With the exit of MLW/Bombardier from locomotive manufacturing in Canada and EMD stumbling with their problematic 50-series locomotives during the early 1980s, General Electric saw a golden opportunity to finally enter the Canadian locomotive market in a significant way.  After evaluation of U.S.-built DASH 8s on Canadian rails, both Canadian National and British Columbia Railway placed orders for a customized Canadian version of the DASH8-40C. The new locomotive was the DASH8-40CM, equipped with a full-width cowl “Draper-taper” car body riding on short-wheelbase Dofasco three-axle trucks – a truck that was already widely in use on Canadian MLWs.

For this new production, Rapido’s HO scale DASH8-40CM has been fully redesigned from the ground up with a substantially enhanced list of new features including illuminated class lights, factory-installed rock lights on BC Rail engines, and a higher level of road-specific details throughout, including CN or BCOL-style ditch lights, different rear headlight configurations, presence or absence of battery boxes behind the cab, different bell positions, optional split-cooling radiators and illuminated step lights and ground lights. New tooling for this run includes the fuel tank, an all-new cab interior and Dofasco trucks.  Included onboard each of these new HO DASH8-40CMs is Rapido’s new “Mo-Power” capacitor circuit which provides uninterrupted operation over momentary electrical gaps.

BC Rail 4626 represents a former BC Rail DASH8-40CM later in life when it received yellow conspicuity striping along the lower frame sill.  New features for Rapido’s BC Rail engines in this release include factory-installed rock lights below the front anticlimber. HO model shown.

Liveries for the HO models include Canadian National in multiple variations (Stripes, CN Large Noodle, CN Website in both CN and CN-BCOL reporting marks, BC Rail in as-delivered or with yellow frame stripe and for the first time, Quebec, North Shore and Labrador.

DC/DCC-ready silent HO versions carry an $239.95 MSRP, while DC+DCC sound-equipped HO models come with a ESU Loksound 5 decoder factory-installed for $349.95 each MSRP.   

A second production of N scale DASH8-40CMs is also available in both DC/DCC-ready silent versions for $149.95 and DC+DCC sound-equipped with an ESU Loksound 5 decoder factory installed for $259.95 each for N scale.

Available now while supplies last from your favorite dealer or direct. Watch for a detailed product review of the HO Rapido DASH8-40CM in the upcoming November 2024 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman!

Rapido Trains, 500 Alden Road, Unit 21 Markham, Ontario L3R 5H5, Canada;1-855-572-6917; www.rapidotrains.com

Before inheriting BC Rail’s fleet of 26 DASH8-40CMs when the CN absorbed the British Columbia Railway in 2004, the Canadian National operated 55 DASH8-40CMs of their own. Original CN DASH8-40CMs differ from their BC Rail cousins in a multitude of subtle ways, by having external battery box compartments behind the cab, different horns and only a single-beam rear headlight, and no rock lights, unlike its more colorful relatives out West. Many of these units later received a higher capacity split-cooling radiator section. Provided with the CN models is a poly bag containing an optional split-cooling radiator section for the customer to install. HO model shown.

Why are these called “Draper-Tapers?” CN’s Assistant Chief of Motive Power – William Draper sought a new locomotive design that would combine the winterized protection provided by a full-width carbody, yet preserve the increased rearward visibility and ease of maintenance of a conventional narrow-hood road switcher.  The answer was to marry a Safety Cab with a full-width cowl carbody whose sides tapered inward just behind the rear of the cab.  Unlike earlier full-width carbody locomotives, the modular cowl carbody of the Draper Taper design preserved easy access to the prime mover and internal components. While GMD and MLW produced the first “Draper Taper” equipped locomotives, General Electric’s DASH8-40CM also delivered the same benefits when GE entered the Canadian locomotive market in 1990. HO scale DASH8-40CM model shown here.