You asked and we listened. We had good reasons for cancelling the Rapido Trains Inc. HO Scale Canadian Pacific F9B project earlier in 2017. The moulds that make the locomotive were found to be unusable and required expensive retooling from new. Customers had been waiting for over two years and with no prospect of recutting the metal we felt the honest approach was the cancel the project rather than keep you hanging on. The response from our customers was overwhelming. Most of you who took the time to get in touch were disappointed but recognised the tricky position we were in. Rapido is still a small model train manufacturer by the standards of the rest of the hobby and our pockets are only so deep. However, ever since we made that difficult decision we've been trying to find a way to resurrect the project!
The catalyst for our change of heart was the launch of the HO Scale GMD FP7 locomotive (click here for more details), which reminded us that no manufacturer had ever made an 100% accurate Canadian F7B B-unit. Rapido Trains Inc. is thus proud to relaunch the all-new GMD (General Motors Diesel Division) F7B and F9B in Canadian National and Canadian Pacific variants.
Canadian construction of the F7B took place at London, Ontario, between April 1951 and May 1952 with 43 units built (CN - 18, CP - 25) while the 46 strong fleet of F9B locomotives were delivered between January 1954 and July 1958 (CN - 38, CP - 8). CN and CP both used them on passenger and freight service and the majority of the fleet lasted well into the classic 1970s era of all dominant Sergeant stripes and Multimarks. Over a third of the survivors transferred to VIA Rail towards the end of the decade. CP retired its final operational examples in 1983, while several units in the VIA fleet were still active into the early 1990s.
Seven paint schemes plus undecorated (three versions):
We also offer the Canadian Pacific/VIA and Ontario Northland FP7A locomotive in HO scale. Click here for more details. The Rapido HO Scale F7B and F9B feature:
The MSRP is $334.95 (DC/DCC/Sound) and $224.95 (DC/Silent) in Canada. In the United States and the rest of the world, the MSRP is $309.95/$199.95.