Rapido newsletter #165, a survey for N scalers

[lock4244]

Is that their schedule for the next 5 years?  Even at 2 per year.

Add the RTL Turboliner to the list of new N scale tooling in the works.

They've hinted at more N scale announcements in 2023 and they've also stated they are going to tool before announcing in order to shorten the time between announcement and delivery, so it seems they move onto tooling more unannounced product before the announced items hit the stores. Only the ACF Flexi Flo (2nd Q 2023) NSC Centerbeam (3rd Q 2023) show release dates. As mentioned in the newsletter the Procor 5820, NSC Barrel Ore Car, and SF Mechanical Refer are tooled and ready for production but with release dates TBD, pushed back to advertise them more. The RTL Turboliner and C40-8M are in design.

[sp org div]

Love their product line but for the most part the majority of their offerings just didnt visit my modeled location / era. I model the PNW in what rapido is calling the “glory days” circa 1978 but apparently that cuts out a large swath of their modern freight cars for me. The last product I purchased were a couple of their SP B-100-40 boxcars, and I would have bought more if Espee had purchased more (250), as I do attempt to balance my fleet out on percentages of what the proto had. Those are nice cars other than the trucks were kinda soft on detail. For HO they have introduced a B-70-69 / 71 / 75 which is a fabulous choice for this Espee modeler… which I happily requested on their questionnaire following the poll

Damn Otto you are old (55 years in N scale!?!)
I went from HO to N more recently… back in 1971

[Cajonpassfan]

...
Damn Otto you are old (55 years in N scale!?!)
I went from HO to N more recently… back in 1971

Ha! For all you know Jeff, I'm fifty nine (and holding).😜
I did get my first train set for Christmas when I was four. But it was Horribly Oversized (Marx, I think). A two axle electric engine, three freight cars, and a "brake wagon". Been trying to find anything close to it as exciting ever since...
Otto

[Frank Amato]

I added NSC smooth-side "newsprint" boxcars to the wishlist (late 1960s builds).  I think Rapido could do much better than the Life-Like high-riders!



  Frank

[lock4244]

I added NSC smooth-side "newsprint" boxcars to the wishlist (late 1960s builds).  I think Rapido could do much better than the Life-Like high-riders!



  Frank

I'm not against this, but I acquired a fleet of the TLT off-road version, then went to some expense and effort to lower, add BLMA trucks, and bodymount all of them (50+ cars), so I may sit this one out lol. They would be a good idea given a large number basically cycled between Canadian papermills and US newspapers, very common here.

[wm3798]

I know I'm a complete voice in the wilderness, but the big issue I have is the absolute paucity of simple, generic models that are just generally available.

I know, I know... if you don't have your exact SD whatever with the extra louver on the third door and the engineer's seat armrest doesn't have the ashtray lid that you can open and close, you're just going to stomp your feet and not buy it.  Whatever.  Sometimes you just want to run a train, or strip a shell that didn't cost half a house payment.

Pre-orders do make the stunning detail and amazing variety of things possible, I won't deny anyone that.  But you can't get parts once the limited run is over, it might be 10 years before they run that particular model again, and I don't care what you say about the price of eggs and gas, a simple coal hopper that you want 30 of for your NTrak fleet shouldn't cost $45 a throw.  The cost is crippling. 

Likewise, the nonsense of a mass production manufacturer fretting about creating the exact consist of the Purgatory and Miasma Dingleberry Night Express as it appeared on the afternoon of June 13, 1962...  is absurd, yet there's the announcement, followed by the immediate cries of A) Delivery won't be for 6 years, and B) It's too expensive and C) The dining car is complete failure because the salad forks aren't correctly laid in the place setting on table 5.  (Thank you @Sokramiketes for reminding us that we CAN still build passenger train models that are both "good enough" as well as extremely well executed.)

I won't say the hobby is dying, or that no one will ever buy trains again.  Go to N Scale Weekend, and you can see that simply isn't the case.  But the system has become pretty lopsided toward buyers/collectors and away from modelers.

Jason, give us something we can WORK ON. (Although not mechanically... that's always a non-starter!! )

Sir Lee

[bbussey]

I added NSC smooth-side "newsprint" boxcars to the wishlist (late 1960s builds).  I think Rapido could do much better than the Life-Like high-riders!

