Rapido N Scale Budd RDC

[BCR 570]

Maybe Rapido will do RDC-2s in the future?

Yes; I believe -2s and -3s are planned.  I suspect they want to see how the -1s roll out and ae received first.


Tim

[Simon D.]

My ATSF RDCs came with one of the couplers installed upside down.  A very easy fix, but it probably shouldn't have passed quality control.


I've also used True-Scale couplers - working well, looking good, especially the pipe.  I don't yet have any of the N-Possible couplers.

[brokemoto]

My ATSF RDCs came with one of the couplers installed upside down.  A very easy fix, but it probably shouldn't have passed quality control.

My guess is that either or both the manufacturer and importer/vendor do lot sampling rather than check each piece.  The manufacturer will look at say, ten, out of a lot of one thousand items. if nine are not defective, it sends the lot to the next stop up the chain.  At some point, the importer/vendor gets the lots.  It pulls one hundred random pieces out of a lot of twenty thousand.  If ninety five are not defective, it accepts the lot.

This is why you get a bum steer, here and there.





A note to a previous post about C-C dummies:  I had not done this with the Katos, but, for some reason, I noticed the trucks on the C-Cs.  They seemed to be larger, almost out of scale, compared to the other two.  I did a comparison of all three.  The wheelbase on the Kato and Rapido trucks are almost the same, if not the same.  The truck frame on the Rapido is slightly larger than that on the Kato.  The wheelbase on the trucks of the C-C is notably longer than the other two.  The truck frame size, further, is notably larger than the other two. 

[spookshow]

Yes; I believe -2s and -3s are planned.  I suspect they want to see how the -1s roll out and are received first.

Very well received so far - Jeremy Fleming told me that they've been Rapido Train's best-selling N scale release to date.

-Mark

[Missaberoad]

Very well received so far - Jeremy Fleming told me that they've been Rapido Train's best-selling N scale release to date.

-Mark

I thought RDCs didnt sell in N! 

[haasmarc]

This discussion is NOT helping me from wanting a fleet of these f'ers.

I'm in trouble because I don't know what scheme is MOST useful for me:
Amtrak as an option for the "Washington/Buffalo Day Express"?
B&O, considering that MARC/MDOT finally had enough of Conrail's use of a switcher and beat up 1920s coaches on the Parkton Local, and sent these instead?
PRSL or Reading assuming the same as above but that Conrail did something with it?

So many fun options. But scary at $200+ each, lol.

I believe Reading's RDC's went to SEPTA in the mid 70's until the early 80's.  I rode on one from Reading to Philly when I was a senior in high school.

These are really sweet.  I love that the sound keeps going for 7 seconds after you pick the loco off the track.  All DCC locos should be able to do this!
I got a Reading and an undec'd phase 1 and an undec'd phase 2 since Reading had all silver ones at first.  The orange/black safety stripes didn't come until around 74.  But after seeing the safety stripes, I had to get another.

[peteski]

I thought RDCs didnt sell in N! 

They probably sell well for Rapido because they were quite popular in USA and Canada, so they will sell well in both countries. 

We heard some explanations from people involved in the Kato RDC project and it sounds like the  marketing  was to blame Kato RDCs being somewhat of a failure (well, they were and still are excellent Kato quality models).  The supposed large quantity Kato produced vs. the much smaller runs of Rapido models can also skew the apparent indication of success.

[Mark5]

The letterboard still read BALTIMORE AND OHIO but MARC put its own numbers?  I seem to recall that the PRSL RDCs that MARC bought were like that.

For whatever reasons MARC kept a few in B&O "paint".

More than one of the MARC RDCs wore B&O paint in the 1980’s. Of the RDC2’s 1960/9940 definitely did, still sporting nose heralds into the early ‘80’s.

Thanks - found a RDC-1 that was like that (9913).

in 1987: https://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3362792

Now I gotta fight the temptation to pick up one of these Rapido RDC-1s (way outside of my modeling focus, but nostalgic for me  ).

Mark

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I believe Reading's RDC's went to SEPTA in the mid 70's until the early 80's.  I rode on one from Reading to Philly when I was a senior in high school.

Yep. But the question is when did the ownership transfer? Because if it was before the big "commuter takeover" in 80 (I think), one could be reassigned if needed.

But then that'd violate my "tell as few lies at the same time as possible" precept. Hmm.

