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Rapido EMD E8 - Pre-Order

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  • Member since
    November 2015
  • 55 posts
Posted by JimL on Monday, February 28, 2022 12:18 PM

We have 4 each of their SW-1200s and B36-7s ... no problems at all. Like them in all ways.

Good luck.

Jim

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Monday, February 28, 2022 2:55 PM

Paul3

richhotrain,
About the Super Continental coaches, I asked at this morning's Rapido meeting about the possiblity of running them again and the answers were not encouraging...at least not in the near future.  Jason wasn't there when I asked but the rest of the group said it would probably require all new tooling from the ground up.  The coach is currently not in the pipeline but things can change (they change all the time, in fact).  The best thing to do is to use the product suggestion page and perhaps tell all your Monon and coach-loving friends to do the same.  If there are historical groups, get them involved, too.  Jason does listen to product requests but they have to make sense financially.  Showing him a large pent up demand is one of the ways to convince him. 

Paul, thank you so much for doing that this morning. It is much appreciated. I guess that a big part of the challenge is that the fact that Rapido has discontinued the entire Super Continental line. I will approach the Monon Historical Society to inquire as to whether they would support a new production run. I do know that Monon is a favorite of a lot of modelers, but I have no idea what volume it would take to persuade Jason to consider a new run of Monon coaches.

Thanks again, Paul.

Rich

 

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Monday, February 28, 2022 4:04 PM

I was fortunate enough to find four matched Erie-Lackawanna Super Continental cars at a train show years ago. The seller sold them to me at about half-retail Yes

They were mostly decoration (shelf queens) at Union Station in that they would not track well at all. After Rapido made their revised 41-BNO-11 passenger trucks available I reworked these cars by cementing the sides to the floor, clipping some of the steam and air lines from around the trucks and maybe some mods to the draft gear. The new trucks were a big improvement.

 REA_Siding-cork by Edmund, on Flickr

Today they run very well. My nephew got me to rework his IC coach. He wanted this bad enough he shelled out over two-hundred for it!

 IC_Rapido2 by Edmund, on Flickr

 IC_Rapido by Edmund, on Flickr

I recall in one of Jasons early "blogs" or Rapido News segments that he regretted many of the design choices made on the Super Continental line. I can see why he would want to not tackle that beast again.

 

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Monday, February 28, 2022 4:36 PM

I have 13 of the super continental line cars and they run great now but a lot of amputations were required. You don't want to see the underside of them in a wreck now.Laugh

Jason did admit they were the result of a fledgling company, I will accept that and keep buying his products as they only seem to be getting better as time goes along.

I would like to see some Canadian Pacific 4-4-0s After all they were the start and hauled the first train(s) to the West Coast of Canada. You should always honour the first to do something. Cowboy 

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Monday, February 28, 2022 5:40 PM

gmpullman

I was fortunate enough to find four matched Erie-Lackawanna Super Continental cars at a train show years ago. The seller sold them to me at about half-retail 

Thet were mostly decoration at the Union Station in that they would not track well at all. After Rapido made their revised 41-BNO-11 passenger trucks available I reworked these cars by cementing the sides to the floor, clipping some of the steam and air lines from around the trucks and maybe some mods to the draft gear. The new trucks were a big improvement.

BATMAN

I have 13 of the super continental line cars and they run great now but a lot of amputations were required. You don't want to see the underside of them in a wreck now.

That is something that I have also experienced on Rapido passenger cars - - steam and air lines and other detail on the underside that come loose and snag. Minor surgery is the answer.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Monday, February 28, 2022 8:31 PM

Me too.

 

Come on Jason, how can you ignore history.Laugh

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Monday, February 28, 2022 9:40 PM

I have two 10 wheelers on order and may pick up a third. At first call I ordered three Hudsons but cut it back to two as they took just too long to get here. PWRS has a couple of Hudsons left in stock and I may bite yet, though the thought of having to send them in for repairs out of the gate is holding me back.

 I would buy three or four 4-4-0s if Rapido makes them and at least two Selkirks and two or three Mikados. But I am not going to live that long.Laugh

The Hudsons have hours of perfect performance on them, once fixed they have been flawless.