True-Line Trains actually.  Life-Life never produced a sub-effort in that fashion, even when they were more toy-oriented.

[thomasjmdavis]

I know I'm a complete voice in the wilderness, but the big issue I have is the absolute paucity of simple, generic models that are just generally available.

I know, I know... if you don't have your exact SD whatever with the extra louver on the third door and the engineer's seat armrest doesn't have the ashtray lid that you can open and close, you're just going to stomp your feet and not buy it.  Whatever.  Sometimes you just want to run a train, or strip a shell that didn't cost half a house payment.

Pre-orders do make the stunning detail and amazing variety of things possible, I won't deny anyone that.  But you can't get parts once the limited run is over, it might be 10 years before they run that particular model again, and I don't care what you say about the price of eggs and gas, a simple coal hopper that you want 30 of for your NTrak fleet shouldn't cost $45 a throw.  The cost is crippling. 

Likewise, the nonsense of a mass production manufacturer fretting about creating the exact consist of the Purgatory and Miasma Dingleberry Night Express as it appeared on the afternoon of June 13, 1962...  is absurd, yet there's the announcement, followed by the immediate cries of A) Delivery won't be for 6 years, and B) It's too expensive and C) The dining car is complete failure because the salad forks aren't correctly laid in the place setting on table 5.  (Thank you @Sokramiketes for reminding us that we CAN still build passenger train models that are both "good enough" as well as extremely well executed.)

I won't say the hobby is dying, or that no one will ever buy trains again.  Go to N Scale Weekend, and you can see that simply isn't the case.  But the system has become pretty lopsided toward buyers/collectors and away from modelers.

Jason, give us something we can WORK ON. (Although not mechanically... that's always a non-starter!! )

Sir Lee

I'll second that.  Personally, if I want something more detailed than a Kato passenger car, I'll build it from brass sides and install whatever level of detail I want. That way, I get exactly the car I want, rather than a highly detailed $75 stand in.
On freight cars, I really miss the simple kits that Micro-trains used to market, which were just their standard car line (available decorated in many roadnames) with some assembly required. Their undecs still come that way (and many of my MTL passenger cars were also purchased as undec kits), but the freight car undecs are hard to find. And I also liked the Intermountain kits, although I think they would have been improved with metal grabirons, as I was constantly breaking the plastic ones trying to cut them from the sprue.

And I don't see the hobby being healthy long term until we get back to being able to walk into a hobby shop and buy a GP-7 (or a Mikado, or a GP-40 or ES44-whatever those new fangled GE toasters are called, not to mention an F7)  in small hobby shops, not just a few places in major cities. I am sure that there are folks under 40 who will think my statement fictional, but it used to be commonplace for 'any old hobby shop' to have shelves of freight cars, cases full of locomotives, and prices that ranged from what a kid with a paper route could afford, right up to brass steam.

Where I think the current importing/manufacturing model is failing is with kids.  Sure, there has been a lot of inflation. But when I was 12, I got a regular gig on Saturday mornings mowing lawns and sweeping out hallways for a couple neighborhood 3 flats, and the "salary" I made in 2 or 3 hours would buy a couple of Athearn blue box kits, or 3 or 4 AHM freight cars from the sale bin (I was in HO in those days).  In my last job, 2 hours of my salary as a mid level admin in a University brought in enough to buy 2 freight cars. Admittedly, nicer freight cars than the Athearn blue box ones, but the kid who just mowed the lawns today (or where I am, shoveled snow), is going to be hard pressed to buy 2 new freight cars for the money in his pocket.  In the case of N scale, with Atlas Trainman and Bachmann freight cars, often using tooling that is decades old, commanding prices that are often north of Micro-trains, I don't know where the younger folks, especially teens, are supposed to look for what they need to get started in the hobby.

[John]

Tom .. around here kids who mow lawns (if you can find one) gets $25 or more .. a guy with a truck and fancy mower charges $40 ..

