Model Railroading > Rapido to produce BART in HO scale...

I never thought I'd see this one from them:

https://rapidotrains.com/ho-scale/complete-train/bay-area-rapid-transit.html

The nitpickers might take issue with the cars being setup to run on standard-gauge HO track (instead of the 5'-6" gauge of the real BART), but then again the BART fans are probably just happy to see this made.

Rich

I grew up in California from age 7 to age 24 (1984) but never road Bay Area Rapid Transit. Always got around by car.

I never knew it ran on a different guage but I can undersand why Rapdio is going with HO, otherwise they'd have to run a whole new line of track.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/22 17:14 by SPDRGWfan.

Or, they could have made the Bart trains in a different scale so the track would be 5 ft 6 in?  It's not like the Bart trains will be coupling with other HO cars.

Victor


SPDRGWfan Wrote:

>
> I never knew it ran on a different guage but I can
> undersand why Rapdio is going with HO, otherwise
> they'd have to run a whole new line of track.

I think this is a great announcement.  I have a spot on my layout where BART would cross over a section of my mainline. Now to figure out the overhead track structure.. Hmmm...

Cheers,
Harry

Cool!

I remember someone announced BART trains in HO back in the late 70's or early 80's. Had one on order at my LHS, but they never came to fruition.

 

tehachapifan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cool!
>
> I remember someone announced BART trains in HO
> back in the late 70's or early 80's. Had one on
> order at my LHS, but they never came to fruition.
>

There were at least two. and possibly three  prior attempts at bringing HO scale BART trains to market.  Two of these three efforts actually came to fruition.

1) A company by the name of "BART Models" or somesuch produced HO scale BART A and B cars using actual extruded aluminum carbodies married to Athearn RDC drivetrains. These models are extremely rare.

2) The second attempt was by American GK, who announced BART A and B cars, but these never made it to market, as far as I know.

3)  Walthers in the 1980s, IIRC, picked up various molds from American GK including BART and Washington Metro subway cars, and both of these series made it to the hands of hobbyists.

And of course, today, Rapido Trains has announced their intention to produce BART  A, B and C cars for HO scale.   I look forward to the Rapido release.

Cheers,
Harry
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/22 19:26 by tracktime.

Thanks for the clarification, Harry! Didin't know they actually made it to market. My LHS kept telling me that they hadn't come out and this was way before Internet, so that's what I went on. I'm pretty sure it was the Wathers version I ordered.

PasadenaSub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>instead of the 5'-6" gauge of the real BART...

I lived in San Jose California some 30 odd years ago and have ridden BART a few times into San Francisco.   I seem to recall hearing at the time that the wide gauge was picked specifically so freight traffic could not be run on the same track.  I don't know if it's really true but seems plausible. 

There was a company, American GK Locomotive Works, in the mid 70s  that made BART models out of extruded aluminum and plastic castings for the ends of the cars. They also ran on standard HO track. They also did versions of the GE E60. Walthers bought them out sometime in the early 80s. Both the BART trains and the E60s used Athearn components in the running gear. 

DavidB

As a Bay Area native and one who rode BART on the opening day September 11 1972, I'm wondering how much interest there is to model BART? As long Rapido keeps doing SP equipment. 
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13918184/bart-50th-anniversary-bay-area-rapid-transit-september-1972

I applaud Rapido for coming out with the variety of models that they have, but considering the costs involved, is there really a big enough market for BART cars to make this worthwhile? Not complaining, just curious as to their logic.

Thanks for the link, Dave.  A very interesting article and look back.

I wonder if the tooling could also be used for Washington Metro and Atlanta MARTA?

Perhaps not, since they were made by different builders.

Rich

dmaffei Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a Bay Area native and one who rode BART on the
> opening day September 11 1972, I'm wondering how
> much interest there is to model BART? As long
> Rapido keeps doing SP equipment. 
> https://www.kqed.org/arts/13918184/bart-50th-anniv
> ersary-bay-area-rapid-transit-september-1972

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I applaud Rapido for coming out with the variety
> of models that they have, but considering the
> costs involved, is there really a big enough
> market for BART cars to make this worthwhile? Not
> complaining, just curious as to their logic.

We hope so. The HO Turboliner ended up being a very profitable project, and it is similarly quite niche. We've had success with other oddballs as well, such as the British Rail APT-E.

BART actually approached us to make their trains, and they have been a huge help. We've already had a bunch of orders in the few hours since the newsletter went out.

We'll know for sure on January 16th. If we have enough orders by then to break even, we'll go ahead with it. From the initial "conditional" order deadline of the Turboliner to the final order deadline, our orders more than doubled.

Fingers are crossed that the same thing happens here...

-Jason


 

PasadenaSub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the link, Dave.  A very interesting
> article and look back.
>
> I wonder if the tooling could also be used for
> Washington Metro and Atlanta MARTA?
>
> Perhaps not, since they were made by different
> builders.

The original cars for BART and WMATA were built by the same company - Rohr.

Good luck Rapido, I hope they do well. I do applaud you for making these, still do wonder about the range of market. But better this than another F unit or SD40-2 or GE GEVO. I'm glad people are offering more unique models. Keep up the great work. 

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

Oh man, how on earth am I going to have room, let alone money, for all this cool stuff?!  I cannot believe they are making these cars, it's very cool.  I am a little dissapointed in the purchase options, would like to get an A, B, C train but that doesn't look doable.  But these blow those old Walthers cars out of the water, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get some.

Nathan

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I grew up in California from age 7 to age 24
> (1984) but never road Bay Area Rapid Transit.
> Always got around by car.
>
> I never knew it ran on a different guage but I can
> undersand why Rapdio is going with HO, otherwise
> they'd have to run a whole new line of track.

Posted from Android

Honestly, this may be a smart business decision for them. There is a large demand for the rapid transit railfan community. Look at how well the subway stuff that Proto 2000 release years ago. They still hold their value. Although not as "wide spread" as us regular railfans, the transit guys will buy these in a heartbeat. Especially the locals. 

Will there be car numbers printed on the cars or a decal sheet enclosed?

Not to mention that BART uses a third rail. So with a couple of track structure things to overlook it opens up a whole new area of the hobby to spend money on.
Very clever.

The biggest announcement for operating display models that I've seen...yawn....