We are finally back in the office, and it smells a bit fishy!

It's been a long month, with two big shows at either end of the country and lots of projects that simply won't design, render, or colour themselves. We are pleased to say that we now have put away the show gear, samples and suggestion boxes, and can get back to working at full steam getting models into your hands.

The shows were incredible and we thoroughly enjoyed talking to everyone about their favourite upcoming projects. Some of you even shared some awesome ideas for other models we could make. But you'll just have to wait and see if those insightful inputs ever hit the shelves.

While we have been travelling the country our factories have been working at full tilt to get the next batch of models ready, and sending us some amazing samples. We even managed to get some of them up to the shows for you to enjoy (the O1 arrived only 24 hours before we left for Ally Pally). Oh, and while we were there, we even found out that we had won an armful of British Railway Modelling Awards for 2023, of which we are immensely proud!

In other news, we have a rather fishy announcement that will be hurtling down the East Coast Mainline bound for your layout. More on that in a bit!

In addition to that, the next OO gauge wagon project should be arriving in your hands imminently and we are super excited to see what you think of our RCH 1907 PO wagons when they do.

So let's take a closer look at the O1, the awards, Ally Pally and more, and spring into April (well, what's left of it...) with a newfound vigour. Enjoy!

Rapido Trains UK is proud to announce we will be expanding our OO Gauge wagon range with the BR Dia.1/801 Fish Van.

During the nineteenth century, the expanding railway network helped create a boom in the fishing industry. With fast and reliable services fresh fish was able to be transported by rail across the length and breadth of the UK. As early as the mid-1840s special fish trains were operated by several railway companies using specially-built rolling stock.

As technology developed, faster services were offered with trains operating on the East Coast mainline all the way from Scotland to London.

Fish vans on the LNER originally featured a short wheelbase but later developments settled on a larger 15ft wheelbase in the form of the Diagram 214 12t Insul-Fish vans (designed by the LNER but built under BR from 1949). These vehicles were designed to operate in passenger trains and featured LNER 8-shoe brake gear and steam heat pipes.

British Railways continued to build a variation of these vans – Diagram 800. They were built with standard oil axleboxes but some were upgraded to roller bearings in later life.

The final diagram of fish van built by British Railways was the 1/801 diagram. Like the 1/800 this featured a 15ft wheelbase and 21’8” body. Roller bearings were used from new and allowed the wagons to travel at speeds of 60mph. As they were roller-bearing fitted, they gained the ‘Blue Spot’ designation on the bodysides. This design however featured several differences on the body, most notably the diagonal end bracing and around the side doors along with the adoption of the BR clasp brake system. Three batches of vans were built between 1960 and 1961 with a total of 558 vans being produced.

With the decline in fish traffic, services ceased in 1968. Many vans were transferred to Parcels Traffic (coded NRV and later SPV under TOPS) and sported BR rail blue livery with a ‘double arrow’ logo. Other vans found use in Departmental service, barrier vehicle use and even as support vehicles for breakdown cranes carrying several different liveries. This resulted in vans being seen all across the network.

A small number of Diagram 1/801 vans have survived into preservation at locations such as the Swanage, Great Central and Bluebell railways.

This model will be the first Diagram 1/801 van ever produced in OO gauge ready-to-run. Our model features the usual wealth of detail alongside many separately fitted parts including steps on the engineers' versions and two different types of buffers as seen on the prototypes. Separate label boards will be provided for modellers to fit as required. Metal bearings shall aid super-smooth running enabling prototypically long trains to run with ease.

These models are currently in the tooling stage. The order book is open, and you can order yours directly from our website or any of our Official Retailers.

Oh My, O1 - Running samples received (OO Gauge)

Over the last few weeks, we have been playing with – sorry, I mean "rigorously testing" – the awesome running prototype of the upcoming SECR O1. This is a model that we’ve all been looking forward to at the office!

We teased you with it in the cabinet at The London Festival of Railway Modelling a few weeks ago, and everyone was singing its praises. We were even able to take our prototype for a trundle around the Model Railway Club's display test track, where it ran like a dream and made light work of the rake of our SECR wagons we put behind it, aided by the loco's all-wheel pick-ups.