[lock4244]

@amato1969

There's actually a few boxcar types that were 'paperboxes' on CN, including other NSC designs that did not have the straight side sill. The TLT model is the most common, and given CN's fleet included CN, CV, and DWP schemes, the most eye catching (especially the CV and DWP). If Rapido did a paperbox, they could do these:

http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cn401203&o=cn
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http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cn401256&o=cn
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http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cn401442&o=cn
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http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cn411162&o=cn
This one may not have been in newsprint / paper service, but was common, and I recall seeing them as late as 2021.
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These are representatives of much smaller fleets that CN operated, BLT 1964, 1964, 1966, and 1974 respectively, but they were out there.

[EspeeGoldenState]

Slow sales with the barrel hopper? No surprise to me... I've never seen a real on in the wild as I suspect is the case with many  of us.   Why would I want one ?  Bad choice.

Even the latest ones announced with yellow stripes are pretty stuck in the NW (WA/OR) from what I seen, so no use here for one.

I'm a modern-era modeler who is inspired by railfanning.  But I have absolutely no use for a Draper Taper on my central California-based layout that has UP, BNSF and Amtrak trains. I've never seen a barrel ore car before, so it's not going to appeal to me, even though it's in my era.

Not sure about your time frame, but the Dash 8-40CMs do make appearances in California. Here's a couple RWB, but I know they make it out there.

BCOL 4610 – Cajon 2015
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5185511

BCOL 4607 – Tehachapi Pass 2019
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5145260

I've gotten a few things here and there from what Rapido has produced the last few years. I bought the Horizon's to do a Missouri River Runner or throw behind SP 4449 for excursion trips with other private varnish I've acquired. I own a pair of the D8s and a GMD1 that was too cheap to pass up with sound. The B100 Boxcar's in both SP GWS and Amtrak flavors. I've been tempted to get a single Centerbeam, but I have plenty of those already.

What I would love to take from their HO catalog is the Amtrak Phase II F40s to pair with Kato SDP40Fs. Would also love the F40 Cabbage's, or the Ski Train F40PHs and trainset. The SP PAs for use on Cascade, City of SF, and others especially with Lowell Smith doing some of the correct cars. The Kato's are nice, but lots of undertaking to get close to correct.

While I do have a timeframe I stick to, I can't help always enjoying passenger trains as I didn't get to grow up seeing any. Maybe the occasional very late Chief or UP business train.

[Scottl]

Even the latest ones announced with yellow stripes are pretty stuck in the NW (WA/OR) from what I seen, so no use here for one.

Not sure about your time frame, but the Dash 8-40CMs do make appearances in California. Here's a couple RWB, but I know they make it out there.

BCOL 4610 – Cajon 2015
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5185511

BCOL 4607 – Tehachapi Pass 2019
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5145260

The Draper Tapers were a perfect example of the kind of product that Rapido should keep doing (and do more of IMO) and stop trying to make everyone happy.  The n scale version are fantastic locomotives and a staple for CN/BCR/QNSL for 40 years. 

[jjb62556]

I agree with there is not much Modeling in model railroading any more. if it doesn't come with the right door handle inside the cab to the toilet' people won't buy it. what ever happen to looking something and modeling it yourself. Every time someone has to handle a engine or car to put details on the price goes up...People don't work for nothing....

[mmagliaro]

Ha! For all you know Jeff, I'm fifty nine (and holding).😜
I did get my first train set for Christmas when I was four. But it was Horribly Oversized (Marx, I think). A two axle electric engine, three freight cars, and a "brake wagon". Been trying to find anything close to it as exciting ever since...
Otto

I've met Otto.  He doesn't look a day over 59.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it (because I'm 60).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Some of you sound like the guys who complained that Allen McClelland wasn't a real model railroader because he used Athearn Blue Box kits to fill up his layout.

Do I wish I could still buy $5 Atlas 90 tonners? I guess. But I'm also glad that there's a wide variety of niche stuff available, even if I can't personally use it, because it keeps the hobby interesting and viable for as wide a group of people as possible.

Those days of "you can walk in and buy any flavor of GP40 you want as long as it's Santa Fe" might've been great for starters who were ok with Santa Fe, or experienced modelers who would also pick up one of the sheets of decals that Microscale hopefully made for your favorite BF&W, but for the scads of people in the middle? Not so much.

It's kinda nice that you can focus your hobby time on the stuff you want to and still have the supporting players available to make it fun.