On October 12 at Exporail, the Canadian Railway Museum near Montreal, Quebec, Rapido Trains announced that it plans to produce the Icons of Canadian Steam. The multi-year project will consist of HO scale models of 12 notable Canadian steam locomotives, usually in multiple classes.
The project first release of the series will be the Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 Royal Hudson in 2017. Following the Royal Hudson, Rapido plans to release two steam locomotives a year until 2023.
The locomotives planned for the series are: 2017 – Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 Royal Hudson (three classes), 2018 – Canadian Pacific 4-6-0 (three classes), 2018 – Canadian National 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler (two classes), 2019 – Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 Hudson (two classes), 2019 – Canadian National 2-8-0 Consolidation (two classes), 2020 – Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 Light Pacific (two classes), 2020 – Canadian National 4-8-2 Mountain (Class U1f), 2021 – Candian Pacific 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific (three classes), 2021 – Candian National 4-6-2 Pacific (three classes), 2022 – Canadian Pacific 2-10-4 Selkirk (two classes), 2022 – Canadian Pacific 4-8-4 U4 Northern (two classes), 2023 – Canadian Pacific 4-4-4 Jubilee (two classes).
For more information, visit www.RapidoTrains.com.
This is major news, and not just for Canadians, either. Rapido announced that the first step in the development of these models will be to develop mechanisms that will perform flawlessly. Anyone who knows Rapido products can be confident that these will be the finest HO scale locomotive models ever made – the most reliable, the most accurate, and backed to the hilt by Rapido's customer service. My bank account is already crying for mercy – but there shall be none!
I hear ya James. My bank manager is going freak!!