Rapido Trains UK

We’ve had a few of you asking how the U Class is progressing. You will be pleased to hear that updated Engineering Prototypes have surfaced! If you haven’t ordered your OO Gauge U SR Class, you can pre-order your models directly from www.rapidotrains.co.uk today.

We have made a tremendous amount of progress on projects that intrinsically link to the Kent and East Sussex Railway this month. Order books close for the OO Gauge SECR 20t 6-Wheel Brake Van in just one week, so make sure you place your pre-orders asap.

Coinciding nicely with our recent LBSCR D1 announcement, we have received some rather appropriate colour production samples of the LBSC 4-Wheel & 6-Wheel Brake Van (exclusive to Rails of Sheffield). To find out more, head to the Rails of Sheffield website.

We have earned ourselves a bit of a reputation for making some rather special OO Gauge PO wagons, and the 2025 range is no different. Earlier this month, we received these lovely new painted production samples of this forthcoming batch. Contact your retailer of choice before they are all gone!

O go on then! Order books are closing for the OO Gauge SER O Class very soon. Make sure to turn that O-no into an O-yes! Pre-order yours before Monday the 2nd of November and you won’t miss out on this gorgeous locomotive. buff.ly/IAGO6mJ

You may have spotted that we have been using a new layout for our filming and photos of the newly announced OO Gauge Peckett No. 1631 'Marcia'. We recently acquired a beautiful and compact layout from the ever sharply-dressed Rob Gunstone. Cheers, Rob; your layout has gone to a good home.

We are incredibly pleased to announce an exciting collaboration with our friends at Rails of Sheffield. Together, we are bringing you an alternative body tooling for the OO Gauge Sentinel Steam Shunter, the 'streamlined' version! Head to the Rails of Sheffield website to find out more.

Last month we showed you painted production samples of some of the Evolution Coach Batch 2 liveries. Well, here are more of them in all their glory! These liveries are Great Eastern Railway, Highland Railway, North Eastern Railway, and the Rails of Sheffield Exclusive North British Railway.

Did you catch our Marcia announcement video? Some of you may have spotted our samples running past and through lots of loco parts. Well, it's not often you can claim that your model has passed through the real thing, but these have. buff.ly/6HutUzJ

Want to make a Great Eastern Railway freight train in OO Gauge, but don't have a ready-to-run brake van yet? We have you covered! Our LSWR / WD 20T Brake Van includes a GER version, so it's a good match to our previous GER locomotive and wagon projects. buff.ly/kCzqGES

Whatever shape you prefer for the ends of your pre-grouping open wagons, we have included them in our SER/SECR 5-Plank 10 Ton Open Wagon range. You can choose from D1340 Round-ended and D1341 Low D versions, as well as square-ended versions of both diagrams. buff.ly/CUWtg5Q

Our factory has completed the next model in the OO Gauge Scottish Legends collection, the ornate Caledonian No. 123. It has been packed and is being shipped to the UK, so not long to wait now. Thanks to Jonny Gourlay for this photo of the colour sample.

Our factory has sent us engineering prototypes of the upcoming OO Gauge LSWR / WD 20T Brake Van. buff.ly/kCzqGES

We are proud to announce ready-to-run OO Gauge models of the cutest loco ever built, Peckett No. 1631 'Marcia'! youtu.be/CY48nRPa7oo

MARCIA UPDATE Down at Rolvenden Workshops, work is continuing on the Pocket Peckett's overhaul. The locomotive has been lifted off its wheels for the frames to be painted and some TLC to be applied. Work is ongoing and we hope it will be back in traffic for the 2027 season.

At Rapido Trains UK, we are huge fans of the pre-grouping scene, and we like to make 'things that go with things', so this edition of Rapido Recommends is an entire goods train of South Eastern Railway stock! The orderbooks for the locomotive, open wagons and goods van will be closing on 2nd Nov.

The D1 was built as a pure passenger locomotive, but since several E1s were pressed into commuter service and painted in Improved Engine Green, one of our artists couldn't help but wonder what the D1 in Goods Green would have looked like... No. 1010 'Marlinspike' appears as a 'rejected' livery!

