Lets see your Arnold N scale!

oldrk Jan 6, 2011

  1. SLSF Freak

    SLSF Freak Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Do my DB S-Bahn's count? I have seven sets of Arnold Rapido ET420s, like the ones I rode when I was a kid...
    ET420_S4.jpg

    I also have an Arnold street-car and some passenger and freight locomotives (all Deutsche Bundesbahn) but everything is in boxes so no pics of those guys.

    Cheers -Mike
     
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  2. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Hi Mike, I guess I don't want to speak for Oldrk, the thread originator, (Gosh, I hope he's OK. He hasn't been on here since Feb, 2018) but I would think anything made by Arnold Rapido would count. That's a neat set in your picture.

    Doug
     
  3. WM183

    WM183 TrainBoard Member

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    I assure you, that DB model is far more reliable than the actual Deutsche Bahn... *grr*
     
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  4. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Early in my modeling my first Geep was an Arnold GP-9 that ran very well. It was slightly out of scale as compared to other models of the GP-9 that came out later in that it was smaller. Still wasn't bad for the times as far as detail and a good runner.
     
  5. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    This is probably one of the ultimate 'sows ear' projects as this is what you could do with a Rapido GP30 if you threw everything at it.

    Brass handrails, repainted, tuned mechanism, details..... And I sold it a long time ago, even after I'd repowered it with an N Scale of Nevada Atlas GP chassis. This is when it still had the original Arnold drive.

    [​IMG]

    Pretty much same deal with the GP7, including trying to block off that huge gap between trucks and the frame.

    [​IMG]

    Again, long ago retired and sold and replaced with better power, but at the time there weren't a whole lot of EMD alternatives in the B-B class, and the first-run Atlas Roco GP's didn't run much better unless they were repowered.
     
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  6. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Now I went and did it. There was a NIB B&O Pacific (just like Tony's pride and joy, above, albeit without smoke) from the same guy I got the PC GG-1 and it has been ordered.

    :D

    Doug
     
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  7. PGE-N°2

    PGE-N°2 TrainBoard Member

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    Alco glory in orange and black.

    Clipboard02.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2018
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  8. cbg

    cbg TrainBoard Member

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    A few oldies I have ARNOLD 5104.jpg ARNRIV 5115.jpg ARNRIV 5117.jpg
     
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  9. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    This is one of two un-painted S2's I bought in the mid 1990's and painted in the SP scarlet and gray scheme. No DCC and not a great runner but heavy will match the pulling power of most of my road switchers.

    SP1433.jpg
     
  10. SD35

    SD35 TrainBoard Member

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    Hello,

    I bought 2017 2x Burlington U28C 563/571, nice locos ! :)
     
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  11. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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  12. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Found some of my old Arnold Rapido and took some photos.

    Two steamers, the 0226 0-6-0 in Western & Atlantic and the 0228S 4-6-2 in Southern Railway. Despite being nearly 50 years old, they both run very well.

    Rapido 0-6-0.jpg
    Rapido 4-6-2.jpg
     
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  13. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    From my very first N Scale set from a 1968 birthday, Arnold's Baldwin Switcher and Caboose in one of my hometown roads, the C&NW. The Baldwin has the guts from my locomotive and a shell that I was fortunate to find at a train show. I ruined my shell as a kid and also hosed weathering on the caboose. I'm happy to have these.

    Rapido Baldwin.jpg
    Rapido Caboose C&NW.jpg
     
  14. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Rapido large and small in the form of the 0409-P Auto Rack for $4.98 and the li'l 0479 Bobber Caboose at $2.50. Rapido's Auto Racks could be bought with or without autos, the latter priced at a dollar less.

    Rapido Auto Rack PC.jpg

    Rapido Caboose Bobber.jpg
     
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  15. SLSF Freak

    SLSF Freak Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    My dad has that loco! I remember it well from when I was a kid (70s) because of its colors and gold smoke stack. If I remember right he has some short old time passenger cars he used to run with it (Bachmann maybe?) It was a surprisingly good runner for its size.
     
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  16. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, my 0-6-0 never stalls. Your Dad perhaps has Rapido's matching passenger cars, a Combine and Coach. These are also nice and the set makes a fine sight.

    [​IMG]

    Arnold also offered these old time 0-6-0s in UP, with a silver-boilered/red body and tender, and passenger cars too.

    Rapido's 4-6-2 Pacific was also a sweet runner. It had tender pickup (with metal truck sideframes) and a metal boiler, and combined with traction tires on the rear driver set, it could pull anything coupled behind it. Santa Claus brought me a black AT&SF Rapido 4-6-2 for Christmas in either '70 or '71 and I must have run it for 10,000 hours. :) I literally wore it out. I still have some pieces of it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2018
  17. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Beauties, all! My 0-6-0 (a plain black one) was the first Rapido locomotive I ever bought (on October 2nd, 2018, my 66th birthday) and I was super impressed by its running qualities. I expected Mehano characteristics for a little loco like that but it is much superior. As Hardcoaler said, it never stalls, even through Treble-O-Lectric switches. Quiet and smooth.

    I have been in N scale from the beginning so it seems a bit silly that that was the first Rapido loco I ever bought but I guess that's one of life's mysteries. I suppose if my local hobby shop had carried Arnold Rapido back in 1967 instead of Atlas, I would have started with that.

    Since that little loco, which came without a tender, I have bought others including a Penn Central GG-1, a Soo Line GP30, a B&O Pacific, a Penn Central GP7 and coming, a Pennsylvania (Tuscan) GG-1. and two Penn Central FA-2s. I have already posted pictures of the 0-6-0, Penn Central GG-1 and Soo Line GP30 and will post pictures of the other ones soon.

    Doug
     
  18. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Looking forward to seeing your photos Doug.

    Speaking of Rapido vs Atlas, the differences in their track drove me crazy as a kid. Rapido had the staggered rail joints which locked an oval-shaped track together nicely, whereas Atlas had the even rail joints. I began with Rapido's track system and it was aggravating to see Atlas track everywhere and not be able to use it. It was only in downtown Chicago did I commonly see Rapido track and trains. It was such a thrill to visit Hobby Service & Supply and Marshall Field and see Rapido stacked everywhere.
     
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  19. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I just ordered my stuff by mail from the catalog.
    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Ah yes, the treasured Arnold catalogs! I still have several of mine as well, some dog-eared from constant page turning as a kid. Those photos really fired up our imaginations didn't they?

    Inflation was rampant in the '70s and exchange rates made everything SO expensive. I recall that some catalogs had a loose photocopied price sheet inserted within because pricing rose at such a rapid rate. Even spare parts cost a fortune. I needed a new motor for my 'trix U-28CG and it was something near $20 from their importer. That was a month's worth of lawn mowing wages!
     
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