Model Railroading > Rapido Santa Fe CF7 availability question

Hi all,

We're trying to figure something out at Rapido and maybe some of you guys can help.

At the St. Louis RPM the team was inundated with requests for more Santa Fe CF7s. They heard again and again "we can't find them anywhere." 

We have available DCC stock on every single road number but one. We don't normally make DC inventory, but I don't think these were all DC guys.

Are stores just not carrying them? Our website sucks (as I've said, we're working on a replacement), but even our crappy website shows them in stock and it's not that hard to order. Stores can also order anything they see in stock on the website.

So where is the disconnect happening? People "can't find them anywhere" but we have them in stock.

Anyone have any experience with this?

We're planning the next run and half our team says "everyone wants more Santa Fes for the new run" while the other half says "we don't need any more - we have plenty!" We are... confiused.

Thanks,

Jason


 

Personally, I haven't heard anyone saying they can't get them. All I know that wanted them got them. Maybe the people were confused about only the Santa Fe coming out first and the rest later? the auction site is full of them.

"We can't find them anywhere" probably means "my store doesn't have any" and likely leaves out any mention of whether they preordered, or even mentioned to their store that they were interested. And did they check if their store is a Rapido dealer?

Posted from Android

Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

Most Hobby shops in my area focus on Athearn, Intermountain  or older traditional manufacturers.products, but frankly not much Rapido inventory, so I just subscribe to the Rapido newsletter and order stuff as soon as its announced.

Got my  Rapido DCC Santa Fe CF7 about a month ago...no "glitches"
I operated a CF7 as a child in a yard in Calfornia with my dad once so important model...THANK YOU Jason!!
Definitely issues with Rapido website, only as far as Shipping vs CC addresses getting mixed up when invoice and shipping time comes.......but Lystra and Vidiya were amazing at fixing the errors. 

Lombard seems to have had good stock, but the square cab versions have sold much better there than the round - with 1 square and 7 roundtops currently in stock today (between both DCC and Silent versions).

https://lombardhobby.com/search?q=CF7

Also another very quick comment.....an incredibly large percentage of my friends my age (60 - 70) are still INCREDIBLY "low tech"...they still have no computer at home, don't know how to use a computer, barely know how to use a smart phone and the concept of "plenty of stock available on our website" is like speaking a foreign languge to them. Hard to believe in 2026 but its my experience. If they don't see it in a store...it doesn't exist.....not sure what the solution is......

hankbrank15 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also another very quick comment.....an incredibly
> large percentage of my friends my age (60 - 70)
> are still INCREDIBLY "low tech"...they still have
> no computer at home, don't know how to use a
> computer, barely know how to use a smart phone and
> the concept of "plenty of stock available on our
> website" is like speaking a foreign languge to
> them. Hard to believe in 2026 but its my
> experience. If they don't see it in a store...it
> doesn't exist.....not sure what the solution
> is......

Bill was at a certain historical society convention. He had some freight cars that we had made for that railroad, and several guys were shocked to see them. Some were gobsmacked that they did not know about them, as if we hadn't told anyone.

These cars were already in hobby shops and we were sold out. 

1. We announce them in our newsletters.
2. We promote them in social media, including YouTube videos.
3. They are in the new announcements sections in RMC and MRN.
4. We send sales packs to stores.
5. We advertise them in RMC, MR and MRN.
6. And finally, they were on the hobby shop shelf!

If there was a way we could beam new announcements into customers' brains, that would be the best plan. But failing that, I'm not sure what else we can do.

-Jason
 

Have you considered having a Rapido bat signal that displays the rapido logo in the sky over New York City?

Do they have indoor plumbing?

hankbrank15 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also another very quick comment.....an incredibly
> large percentage of my friends my age (60 - 70)
> are still INCREDIBLY "low tech"...they still have
> no computer at home, don't know how to use a
> computer, barely know how to use a smart phone and
> the concept of "plenty of stock available on our
> website" is like speaking a foreign languge to
> them. Hard to believe in 2026 but its my
> experience. If they don't see it in a store...it
> doesn't exist.....not sure what the solution
> is......

One of the podcasters I regularly listen to talks a lot about the “attention economy” and how attention has effectively become the most important commodity in the world. And that is what I think is at the center of this thread- how do you get people’s attention in the first place, and then keep it once you have it.

Let’s face it, one of the major downsides of living at this time is we are all awash in voices screaming for our attention, many of them backed by sophisticated algorithms finely attuned to exploiting human nature and psychology. Rapido has in my opinion one of the better attention generating machines in the industry, it is obvious the company invests substantial time and resources into content creation in a way few other manufacturers do. The list of places to which Rapido distributes that content would seem to cover the full spectrum of places where consumers in this hobby get their information, but at the end of the day Rapido is still only one voice of many in this hobby.

