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Icons of Canadian Steam, led by the Royal Hudson


sjgardiner
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I have to say that the Hudson is a terrific looking model, stunning. I'm not sure why the mechanism would be an issue, it's quite a widely used solution for HO kettles and works. Be awfully sad if they did truncate their Canadian steam program, but business is business and they're not a charity.

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Jason / Rapido Trains posted the following on another web forum today:

 

 

It's not all doom and gloom! We're still optimistic that the steam program will proceed with most or all of the announced engines, though the release order will likely be scrambled further.

It's a question of financing the tooling. This is what I alluded to in the newsletter. If a steam engine costs twice as much as a diesel but brings in the same funds - and takes twice as long to develop - it eats up a huge chunk of our financing abilities.

The trouble with taking orders for two or three steam engines right now is that the orders don't come in until the last week, and we won't close the order book three years before a model comes out. That would hurt us more than help us.

The RDC is the most extreme example. In the last week we took orders for the first run, the order book tripled. So you can imagine how I felt for the entire year we took orders - "This project was a mistake, this project was a mistake, this project..." and then it blew past our projected sales by a huge amount. Even the second run RDC almost doubled our projected sales. But again - the vast majority of orders came in the last few days before the deadline.

 
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I’ve ordered a Royal Hudson, from Rails, but am trying to source a spare tender for it, Rails aren’t listing them.

It would seem odd to buy a tender from Canada but the loco from the UK, as after Intl shipping the tenders more than half the loco.

 

Hudson’s are quite a machine, I saw 2860 in Vancouver 20 years ago. I’d really like a Jubilee too having seen that in Scranton.

 

They aren’t cheap, and i’m Sure if I ever sold it i’d lose my shirt, which is probably why orders are slow.

 

Thing Dibber25 is right, at the premium end of the market (and let’s be honest British people are notoriously tight fisted) any model is going to be tough for Rapido to go direct to market.

 

I doubt if a £200 Class 37 or 47 would cut it, as most people wouldn’t trade in their £100+ odd models to buy 30-40 £200+ odd models, which is why Hattons have gone for volume to bring in a cheaper £150 class 66.

 

Which is why I return to niche... a £250 class 89 probably stands a better chance, as your not going to get another, just like the APT-E and the Single.

Whilst not sexy, there’s a few DMUs they could do... class 104, 120, 124, the 104 being lowest risk, widest selection of liveries.

 

A Deltic is a natural choice, but I think there’s more than 1 horse in that race.

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I’ve ordered a Royal Hudson, from Rails, but am trying to source a spare tender for it, Rails aren’t listing them.

It would seem odd to buy a tender from Canada but the loco from the UK, as after Intl shipping the tenders more than half the loco.

 

 

I would email Rails, they may not have listed the tenders thinking there was no demand.

 

Alternately, or maybe at the same time given the order deadline is close, is email Rapido for any alternatives.

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I’ve ordered a Royal Hudson, from Rails, but am trying to source a spare tender for it, Rails aren’t listing them.

It would seem odd to buy a tender from Canada but the loco from the UK, as after Intl shipping the tenders more than half the loco.

 

Hudson’s are quite a machine, I saw 2860 in Vancouver 20 years ago. I’d really like a Jubilee too having seen that in Scranton.

 

They aren’t cheap, and i’m Sure if I ever sold it i’d lose my shirt, which is probably why orders are slow.

 

Thing Dibber25 is right, at the premium end of the market (and let’s be honest British people are notoriously tight fisted) any model is going to be tough for Rapido to go direct to market.

 

I doubt if a £200 Class 37 or 47 would cut it, as most people wouldn’t trade in their £100+ odd models to buy 30-40 £200+ odd models, which is why Hattons have gone for volume to bring in a cheaper £150 class 66.

 

Which is why I return to niche... a £250 class 89 probably stands a better chance, as your not going to get another, just like the APT-E and the Single.