Whilst we may have had fun playing with it, we made sure to look it over properly too. The loco cab detail is spectacular, and with a slightly open firebox door, the faint glow of the flickering firebox is going to illuminate the brass detailing brilliantly. Our designer has done an incredible job of adding implied inside motion detail to the model so there isn’t an unsightly void under the boiler, as well as capturing the elegance of the outside sprung tender nicely. We are also really proud of how detailed the steam reverser has turned out, consisting of several individual components. This key detail was important for us to get right, and we think we have nailed it.

Throughout the class's history subtle changes were made, from its pre-grouping days, right through to No. 65's residency at The Bluebell Railway. We have represented as many of these changes as possible. In the January newsletter we looked at the difference between the riveted and flush-riveted smokeboxes that will feature on different versions, but there are more detailed differences to look forward to. We were particularly impressed with the tender front cross brace variants.

After our review of the detailed early engineering sample was completed, we found only minor revisions were required and have already transmitted them to the factory.

Get your orders in with us directly through our website, or via one of our Official Retailers.

Following the positive feedback the 3D printed samples received at Model Rail Scotland we were really pleased when the first early engineering samples arrived of the upcoming Caledonian Railway Dia.67 10 Ton Vans.

These highlight some of the amazing details, including the external framing and the separately-fitted door rail and handles. We think these look great and will be checking them over properly over the coming weeks. See what you think for yourselves!

You can pre-order your Caley vans via our website or any of our Official Retailers.

It's no joke, we’ve been plotting to make a 31!

For an undisclosed reason the owner of the company, one Mr G. Fawkes, required a loco that would produce absolutely no smoke, sparks, or fire, for use on his central London-based underground railway. We can only surmise its purpose! He requested it be numbered 31, that way it would blend in with the multitude of 31s that seemed to have surfaced recently.

We didn’t want to miss out on the fun everyone else was having, so we decided to make the most banging 31 in ready-to-run. The perfect locomotive to complement our previously launched G. Fawkes Not-Quite-Mink, run on any London-based layout, or simply go into the collection of someone with a bit of a sense of humour.

Pre-order yours now direct from us or from any Official Retailer. Remember, absolutely no smoking while on board!

To accompany our latest fireless you need a couple of wagons. With our G. Fawkes 'not-quite-mink' now completely sold out, our friends at The Wagon Yard have commissioned a run of matching 7-plank opens using our new RCH side door only tooling. We think it looks rather smart! To order yours head over to their website by clicking on the link below.

This month’s other order book closures are a selection of Western Region Wagons. Thanks to the previous work done on the wagons' underframe these projects have been able to progress much faster than others like them, as such we are choosing to close the order book so the factory can begin making them.

We will be closing the order books on May 20^th for the following:

That is just over a month left so you still have a little time left to order them either directly through our website or from any of our Official Retailers.

We also closed the order books on the following earlier this week:

We have very limited stock of most versions available directly through our website and, of course, many of our Official Retailers have placed orders for stock too. So you can contact your chosen retailer to see if they have the versions you seek!

Our factories are currently running at full speed with production of a number of projects. Some have little to show right now, but others are much further through the production process. In no particular order here are some of the latter:

The second run of Leyland Fleetline buses are progressing really well in the factory. Spraying and tampo work is all but complete and many of the models have entered the assembly stage. Samples have been received in the UK for final review just before this issue went to press. Once the review is complete and signed off, final assembly will take place with a factory completion date in mid-May. Once complete they will be packed up ready for their voyage to the UK with an expected arrival sometime in early July.

Our E class models are now in the paint shop. These models have a lot of intricate printing and this process does take time... but they will be worth the wait! They will then move to the assembly and testing stage with an anticipated completion date (in the factory) of late June. We have also completed the sound file for our DCC Sound models in conjunction with ESU.

Alongside the Fleetline the Bedford OB is making waves through the factory. These are currently about three weeks behind the Fleetline delivery.

Whilst all of the above projects have something to show there are a number that, at present, are working through the injection moulding stage. These include the N gauge OAA, LNWR vans, LNER/LMS LOWMAC and the LNER Y7. We hope to be able to show you progress on these shortly.

