Rapido passenger car?

[JSL]

Jason is the manufacturer for PS for the Point St Charles Van, the gon and the bulkhead flat. Jeff at PS owns the tooling for these projects. If he hadn't wanted to do these projects they would not have happended. Jason main focus of course is HO, Jeff has had the first sample of the van for over two years, The Canadian has pushed everything back.

[lock4244]

Anyone else find it ironic that the N scale PSC van should see the light of day long before the HO one. I've 14 of the PSC's on order with Jeff, with no deposit, unlike the CMT fiasco, where deposits were taken. Jeff, through Prairie Shadows, is going to become one of may favorite mfg's... wait, he already is!

[Puddington]

Anyone else find it ironic that the N scale PSC van should see the light of day long before the HO one. I've 14 of the PSC's on order with Jeff, with no deposit, unlike the CMT fiasco, where deposits were taken. Jeff, through Prairie Shadows, is going to become one of may favorite mfg's... wait, he already is!

The CMt debacle is the reason we n scalers get the van first; CMT owns the tooling and IP on the drawings so Jason can't go any further.... nor can anyone find the ex-owner of CMT...so.....

[JSL]

As an aside. I tested the 2nd prototype PSC van for over 4 hours on my layout last weekend. The marker lights look great and it ran flawlessly through all the trackage. I think I put a pic on my blog of it running on my layout

[CBQ Fan]

They didn't make a mistake.  Their primary market is Canadian HO, so the main focus understandably is there.  They raised the bar with all the intricate detail on the N scale product line, which also raised the MSRP to a price-point that many N scale modelers were unaccustomed to.  This, coupled with printing American fantasy schemes on the models when Kato and InterMountain were releasing prototypically-correct American schemes on less expensive models is what affected their product movement more than anything.  The prototypically-correct Canadian schemes flew off the shelves, so the product itself is fine and has demand.  As Jerry mentioned, we should be thankful that the high-risk HO Canadian sold as well as it did, which generated funding for some of the N scale products.

We will start to see an increase in N scale releases from Rapido as the months progress.  They've also committed to releasing the Pullman-Bradleys in N in 2014, which totally will be new to N scale and should sell extremely well.  That will help tremendously regarding future products.

Well from my perspective it is a mistake in that they gave an impression that they were committed to N scale by the number of car types and road names they came out with in a short amount of time.  Since then they have taken so long I have found the void filled by one of their competitors and I am moving full force forward with CCS cars and they are relagating my Rapido cars as surplus.  And when you factor in CCS and their significant delays it puts it in even clearer perspective.  I have no ill will towards them and actually really appreciate their frank insight and commincation with their customers.  I have heard similair complaints about Kato with regards to HO over the past several years.

So that being said I will look to wrap up my NCL train with IM F units on order, more coaches and observation cars from CCS.  I am hoping CCS will do NCL sleepers and then I will be done.  Once that happens my Rapido cars will go in a secondary mix scheme train.

I can't imagine I am the only one who has done this over the past few years.

Some mistakes are planned, and some are unavoidable.  It goes with any business.

[bbussey]

You can only go so far as the funds will allow.  If the product didn't generate the revenue as timely as expected, it makes little sense to keep pushing product out before the existing stock clears.  It costs more than pocket change to manufacture this stuff.  So the "mistake" if anything was debuting with too much variety in N.  If the consumer base had supported the product line, the focus would have remained.

The models are, for the most part, stand-in's for American prototypes, which may be why they didn't move as quickly as originally anticipated.  That, and the higher price point.  If the CCS models are more faithful to the NCL prototype anyway -- it's academic, no?

Personally I don't have an issue with the delays, which primarily were due to making sure product was as correct as possible (whether directly or indirectly via other products).  If the model is 100% prototypical, such the N scale models painted in the Canadian schemes, I'm fine with it.  It's not as if there is no N scale passenger product available overall.  I'd rather have a model be late and accurate than on schedule with errors, and the fact that Rapido didn't give up on the N scale market when they could have focused on HO and made money is commendable.
 

