Original BART Cars from Rapido

[eric220]

This popped up in my YouTube feed this morning:

I'm definitely in for at least an A-B-B-A set, with possibly another B or two, but my plans will hinge on one question:  What are the chances of this coming to N scale?  I'd be in for a prototypical full length A-B-B-B-C-C-B-B-B-A set in N.

Also, I have to wonder if Rapido is going to introduce a line of prototypical 5'6" gauge track!   

@rapidotrains

[MetroRedLine]

"This represents our first foray into the rapid transit market."

Hmmm...

[bobdobbs]

This popped up in my YouTube feed this morning:

I'm definitely in for at least an A-B-B-A set, with possibly another B or two, but my plans will hinge on one question:  What are the chances of this coming to N scale?  I'd be in for a prototypical full length A-B-B-B-C-C-B-B-B-A set in N.

Also, I have to wonder if Rapido is going to introduce a line of prototypical 5'6" gauge track!   

@rapidotrains

Very exciting development, as a current BART train operator and N scaler, I really hope they produce these in N scale.

A word about your notion of a prototypical consist of Bart cars:

The maximum train length of Legacy or Fleet of the future cars is 10.  The station platforms are all a maximum of 10 cars in length.  The typical Legacy fleet consists (the type Rapido is producing) would be 10 cars ABBBBBBBBA, CBBBBBBBBA, etc.  C Cars may be substituted in any place in a consist.  This may be due to pulling a B car out of service and using a C car as a substitute.  8 car trains are common also, with A cars or C cars capping the ends in any combination.  On the Yellow line where I work (Antioch (C88 transfer platform) to SFO) the consists are exclusively 10 cars.

When it was really busy (Pre covid), 5 car trains were used on weekday non commute hours, with a  C  car on the ends.  These 5 car trains would be coupled together at commute times to form 10 car trains.  so a 5 car consist CBBBC would be prototypical and a bit more economical to the modeler.

The bottom line is I am a geek cause I play with the real ones and would love to come home and play with the N scale ones!!!!

Also I hope they have the Emergency air horn in Rapido's sound file, that is used more than you think!

As for the 5'6" track guage, I have tons of KATO Japanese prototypes that are 3 foot gauge and are run on N gauge 9mm track- Don't even notice.  The 10" difference in BART gauge and Standard gauge is really hard to tell in the 1:1 models, trust me I do stare at the track.

[sirenwerks]

Ooh, could WMATA 7000 series cars n N scale be far away...?

[eric220]

Very exciting development, as a current BART train operator and N scaler, I really hope they produce these in N scale.

A word about your notion of a prototypical consist of Bart cars:

The maximum train length of Legacy or Fleet of the future cars is 10.  The station platforms are all a maximum of 10 cars in length.  The typical Legacy fleet consists (the type Rapido is producing) would be 10 cars ABBBBBBBBA, CBBBBBBBBA, etc.  C Cars may be substituted in any place in a consist.  This may be due to pulling a B car out of service and using a C car as a substitute.  8 car trains are common also, with A cars or C cars capping the ends in any combination.  On the Yellow line where I work (Antioch (C88 transfer platform) to SFO) the consists are exclusively 10 cars.

Yeah, I'm taking a bit of rule 1 license there with my A-B-B-B-C-C-B-B-B-A set.  It's the correct 10 cars, but on the yellow line ops where they split the 10's into 5's, the C cars were far more common than the A's.  I just think the trains look better with the A's on the ends like they were originally designed to be.  The benefit of having a set of 2 A's, 2 C's, and 6 B's is that you can assemble pretty much any consist that would appear in the system!

[ncbqguy]

A company decides to make a move into the traction market and decides to do a 5’-6” gauge subway?   If BART initiated the project I’m not sure it makes it better….they have funds to underwrite model trains?   
At least anybody modeling BART doesn’t have to worry about building much scenery….subway tunnels and freeway ROW should be easy.   Modeling trash, etc. and graffiti should keep one busy, however!
I know it isn’t “modern” but even Canada had GE and Baldwin standard freight motors that might have a few more roadnames and paint jobs than city-specific subway cars…..
Charlie Vlk

[bobdobbs]

Rapido will do well with this one.  I constantly requested Kato to do this project in N scale, but to no avail.  Such A BART hater, disappointing since I feel you love trains 1:1 and scale models.  I actually run 1:1 BART trains 20 hours a week, lots of beautiful Bay Area Scenery I traverse on the Yellow line.