To the original question, I am kind of curious what percentage of sales at most manufacturers are direct sales through websites versus through retailers, though I imagine that is fairly privileged info. There are obvious outliers, companies like Walthers that has long had its own retail store and Scale Trains that is significantly limiting anything other than direct sales, but I’d be fairly confident a majority of sales are still through retailers. I grew up at a time when hobby shops were really the only way to get anything, as such I’ll admit that ordering direct from a manufacturer is still a bit of a foreign concept to me. It may be unthinkable to those older than me, especially those less comfortable with the technology.

I also can’t help but feel that the tendency- understandable- for manufacturers to sell products through their websites at full MRSP likely hurts direct sales. The Lombard example is a good one here, they are selling CF-7s at $214/$309 versus $249/$359 direct from Rapido. That factor alone may make people not think about checking manufacturer websites as a first, or even last, resort. I agree with the assessment that the “we can’t find them” likely means “they aren’t on the shelf at my shop”. I’m not sure how Rapido breaks through that wall other than more direct outreach to retail shops, but there are definite limits there.

Finally, the way the industry is working today might be contributing to both problems. I generally keep tabs as to what gets announced by the various manufacturers, but unless its something I want or have a serious interest in I normally don’t remember when products show up 18-24 or more months later that they had ever been announced. And given how quickly most items tend to cycle through shops and vanish from almost everywhere but auction sites shortly after release, it’s easy for things to slip through cracks in attention spans.

Last thing I’ll say, Jason, is that I sure would like to see a Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific CF-7 on the market at some point. Kind of a shame those have never been done.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Posted from iPhone

my wife is from London and she says "gobsmaked" too!...nice!...Bloody Nora! I hope we can solve this issue...maybe I'll get a horse like Paul Revere and shout Rapido annoucements as I ride thru the streets.....

Another American married to a Brit here!  She says gobsmaked too, and once in a while she'll pull out a word I've never heard.  But she is a blooody northerner from way up New Castle way - they are called Geordies.  Look up Clive the Geordie on Youtube for some funny skits.  As my wife says, you gotta have a laugh!

Cheers,
Jim

hankbrank15 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> my wife is from London and she says "gobsmaked"
> too!...nice!...Bloody Nora! I hope we can solve
> this issue...maybe I'll get a horse like Paul
> Revere and shout Rapido annoucements as I ride
> thru the streets.....

Yep! can relate, 27 years and she still throws out a wierd word now and then....key trait:  she loves my model train hobby,  
Check out Bekenscot Model Village, UK

Thanks, Jeff, for your insightful comments. I have shared them with my team. As for your CF7 request, I think we can help you with that. Make sure you get our newsletters!

This forum is a wonderful resource. Thank you to everyone who contributes to these discussions.

Best regards,

Jason
 


JDLX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the podcasters I regularly listen to talks
> a lot about the “attention economy” and how
> attention has effectively become the most
> important commodity in the world. And that is
> what I think is at the center of this thread- how
> do you get people’s attention in the first
> place, and then keep it once you have it.
>
> Let’s face it, one of the major downsides of
> living at this time is we are all awash in voices
> screaming for our attention, many of them backed
> by sophisticated algorithms finely attuned to
> exploiting human nature and psychology. Rapido
> has in my opinion one of the better attention
> generating machines in the industry, it is obvious
> the company invests substantial time and resources
> into content creation in a way few other
> manufacturers do. The list of places to which
> Rapido distributes that content would seem to
> cover the full spectrum of places where consumers
> in this hobby get their information, but at the
> end of the day Rapido is still only one voice of
> many in this hobby.
>
> To the original question, I am kind of curious
> what percentage of sales at most manufacturers are
> direct sales through websites versus through
> retailers, though I imagine that is fairly
> privileged info. There are obvious outliers,
> companies like Walthers that has long had its own
> retail store and Scale Trains that is
> significantly limiting anything other than direct
> sales, but I’d be fairly confident a majority of
> sales are still through retailers. I grew up at a
> time when hobby shops were really the only way to
> get anything, as such I’ll admit that ordering
> direct from a manufacturer is still a bit of a
> foreign concept to me. It may be unthinkable to
> those older than me, especially those less
> comfortable with the technology.
>
> I also can’t help but feel that the tendency-
> understandable- for manufacturers to sell products
> through their websites at full MRSP likely hurts
> direct sales. The Lombard example is a good one
> here, they are selling CF-7s at $214/$309 versus
> $249/$359 direct from Rapido. That factor alone
> may make people not think about checking
> manufacturer websites as a first, or even last,
> resort. I agree with the assessment that the
> “we can’t find them” likely means “they
> aren’t on the shelf at my shop”. I’m not
> sure how Rapido breaks through that wall other
> than more direct outreach to retail shops, but
> there are definite limits there.
>
> Finally, the way the industry is working today
> might be contributing to both problems. I
> generally keep tabs as to what gets announced by
> the various manufacturers, but unless its
> something I want or have a serious interest in I
> normally don’t remember when products show up
> 18-24 or more months later that they had ever been
> announced. And given how quickly most items tend
> to cycle through shops and vanish from almost
> everywhere but auction sites shortly after
> release, it’s easy for things to slip through
> cracks in attention spans.
>
> Last thing I’ll say, Jason, is that I sure would
> like to see a Santa Cruz, Big Trees & Pacific CF-7
> on the market at some point. Kind of a shame
> those have never been done.
>
> Jeff Moore
> Elko, NV
>
> Posted from iPhone

