Rapido Delivery schedule

[CUCKOO LINE]

Rapido have added a delivery schedule page to their website, includes 10 secret projects !

[Paul.Uni]

https://rapidotrains.co.uk/delivery-schedule/

 

I note that the E1 & the Wisbech coach are not on the schedule.

[CUCKOO LINE]

Probably in the secret projects?

[The Stationmaster]

Good to see it as we know now when (some) of our money will be spent.  I think the announcement of what will obviously be 10 forthcoming announcements, i.e. the secret projects, must establish a new UK record for the announcement of announcements because previously Rapido only mentioned the 5 contents of a secret parcel.  So we have gone from 5 secrets in December to 10 secrets roughly 8 weeks later.  At this rate of disclosure of secrets - or rather the fact that there are secrets and not telling us what they are - it can't be too long before they double again.  Don't forget they are going to reveal (or should that be announce?) a new model/variant every month so if they continue to add new secrets at the same rate by the end of April two of the present secrets will be secret no more - leaving 8, to which another 5 new secrets could be added if the secrecy generator is still working at the same rate.

 

I haven't bothered with the full continuing maths - and I'm sure someone could conjure up a spreadsheet to do it for us - but if things continue at this rate I can see that in early January 2023 Rapido UK will be doing a full announcement video of numerous secrets and issuing a massive printed catalogue with lots of pictures of things covered over in sheets carrying the words 'secret project'.  Maybe this could catch on as a way of manufacturers avoiding being blamed for delays as they announce a lot of TBA secrets as they emerges from the doodle on the back of an envelope to research, then design, and tooling, and livery samples and all that sort of thing.  Think of the amount of froth that would be created  - needing an entire new RMweb sub-forum devoted to 'guess the secret' and 'why are manufacturers duplicating secret - haven't they been inspired to think of another word?' .

 

Thank you Rapido for bringing a whole new genre of guesswork to the model railway hobby apart from settimng that new record in terms of the number of forthcoming announcements announced in a single announcement .

[Legend]

I think I know Secret Project one  but I wont reveal it till after Model Rail scotland because its a secret   !

 

Really though whats the point of listing secret projects  if they can't tell you what they are . It could be a train , might even be a bus . Isn't it sufficient they tell you that they will announce one a month .  While I initially thought Rapido announcements were whimsical and brought a bit of humour to the hobby  theres a fine line where it can cross over to juvenile !

 

Sorry not been a great week this week - grumpy old man syndrome

[Wickham Green too]

I bet one of them's a D1 !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An 0-4-2T to go with the Secret E1.

[mdvle]

8 hours ago, Legend said:

Really though whats the point of listing secret projects  if they can't tell you what they are . It could be a train , might even be a bus . Isn't it sufficient they tell you that they will announce one a month .

 

Well if they are going to announce one a month, there are 10 months left in 2022 for announcements plus a potential February announcement, so having 10 projects coming isn't exactly a surprise.

 

But (personal opinion) as a new manufacturer to the UK as a proper UK company it helps, in their first year of real operation, to demonstrate to all of those who visit their website and aren't familiar with them from places like RMweb that they are an established experienced manufacturer and not a new startup that only has a handful or less of products in the first year.  Thus encouraging all those potential customers (and retailers, both existing and potential) that they need to pay attention to Rapido throughout the year.

 

 

[rapidoandy]

17 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Good to see it as we know now when (some) of our money will be spent.  I think the announcement of what will obviously be 10 forthcoming announcements, i.e. the secret projects, must establish a new UK record for the announcement of announcements because previously Rapido only mentioned the 5 contents of a secret parcel.  So we have gone from 5 secrets in December to 10 secrets roughly 8 weeks later.  At this rate of disclosure of secrets - or rather the fact that there are secrets and not telling us what they are - it can't be too long before they double again.  Don't forget they are going to reveal (or should that be announce?) a new model/variant every month so if they continue to add new secrets at the same rate by the end of April two of the present secrets will be secret no more - leaving 8, to which another 5 new secrets could be added if the secrecy generator is still working at the same rate.

 

I haven't bothered with the full continuing maths - and I'm sure someone could conjure up a spreadsheet to do it for us - but if things continue at this rate I can see that in early January 2023 Rapido UK will be doing a full announcement video of numerous secrets and issuing a massive printed catalogue with lots of pictures of things covered over in sheets carrying the words 'secret project'.  Maybe this could catch on as a way of manufacturers avoiding being blamed for delays as they announce a lot of TBA secrets as they emerges from the doodle on the back of an envelope to research, then design, and tooling, and livery samples and all that sort of thing.  Think of the amount of froth that would be created  - needing an entire new RMweb sub-forum devoted to 'guess the secret' and 'why are manufacturers duplicating secret - haven't they been inspired to think of another word?' .

 

Thank you Rapido for bringing a whole new genre of guesswork to the model railway hobby apart from settimng that new record in terms of the number of forthcoming announcements announced in a single announcement .

