rapidoandy

Morning all. A Statement on The Titfield Thunderbolt – Rapido Trains UK Happy Monday! Andy

We’re hopeful quite soon. We have seen photos of the tooling moulds so the next bits should follow shortly. Chinese New Year is looking which does cause delays but we are pushing to get various things to us before the.

I do love your posts - if you ever want to come and work for us let me know :-)

Afternoon, They are all packed and ready to ship. Our shipping Agent is on the case and we hope they will be on their way soon. Its probably then about 5/6 weeks transit time, plus some time when they arrive at Felixstowe and some time for us to sort/check and send them out. We are ready to receive them and once they are here we will work flat out to get them out to customers. Its possible it could be a little quicker but we shall have to see. They are tantalisingly close... Many thanks, Andy

In fairness i said nothing about when they would be announced. The Facebook post that prompted now five pages of guessing was: We end our Christmas cracker updates with a surprise - even for us!! Today we received photos of Engineering Samples of not one, not two but FOUR unannounced projects! These will be on their way to the UK for evaluation in the next few days and we can’t wait to see them. We’re not going to spoil it by telling you what they are - but we would love to know your guesses! Happy Christmas! Anyway - they have now arrived in the UK….

I rather like this! Given me a good laugh - now watch this space…

I presume you talking about the survey? We don't want to break it down that far - there's no GE option either. I didn't break the Southern down into different sections. Basically it gives us to much data spread for what we want to look at. Thanks Andy

Pecketts - me????? I’m a Leeds loco man through and through. Andy

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their Christmas dinner. Personally I always like to keep a present for after my lunch…. So to that end here are some of the latest WIP shots of the W&U coach CAD.

It was something we looked at - however it requires some over-scale changes that we felt compromised the model to far. I would have loved to have done it if we could!

A few images of the latest CAD word on the Bedford OB… Merry Christmas!!

Exactly as Stationmaster says - before goods engine etc came into existence this was what the Board of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway used to describe a locomotive to haul general freight. Andy

I am leaning towards it not ever receiving a repaint. Again evidence from the filmmakers suggest that the other one was in GW livery when they repainted it for the film and we believe it was scrapped soon after. The other vehicle seems to have just survived out of usefulness, and other than gaining a vac through pipe does not seem to have go a lot of attention. I would love to see a photo and know otherwise!

This one will be produced in the livery it was seen in during the early 1990's prior to preservation.

The key question is - does anyone have any evidence the vehicle carried this livery? Photos are very few and far between and some anecdotal evidence suggests that it only ever wore its grey livery. Likewise the SVR have said that during the restorations they found no trace of black. Andy

Well the exciting news is that you can now order the first of our Titfield packs! RRP for the Deluxe Pack (with Sound fitted loco, figures and booklet) is £399.95 whilst the standard pack will be £299.95. Prices will follow for the Bedford OB which unfortunately was not quite ready in time. Work has also started on the W&U Tramcar. This is still work in progress but I think you will agree it looks superb! Happy modelling!

You can now order what promises to be a stunning model of one of the most iconic and recognisable locomotives from the dawn of the railways thanks to Rapido Trains UK. We have joined forces with leading experts on early railways to develop a 1:76 scale model of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway’s famous locomotive Lion. Built in 1837 at a cost of £1,100, Lion, along with its sister Tiger, was the first locomotive built by Todd, Kitson and Laird in Leeds. Designated a ‘luggage engine’, Lion was first used as a banking engine before resuming luggage duties for several years before finally working as a ballast engine. Lion was sold in 1859 to the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board where it was used around the docks before being turned into a stationary pumping engine. ‘Discovered’ by members of the Liverpool Engineering Society, Lion was presented to the society by the Dock Board in 1928. Society members then formed the Old Locomotive Committee, which continued to care for Lion for several decades. The LMS created the shape of Lion as we know it today during its overhaul at Crewe works. It undertook a prominent role in the Liverpool & Manchester Railway’s centenary celebrations in 1930, where it hauled a train of specially-built 1830s-style coaches. Lion was removed from its plinth at Liverpool Lime Street to make its film debut, in the 1937 film Victoria the Great. It left Liverpool again in 1938 for the centenary celebrations of the London & Birmingham Railway and again during the Second World War for the safety of the Crewe Works paintshop. Its next public appearance would really throw it into the public spotlight. The producers at Ealing Studios need an antique locomotive to star in its new film about a local village that saves its branch line by running it themselves, with the help of an old engine from a museum. Lion was overhauled at Crewe and specially painted for its starring role, especially as this was the first Ealing Comedy to be shot in colour. The Titfield Thunderbolt was released in 1953 and Lion went back into store. It made a brief appearance in 1961 for more filming, albeit the TV show Lookaround. Then, in 1967, Lion took up position in the City of Liverpool Museums’ new transport gallery. Due to its condition, it was cosmetically restored between 1968 and 1969. Lion was awakened from its slumbers in 1979 in order for it to take part in the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Rainhill Trials. It was overhauled by apprentices at Ruston Diesels in Newton-le-Willows and starred at the Rainhill Cavalcade in 1980. It continued to appear in steam until 1989 when it required repairs. Lion will be available direct from us at www.rapidotrains.co.uk or from any Official Retailer. RRP for the DC / Silent model is £179.95 whilst DCC Sound models will retail at £279.95.

