Model Railroading > Rapido CP Caboose is a Bad Apple?

I just recieved a Rapido CP caboose this past Saturday, which was perfect timing as I wanted to run some of my CP/SOO power on the coal train down at the club. This was a brand new model with the factory seals on the box. I've heard good things about these models and figured I'd have no trouble with it......boy was I wrong!

The first sign of trouble was the trucks wouldn't turn. metal tabs with a hole in them stuck up from the trucks and pass through slots in the underframe bolster. Through the hole a wire is passed and twist tied off and a piece of shrink tube holds it in place. Well the slots aren't wide enough and the insulating tube jams the trucks.

The other issue is the couplers are VERY low. I stacked three of the Kadee red washers over each truck bolster, and that only got it close, but not quite to the right height.

I first had to disassemble the model and try to figure a way to get the trucks to turn. I removed the shrink tubing and soldered the wires to the tab, then had to use a small pocket knife to carve the slots a bit larger. I got the trucks to turn more freely, but it's going to require more time at the work bench to make it derailment free. Also plan to replace the couplers with underset couplers and lower the caboose down a bit.

Other issues I had from the factory was the cupola wasn't seated properly, one stairway grab iron was broken, and one of the cut lever rods was bent out ahead of the coupler. The light tubes used for the rear markers makes them weak, and I may replace them with some SMD red LEDs at some point. Couldn't get the magnet shut off to work on the lights either. I also noticed the coupler trip pins didn't react to a uncoupler magnet.

It was frustrating to have to spend hours down at the club with minimal tools trying to solve these issues before I could turn a wheel on a train. Searching online doesn't seem to come up with these kinds of issues. So did I just get a factory bad apple, or did anyone else have similar issues?

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/20 12:44 by funnelfan.

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Isn't the current run still in pre-order status or is your model from the newest run.  I remember Rapdio released those cabooses some years ago; is that new/old stock?

Has to be from 2013.

Yes, this is from the older run.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Nice scene.  I've not seen negative comments about the old run of these over the years.

Hi Ted,

Sorry that you're not happy with your Caboose. Just to be clear though, we haven't produced these cars in years so it must have been from a earlier run - either 2009 or 2013 (which I thinks is the last time that we ran them). Hopefully this was not represented as being a brand-new model. I suspect that the loose cupola, etc. may have just come from years of being moved around. I have a few samples from the earlier runs that have made the rounds of train shows and RPM meets without this type of damage!

We have learned - allot - over the years and are incorporating some changes into the new, upcoming run. The factory DID use oversized shrink wrap on the truck pick ups on some of the earlier run models. On those cars it could restrict the truck swing, as you found and fixed. On the new run of cars we are making adjustments to the truck pick ups so that this problem won't re-occur. We've also updated our coupler design over the years which should take care of the droopy couplers.

Anyway, hopefully you will give us another chance and not judge our current production on an old production old stock model...

Bill Schneider
Rapido Trains

Think with Rapido from what I have see the best thing to do is contact them directly on line about problems. Seems they are very reactive to them just like the post on here.