Review and Photos by Harry K. Wong
Until the late 1970s, nearly all passenger trains in North America relied on steam piped from the locomotive throughout the train to provide onboard heating and air conditioning. When diesel-electric locomotives first took over, passenger units had to be equipped with a steam boiler. Head-End Power (HEP) is the use of electricity to provide heat, air conditioning, and lighting from generators located at the “head end” (front of the train) from either the locomotive or a dedicated generator car. The first successful implementation of HEP in North America was on the Chicago & North Western Railroad in 1959.
With massive growth in the suburbs west of Chicago in the early 1970s, the West Suburban Mass Transit District set out to have 21 Burlington Northern E8A and E9A diesels rebuilt and upgraded by Morrison-Knudsen with modernized components. Rechristened as E9AMs under WSMTD ownership in a fresh coat of BN Cascade Green and black with safety striping, the upgrades included new 645-series power assemblies, additional cooling fans mounted mid-locomotive, and conversion from steam heat to HEP. Four additional BN E-units were rebuilt in 1978. All came under the banner of Metra in 1985.
Now available from Rapido Trains are all-new highly detailed replicas of EMD E8A and E9A passenger locomotives with modernized details representing HEP capability for Burlington Northern, Amtrak, Conrail, Canadian National, Metro-North, and Illinois Central. These engines are not only era- and road-specific in details and paint, but feature details faithful to each road number where possible.
This review covers Rapido’s renditions of BN E9AMs 9902 and 9924. Modernized details include blanked portholes in the side panels, additional 36” rooftop cooling fans, HEP genset compartment with exhaust mufflers and fan, and additional rooftop piping. With the exception of the thicker grab irons on the nose, a high level of finely rendered details are provided, including a cab interior with sun visors, etched metal windshield wipers, metal vertical handrails, coupler cut levers, two different styles of etched metal side grilles, brass air horns, a radio antenna, and more. Included in the box with these BN E-units is the box-style HEP generator compartment which was later retrofitted to the fleet. Remove the shell and gently push up from the inside of the HEP hatch to pop out one for the other.
Motors and Drive
The body shell is easily removable by spreading out the sides of the body above each truck. Inside you will find a heavy die-cast chassis surrounding a precision can motor with dual flywheels. All wheels are driven and provide electrical pickup. Atop the chassis on this sound-equipped model is a motherboard hosting an ESU LokSound5 decoder via a 21-pin plug. On the motherboard is Rapido’s “Mo-Power” capacitor circuit which provides uninterrupted operation over momentary electrical gaps. Before performing any DCC programming, it is a good idea to leave the unit off the track for at least one minute to allow any remaining energy from the capacitor circuit to fully discharge.
Lighting and Sound
Lighting features include front and rear headlights, bicolor LED classification lights, number boards, rotary beacon (BN), inset ditch lights (CN and IC), and ground lights above the front truck. Rapido’s rendition of a Stratolite rotary beacon echoes its solid-state prototype with four separate orange LEDs flashing in sequence. The beacon dome is cast in clear plastic. To dial this in, a light dab of Tamiya X-26 clear orange acrylic onto the dome will provide the proper look.
When operating in “push” mode (reverse), the classification lights turn red to act as rear markers when F0 is enabled. The white classification lights illuminate with Function F11 when the locomotive is set in the forward direction. By the 1980s, all 25 units received a dedicated third red marker light positioned directly under the front headlight. To this, a marker light housing with lens is thoughtfully provided in a poly bag for the user to install. Using the provided guide hole on the inside of the body shell to drill out an opening for the marker housing, a red LED is already positioned on the chassis to illuminate this additional center marker light. No additional programming is necessary.
Function F8 invokes the startup sounds for the two non-turbocharged prime movers in sequence. I set CV163 to a value of 4 to emulate horn sounds from a Leslie S-3L, which seemed closest to the prototype to my ear. Sound effects are emitted through speakers mounted atop the chassis just behind the center of the locomotive.
