The Irregular and Irreverent Bulletin from Rapido Trains Inc. • Volume 22
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Dear Rapido Customer,
Remember that order deadline - March something or other! More info on the FP9A is available here. You can reserve the FP9A in advance from any good hobby dealer.
First HO Scale Cabooses Arriving Our first run of cabooses is completely sold out and they haven't even arrived yet! The first seven paint schemes will be arriving in about two weeks. They are:
New HO Scale Caboose Paint Schemes As the cabooses are now starting to show up, we've decided to announce the next run of paint schemes. You have plenty of time to order these. The order deadline is in February... well, Februaryish. These new paint schemes feature the same level of detail as our first run of paint schemes. All of our first-run vans/cabins/crummies/hacks will be in stores before the order deadline for the second run, so you can wait until you hold them in your hands before placing your order for the next run. We're trying something new with these cabooses. Rather than announce six car numbers, we're announcing three car numbers and a three-pack of three other car numbers. The three-pack saves you a couple of bucks over buying them individually. In the case of paint schemes where the prototype only had two cars, we're only selling them in a two-pack. There is logic to this. It prevents us having to make, say, 200 of one number and 20 of another. This will help us keep our prices down. Dealers are welcome to split the three-packs and two-packs for customers as each caboose will be individually boxed. More information on our new paint schemes can be found by clicking here. Click on any paint scheme below to see the car numbers and product numbers.
LRC locomotive latest samples have arrived If you've seen the December issue of Model Railroader and the November Scale Rails and Railroad Model Craftsman, you've seen our latest LRC samples. This thing is GORGEOUS. And I'm not biased at all. I will let the photos speak for themselves. This was the last MLW passenger diesel built in Canada, and featured an Alco 251F prime mover. You can order these with your dealers until we start production, which should be March or April. Full details about the LRC, including pricing, can be found by clicking here.
N scale second run passenger cars - what lives and what dies I have to thank everyone who got the word out for us that some of our N scale passenger cars were on the verge of cancellation. Due to some last minute orders that just came in yesterday, I can now safely say that ALL of the new paint schemes will be made! Click here to find out more about these paint schemes. Production will start after Chinese New Year and they are expected to start arriving in the spring.
The (un)reality of order deadlines and delivery dates Those of you who have been with us for a while have no doubt noticed that our order deadlines and delivery dates are, shall we say, "fluid." Here's why. I determine our initial order deadlines when we announce a project. Chances are, at that time the tooling is not yet finished and all we have is an early sample (if that!). I do my best to estimate how long it will take to finish the changes and when we will have production time available in the factory. In most cases, my estimate is about as accurate as Back To The Future's predictions of life in 2015. As we are unlikely to develop hover skateboards or replace emails with fax machines in the next six years, that gives you an idea of how wrong I usually am. But I'm getting better... honestly. We are actually delivering our first run of cabooses in fall of 2009, as promised. Well, half of them at any rate. Projects can be delayed by unexpected tooling problems, function issues with the circuit boards, and a myriad of other hiccups. Sometimes we find a mistake in our research right at the last minute, as we did with the steam generators. You have to understand just how small a company we are. We have three full-time employees in North America, and our factory in China is just three rooms and an office. That's it. If we're busy making cabooses, we don't have the capacity to finish up some of the other projects that are in progress. It's always a tough choice deciding what will be in production at any time and what will have to wait. This is determined by things like how high our sales are for a given item, if an item is new and hot or a 3rd run of a paint scheme, if a paint scheme is particularly difficult and time consuming, etc.
We're often grouped in the same category as big guys like Athearn, Atlas and Walthers. I am truly flattered when I read or hear that, because we are really, really small by comparison. One more factor that has led us to keep pushing back our order deadlines is that I've found that a lot of people in the far reaches of the USA and Canada order our products weeks or months after the original announced deadline. It's tough to get the word out to everyone. Now, if we haven't yet started production because of my awful estimating abilities, we can still take the orders. But if we have started production, forget it. We've turned away late orders for hundreds of cabooses. The practical implications of all of this are that we will take orders for a product until we have to order materials. About two weeks before that time, we will send out a reminder to our distributors (USA) and dealers (Canada). Once we order materials, that's it. The production numbers are set in stone. If you haven't ordered by then, you won't get the models. I hope this gives you an idea of what's involved, and why your Chicago & North Western N scale coach or your HO scale BN Exec car hasn't yet arrived. All I can ask is that you bear with us and be patient. We've come a long way in the last three years, but we're still the little guy of the model railroad manufacturing world.
The Much Abbreviated Rapido Timetable Here's what arrived a couple of weeks ago. If your dealer doesn't have them or doesn't know where to find them, please let me know:
First week of December:
To get a quick look of what products are forthcoming, stop by the front page of our web site when you have a chance (rapidotrains.com) and click on the links in the blue box(es) to the left.
Before I go, here are some extra bits of info. The Rock Island caboose paint scheme is now the earlier version because there were too many compromises to make the later version fit on our caboose. Click here to have a look. John Longhurst is the associate editor of Canadian Railway Modeller and accomplished modeller of the HO Scale CP M&M Sub. He recently interviewed me for his blog about how I got started in this business. You can read the interview here. That's it for now. Thanks for your continued support of Rapido Trains Inc.! All the best, Jason Jason Shron President Rapido Trains Inc.
ABOUT RAPIDO TELEGRAPH Rapido Telegraph is ©2009 Rapido Trains Inc. You have received this email because you signed up for the newsletter on our web page or you have inquired about our products or because we know you and we think you will want to read it. How's that for a disclaimer? To unsubscribe, follow the link below. Rapido Trains Inc. supports our hobby shops - please buy our products from your local dealer. Rapido Trains Inc. is a registered trademark. |