Whilst not sexy, there’s a few DMUs they could do... class 104, 120, 124, the 104 being lowest risk, widest selection of liveries.

 

A Deltic is a natural choice, but I think there’s more than 1 horse in that race.

 

I think we are actually in a state of (relatively) heated agreement with regard to a high-end 89 (I reckon £300 by the time it comes out) or a Deltic around that price. The problem is the risk that it won't shift in sufficient volume at that price and that's where the experience of the British market is needed. When the difference between a comfortably viable model and a very uncomfortable unviable one can be a few hundred units, it's difficult to make accurate predictions as to how many you'll sell. And these days, it seems even manufacturers with lots of market experience find it difficult to make that prediction accurately enough. (CJL)

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Hence a 20 or 31 (/30) are probably lower risk.

They run in pairs, lots of liveries and both are quite old toolings.

In the case of the 31, the detailed one hasn’t set been milked by Hornby and some of those made early on suffered mazak issues.

 

When I look at my collection, Lima 31’s make a disproportionate stand out, as I can’t get trustworthy s/h 31’s made post 2000. Indeed many people here have taken Mazak rotten ones and put the bogies/motors into Lima ones (something I am myself considering).

 

That and aside of the widespread liveries carried, Green (Full, HYE, FYE), Ochre, Exp Blue, Blue (and white stripe), plus embellishments (salmon, sparrow, orange cantrail, headlights (3different positions), Headcode boxes, lenses,dots, skinhead etc).. then privatisation era with Mainline, RFT (+ red stripe), Dutch +31146 version, Grey, RTC, 31413 Ice Cream van, 31183, 31116 (2 variants),Regional Railways, RFT Coal, Petroleum, Construction, Distribution,Transrail, EWS, DCR, NR, Mainline Blue... then there’s preserved ones....

 

Half of these haven’t even been done, and many haven’t survived the decade on the current tooling.

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I think we are actually in a state of (relatively) heated agreement with regard to a high-end 89 (I reckon £300 by the time it comes out) or a Deltic around that price. The problem is the risk that it won't shift in sufficient volume at that price and that's where the experience of the British market is needed. When the difference between a comfortably viable model and a very uncomfortable unviable one can be a few hundred units, it's difficult to make accurate predictions as to how many you'll sell. And these days, it seems even manufacturers with lots of market experience find it difficult to make that prediction accurately enough. (CJL)

I agree, I didn’t want to say the magic £300, but on something like the 89 you are probably closer to fact than my prediction for an 89 at £200.

 

That said.. if you want an 89, chances are, take a pew or forever hold your peace.. that’s the conclusion I reached with a £450 Hudson.

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I’ve ordered a Royal Hudson, from Rails, but am trying to source a spare tender for it, Rails aren’t listing them.

It would seem odd to buy a tender from Canada but the loco from the UK, as after Intl shipping the tenders more than half the loco.

 

Hudson’s are quite a machine, I saw 2860 in Vancouver 20 years ago. I’d really like a Jubilee too having seen that in Scranton.

 

 

I get my Rapido pre-orders from Canadian Express Lines. Excellent customer service. He has the tenders listed separately. Prices are in Canadian dollars, 1.7 to the pound currently.  I am in Canada but I know he has regular customers in the UK.

As the deadline is so close, I would suggest you email him directly.  (No relation, just a happy customer)

Tom

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I would email Rails, they may not have listed the tenders thinking there was no demand.

 

Alternately, or maybe at the same time given the order deadline is close, is email Rapido for any alternatives.

Thanks, you were spot on.

Spare Tender ordered, so i will have 2860 in BC in Oil, and CP in Coal.

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Thought it might be nice to illustrate this post, especially as this is likely to be the subject of the next Icons of Steam release - the H1b 'Hudson' No. 2816. I was lucky enough to be on this trip back in 2006 when they shot the IMAX movie 'Rocky Mountain Express'. This was a run-by for photographers at Wasa in Southern BC where there was a very characterful derelict section house. It was shortly after that when a guy came round the train selling 'HO' models of the passenger cars and I splashed out and bought my first-ever Rapido models. (CJL)

post-1062-0-98845900-1538165682_thumb.jpg

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Rapido have a stand at the Greater Toronto Train show this weekend.