Although built for the LSWR and War Department, many of the LSWR / WD 20T brake vans that survived WW1 were sold to a plethora of pre-grouping companies. We’ve included a wide selection of historically correct liveries in our range. buff.ly/bUmBDwH

Our latest announcement will come as no surprise to those who know the Steam Sentinel Shunters history. We’re continuing the Sentinel story with a brand-new OO Gauge diesel shunter, the Thomas Hill Sentinel Rebuild 4wDH. buff.ly/jJkgdqY

Deadline Day! We are calling time and closing the order books on two mammoth projects. The Evolution Coaches from Batch 3 and the 009 Gauge Batch 2 All-Purpose Wagons. Theres some cracking liveries in both ranges, giving you plenty of options to couple to a host of our upcoming locos.

Proper pre-grouping suburban stock, fit for a proper suburban tank engine. We’re closing the order books on the LB&SCR Liveried Evolution coaches in Batch 3 tomorrow, and with yesterday's announcement of the LB&SCR D1, we thought you would appreciate a heads-up. That way you don’t miss out!

Now that you all know the LB&SCR D1 is on the way, we suspect you are going to want some coaches to run with them. Order books are closing on Monday for the Evolution Coaches in Batch 3, and this includes several liveries that would perfectly complement this suburban tank engine.

We are very pleased to announce our second OO Gauge LB&SCR loco: the much-loved LB&SCR D1 0-4-2T. The order book is open, and you can pre-order your models directly from buff.ly/7uwZBlP today or from any of our Official Retailers.

Little wagons, with just a little time left to order them! That’s right, next Monday we are wrapping up the order books for the 009 Gauge Batch 2 All-Purpose Wagons. buff.ly/uwOobHs

Want to bag all of our latest news and announcements? Don’t be a mug; make sure you are signed up for our tea-riffic email newsletter. The next edition will be hitting your inboxes this Friday, so get cosy, you are going to want to pore over it! buff.ly/EsAnnrN

We often get asked for undecorated or plain-liveried models. Well, we’ve got the perfect set of coaches for you. As part of Batch 3 of our Evolution Coach range, we have not one, but two generic liveries available. Order books close for all OO Gauge Evolution Coaches from Batch 3 on the 28th Sept.

The 009 Gauge FR red-liveried Kerr, Stuart & Co. ‘What if’ Short-Tank Sirdar and Peckett & Sons Cranmore Class proved very popular, so we suspect many of you are looking for suitable wagons to run with your locos. buff.ly/eJnKOlX

Time is ticking away, and the National Festival of Railway Modelling is fast approaching. We will be attending with all of our latest samples and prototypes and look forward to chatting to you all about what you all think of them, and all things Rapido. What are you looking forward to seeing?

Between the five builders of the Class 25, a total of 280 locos were completed. Examples of the class, nicknamed ‘Ironclad’, soldiered on until 1959. We have included a wide selection of liveries for you to choose from, covering the class's 72-year service history and into its preservation days

It would be fair to say that the Midland 483 is one of the prettiest locos we’ve ever made, and we can’t wait to see them out in the wild and on your layout. Share some photos or pictures of your Midland 483 on your layout in the comments below, so that we can all revel in the majesty of the 2P.

OO Gauge WD LSWR / WD 20T Brake Van. The following amendments have been made: SKU 820001 and 820002 (LSWR Brown)-max load marking has been updated to read ‘LOAD ONE TON’ SKU 820005 (GER Grey) – Now has black buffers. SKU 820017 (LPTB Grey)- Running number has been corrected to No.32.

Over the last month we showed you quite a few new Southern Region rolling stock samples, so we thought you might like to see some progress on the perfect loco to haul them, the SER O Class. buff.ly/jFPob4y

There's a moose loose about this hoose! Remember there’s not long left to pre-order your Purple Moose Brewery All-Purpose Wagons in 009 Gauge. Order books close on the 28th of September for these boozy bits of rolling stock, along with all of the other Batch 2 liveries. buff.ly/eJnKOlX

If Scottish railways are your thing, and yesterday's post didn’t get you excited, then we expect that the news of the order book closing for the Evolution coaches in Great North of Scotland livery will do, as it means they are soon moving through to the production phase! buff.ly/C5y6sm3

If you model the railways of Scotland, ready-to-run coaching stock is almost non-existent. Well, we’ve started to right that wrong in Batch 2, as it includes some superb examples from the Caledonian Railway and Highland Railway.