Rapido Trains UK is to produce one of Britain’s most enigmatic railway wagons, an inadvertent film star whose history still remains a little cloudy. The GWR allocated the code ‘Loriot’ to flat wagons designed to move earth moving and plant machinery. The first appeared in 1892 and a family look soon evolved, with the wagon’s deck angled upwards at each end to clear the axles. One new ‘Loriot’ was built in 1937. It was built to Diagram G39 and coded ‘Loriot Y’. But it didn’t look like the rest of the ‘Loriot’ family. Originally, the GWR considered it to be an addition to its ‘Loriot W’ fleet. However, it was built from assembled ‘I’ beam girders rather than rolled beams, a feature first used on the ‘Crocodile’ bogie well wagons of 1908. Consequently, it was re-classified ‘Loriot Y’. A second ‘Loriot Y’ was built in 1939. Both were painted with instructions that, when empty, they must be returned to Swindon. They would have run over large areas of the GWR’s network, moving excavators and other plant, particularly during the Second World War. However, records for these two vehicles are few and far between. No. 41989 found fame when it starred in The Titfield Thunderbolt, where it was pressed into service to carry Dan’s house. It is believed to have been scrapped not long after the filming in 1953. Sister ‘Loriot Y’ No. 41990 fared better. It remained in revenue-earning service until at least 1990 at Radyr Engineers Yard. Eventually, as DW41990 (coded ‘ZXP’ on TOPS), it moved to Bescot from where it was condemned in 1994. Saved at the 11th hour, it moved to the Severn Valley Railway where it remains to this day. RRP for each version is £39.95. Models are available to pre-order direct from us at www.rapidotrains.co.uk or from any Official Retailer.

That's very odd - I do apologise!

Free form does run the risk of giving us to many responses that cannot be quantified. We do have a free form (sort of) product suggestion form on the website that allows people to make general suggestions to us :-)

Which question are you referring to? My recollection of the only question that ask you to chose between steam and diesel is in relation to Industrial locos (where I deliberately did leave out electric). Like many things this has been structured to allow me to interpret the data in a manageable way. We could break the regions down further for example but it just provides a data set that becomes blurred for the results i'm looking to find. MarkSG is correct - there are lots of questions about era and location which will allow us to make some conclusions about things like 3rd rail electrics etc. This has been written to provide us with answer to questions we are interested in - it might not seem logical on the outside but on the inside it is :-)

Morning all! I am looking for some help from all you lovely people and I am asking if you could complete a survey about the features and expectations you have for new models: The Great Rapido Model Railway Survey I’m always keen to hear about what people want and our product suggestion page has been very popular. However, I often read comments on pages and forums like ‘ why does xxx manufacturer include/not include that feature’. We are really keen to find out what modellers thoughts and expectations are for new R-T-R models. To this end we have designed a survey that covers many of the topics that will guide us in our future decision making. We’re offering three random prizes of £100, £75 and £50 vouchers to spend with us to those who complete the survey (and who leave an email so we can contact the winners). This really will help us determine the features we design into our new models and the direction we will go in. This really is your chance to have a say. Please don't be put off that it looks like 84 questions! You wont answer this many (depending how you answer you skip various sections) and the ones you do answer are closed questions which are easy to answer and will take less than 10 mins of your time. Please share this with your model making friends, clubs, Facebook groups etc. The more date we can collect the better! Happy modelling! Andy

I’m not sure. I think all the major players are signed on - as most have produced at least one pre-grouping loco in recent years. I think there have been more pre-grouping releases in recent years than there have been modern image or multiple unit releases..

I would agree. There is only one thing a manufacturer cant afford to do - that is having stock sitting on shelves and not selling. People will always be cautious as a result. Interestingly our teams "wants" list includes quite a number of pre-grouping items :-)

I have been following that. One thing we don't know is how many of each livery have been made as its possible they didn't make an equal number of each. Its possible the smaller run has sold out, whilst the larger run has still sold more but as yet to sell out. It is all very complicated! There is a lot more to data analysis and market research in model railways than some realise. I quite enjoy it :-)