Rapido at 20: Of Tariffs and Trains

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of our very own Rapido Trains Inc. It seems like just yesterday was the company's fifteenth anniversary. But is the company still our very own? The only thing that is constant is change, and things seem to be shifting under our feet these days. Hence, the title of this post, spawned by a recent viewing of a remarkable Rapido video. I've included screenshots with Youtube's sometimes wonky close-captioning to show I'm not making this stuff up! I'm unsure whether I should classify this post as an editorial, a news post or an April Fool's post!!

The video is 14+ minutes long - you should probably watch it - and in it, Rapido's Dan Garcia does a mock interview with mock President Jason Shron. (The actual president of the company is Jordan Smith. Then I find out Jordan Smith is apparently not a real person. Jason's initials JS were used to create an alter-ego to make Jordan seem more 'real'!). I call it a mock interview because it felt like the questions and answered were planned, if not scripted. The results were likely known ahead of time, like the results of every Russian or Chinese election. 

This video had 12,000 views in just over 48 hours. I was expecting a great discussion in the very dangerous Comments section. However, comments were turned off for this video. That's one reason I'm publishing this post. Regular Rapido videos engender lots of comments saying "love your videos", alternatively "you guys need to get more serious" and sniping about Rapido quality control, oh, and the one guy who always requests U33C's. So Rapido got serious and the topic was not up for discussion. Several questions and answers seemed variously unusual, understandable, unexpected, gobsmacking, flabbergasting and flummoxing.

Get a group of Canadian model railroaders together and I guarantee you that Rapido will come up as a topic of conversation in the first ten minutes. Let me say off the top that for purposes of piety I do not consider myself a Shronian. To quote the late, great Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music, "You'll never be one of them, Kurt!". I just don't have adequate acute allegiance of a Shronian. Similarly, I didn't consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool "Union person" blindly following whatever edicts emanated from union leadership, while I paid $1000+ each working year in union dues. I was a follower, and I was a member, but I was not always a loyal lemming. It's fair to say that I've slagged and lauded Rapido equally throughout its history.

Now celebrating 20 years, and 50 years of its real President on this planet, Rapido finds itself intractably involved in the dumb tariffs imposed by the current misguided US administration on next-door neighbours that aren't doing Canadians any favours. It all sounds very macroeconomical, but large and small companies in this country find themselves forced to formulate and share preparatory plans in response, including this video. Rapido has taken the unprecedented step of establishing a complete operation inside the US: office, warehouse, staff and payroll in beautiful Buffalo for its ever-increasing number of US employees and designers. 

The tariff-induced model business model is to stock and ship US roads from Buffalo and Canadian prototypes for Markham (Toronto). Shipments to Buffalo and Markham will come directly from China. Not so much to avoid tariffs but to make sure the rapidly-sinking Canadian dollar - it's not tariff-based, it's currency-exchange based. Warranty repairs will be handled within the country of origin, with regular stock shipments weekly between countries.

This is seismic - a major shift in Rapido's marketing and production, already tri-nationally split between Canada, China and the US. And isn't it odd that the these were the first three countries involved in this trade war? We've known for some time that being a major presence in the American model railroad (or as they pronounce it, and it drives me nuts, Ray-Road) marketplace. Guess I'm not the only one with this train of thought, based on this social media comment:

Geographically, Canada a crepe-thin demographic distribution of citizens along the US border. The US, by comparison, is a huge mille-feuilles polyglot* with 10x the population, therefore 10x hobbyists sitting on significantly higher disposable income to spend on model trains. That monstrous market is why so many of our talented artists have to go Stateside, or to Europe, to 'make it big' before returning home to an adoring Canadian public. (*It's also why there are so many places named Springfield, one in every only 37 states and on The Simpsons.)

Rapido's website lists over 30 locomotives, 45 freight cars and 15 passenger cars in hundreds of paint schemes in HO scale, a few of which are well-known and unique Canadian models: GMD-1's, Angus Shops vans, RS-18s. One noted Canadian club modeller noted that 30 of his wished-for prototypes have been made, with maybe 10 more nice-to-haves to come. Some production has been aligned with runs of similar US prototypes, even if it means foobies. I can never un-see the CR and CSX Angus vans! 

Artificial Intelligence (lacking Actual Intelligence) tells us that Rapido has "produced about 25 different passenger car models, half a dozen different locomotives, freight cars, accessories, and more." AI doesn't show me the next sentence that it used to train its machine, "but the vast majority of the work is done by just five of us: three in Canada, one in the States and one in China." There are now 30 employees including the two presidents.

So of course Rapido needs to thrive in the US if it is to survive. For years now, Rapido has been broadly advertising across the border via the US model railroad press, plus social media internationally. Niche models that have been repeatedly requested by Canadians - but perennially not produced - like RS-23s and S-13s are small runs that won't translate into big US sales. Rapido does NOT produce stock but instead fills pre-orders. Ninety per-cent of its sales at discounts through retailers and a few distributors, reducing available profits. Once runs have been produced, products are rarely re-run.

With 70% of sales in the US now and projected to increase to 80-90%, and many models designed by American designers of American prototypes, Jason acknowledges in the video that it's already a crowded market for US prototypes. The CryoTrans and auto-flood coal hoppers were big sellers amongst other American models that were last tooled in the 1990s. Fat ladders, fad stirrup steps and fat walkways, oh my! I think tariffs were the springboard that has catapulted Rapido into the US pool!

The video includes the tired trope rhetorically asking why Rapido is producing Model X? "Why do we need this? Jason needs it for his layout." Really? The layout that MIGHT be completed when he's a senior citizen?  The layer-cake line linking Brockville, Kingston (!) and Guildwood but nowhere close to Spadina, its intended centre of interest? Yeah, that one. I think that trope train left the station a long time ago!

So I wish Rapido and Jason well. The fact that his company has remained viable for these 20 years and has grown, has a solid reputation and obviously huge uptake across the North American (and UK!) market is a testament to the their mantra (Quality. Style. Spirit.) and their hard work. These are the facts, and they are undisputed (A Few Good Men reference). Check out this logo that reflects their EXPOnential growth and maybe their EXPOrt experience:

I have told Jason that I'm delighted with the Rapido products on my layout: RS-18s, Angus vans, a coach, a covered hopper. They are a tribute to him and his company. Consider this post a historical plaque, a milestone marker, a digital date-stamp. We'll all be watching as our world continues to change and Rapido changes along with it. 

Running extra...

The first recorded use of the term 'doublavay' by someone else other than your humble blogger. Used to denote a J-train of two Venture consists, this term will become a lot more common after April 1, when it's expected that all J-trains will be 'doublavays' perhaps to defeat CN-imposed crossing speed reductions. Excellent David McCormack photo posted to Instagram on March 15 showing VIA Nos 643 (Set 8) and 62/52 (Set 15 leading):

Got a train show? Need a train show? Trevor Marshall is compiling a list of 2025 train shows. More here.