Jeff pretty much covered it I think. Back in the day, we got product news either through our Hobby Shop or MR and/or RMC. Nearly everything was focused on through those outlets making it easy to be kept up to speed on what was available or soon to be available. Now, with so many outlets I personally choose only a few to follow in order to keep sane and have a real life, so I miss stuff. As far as product updates I find Email to be the one that gets my attention most often: followed by Facebook and occasional posts here on TO from Tangent and Moloco. I subscribe to Rapido, Athrean, Scaletrains, Soundtraxx, newsletters and a few others and even then, we all know what a mess email has become. I don't have answers so I miss stuff.

Super glad to hear about a possible Big Trees CF7. I'm in for that.

I think Jeff laid out pretty much everything. I too think Rapido has a much broader marketing range than many other manufacturers. (love the videos, keep them up!)  Which you have to, since I have seen people not even know there is another HO scale company making anything if the name isn't Athearn. But with Rapido being a new kid on the block, you are certainly doing new kid stuff, which is great to see.

I also think with the split of delivery, that could have been part of the issue. Some of the questions may have been, where is the LAJ or Amtrak, that I wanted. Um...still on their way. Maybe people go into their shop and see one or two units but not everything and then don't ask about ordering or seeing if any are available. If something is not on a shelf, does the person know to ask the hobby shop if it can be ordered? Do shops make a second order just to have stock on hand? Doubtful. 

I'm more than happy to pre-order with what ever mechanism you choose. I do think if you did have the same pricing available as shops, I'd go straight to the source as I want to provide as much profit to the manufacturer as possible to keep getting more product. 

Sadly for me, I can't remember the last time I actually stepped foot in a hobby shop. I can use the internet, click on something, and it shows up at my door. Might be days, months, or years, but eventually it shows up. Even if my Rapido passenger car fell off the UPS truck in the middle of a street, an elderly lady saw it, got out of her car, in light traffic, and picked it up, went to UPS, and they said, just toss it out, as they didn't care anymore. She then sent me a hand written letter, since they wouldn't provide any other contact information for me. Happened 3 miles from my house. Amazing people are still out there in our world. 

Mike ONeill
Okahumpka, FL

That is a crazy story about the UPS package! Wow!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), we won't discount our products direct to the public.

Dealer sales represent 90% of our business, and we don't want to compete with our own customers. I also like that Lystra (our sales person - we just have the one!) can call a hobby shop and sell 20 locomotives at once. If we were undercutting our dealers, they would probably tell her where she could put them! 🤣

If you are ordering by mail from a hobby shop, you are still supporting the hobby shop! So I think most people on this forum are supporting hobby shops.

I think the hobby shop's survival is vital to the survival of our hobby. Even in 2026, a lot of new people are introduced to model railroading through the local hobby shop or one they visit while on vacation. 

If all of the manufacturers went direct only, I think we would see a big reduction in our numbers (people and sales) within just a few years. 

-Jason


mcdeo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think Jeff laid out pretty much everything. I
> too think Rapido has a much broader marketing
> range than many other manufacturers. (love the
> videos, keep them up!)  Which you have to, since
> I have seen people not even know there is another
> HO scale company making anything if the name isn't
> Athearn. But with Rapido being a new kid on the
> block, you are certainly doing new kid stuff,
> which is great to see.
>
> I also think with the split of delivery, that
> could have been part of the issue. Some of the
> questions may have been, where is the LAJ or
> Amtrak, that I wanted. Um...still on their way.
> Maybe people go into their shop and see one or two
> units but not everything and then don't ask about
> ordering or seeing if any are available. If
> something is not on a shelf, does the person know
> to ask the hobby shop if it can be ordered? Do
> shops make a second order just to have stock on
> hand? Doubtful. 
>
> I'm more than happy to pre-order with what ever
> mechanism you choose. I do think if you did have
> the same pricing available as shops, I'd go
> straight to the source as I want to provide as
> much profit to the manufacturer as possible to
> keep getting more product. 
>
> Sadly for me, I can't remember the last time I
> actually stepped foot in a hobby shop. I can use
> the internet, click on something, and it shows up
> at my door. Might be days, months, or years, but
> eventually it shows up. Even if my Rapido
> passenger car fell off the UPS truck in the middle
> of a street, an elderly lady saw it, got out of
> her car, in light traffic, and picked it up, went
> to UPS, and they said, just toss it out, as they
> didn't care anymore. She then sent me a hand
> written letter, since they wouldn't provide any
> other contact information for me. Happened 3 miles
> from my house. Amazing people are still out there
> in our world. 

