Rapido Trains - 503045 - Passenger Car, CCF, Cafe-Bar-Lounge - Northern Pacific - 452

Model Information: The Rapido Trains Inc. Cafe-Bar-Lounge is similar to cars bought or rebuilt by most railroads to serve those customers who got the Munchies but weren?t in the mood for a fancy-schmancy meal in the dining car. Your passengers will enjoy this model?s contoured seats and its detailed take-out counter with individual display shelves for sandwiches, pizzas, and anything else your commissary cares to whip up.

The Cafe-Bar-Lounge has many of the same features as our Lightweight Coach, as it was rebuilt from a coach. It is painted in a variety of paint schemes, and all cars feature full underbody detailing including steam, air and electrical lines. It is available with partial skirting or with fixed steps, as appropriate.

• Super-detailed underbody
• Body-mounted Micro-Trains(c) couplers
• Fixed steps or partial skirts, as appropriate
• All air, steam and electrical lines represented
• Insulated 36″ metal wheelsets (no pizza cutters!)
• "Easy-Peasy" battery-powered interior lighting
• Flush windows with painted gaskets and shades
• Full interior detail including armrests and headrests
• Diaphragms with etched brass end gates
• Painted metal roof grab irons applied at the factory
• Multiple car names and/or numbers per paint scheme
• Will operate smoothly on curves down to 9-3/4″ radius
• Super-detailled 41-N-11 Inside Swinghanger or 41-BNO-11 Outside Swinghanger trucks as appropriate for each roadname and car type.

Road Name History: The Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP) was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly 40 million acres (160,000 km2) of land grants, which it used to raise money in Europe for construction. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in western Montana on Sept. 8, 1883.

The railroad had about 6800 miles of track and served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. In addition the company had an international branch to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The main activities were shipping wheat and other farm products, cattle, timber and minerals; bringing in consumer goods, transporting passengers; and selling land.

The company was headquartered first in Brainerd, Minnesota, then in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It had a tumultuous financial history, and in 1970 it merged with other lines to form the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Rapido Trains Inc. is a high-end manufacturer of model trains and accessories in HO, OO and N (North American 1:160 and British 1:148) scales. The firm's mission is to recreate the entire rail travel experience, from fully-detailed interiors and under-frames on models to fully-wired telephone poles for model railroads.

The name RAPIDO was introduced by Canadian National in 1965 to headline the railway's high-speed intercity passenger services. Until the mid-1980s, RAPIDO stood for fast schedules, frequent trains, and superb service.

Today, Rapido Trains continues the RAPIDO concept with state-of-the-art models and attention to fine detail. This company is not related to the venerable (and now defunct) German manufacturer Arnold Rapido, nor the present-day Arnold (which is owned by the United Kingdom's Hornby), Canadian based Rapido Trains was founded in 2003.