[crrcoal]

Yep. But the question is when did the ownership transfer? Because if it was before the big "commuter takeover" in 80 (I think), one could be reassigned if needed.

But then that'd violate my "tell as few lies at the same time as possible" precept. Hmm.

Since you are “proto-freelancing” just grab one (B&O) and use for charters, holidays or special events.

[brokemoto]

They probably sell well for Rapido because they were quite popular in USA and Canada, so they will sell well in both countries. 

I thought RDCs didnt sell in N! 

For whatever reasons MARC kept a few in B&O "paint".
Thanks - found a RDC-1 that was like that (9913).

Very well received so far - Jeremy Fleming told me that they've been Rapido Train's best-selling N scale release to date.

Thank you for the update, @spookshow . 

If they have been well received, that bodes well for a run of RDC-2s.  Reading had no -2s, so they could do a road that had only -2s or only -2s or -3s, such as NP, GTW or WP.  Kato already has done WP but Kato also did NYC and ATSF, whiich Rapido has done for this run.  ATSF had no -2s, although one of the -1s was wrecked and re-built into a -2.

I do wonder if the road name selection had anything to do with their being well-received.  Kato ignored several large users, including the largest, B&M.  It ignored at least one Canadian user as well as the B&O,which had seventeen.  Of course, Rapido chose ATSf, as that is a "super first tier" road, along with UP, which had none (I am surprised that this did not stop C-C, which issued them in PRR, which never had any, either).  They did choose another one that Kato ignored, B&O, which is a "higher second tier" road.  Both chose NYC, a "first  tier" road as well as NYNH&H, a large user.  Finally, as Rapido is a Canadian company, it went out of its way to address the wants of the Canadian modellers by choosing several other Canadian roads5.  Kato did the two largest Canadian roads.  Finally, Rapido addressed the wants of those who model the later eras, which is most of the N scale modellers by doing VIA and other Canadian roads as well as MBTA and Metro North in the U.S. of A. plus AMTRAK

The decal sheet does not have MARC numbers or font, a glaring omission considering its having the MBTA markings to add to the B&M.  I do not know if anyone sells MARC decal sheets, as MARC is out of my era.

Mine is finished breaking-in and is running well with my one Kato that has a matching throttle response.  I am glad to see this release and shall eagerly await the -2s (also the FPA-2s)

[Mark5]

The decal sheet does not have MARC numbers or font, a glaring omission considering its having the MBTA markings to add to the B&M.  I do not know if anyone sells MARC decal sheets, as MARC is out of my era.

These were renumbered by B&O to the 99xx series by the 1970s, so no need for MARC style numbers if you intend to run it in MARC service in B&O "paint".

[Sokramiketes]

The ungodly quantities of RDC's that Kato produced skewed the perception.  They sold well, just left extras.  And those were discounted for years and affected a second run.  But if Kato had Rapido quantity expectations, that story would be different too. 

[haasmarc]

Reading had no -2s, so they could do a road that had only -2s or only -2s or -3s, such as NP, GTW or WP. 

Not true.  According to the Reading Modeler website:

Reading went on the hunt for additional units a few years later, purchasing 4 additional cars - #9163 was acquired from the Lehigh Valley, while #9164 through #9166 were obtained from the Boston and Maine.  #9165 was an RDC-2 model, which included a baggage section, and #9166 was an RDC-3, which had both a baggage section and an RPO compartment.  Since the baggage and RPO sections on these two cars were no longer required, the Reading converted them to snack bars and placed them into service on the Crusader and Wall Street trains.

Don't you go talking Rapido out of doing a Reading -2 or -3!   

[_trainski]

Just got my RDC-1 Phase 2 and was curious why a handful of the function keys weren’t programmed as per the included user manual. I loaded the RDC into my LokProgrammer to verify the CV’s and function mapping. I had to reprogram some of the function keys and I removed the silly sounds. As a comparison I loaded up the ESU S0584 sound bulletin project, it’s a Detroit Diesel GM 6-110 prime mover with a great blend of bells, horns, and random sounds — minus the silly sounds. I kept the ESU S0584 sound file and tweaked it a bit further, adjusted the volumes, fine-tuned SoundCV 1 to 4 for smoother notching, and adjusted the BEMF performance for 0.5mph slow creep speeds. All in all the Rapido RDC-1 Phase 2 is remarkable and with a few adjustments it is absolutely stellar!