In the latter part of last year, we made enough progress with the BR Class 44 in N Gauge to make it available for pre-order, which is awesome. As part of this announcement, we published images of the upcoming models, and unfortunately, we made minor errors. However, thanks to the eagle-eyed members of the community and their swift feedback we have been able to resolve this before it’s too late.

Class 44 – D5 “Cross Fell” BR Green with Small Yellow Panel (SKU 948004) had lost its stripe relatively early in its running life. An error crept in on the render and this was included on the original artwork. Thankfully, this has now been rectified and the render above reflects the corrected art.

Rapido Railex is getting closer, so, we thought we would show you some of the layouts that will be attending the show. With a focus on quality over quantity, we have quite a selection of brilliant layouts already booked. Let's take a look at a couple!

Wendover in Buckinghamshire is a small market town on the joint Metropolitan and Great Central line into London. The layout represents the station and its environs in 1930. A wide variety of traffic can be seen with commuter and local goods traffic operated by both companies plus LNER (GC) expresses between London Marylebone and the north. Also long distance coal trains from the LNER and the high speed fish trains from Hull and Grimsby. Of further interest is the connection to the Air Ministry light railway serving RAF Halton.

Now cared for by AIMREC, Melton Mowbray North was originally built by John Spence and Steve Weston. The line through Melton Mowbray was a joint venture between the Great Northern and London and North Western Railway companies, opening for traffic in 1879. The model is run in two eras, firstly from 1948 to 1953, showing the line as it was with local passenger and freight traffic regularly passing through.

Wheal Elizabeth represents a coal-fired china clay dry and associated facilities situated at the end of a Cornish freight only branch.

Corrish is a small 009 layout depicting the atmosphere of the old Corris Railway in Mid Wales.

Whilst being a ‘simple oval of track’, Corrish appears much larger with plenty of detailed interest, such as a slate quarry, small station, woodland area and even a bridge crossing a small stream. Corrish is also distinctive in that it can be viewed from any angle, all of which give fresh scenes.

We aren’t ones to blow to our own trumpets too loudly or too often, well, apart from Andy of course, who quite literally used to play the trumpet in various Northern Jazz Clubs. But other than Andy's previous public tootling, we are – for the most part – a wee bit humble.

So, to break character and shout as loud as possible, we are super proud to be the winners of an armful of awards at the British Railway Modelling Awards for 2023.

Thanks to you lovely lot, we won Gold for both the Innovation and N Gauge locomotive categories. How incredible is that! We also walked away with seven other Silver and Bronze awards, including a Silver in the OO Manufacturer of the Year category.

Seriously, thank you very much for your support. It is hugely appreciated.

No sooner had we had got used to our own beds and a distinct lack of nice hotel breakfasts again, we get invited to attend another awesome show, and how could we say no? With an arm full of Western wonders to scintillate the Southwest we would be silly to say no.

So, with great pleasure, we will be attending the Bristol Model Railway Exhibition from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th of May. Pop by the stall for a chat and while you are there feast your eyes on our pretty Prairies and beautiful B-sets. You won't be disappointed.

You’ll find us at stand 51 and we look forward to speaking to you all.

We have treated you to some awesome liveries over the last few years, and as we have added more striking ‘what if’ and ‘inspired by’ liveries to the range we wanted to look at the changing trends of hobbyists' interests. We're taking a more light-hearted approach than simply asking you what you want, because, between our Social Media pages and our Product Suggestion Form, we have a fairly good idea of the overall prototypes you would like to see.

What we wanted to get you thinking about is colour!

Here is a nice selection of the brightest additions from across our OO gauge range. As you can see they contain everything from the surprisingly realistic, yet garishly eye-catching, such as the bright yellow GWR Toad, to the subtle, yet amusing G.Fawkes Not-Quite-Mink.

So, with all of the Winter and Spring shows and awards behind us, and the Summer looming, we are going to get our heads down and say goodbye for another month. Thanks for reading and once again thanks again for your votes.

Happy modelling!

The Rapido Trains UK Team

e-mail us at customerservice@rapidotrains.co.uk

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