 

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 118 posts
Posted by Texas Zephyr on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 3:12 PM

Paul3
The pre-orders for undec. PA's were just not there to justify making any on speculation this time.  However, undec. units in groups of 6 can be special ordered, sound or no sound, in any railroad style that's being made in this run.  They do have to be ordered directly from Rapido, however.

Does this mean only the undec or all of them?   I had ordered a set in Santa Fe colors... over a year(?) ago.  Not heard a peep about them.   In fact, I don't even remember where I ordered them from.

Also have the Amtrak E8 ordered.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Mpls/St.Paul
  • 13,892 posts
Posted by wjstix on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 3:50 PM

I'm hoping when they do the CN 2-8-0s that they do some decorated for CN subsidiary Duluth Winnipeg & Pacific. DWP's engines were virtually identical to parent CN's locos.

BTW I have a Rapido CN GMD-1, it's one of the best engines I've ever owned.

Stix
  • Member since
    May 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
  • 2,899 posts
Posted by Paul3 on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 4:03 PM

Texas Zephyr,
What I said only applies to undec. units only.  If you want undec. units and Rapido isn't directly offering them as part of the production run, you can special order them made just for you from Rapido itself.  However, it must be in multiples of 6.  So you can order 6, 12, 18, etc. units, but you can't order 5, 10, or 20, etc.  Note that these would be for undec. versions of models that they are doing in the current production run.  If you want a model that looks like it's for XYZ Railroad and Rapido isn't making one for XYZ Railroad, then you're out of luck.


  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 1,553 posts
Posted by PRR8259 on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 9:26 PM

I pre-ordered a Rapido Kodachrome ATSF B36-7, and their painting was absolutely positively horrible.  It is two or three very different shades of yellow (and not a model of a patch painted engine).  My local train store gave me a refund and found me a replacement non-Rapido engine.  Rapido could not replace it because they said all the models are painted that way.

I will never pre-order anything from Rapido again.  They have a track record of delivering engines with poor quality paint.  The Conrail RS-11's were multiple shades of blue, also.  I got burned there too.

Rapido apparently does not prime models prior to color painting.  Their models have black plastic, white plastic, grey plastic, and brass walkway tread and details.  The different colors of material affect the final finished coat if no primer is used.

I have purchased multiple different models of freight cars from Rapido recently, all of which roll horribly, and had to have either wheelsets or entire trucks replaced.  

For the high end, top of the line prices that Rapido charges for their products, I just expect better. 

I contacted Rapido directly about the awful paint job on the B36-7.  They refuse to do anything to fix them.  When Bowser, Scale Trains, and Athearn have recently (within the last couple years) painted a loco body incorrectly, which has been relatively rare (one product run each that I know of) they all stood behind their product and offered replacement loco shells.  Rapido has flat out refused to do that. 

John

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 118 posts
Posted by Texas Zephyr on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 10:30 PM

Paul3
What I said only applies to undec. units only.

Ok, that is what I thought but wanted to be certain.  So when are the PAs expected?  It's been so long I had forgotten I had even ordered them until I saw this thread.

 

  • Member since
    June 2020
  • 133 posts
Posted by Bayway Terminal on Sunday, March 6, 2022 11:31 AM

Thank you, Good to hear that WOW Sound has been repalced by LOK Sound, i may now reconsider ordering the PA1. Mico Soft Teams and Zoom calls work well for certain business's such as banking, brokerage, etc., but manufactring high tech products is at  another level. In addition to manufacturing model trains (and most all other US consumer imports) i believe some of our countrys military weapons are still being produced in China, notwithstanding mico chips for cars. Bayway Terminal NJ

  • Member since
    June 2022
  • 96 posts
Posted by IC_Tom on Monday, July 11, 2022 6:56 AM

Well I'm bummed.  I have had the Rapido E8s on pre-order for well over a year.  First they were reported due for the Christmas/New Year's holidays in 2021.  Then they were updated this year to 3rd Qtr 2022.  In checking the website today, they've been changed to 4th Qtr 2022.  Want to make a bet they go into 2023?

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Monday, July 11, 2022 10:15 AM

IC_Tom

Want to make a bet they go into 2023? 

I hate to bet, and I hate to lose money. So, no bet. I'm with you. Yes

Rich

Alton Junction

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