 

It's my pleasure!

 

Don't think of it as an announcement of an announcement. After all we may just go straight to the announcement stage..

 

Think of it more as proclamation of the development of further progress of exciting projects that you may (or may not) be interested in and that further information may (or may not) be forthcoming. 

 

Maybe its just something to look at if you feel nosey about what we are up to rather than anything more serious :-)

[rapidoandy]

Lets be honest - you cant please everyone all of the time.

 

We are asked every day about the status of xyz project - mostly in email, but also Facebook, RM web, carrier pigeon or even in person (our postman is a model railway person...)

 

The page is there to give people that information easily. It also includes stuff we are working on to show people that we have plenty in the pipeline - even if you don't know exactly what it is.

 

Our business model does require us to build our customers confidence and to do that we are looking to be as open as we can be. I can't tell you some of these projects as frankly it might inspire others. We can tell you were working on things and that there are plenty of things at different stages - which shows how much we are investing back into the company right now. It is a VERY exciting time for us.

 

I know it wont be to some peoples taste (in the same way some people don't like our videos) but for others it is. 

 

Interestingly other than a Facebook post we didn't mention the page. However social media has been discussing it alongside here and some emails in to us. That helps brand awareness and is a bonus too.

 

Keep telling us what you do (and occasionally don't) like and we will look to continue developing. 

 

Happy modelling!

Edited February 23, 2022 by rapidoandy

[The Stationmaster]

Don't worry Andy - at least we know that you're doing something although you're no doubt not alone in progressing projects; so why not tell us that you have 10 on the go?  As you say it does show your commitment to the 'bus/SECR/other railways/whatevers market and that you're not a potentially fly-by-night bunch announcing one or two things at time and looking for others to pay for any of your investment before you spend anything on it - and that is to be commended.

[choo1choo]

16 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

I bet one of them's a D1 !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An 0-4-2T to go with the Secret E1.

 

That would make my year!!!!!!!

 

Craig

[Michael Hodgson]

23 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

 So we have gone from 5 secrets in December to 10 secrets roughly 8 weeks later.  At this rate of disclosure of secrets - or rather the fact that there are secrets and not telling us what they are - it can't be too long before they double again. 

 

 

For the benefit of any Americans reading this : 

• "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones."

[Michael Hodgson]

5 hours ago, rapidoandy said:

Our business model does require us to build our customers confidence and to do that we are looking to be as open as we can be. I can't tell you some of these projects as frankly it might inspire others.

.....

 

Interestingly other than a Facebook post we didn't mention the page. However social media has been discussing it alongside here and some emails in to us. That helps brand awareness and is a bonus too.

Fair enough.  Though I don't think you'd be giving away much to the competiton by telling us the scale those projects are in --- unless you expanding into another scale I suppose..

 

Very helpful to put it all on one page - for other manufacturers it can be a bit messy trying to work out what it expected when.

However putting it on facebook is of no use to me personally as I won't use that platform because I see it as a source of data privacy issues - making it more obvious on your own website would be a far more logical approach; for brand awareness, best to have it in as many places as poss.

 

[GreenGiraffe22]

Currently Rapido seem to be the only model company taking my money, I look forward to seeing what other Southern items come from you in the future =) 

[SteamingWales]

Why all the complaints about the "Delivery schedule" page and the Secret Project

 

Surely this is basically the same as in one of the Accurascale threads were it was mentioned they had 20 or so new product releases planned for 2022??? Just the Rapido page has them in writing instead?

[CUCKOO LINE]

Not sure most are complaining, just natural when you have projects listed that are not yet announced RM Webbers will have a discussion ? I guess if it gets people talking about Rapido it shows people care and take note. As said above good to have the info clearly summarised,

Edited February 23, 2022 by CUCKOO LINE
Typo

[SteamingWales]

14 hours ago, CUCKOO LINE said:

I guess if it gets people talking about Rapido it shows people care and take note. As said above good to have the info clearly summarised

 

Totally agree. Simply by saying there are projects happening makes me engage with Rapido and the like more than Hornby. Nothing in their range for me so I basically switch off from them until 2023

 

Meanwhile the Rapido strategy will have me hooked on every newsletter and social media post.

 

Not wanting to start a wish list but one unknown project is probably a GWR wagon based on the Hunslet video. I would also speculate one is an SECR brake van to go with the SECR stock already on the way

[Global]

Perhaps ‘coming soon’ or ‘to be announced’ rather than ‘secret’ would be better?

 

But I guess ‘secret’ probably fits more with their style of newsletter which, to be honest, I find a bit ott with all the he said she said stuff, but that’s just me and I’m sure others will love it! 
 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Global said:

Perhaps ‘coming soon’ or ‘to be announced’ rather than ‘secret’ would be better?

 

But I guess ‘secret’ probably fits more with their style of newsletter which, to be honest, I find a bit ott with all the he said she said stuff, but that’s just me and I’m sure others will love it! 
 