DC Operation
Under traditional analog DC control, the lights and sound came on at 5.2 volts, followed by motion at 8.0 volts. The front headlight, beacon, ground lights, and number boards illuminate in the forward direction under analog control. When operating in reverse, the red marker lights also light up. Directional changes under analog DC replay the prime mover startup sequence prior to movement. For optimal performance, we prefer DCC control for the sound-equipped versions of these locomotives.
Weight and Operation
The Rapido E-unit tips the scales at a substantial 21.1 oz. On the test stand, we recorded a steady maximum pull of 4.0 oz. Under DCC control, an excellent minimum continuous speed of 0.9 mph and a maximum speed of 83 mph was achieved. Kadee-compatible metal knuckle couplers are preinstalled. The coupler height was spot on measured against our gauge.
Budd Gallery Cars
The postwar boom after World War II resulted in new suburban housing developments outside of major city centers. To transport commuters to work efficiently, both Pullman-Standard and Budd developed double-deck passenger car designs with an open gallery-style center aisle that allows a conductor to collect tickets from both levels at once. The first Budd gallery cars entered service in 1950 on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy line between Chicago and Aurora, Ill. More than 350 gallery cars were built by Budd, with the last ones rolling out of the plant in 1978. These and similar cars from other builders form the backbone of Chicago’s Metra commuter rail to the present day.
Now available from Rapido Trains are highly detailed HO scale replicas of these Budd-built Bilevel Gallery cars. Straight from the box, these models deliver a crisp appearance overall, with a shiny tinted metallic simulated stainless steel finish, finely rendered fluting, sprung diaphragms with bolt detail, stirrup steps, and metal grab irons. Behind the green tinted windows in the passenger compartment is a fully detailed interior with painted seating on both levels, and safety railings with baggage storage on the upper level. Per the prototype, the windows for the crew cab and exit doors are not tinted.
Underbody details are fully represented in stunning form beginning with separately applied HEP cable conduits running the length of the center sill, air conditioning equipment, battery and equipment boxes, brake hardware with associated air piping, and so much more for the eyes to feast upon.
The trucks feature machined metal wheelsets, with bearing caps and separately applied brake cylinders and air lines. Additional details specific to the cab car include headlights, windshield wipers, side mirrors, engineer’s control stand, air horn cluster, wire horn guards, radio antenna, rear marker lights, and on this BN cab car, an illuminated strobe light atop the roof. Other Rapido cab cars have Gyralites and/or ditch lights where appropriate. Beneath the sill and diaphragm of the front of the cab are looped HEP cables, flexible rubber brake and signal hoses, and a lower pilot assembly. Flexible rubber HEP cables are even provided for inter-car connections.
Measuring 85 feet overall, the cab car tips the scales at 8.4 oz. while the trailers are 8.2 oz. Both cars are slightly over one ounce heavier than the NMRA’s recommended practices for an HO car of this length, which we found only beneficial to tracking ability. The cars rolled freely and operated smoothly without incident across our test layout. The minimum recommended curve radius is 22”. The couplers are body-mounted onto the frame.
For operating on tight curves, a pair of long-shank metal knuckle couplers is included in a separate bag with each car. Across the cars we tested, one of the couplers measured .020” high against our Kadee coupler height gauge.
Sound and Lighting
Each Rapido gallery car comes equipped with wand-activated LED lighting that works right out of the box for both DC and DCC environments. Tap the center of one half of the roof to turn on the interior lights. On cab cars, tap the center of the forward portion of the roof to switch on either the headlights or rear markers with successive taps. To add sound and animated lighting effects for the strobe, Gyralites and/or ditch lights, replace the dummy plug with a sound decoder of your choice into the cab car’s motherboard. A speaker comes preinstalled in the cab car.
For those who insist upon automatic directional lighting control in analog DC environments, DC users can remove the default dummy board for an optional DC-only directional lighting board packed in a poly bag with each cab car. All said, the wand-activated lighting should suffice for most everyone.
Summary
With these road-specific E-units and matching Budd fluted stainless Gallery cars, Rapido has delivered thoughtfully designed, highly detailed, smooth-running replicas of Chicago commuter trains many of us have sought for years in HO scale. Though the rebuilt E-units were retired in 1992, many of the gallery cars are still in service to this day. We look forward to additional variations of these fine models to be offered in the future.
