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Rapido - HO Scale - GE B36-7- DC/DCC/Lok Sound - Southern Pacific (SP) No. 7756 w/Dual K5 Horn - Grey/Red Ends & White Lettering (SKU 224-18540)

Available On: December 1, 2019

 

Rapido Trains Inc.

 

Rapido Trains Inc. is very pleased to reveal the General Electric B36-7, never before released in ready-to-run HO Scale! This is Rapido’s first modern-ish US freight locomotive and we’re super enthusiastic about it.

The four-axle GE B36-7 was a high-horsepower speed racer built to appeal to railroads in the early 1980s looking to turbocharge their growing intermodal business. There were few drag freights or slow-moving manifests for these thoroughbreds in their early years. They could be found in multiples at the head of piggyback and autorack services and the new double-stack container trains.

Most of the CSX fleet of B36-7s were still in service well into the 2000s, usually in yard or manifest freight service. This ex-Seaboard System example was recorded leading a train out of Boyle Yard in Birmingham, Alabama, with a B30-7 partner in October 2005.

Replacing the “Universal Series” U36B in the GE catalogue, the first prototypes were built at Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1980 for the St Louis SouthWestern, otherwise known as the Cotton Belt. Initial orders were hampered by the recession of 1981-2; however, by the last year of production in 1985 some 222 locomotives had been constructed for US railroads with a further eight for export. We were surprised to find that this wasn’t that far off the total of GP50s ever built, yet we’ve seen three HO scale models of that so far!

The design found customers in several of the larger Class 1s of the period: Santa Fe, Conrail, Seaboard System, Southern and Southern Pacific. With the mergers of the mid-1980s and the Conrail split of 1999 the bulk of the fleet ended up with CSX and Norfolk Southern. Circa 2000 the CSX roster was overflowing with B36-7s, with around 140 former Conrail and Seaboard units operating all over the eastern half of the US. The ex-Seaboard fleet was officially retired towards the end of 2009, but examples were still working into 2011. They even still have some on the property. If your’re a Seaboard or CSX modeler you need at least ten of these things!

The turbocharged 16-cylinder 7FDL prime mover rated at 3,600hp (later examples could create up to 3,750hp) and upgraded alternator and traction motors proved to be a reliable combination. However, with all that power on tap and with just eight wheels to lay it all down they gained a reputation for shaking the fillings out of teeth and marrow from bones. They were well liked by railfans though and were among the last of the Dash 7s in Class 1 service, outliving the six-axle variants by a number of years.

The increased power also meant increased noise. As well as the larger silencer (introduced in 1979), GE attempted to mitigate this with a pair of sound baffles either side of the radiator section. These were installed on all the Cotton Belt, Santa Fe and Southern locomotives and the first 15 Conrail units. By 1983 GE had replaced the twin radiator fans with a single large fan to reduce noise – three additional grilles in the doors in the radiator section made this upgrade obvious – and only Southern retained the baffles beyond 1986, and even then only the lower of the two on each side. The Rapido model correctly replicates ALL of these details as appropriate.

Southern Pacific As Delivered


Southern Pacific as the late body style with additional grills, no anticlimber,  no class lights, fixed drop step, the correct horn location, a Southern Pacific fuel tank with correct filler/gauge locations, Southern Pacific specific pilot with large plow.  It also has dual K5H horns (and a brass Nathan P3 horn in a poly bag), a large equipment box on the fireman’s side behind the cab, nose-mounted headlights,  dual Gyralite at both ends, and red emergency lights.

(Model Preproduction sample picture - 3rd below - has ATSF on right)

The Santa Fe units were the first production B36-7s and they were delivered with the large double noise baffles mounted at the rear of the locomotive either side of the radiator section. Six years after rolling off GE’s Erie, PA, production line ATSF 7496 still wears its baffles with pride. Photographed by Chuck Zeiler at Corwith Yard in Chicago, Illinois on September 27, 1986.

The Rapido HO B36-7 features:

  • 3D scanned from an ex-CSX B36-7 for 100% accurate shape and dimensions
  • Incredible underframe detail including piping and a ridiculous number of separately-applied parts
  • Full cab interior, with correct orientation for standard or Southern locomotives
  • Dead straight metal side handrails with plastic stanchions
  • A crazy level of road-specific detail options, with different pilots, anticlimbers, plows, fuel tanks, air dryers, antennas, bell location, wind deflectors, headlight locations, air-conditioning units, beacons, different bodies, multiple nose and rear end styles, three versions of drop step, and so on.
  • With or without class lights (as appropriate)
  • Conrail locomotives have unique ‘built out’ style class lights
  • ATSF, Conrail and Southern locomotives have single or double baffles appropriate to era and road number
  • Three styles of operating, flashing ditch lights, front and rear (as appropriate)
  • Working headlights in correct location, switchable number boards at both ends and cab interior headlight
  • SP locomotive has working dual Gyralite and red emergency light
  • DC/Silent (21-pin DCC Ready) or DC/DCC/Sound (ESU LokSound) options
  • Accurate sounds recorded from an actual Minnesota Commercial B36-7 under load
  • Rapido’s proven 5-pole skew-wound motor with dual flywheels and silky-smooth drive

Rapido Innovations:

Rapido’s latest innovation is their combined plastic/metal wire handrails. Yes, wave goodbye to wobbly and translucent engineering plastic handrails that are difficult to bend back to shape and flake paint (see the 4th picture of the rear of the prototype model). Also, note the SP light package at the rear, late style body with additional radiator grills, large Salem air dryer, “bathtub” exhaust silencer, and those beautiful trucks.

We also went to town on the cab interior. We now provide illuminated cab interiors as standard on our new locomotives so there’s no point in holding back! You almost feel you could jump in this cab and start it up. Front and backhead detail is equally well rendered.  (see the 5th picture of interior of cab)

See the 6th picture below for the preproduction sample that shows:  traction motor cabling, air piping, large air cylinders, small air dryers, framing with truck bolsters, fuel cut off switch, and general all round attention to detail. With kind thanks to the Minnesota Commercial for allowing me to crawl all over (and under) their locomotive!

More details (see 7th picture) of more variety – Southern/Norfolk Southern high short hood (ignore the wrong cab) and the rear of the Conrail unit showing the built out red class lights.

See also the details of the front and rear trucks (8th picture below).

For the first time in HO Scale, the Rapido HO Scale, GE B36-7 reproduces all of the incredible features of the prototype precisely to detail.  How do we know that?  Because, thanks to the kind folks at Transkentucky Transportation (now the largest operator of B36-7s in North America), we made a 3D laser scan of a real B36-7 – number 5815! In addition, Minnesota Commercial allowed us to make extensive measurements of their huge and eclectic collection of Dash 7s in Saint Paul so we could ensure that our model detail variations match the prototypes!





















$399.95 CDN