Incredible Ironclads! Just look at how many separate parts are fitted to the backhead! We were blown away by the detail when we saw these samples, and we suspect you’ll agree. buff.ly/NzvKVhd

It's Wagon Wednesday, and we want to see some of your latest Rapido Wagons! Last month, many of you received your pre-orders for the OO Gauge LB&SCR 8-Ton Goods Van and GER 5-Plank and 7-Plank Opens. We’d love to see some photos and videos of them trundling around on your layout.

Ay up! The North of England had a plethora of railways serving its residents, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was one of the largest, with lines stretching from coast-to-coast. Our upcoming L&Y Class 25 is going to look right at home coupled to the classy L&Y Evolution coaches.

It's been a while since our last 'rejected' livery, so this being the first Friday of the month, it's appropriate to show this 'what-if' a Sentinel in BR Blue! Some Sentinels worked into the 1980s in industry, but quite how this tiny pre-war example survived the Modernisation Plan is anyone's guess.

There is one model which we receive the most emails about, with the vast majority politely asking when they will arrive. We are incredibly excited to say that both the Ivor the Engine Train Packs and Rolling Stock Packs have been completed and are now bobbing their way to the UK.

009 Fowler 'Resilient' - A closer look. The Rapido Trains UK rendition of the Fowler & Co. Resilient Class 4wD will be available in a variety of liveries. All versions feature a small coreless motor, a MoPower stay-alive, and an E24 DCC decoder socket. Browse the full range here: buff.ly/1g92WTh

ORDERBOOK CLOSING! Last call for the 009 Peckett 'Cranmore' 0-4-0ST (short and long tank versions) and the WD 'Rectank' bogie wagons in OO. Send your pre-orders in now so we can get these into production: rapidotrains.co.uk/wd-35t-recta... rapidotrains.co.uk/009-peckett-...

1 day warning! The order book for the WD 35T 'Rectank' bogie wagons closes tomorrow. These come in a huge variety of liveries with different loads included. Several wagons were also converted to bolsters for long loads such as girders. buff.ly/2ePIF6h

009 Peckett 0-4-0ST - 2 days to go! The order books for our second 009 steam locomotive are closing on Monday 31st August, so be sure to get your pre-order in before the deadline to avoid disappointment. This includes the main range and the additional 'what if' long tank versions. buff.ly/uslqJZh

Rapido S&DJR 483 #70 arrives in Westhaven from Bath. #modelrailways #modeltrains #modelrailroad #bsmrguk @rapidotrains.co.uk

NEW LOCO LAUNCHES Fans of industrial and narrow gauge railways, rejoice! We have a triple-launch this month as we introduce more 4-wheeled goodness to our range. Browse the full range of Sentinels here: buff.ly/vXsPvkc Browse the Fowler 'Resilients' here: buff.ly/1g92WTh

RAPIDO RECOMMENDS - top-left hand corner of Wales edition! We know a lot of 009 modellers are fans of freelance and 'what-if' liveries. Here are some inspired by the lovely Ffestiniog Railway. Pecketts: buff.ly/jtHUtwZ Wagons: buff.ly/uslqJZh

Understandably, upon announcement, your attention was probably drawn to the eclectic mix of interesting and colourful carts that were loaded onto the OO Gauge Evolution OCT. You can pre-order the Evolution Open Carriage Truck from our website or any of our Official Retailers. buff.ly/BgPtT2z

There has been quite a bit of hubbub around our first-ever 009 loco and rightly so, as the Kerr, Stuart & Co Sirdar Class has arrived and they look lovely. They are out in the wild now, so we would love to see some nice photos or videos of them running on your layouts.

These wagons are off to the front lines... To accompany the GCR-designed WD open wagons (currently in production), why not add a suitable RECTANK with sheeted tank load and WD-built brake van for an essential supply train? Pre-order your Rectank here: buff.ly/yYdLt4a WD Brake Van: buff.ly/WxhYASr