I got an email announcement yesterday from Rapido Trains.
They have decided to produce a brand of flex track called “Bendy Track”.
Here is the text of their announcement.
After mulling this over since 2008, Rapido is finally getting into the HO scale track market.
Why track? Simply put, a lot of modellers have been looking for affordable HO scale track that is highly detailed and, more importantly, available when you need it! Our first shipment arrives in late September and we’ll be receiving a new shipment of track every month.
As you can see, our track features fine spike detail, with four spikes per tie and the spikes offset from each other just like many prototypes. It’s not too clunky like some commercial track, and it’s not too fine like others so your rails won’t pull up out of the spikes. The wood grain is subtle rather than overdone. So often the woodgrain on commercial track is so pronounced it looks like it belongs on the walls of a 1970s basement and not on HO scale ties.
Most importantly, it bends easily and then gently springs back and it doesn’t kink like some commercial track. On the other hand, it doesn’t have so much torsional strength that it will overpower your caulk or pins that are holding it down. If you use acrylic caulk to glue down your track, you will only need a couple of pins (if any) to keep the whole piece in place while the caulk is drying. If you use nails, the ties are half-drilled from below every few inches so you can easily poke through to create nail holes.
Here’s a rundown of the features:
HO scale Bendy Track - three-foot long nickel-silver flexible track
I sure hope Atlas gets worried about this. Its good for us to have options, when Atlas decides to have a shortage of track, for what like 6 months.
I really don’t care what the reason was behind it. The only thing we care about is no track available from Atlas. So we need to be able to find other quality track.
Atlas shipped C100 and C83 flex a while back, it is available now. Rapido should have started with switches, there are already plenty of choices for flex (PECO, ME, Walthers, etc.).
Why,What?? A lot of people have already switched to different brands,so I would have to say,that they lost some business and now they have more competition… Unless you work for Atlas,let it go…
I’m sure no one at Atlas is loosing any sleep over this, they likely just gave it a little chuckle as they shipped a few more thousand cases of 100 pieces each.
I wonder what kind of bite Rapido took out of Walthers and others when they arrived on scene with their new line of coaches. Losing sleep, maybe not yet! Competition and loss of sales are a constant concern to any business. You are not in business long if you don’t pay close attention to it.
Rapidos attention to quality does seem to mirror what happened in the Auto industry all those years ago. My friend still has his Dads old 1972 Datsun 510. It’s now a lowered racecar, but it is still running great. Haven’t seen his Moms Ford Pinto for 30 years.[(-D]
Sheldon, once again you are bringing the dreaded logic to the table!
I was a Lionel nut back in the mid 1950s. Their typical cars ran $5 ! I lusted for those 64xx boxcars, but only managed to get two of them. Today similar cars are close to $50 - an outrage!
But wait, a typical hard working man in the mid 50s might be making $6-8k a year, and minimum wage was (as I recall) 85 cents an hour.
Today, those comparative numbers are significantly higher of course, and while $7.50 retail seems outrageous, it really isn’t - especially since the online shops will likely sell it for about $6 or so.
Respectfully no. Ten years ago the price of flex track was artificially low for two reasons:
It was early in the China production thing where we still had the exchange rate advantage, and oil prices were still being held artificially low by a number of factors - both conditions have adjusted to the mean average and the temporary, artificially low prices have adjusted.
Way back in 1991, 22 years ago, Walthers code 83 flex retailed for $4.49 and Atlas code 100 was $2.50 - so it stayed basically the same for over 10 years despite inflation, until after 2000 and now has corrected based on changing economics described above.
$4.49 x .03 = 0.1347 x 22 years = $2.96 + $4.49 = $7.45 - the typical price today.
The street price of Proto2000 locos was artificially low then too, I took great advantage. But I also understand that now I have to “pay the freight” based on the current conditions.
Serious study of prices, inflation and economics must include long term price averaging - a single product,10 years ago, is not a good measure of the actual cost of anything. The tax cuts of Ronald Reagan in the 80’s fueled the Clinton boom of the nineties - it takes that long.
I recently (well, not THAT recently!) bought 33 yards of stick rail, since I had run out of old rail for my hand-laid specialwork. As a result I re-discovered a forgotton option - hidden track that is simply stick rail on wood (NOT wood ties) spiked every 40mm and otherwise unadorned. I wouldn’t use that method where it might be visible, but in places where the sun can’t shine, why not?
As for flex - I think I have all that I’m likely to need any time soon. Hopefully, by the time another purchase is necessary this whole mess will have sorted itself out.
