Rapido Osgood Bradley [CC&F] cars in CN

[central.vermont]

I cannot find anything on this anywhere but a local pusher of mine has got some Osgood Bradley coaches coming to him in Canadian National colors green black and gold lettering!! Apparently there are 4 numbers and this wasn't announced any where.

Has anyone else heard of this????

Also I was unaware of CN having OB cars.

Jon

[central.vermont]

I'm thinking that they may be this type of car built by CC&F.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cn-co5206ags.jpg

Jon

[thomasjmdavis]

I remember a conversation about this (on Railwire?) in which the possibility was raised.  CN had Osgood Bradley cars (or cars styled the same way, although I think actually built in Canada) known as "Canadian flyer" cars, but in a different window arrangement (and I assume interior arrangement also) than the NH cars.  But a number of us indicated some interest, even if just a NH car in CN paint- since this was as close as anyone expected to get.  If in the Green-Black scheme, I would be interested in one or 2.

Are these direct from Rapido, or done on undecs by a custom painter? 

Could this be the "to be announced" N scale passenger car promised 3 newsletters back?

[thomasjmdavis]

@rapidotrains - so is this a real thing or "fake news"?

[central.vermont]

So I wonder if they are going to be 4 wheel or 6 wheel truck?

Four wheel ; https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbernero/28123616922/in/album-72157663051032651/

And six wheel ; https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbernero/27946665570/in/album-72157663051032651/

If they do it in a 4 wheel I wonder how hard it would be to put a 6 wheel truck under them?

Jon

[rapidotrains]

Whenever someone tags me I don't get email notifications. Anyone know how to turn that on?

The CNR cars are American Osgood Bradleys painted in CN colours. They are very close, but not 100%. The main differences are the trucks and the EM air conditioning. The CN cars had ice.

We would never sell enough accurate CN balloon tops (as they were called in Canada) to make back the tooling costs.

The full announcement is coming on Thursday/Friday. I have to I finish the newsletter and the guys need to finish getting the web site fully updated.

-Jason

[thomasjmdavis]

I forgot the most important question- which scale?

[central.vermont]

Thanks Jason for responding and even though they are not quite right I will still be buying all 4 numbers!!!
Tom I am more than sure it is N scale. My pusher wouldn't try to push anything other than that onto me. 

Jon

[thomasjmdavis]

I see this as good news also and even though the US prototype, as I said earlier I will be in for one or two.  The GTW trains I am modeling already have "stand in" cars, and frankly, nobody notices (I don't have that many GTW-CN experts dropping in).  Plus it will offset the envy we are all feeling toward the NH guys. 

So, thanks in advance to Rapido for making these, and I will do my best to spread rumors....errr...."buzz".

[amato1969]

The CNR cars are American Osgood Bradleys painted in CN colours. They are very close, but not 100%. The main differences are the trucks and the EM air conditioning. The CN cars had ice.

Ooh, I'm curious to see this announcement, with an eye toward the Lehigh Valley "deluxe" coaches.

  Frank

[CNR5529]

https://www.rapidotrains.com/n-osgood-bradley-coaches-2nd/

So... I've been waiting to see the official release information before saying anything. Now that it is out, here it goes.

I am disappointed with this announcement. I have always been a fan of the work you guys do, equally on the manufacturing side as well as the preservation side, and have always been ready to pay more to support these efforts. This is especially true when not many other manufacturers are willing to go to the lengths you guys typically go to for the market north of the border. For years Rapido has been making all sorts of great looking models, with a focus on niche Canadian products we never imagined could be brought to market in N scale. You built your reputation on delivering highly detailed models that are usually light years ahead of most of the competition, but more importantly you have prided yourselves in spending thousands of hours climbing all over actual rolling stock, doing laser scans of equipment, and going to all sorts of extremes so that you could produce truly accurate Canadian models, rather than slap a Canadian paint scheme on a US model.

To say that the difference between an OB car and a balloon top (any class of balloon top) is mainly trucks and air conditioning is a slap in the face, particularly because you constantly state that you pay so much attention to the smallest of details. Other than the roof line and car length, the CC&F cars are quite a bit different from the OB cars. The window placement on all balloon top classes is completely different and that is quite a prominent feature when looking at passenger cars, never mind all the undercar, and end of car detailing. When the OB cars first came out, I had asked some of the Rapido staff at a local train show if we might ever see proper balloon tops. The answer was that the market likely wasn't large enough, and Rapido wouldn't compromise their reputation by releasing an inaccurate CNR car. This was an answer I highly respected. What changed?

