By Harry K. Wong
Now available from Rapido Trains are premium level highly-detailed replicas of EMD GP38 locomotives in HO scale. The EMD GP38 was part of a family of new diesels introduced in 1966. Equipped with a 2,000 horsepower 16-cylinder normally-aspirated version of EMD’s new 645-series prime mover, the GP38 found itself at home on everything from yard duty, to locals and in regular mainline freight service throughout North America and beyond. Between 1966 and 1972, 700 GP38s, and 240 visually identical GP38ACs were constructed for US customers, with an additional 21 units built in Canada and six to Mexico.
Rapido’s replication of Santa Fe GP38u 2321 represents a GP38 modernized by the railroad in the 1980s with a rooftop mounted air conditioning unit, large ground plane for the radio antenna, new air dryer to the rear of the fuel tank and Blomberg trucks with outer brake clasps removed per Santa Fe mechanical practices of the period.
Rapido’s EMD GP38 locomotives are offered in a multitude of production phases and are detailed not only according to a specific road name for a particular era, but to match details for each and every road number per exhaustive research wherever possible. All units feature hybrid metal handrails with plastic vertical stanchions, separately-applied grab irons, upgraded see-through rooftop cooling fans, detailed cab interior with illuminated gauges on the control stand, flexible rubber MU hoses, a plethora of underbody details with a precision drive system featuring Rapido’s new “Mo-Power” keep-alive circuit for smooth operation under DCC over short electrical gaps.
Road names for this inaugural production include Penn Central (black, as-delivered), Conrail (blue), Burlington Northern (Cascade Green, ex-PC/CR), BNSF (H1 repaint), Santa Fe (modernized GP38u, Yellow Warbonnet), Baltimore & Ohio (as-delivered), CSX (three different gray schemes), Southern Railway (high-nose, Tuxedo), Norfolk Southern (black with ditch lights, pre-horsehead). DC/DCC-ready GP38s with 21-pin DCC plugs are priced at $239.95, while DC+DCC+Sound GP38s are $349.95 each MSRP. Available now at your favorite dealer or direct.
Rapido Trains, 500 Alden Road, Unit 21 Markham, Ontario L3R 5H5, Canada;1-855-572-6917; www.rapidotrains.com
Every Rapido GP38 comes with an extensive array of LED lighting features, including headlights, illuminated number boards, ground lights, ditch lights and classification lights (where applicable) and even illuminated backlit control stand gauges inside the cab. Each lighting feature can be controlled individually under DCC with the optional onboard DCC decoder. Note also the numerous differences in details between the Conrail and Santa Fe GP38s. beginning with the roof-mounted rotary beacon, air conditioner and radio antenna ground plane on the Santa Fe, versus the relatively plain cab roof and addition of the cab signal equipment box underneath the engineer’s front windshield on the Conrail engine.
This first release of the HO scale Rapido GP38 is offered in the following road names shown above.