ROTFLMAF 

Victor Baird

SP4360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do they have indoor plumbing?
>
 

Jason, Rapido's is one of the relatively few newsletters I do get and read, so no issues there.  And I do have several of Rapido's forthcoming products on order through a "local" hobby shop (400ish miles away).

I fully agree with your statement about hobby shops being essential to the survival of the hobby, but I really fear for the future of most of them.  Given increasing real estate costs, the drive to online retail, and just the general nature of how this hobby now operates, the economics of running a hobby or railroad shop cannot be that great.  And many of the ones I do see seem to be run mostly by people at or near retirement age, business owners either dying to retiring seems to be one of the biggest reasons for hobby shop closures in this current time.      

Over most of my life I have never really lived at any place within a multi hour drive from anyplace that sells trains, much less an actual train shop.  I really got introduced to train shops when I was a teenager in rural far northeastern California, there were a few transient shops in Redding that came and went, plus one more run by an older gentleman that we tended to avoid because the shop always had clouds of cigarette smoke in it- ah, life in the later '80s.  The hobby shop I saw the most was in Grants Pass, Oregon, it always was a highlight of trips heading north.  One of the things I remember from that time was that hobby shops tended to have fairly uniform and dependable stock, you could walk into almost any one and be reasonably sure of finding something you wanted.  That is one of the things we are missing with the small run/preorder driven business model, visiting a shop now seems to be more driven by picking up preorders or browsing what the shop decided might sell enough from a special run to place in inventory.  The whole shopping experience has changed dramatically.   A good friend of mine recently got back into the hobby after being away for a while, another mutual friend advised him of how much the hobby had changed and told him that if you see something you want you grab it, as you may not get another chance.  Translating that kind of environment into a steady enough cash flow to sustain a small business cannot be easy.    

At present I do fairly regular business with two primary shops, and they present two radically different visions of how train shops stay in business.  One of them is roughly 400 miles west of me, it is a relatively large retail space with a large inventory and a decent amount of foot traffic, but the vast majority of their business is orders placed through their excellent website.  There are times I wonder how this shop remains in business given how much liquidity they have tied up in their inventory, and how little some of it seems to move, but they seem to keep enough rolling to stay open.  Almost all of my preorders go through them, I visit when I can and will drop other orders from time to time through the year.  The other shop is located about 250 miles east of me, it is located in what is effectively a retail complex cosplaying as a living history museum.  They have a rubber tired "train" that gives rides around the complex, some coin and token operated layouts, some arcade/midway type games and attractions, and a retail space.  I've been patronizing this business for a lot of years in three different locations, and have watched them morph from a pure train shop into a child entertainment venue that happens to sell some model railroad stuff.  This place is extremely popular with families, on any given day when I visit usually single moms with kids heading for the arcade area vastly outnumber the hobbyists.  Visiting kids definitely get exposed to the model railroad hobby, but it would be really hard to tell how much of what appears to have become their core business translates into future model railroaders.  That being said, I have seen through the years a definite decrease in their stock on hand, it's honestly a shadow of what they used to have.  Still a really decent selection of Woodland Scenics, some track, a lot of tools, a little bit of paint, but limited selection in the way of locomotives, rolling stock, and buildings.  That place is run by people towards the lower end of the typical age group of hobby shop owners, which indicates a probably long time horizon than a lot of other places. 

Enough rambling. 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV    



 

Totally agree about supporting local hobby stores. I do that remotely for sure. Click, (or send e-mail), product eventually shows up on my doorstep. Don't get me wrong, I love going to hobby stores, just none near by, or it takes way more time to get there vs. click on the screen in front of me. 

But that is the question. After someone walks in and doesn't see a model of their choosing, does the store call back up and order 2-3 more models? Or another 20? I don't know, but how do we get that customer to ask the counter to do that. Is that well known? I'm assuming it is, but maybe not.

And to say again, I see way more Rapido marketing content online and in magazines, (even ones I don't regularly see 'model ads'). So keep up the great work. 

Mike ONeill
Okahumpka, FL