I am sure you guys did your homework and know that they will likely sell, but at that price I think I will just keep 3D printing, building and detailing my own balloon top cars. This post is not meant to bash the quality of the Rapido OB car by any means. Quite the opposite, I already have a few gorgeous NH and B&M cars in my fleet. Nor is it meant to dissuade you guys from bringing detailed Canadian models to market. But as far as the CNR "CC&F Balloon Top" cars go, I am disappointed.

Respectfully,
Fredrick

[OldEastRR]

you can't always get what you want ....
but if you try sometimes you get what you need....

[thomasjmdavis]

Reading the order page linked from the press release, am I to understand I can only order the CN cars direct from Rapido in Canada?  Will these not be available through US dealers? 

[rapidotrains]

Reading the order page linked from the press release, am I to understand I can only order the CN cars direct from Rapido in Canada?  Will these not be available through US dealers?

They are indeed available through US dealers. The trouble is our online cart can either be in USD or CAD. So we put the US cars in the American cart and the Canadian cars (CNR) in the Canadian cart.

It's a bit clumsy but we are in the process of completely rebuilding our web site and we need to go through this rigmarole until it's ready.

-Jason

[rapidotrains]

https://www.rapidotrains.com/n-osgood-bradley-coaches-2nd/

So... I've been waiting to see the official release information before saying anything. Now that it is out, here it goes.

I am disappointed with this announcement. I have always been a fan of the work you guys do, equally on the manufacturing side as well as the preservation side, and have always been ready to pay more to support these efforts. This is especially true when not many other manufacturers are willing to go to the lengths you guys typically go to for the market north of the border. For years Rapido has been making all sorts of great looking models, with a focus on niche Canadian products we never imagined could be brought to market in N scale. You built your reputation on delivering highly detailed models that are usually light years ahead of most of the competition, but more importantly you have prided yourselves in spending thousands of hours climbing all over actual rolling stock, doing laser scans of equipment, and going to all sorts of extremes so that you could produce truly accurate Canadian models, rather than slap a Canadian paint scheme on a US model.

To say that the difference between an OB car and a balloon top (any class of balloon top) is mainly trucks and air conditioning is a slap in the face, particularly because you constantly state that you pay so much attention to the smallest of details. Other than the roof line and car length, the CC&F cars are quite a bit different from the OB cars. The window placement on all balloon top classes is completely different and that is quite a prominent feature when looking at passenger cars, never mind all the undercar, and end of car detailing. When the OB cars first came out, I had asked some of the Rapido staff at a local train show if we might ever see proper balloon tops. The answer was that the market likely wasn't large enough, and Rapido wouldn't compromise their reputation by releasing an inaccurate CNR car. This was an answer I highly respected. What changed?

I am sure you guys did your homework and know that they will likely sell, but at that price I think I will just keep 3D printing, building and detailing my own balloon top cars. This post is not meant to bash the quality of the Rapido OB car by any means. Quite the opposite, I already have a few gorgeous NH and B&M cars in my fleet. Nor is it meant to dissuade you guys from bringing detailed Canadian models to market. But as far as the CNR "CC&F Balloon Top" cars go, I am disappointed.

Respectfully,
Fredrick

Hi Frederick,

If all of my critics were as respectful as you have been, I could handle a lot more criticism. You raise some excellent points. Here's my response.

I personally need a fleet of balloon tops for my HO layout. They were a huge presence in Toronto even in late 1980 when my layout is set. As a rivet counter like you (and I wear that term proudly), a stand-in would not be sufficient for me. But I have been having difficulty with the economics of bringing out accurate balloon tops - either the 1937 or the 1942 deliveries - in HO scale. N scale sales are about half of HO scale sales. If they aren't economical in HO, they definitely aren't in N.

By painting our Osgood Bradleys in CN and D&H colours it fulfills the wishes of modellers of those railroads who want something that looks "just about right" but may not be 100% accurate. D&H is basically sold out. As of this morning we had four of each number left.

For locomotives, which carry a much higher sticker price, we can usually stick with 100% prototypical paint schemes. But for passenger cars, with a tooling cost almost the same as a locomotive but a retail price almost 75% lower, we cannot afford to only paint them in 100% accurate schemes. If we did, we would have to stop making passenger cars altogether.

By selling the Osgood Bradleys in "close" schemes it gets more use out of the tooling and frees up capital to produce more new N scale products.

Many of those new N scale products are things you will want for your layout....

Best regards,

Jason