[MetroRedLine]

Even though my layout is set in California, I don't model the Bay Area and I don't model HO scale.

Still, I think it's kinda cool that Rapido is getting into the rapid transit market.
I don't live in the SF Bay Area, but personally speaking, BART was the very first subway/rail transit I ever rode in my life during a family trip there in 1979.

We have more subways/light rail/commuter rail in the US than we did 50 years ago. For many people, a subway or light rail train is the only train they get to see in daily life. If some of those commuters find joy in owning and running a miniature version of their daily commute, that can only be a good thing for the hobby. Not every train has to be some transition era relic. There are a multitude of eras, scales, roadnames and geographies represented in the model railroading hobby!

So even though I have no use for this Rapido BART set as an N scaler, I'm not going to grunt and complain about a company making a product I'm not going to buy. I think it's a good direction for the hobby as a whole. If Rapido made an HO L.A. Metro Rail subway train (not likely, but hypothetically speaking), I'd buy it even just as a static display model. Rail transit, especially subways, is admittedly challenging to make mass-produced models due to their custom-built nature specific to their city (i.e. no other city can run BART equipment on their lines), But Athearn and Atlas have shown its possible to make great commuter rail models, and many cities use a variant of the Siemens S70 LRV, so that can be a potential product for some company right there.

[Chris333]

Surely an Erie triplex is next.

[dem34]

Surely an Erie triplex is next.

Nah The Camelback Mallet will definitely be in the cards for the next project.

[sirenwerks]

A company decides to make a move into the traction market and decides to do a 5’-6” gauge subway?   If BART initiated the project I’m not sure it makes it better….they have funds to underwrite model trains?   
At least anybody modeling BART doesn’t have to worry about building much scenery….subway tunnels and freeway ROW should be easy.   Modeling trash, etc. and graffiti should keep one busy, however!
I know it isn’t “modern” but even Canada had GE and Baldwin standard freight motors that might have a few more roadnames and paint jobs than city-specific subway cars…..
Charlie Vlk

Jeez, Charlie, I hope that's tongue in cheek.  If not you clearly haven't ridden the BART much, the East Bay is visually fascinating and the Yellow line would make a neat layout if you have space and money to play with.

[ncbqguy]

Understand that my personnel modeling and railfanning interests die off to next to nothing after the BN merger.  I guess Lionel and MTH tapped into the nostalgia market with New York and Chicago “L” and “El” cars but I’m not sure that triggered a big rise in traction modeling.   I guess BART is old enough to be nostalgic for some but will the market support multiple productions to amortize the tooling for three bodies and mechanisms?   

I am disappointed that Bachmann and Model Power have been / were the only companies to try “traction”.

There are very few common streetcars, rapid transit, and interurban designs since every city had its own idea of what they had to have.
Even ‘standard’ designs like PCCs varied in details, length and width.   That is a big problem.  A Pacific Electric guy is not likely to buy an Electroliner painted PE.

The missed opportunity is in freight motors….GE and Baldwin had stock designs that were used across North America and even exported to Japan and Europe. 

Some of the new “Light Rail “ designs might be almost common but probably also get customized to cause problems for a manufacturer….

I’ve dabbled with traction in N in the distant past and even strung 0.008” phosphor bronze wire and it ran very well.  Most pans and poles are non-operating but stringing wire doesn’t require training spiders to do so I’d love to see options for wire pickup.  Sure wish Tomytec would do North American equipment…’Famous Streetcars Of the US and Canada” would be popular here and I’ll bet in Japan as well.  Tomy showed a N PCC but never produced it.  Even a Del Prado / Americor type production would be great.

It would be easy to add a traction line interchange on a layout….a siding with a steeple cab motor waiting to exchange freight cars with your local. 

Charlie Vlk

[Spades]

Athearn released a BART train in the 70's  According to the web they had an aluminum body.  Walthers released their version later.  I believe they were both single production run.  I wish Rapido the best.  Also hope they release their B-70 Boxcar in N scale.

[ljudice]

This definitely cool...   Hopefully NYCTA is next!

[ncbqguy]

IIRC it wasn’t Athearn but a small company that Walthers absorbed and finished the BART project.   Going through old MR ads and Walthers catalogs could document the history. 
Charlie Vlk