[CBQ Fan]

You can only go so far as the funds will allow.  If the product didn't generate the revenue as timely as expected, it makes little sense to keep pushing product out before the existing stock clears.  It costs more than pocket change to manufacture this stuff.  So the "mistake" if anything was debuting with too much variety in N.  If the consumer base had supported the product line, the focus would have remained.

The models are, for the most part, stand-in's for American prototypes, which may be why they didn't move as quickly as originally anticipated.  That, and the higher price point.  If the CCS models are more faithful to the NCL prototype anyway -- it's academic, no?

Personally I don't have an issue with the delays, which primarily were due to making sure product was as correct as possible (whether directly or indirectly via other products).  If the model is 100% prototypical, such the N scale models painted in the Canadian schemes, I'm fine with it.  It's not as if there is no N scale passenger product available overall.  I'd rather have a model be late and accurate than on schedule with errors, and the fact that Rapido didn't give up on the N scale market when they could have focused on HO and made money is commendable.

I bet you think I am going to argue with you, well I am not.    I think we are on the same page.  I think they got a little ahead of themselves which was based out of good intent and excitement for the N scale segment.  I will be glad when they get a smooth flow of products.  I agree on waiting for it to be right! 

If my orders are still valid with the hobby shop I placed them at I would not refuse the product. 

[bbussey]

Yes, I believe we are.  Though I certainly understand your points regarding disappointment when the next batch of a proven product is delayed extensively.

On the bright side -- it gives us more time to squirrel away the spare change.  It's going to cost me close to three bills to buy my fleet of Rapido PBLWs when they get released. 

[John]

I suspect you will all get answers soon enough .. I just approved Jason's account

[CBQ Fan]

That is great news!!

[lock4244]

The CMt debacle is the reason we n scalers get the van first; CMT owns the tooling and IP on the drawings so Jason can't go any further.... nor can anyone find the ex-owner of CMT...so.....

Yessir. One of the things I like about Prairie Shadows is that Jeff isn't asking for deposits, one of the other things I like is his taste in cars to produce! That van is so hot! Too bad I was only able to order 14 of them 

I hope the Angus van isn't too far off in N. I really, really really hope that the LRC and the FPA4 comes to N some day... no personal need for a Canadian, but I feel confident I'd get the VIA version... and the multi-mark. It's almost sacred duty as Canuks' to pony up for one or two. But for me, the LRC and FPA4 would be a dream. FPA4-FPB4 and eight Panorama cars 

[rapidotrains]

I suspect you will all get answers soon enough .. I just approved Jason's account

I'm happy to be on board! 

The delay in the tooling of the cafe-bar-lounge car and the 10-5 sleeper (and the Turbo!) was due to one thing entirely: the economy.  The first runs of the coaches and duplex sleepers were actually very successful.  We completely sold out and we had dealers asking us for more.  But we didn't want to flood the market so we didn't do a new run.

We brought out the coaches and sleepers for the first time in 2009.  We had planned to tool the new cars in 2010 but when the economy collapsed we watched our sales fall off a cliff and we decided to put a lot of projects on hold.  Because N scale sales bring in less cash than the equivalent HO scale models, we had to focus on the projects that would bring in the most cash so that we could pay our bills.

We finally started the tooling for the sleeper and cafe in the fall, and I am told I will see samples when Bill and I are in China next week.  Once we have samples that are good enough to photograph, we will relaunch these cars and announce the final order deadline.  I don't think we've ever actually advertised them in print yet.

Those of you who have been to visit us know that Rapido is a very small company, with just three full-time employees in North America (two in Canada, one in the States) and two full-time employees in China.  All five of us are train nuts.  The people at the factory work for the factory owner, not for us directly.  Often I look back on the number of products we've produced and I'm amazed we've actually pulled it off.

-Jason

[u18b]

Jason,

Welcome to the Railwire, and thanks for your posts.

I really can't wait to see the sleeper.

[bdennis]

Nice one Jason...
I have a set of the first run cars in D&H and they are awesome!.. Keep up the good work.

[CodyO]

Thanks Jason
I will have to get me some 10-5s and cafe bars when there out!

Thanks for waiting and then producing them!