation it looks more like the green used on the original ERIE passenger scheme. Lighter than Pullman green, too.


CR_OCS_4022 by Edmund, on Flickr


BW_April3_Mo_0039 by Edmund, on Flickr

I think Life-Like got it pretty close on their HO rendition of the models other than making the trucks, fuel tank and underframe all black. I'll have to see if I have a photo of mine.

Regards, Ed

[onequiknova]

It looks like they are skipping the 90's era Bilevels? I remember them with the large blue Metra logo and a green BN logo next to the door. This would have been toward the end of the E units, so early 90's. They should have lasted that way until the BNSF logo replaced them. That's the version I want.

[slowfreight]

Dec 9, 2022 20:04:52 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

It looks like they are skipping the 90's era Bilevels? I remember them with the large blue Metra logo and a green BN logo next to the door. This would have been toward the end of the E units, so early 90's. They should have lasted that way until the BNSF logo replaced them. That's the version I want.

Well, what era are they matching on the BN E9 HEP configuration? First things first, the cars need to match the era of the power.

Later, they can get to things like blanked cabs-turned-trailers. Or CB&Q lettering.

I am still very very nervous about these. Rapido blew the E8 and is pretending nothing went wrong.

Walthers and Kato proved the market is big enough for two companies to produce the same gallery cars, but I don't want to need that.

[mdq]

Hmm! Nothing earth shattering. Almost like 'upgrade" of has been done before (i:e: Walthers, Athearn, Kato. Proto etc.) I'll pass...

[edwardsutorik]

Dec 9, 2022 20:04:52 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

It looks like they are skipping the 90's era Bilevels? I remember them with the large blue Metra logo and a green BN logo next to the door. This would have been toward the end of the E units, so early 90's. They should have lasted that way until the BNSF logo replaced them. That's the version I want.

I s'pose. But they're doin' the BN ones I want. So I "win". I guess.

They're SURE unenthusiastic about producing many cars, though. You get two cars and a cab car, and now you're lookin' for decals. Which are not likely to be coming from the fine folks at Rapido, if judging by previous events (numbers for UP E8 numberboards).


Ed

[edwardsutorik]

Dec 9, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -8 slowfreight said:

I am still very very nervous about these. Rapido blew the E8 and is pretending nothing went wrong.

Oh, yeah!

WHAT will they think of this time? There's already an incorrect car, and they ain't even trying, yet.


Ed

[lvrr325]

I was an active railfan in the mid-1990s and I managed to catch an OCS with the E's just once. I was about 10 min late to a temp job and the only time I ever crossed over the walkway of a stopped train for a picture. Thankfully a tank car.

In my pictures, they look black. it was winter, there was snow on the ground, the sun angle was poor, but the shots were okay.


I think if one digs back far enough there's an extensive debate about DLGE in a post on Atlas U30Cs or something like that. The appearance of the color changes with the lighting around it. Low, bright sun brings the green out. Definitely not the Erie green.

[onequiknova]

Dec 9, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -8 slowfreight said:

Dec 9, 2022 20:04:52 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

It looks like they are skipping the 90's era Bilevels? I remember them with the large blue Metra logo and a green BN logo next to the door. This would have been toward the end of the E units, so early 90's. They should have lasted that way until the BNSF logo replaced them. That's the version I want.

Well, what era are they matching on the BN E9 HEP configuration? First things first, the cars need to match the era of the power.

Later, they can get to things like blanked cabs-turned-trailers. Or CB&Q lettering.

I am still very very nervous about these. Rapido blew the E8 and is pretending nothing went wrong.

Walthers and Kato proved the market is big enough for two companies to produce the same gallery cars, but I don't want to need that.

Going off their artwork, they are early, but not as built. They are correct for the BN cars they are showing. On a side note, the HEP is wrong for BN3.

[edwardsutorik]

Dec 9, 2022 21:14:25 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

Going off their artwork, they are early, but not as built. They are correct for the BN cars they are showing.

Here's a picture of BN 802, one of the cars they're showing:

www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=935158

No letterboard.

Are they doing 802 without a letterboard?


796 through 820 were delivered without the letterboard.



Ed

[Frank]

Those trailers look excellent, until you get to the wheels. If those are supposed to be Dayton 5ers they need to go back to the drawing board there. A-Line nailed it down decades ago, the Athearn upgraded versions are also stellar. When weathered the wheels stand out the most and should be correct or it sabotages the overall look of an otherwise awesome model. I hope the 35’ and 40’ versions they had in the works will deliver soon.

[mdq]

Dec 9, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -8 slowfreight said:

Dec 9, 2022 20:04:52 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

It looks like they are skipping the 90's era Bilevels? I remember them with the large blue Metra logo and a green BN logo next to the door. This would have been toward the end of the E units, so early 90's. They should have lasted that way until the BNSF logo replaced them. That's the version I want.

Well, what era are they matching on the BN E9 HEP configuration? First things first, the cars need to match the era of the power.

Later, they can get to things like blanked cabs-turned-trailers. Or CB&Q lettering.

I am still very very nervous about these. Rapido blew the E8 and is pretending nothing went wrong.

Walthers and Kato proved the market is big enough for two companies to produce the same gallery cars, but I don't want to need that.

 
rapido IMHO as a rule the first release of their product have flaws, performance issues and major QA issue. The second release (whenever that is) are usually better.

[gevohogger]

Dec 10, 2022 6:26:47 GMT -8 edwardsutorik said:

Dec 9, 2022 21:14:25 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

Going off their artwork, they are early, but not as built. They are correct for the BN cars they are showing.

Here's a picture of BN 802, one of the cars they're showing:

www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=935158

No letterboard.

796 through 820 were delivered without the letterboard.

I'm assuming the cars came in separate orders, some with and without letterboards?  As you probably already know, the letterboards are sort of chamfered into the fluting so it takes some amount of moldwork to make the carbodies available both with and without letterboards.  Such a can of worms I never even knew existed!

As mentioned earlier, anyone wanting to model a present-day BNSF Metra train will need to buy at least one Atlas car (a cab car), since the ex-CB&Q cabs no longer serve as cab cars any more.  Despite Rapido offering them painted as fully-functioning modern-era cab cars.

One more thought: Now would be a good time for someone to announce a run of 1970s-era Budd bilevels....   Would be good for BN as well as Milwaukee, RI modellers etc.