They had a Royal Hudson running round a loop all day.  (Including 18 inch curves)

The model looked really good. 

I understood that whichever stack is fitted the other 2 will be in a bag in the box.

One retailer I spoke to said he had had several orders come in this week, and it was likely to be his largest Rapido order of the year. (That included mine :-)  )

I believe Rapido's preorder deadline for customers and retailers is today.

Tom

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Rapido had a pre-production sample on their stand at the Warley show this weekend. It looks magnificent. If I ever have the space for a North American layout (and the spare cash) it would be on my list.

 

Out of interest does anyone know what the big black piece teaching out from the tender towards the back of the loco cab is for? I’m assuming that’s a feature of the real engines?

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Rapido had a pre-production sample on their stand at the Warley show this weekend. It looks magnificent. If I ever have the space for a North American layout (and the spare cash) it would be on my list.

Out of interest does anyone know what the big black piece teaching out from the tender towards the back of the loco cab is for? I’m assuming that’s a feature of the real engines?

Royal Hudsons had vestibule cabs and automatic stokers so the fireman didn’t have to fling coal from the tender to the firebox, he did, however need to get back and check things from time to time so there was a form of corridor connection from cab to tender. A very welcome feature on those days when the mercury was hovering around -40 ( same on either scale). Many Canadian locos had this feature.

 

HTH

 

David

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It's definitely a gorgeous model I have some better pictures to come, but my initial review is linked below, but I am super happy with how it looks. I have an offer to take it to a friends layout for some running and photography, which will be excellent. I'm working on some better photos and I'll post them here as well when I get them up.

 

image.png.89d609b29b0d182dee0c93a487c4e8c6.png

https://sjgardiner.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/rapido-royal-hudson-initial-review/

 

Cheers,


Stephen

 

 

 

Edited by sjgardiner
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The rest of the Icons of Steam project is again in jeopardy, from the latest North American newsletter just sent out:

 

Quote

Does anybody want a Canadian ten wheeler?

 

One of the things that makes Rapido stand apart from our competitors is that we share a lot of information with our customers that most companies don't. So I'm going to be brutally honest with you guys.

 

When we announced that the Royal Hudson would be our first North American steam locomotive, we heard many positive comments but we also heard many of the same concerns: "That's the wrong one! We don't need it! Make a D10 instead! I won't buy any Royal Hudsons but I'll buy five D10s!" Needless to say, I'm glad we stuck to our guns because the Royal Hudson was a success.

 

We announced the CPR D10 and CNR H-6-d/g almost nine months ago. We received more Royal Hudson orders in the first week than we have received combined CPR and CNR ten wheeler orders in nine months. Based on the feedback we were getting, such a disparity was totally unexpected.

 

Steam engines are extremely expensive to tool. We tooled the RS-18, RS-11 and Tempo cars for about the same amount of money as the Royal Hudson, and our sales of those three models combined are almost double that of the Royal Hudson. So while the Hudson sales were great in the end, the "tooling cost to sales ratio" for steam engines in general is much higher than for other models.

 

Knowing this, we decided we would not start cutting the moulds for the D10 and H-6-d/g ten wheelers until we saw where the numbers fell. The initial order deadline is October 15th. At this point, we will be very surprised if we get enough orders to continue with these models. But please place your orders with us or with your local hobby shop and we will let you know after the 15th if either or both models can go ahead. We hope to be very surprised...

 

You can learn more about the CPR D10 here, and you can learn more about the CNR H-6-d/g here. Please spread the word. We would love to be able to make these.

 

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Rapido-News-115---Join-us-for-a-3D-Scan--Order-Deadlines--New-Videos-.html?soid=1101318906379&aid=o2-fOhGvqPU

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