'Coming soon' alas means all things to all modellers and in my view  in this day age should really only apply to stuff which is actually on the ship and nearing a UK port  of unloading because that is the only time it is likely to be correct.   Information the items are ready to be shipped or have been shipped from - as Rapido UK has recenytly show in their newsletters is obviously good news because it means things are well along towards moving towards us.  It's great fun to follow the ship as it makes its way towards the Channel once it has crossed the Indian Ocean giving us a hint of when it might be here assuming the container doesn't have to be s transhipped enroute so all that sort of information is helpful when we're expecting something.  

 

But in present manufacturing and shipping circumstances. let alone Putin on the warpath potentially adding other imponderables such as further price increases etc, the words 'coming soon' don't really mean much at all unless they are qualified with meaningful detail.    And so far I reckon Rapido UK have given us real progress information complete with pics and that means a lot more to me than a rather nebulous 'coming soon'. which might be no more valid than a promise in January of 3rd quarter delivery )like we get from some sources).

[Global]

19 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

'Coming soon' alas means all things to all modellers and in my view  in this day age should really only apply to stuff which is actually on the ship and nearing a UK port  of unloading because that is the only time it is likely to be correct.   Information the items are ready to be shipped or have been shipped from - as Rapido UK has recenytly show in their newsletters is obviously good news because it means things are well along towards moving towards us.  It's great fun to follow the ship as it makes its way towards the Channel once it has crossed the Indian Ocean giving us a hint of when it might be here assuming the container doesn't have to be s transhipped enroute so all that sort of information is helpful when we're expecting something.  

 

But in present manufacturing and shipping circumstances. let alone Putin on the warpath potentially adding other imponderables such as further price increases etc, the words 'coming soon' don't really mean much at all unless they are qualified with meaningful detail.    And so far I reckon Rapido UK have given us real progress information complete with pics and that means a lot more to me than a rather nebulous 'coming soon'. which might be no more valid than a promise in January of 3rd quarter delivery )like we get from some sources).

When I wrote it I was thinking only about the announcements themselves but yes, I agree, it would probably be confused with the product itself!

[Dungrange]

I agree with @The Stationmaster that 'Coming Soon' would make me think that the final product was on it's way.  I'd probably use 'unannounced' rather than 'secret', but that's just a personal preference and arguably 'secret' may better fits the company's marketing style.

 

On 23/02/2022 at 15:36, GreenGiraffe22 said:

Currently Rapido seem to be the only model company taking my money

 

And they are not yet getting any of mine.  It's Revolution Trains and Accurascale that seem to be raiding my piggy bank at the moment, but that's just down to choice of prototype.

 

I'd really like something like a Kirow Crane - like these - https://www.volkerrail.co.uk/en/plant/kirow-rail-mounted-cranes, so the announcement of various SECR wagons doesn't do it for me.  Are any of these 'secret' projects of interest to me?  Looking at the rest of the current range, the answer is likely to be no, but I'm happy with my Revolution Trains VTG TEA tank wagons and my Realtrack Class 156, both of which were manufactured by Rapido, so if Rapido UK do decide to produce something more modern and esoteric, I'll quite happily part with my money.

 

I think it's good to highlight that there is a stream of future projects being worked on, especially for relatively small companies - we tend to take it for granted that H***** and Bachmann will be working on a range of new models.  It reminds me that one of my wife's previous employers apparently told a client that there were four staff assigned to their account, but omitted to say that they only had four staff at the time!

 

 

[Jon Harbour]

I'm waiting for the "nothing in it for me" post here on the as-yet unannounced secret projects!

[Wickham Green too]

16 hours ago, Dungrange said:

....... so if Rapido UK do decide to produce something more modern and esoteric, I'll quite happily part with my money. ......

So how many Ferry Vans can your layout justify ? ( or are they not modern enough ? )

[Dungrange]

14 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

So how many Ferry Vans can your layout justify ? ( or are they not modern enough ? )

 

Not really modern enough for me, although I do note that the "The final ferry vans were literally removed from the national network in 2018 when three ex-Fastline ferry vans had to be craned out of Peterborough yard", which gives an excuse for these on a near contemporary layout.  Although it's not an announcement that excites me, the preproduction images do look good and I do have a few out of period wagons from the 1990s in my collection that could accompany one of these, so I may still be tempted - especially if I get the opportunity to see a pre production sample up close.

 

Of course following today's announcements, I think we now know half of the secret projects.

[Paul.Uni]

23 minutes ago, Dungrange said:

Of course following today's announcements, I think we now know half of the secret projects.

The page has been updated. The Jones Goods and VIX Ferry Vans are secret projects 1 & 2. Secret projects 3-10 are still to be announced (and they aren't the previously missing LBSCR E1 and W&U Tramcar).

Edited February 25, 2022 by Paul.Uni