Review: Rapido HO GP9RM Mother + Slug Set, DCC/LOKSound Lots of Model Railroading Lighting Features

[@KenSeguin-ur9zb]

Absolutely gorgeous. Love the contrasting paint schemes. Canada excels at railroad ing.

[@markiewodi3371]

Wow!!! These are really sweet!! Love the sounds on the slugs! Great review as always James!

[@shnorth888]

Another ballpark hit for Rapido. Beautiful detail on these 😊

[@jlwii2000]

yeah these are packed with detail and lighting features.

[@stevenikitas8170]

Love the sound of that slug...

[@jlwii2000]

yeah its really cool and augments the flange squeal sounds also!

[@roberttrains8696]

Good video James I hear there’s a lot of lite on that engine. The detail looks great on it . Robert

[@jlwii2000]

thanks Robert!

[@1Nanerz]

I’ve done work in the real 7221 and they really knocked this one out of the park. The LCS talker is totally random and has nothing to do with real movements, but it’s still a neat feature.

[@Maverick_31]

Best engines for switching with the beltpack. At least when they're not broken down anyway. Slugs were nice to have in the rain and snow

[@DerrickODea]

Does the single locomotive come with a goodie bag of parts or is that just a mother slug kind of thing?

[@jacobpfeifertrains1998]

Those tanks on the roof i believe are spark arrestors added to the end of the exaust stacks.

[@randydobson1863]

Hi James & it's is Randy and i like yours video is cool & Thanks James & Friends Randy

[@williamdavid9333]

Great looking video!

[@157RANDOM]

Interestingly enough, the dynamic brake bulges are no longer for dynamic brakes. When the GP9s were rebuilt into the GP9RM, they removed the dynamics and put intake filters where the fans and resistors were.

[@fevinman7162]

James, for reviews like this, of equipment not in your era or an obvious fit for your layout, do you purchase these models or borrow them for review? And if you buy them, do you keep them after the review? Thanks!

[@jlwii2000]

its a mixed bag with mostly purchased, some provided and some borrowed. I keep 95% of them, the rest get a purge on Facebook marketplace or online somewhere once every few years or so.

[@christophernorman684]

Thank you for your review, I can't wait to get my hands on these. Question, can the bay windows in the units be removed?

[@jlwii2000]

I'm kind of afraid to try but I think so.

[@christophernorman684]

@@jlwii2000 Haha thank you that's why I thought I'd ask. I'd rather someone else be the test dummy instead of it always being me (you're not a dummy but hopefully you get it).

[@michaelfedora5630]

Just to let you know I was the guy who asked Jason to put this train into production and I'm very glad he did just that

[@sparky107107]

did they say where all the extra parts go ?

[@jlwii2000]

no, didnt get into that. my vision is terrible lol.

[@TimOGhoul]

A properly modeled CN GP9 makes what Walthers offers in their Mainline line look a poor substitute. (I realize their target markets are different.)

[@christophernorman684]

It’s funny because they were the only option for so long. I bought an undecorated GP9 from Walthers back in 2008 and had it painted in the CNR striped scheme and thought it was real lol. Now that these are out I sold that engine for $20

[@25mfd]

true, walthers loses the details contest hands down... BUT from what i've seen from at least two YT modelers who own rapido equipment, rapido locos are flat out under performing pieces of JUNK... one guy said his rapido locomotive burned out i think 3 motors in a couple month time span... other guy said he kept having operational issues with his, sent it back to rapido, it ran good for a moment then took another crap... he finally gave up and bought a walthers GP9... he said while it lacked the detail that rapido obviously had, the PERFORMANCE of the walthers loco was much more RELIABLE... i do hope these two guys are one offs and not part of a common busted rapido theme

[@christophernorman684]

@@25mfd Interesting you mentioned that, I bought two Rapido gp9’s in the stripe scheme from my local hobby shop and they only had three left. Of the three, the front plow broke off of one and another one didn’t even turn on. I got a discount on the broken plow and got the fully functioning one but now that you mention all of that, maybe motor or DCC issues for these units are not as rare as I thought they were

[@MrBnsftrain]

I'm amazed the slug is actually powered and makes sounds! You wouldn't normally hear the sound of extra traction motors behind a loud diesel engine

[@vena.sera4237]

the silver looking tanks on top are not tanks, but exhaust mufflers

[@jlwii2000]

ah ok, thanks!

[@dennisarmes3473]

@@jlwii2000 rookie mistake, james !!! just sayin' !!

[@oswaldjacobs1882]

spark arrestors not exhaust mufflers

[@DecentSAKTKPLAYER]

Those are all-weather cab windows, not bay windows

[@sparky107107]

lots of Easter eggs with this loco.. keep playing with the function keys

[@PhilBender612]

You Mother Slugger, lol You should have shown this vid on Sunday, Mothers day. lol 2 for 2

[@jlwii2000]

😆 I should have

[@sparky107107]

why do you do this to us.. I model Conrail, had no with to get this mother and slug set.. more you showed it the more I seen it in Conrail Blue.. so of coarse,, I ordered one.. OVRTrains.. speaking of which, are you coming to their manufacture meet up this september,? big question I now have.. anyone out there paint this loco and slug In the Conrail paint for me

[@jlwii2000]

no not going to make the trip simply too busy, glad I helped you buy one. I'll see if I can find a custom painter for you.

[@thetaxman5302]

James you are overdue for some videos of your impressive OVERLAND BRASS collection 👍

[@jlwii2000]

yeah it's a pain to do any collection videos because you have to pull out each model and line them up somewhere. It's grown 10x since my last video on the brass .

[@chrisdurgala5548]

These have really good, amazing detail however I’ve noticed that that companies diesel decoders all sound really close to each other, even when the prime movers in the real world sound miles apart. Next, I will say QSI did 1000 times better on the Doppler horn effect than this. My personal favorite decoders are QSI and TCS. Wow they both to me surpass all the others even though this one you can hook up to the computer in different programs. What about those of us who just want to take it out of the box, have it sounding prototypical with minimal messing around with CVs on our railroads? Not to mention the prices yes better detail, but they are going insanely high and really chasing anybody who is middle-class early income out of the hobby and focusing solely on people who potentially make 80,000 or more a year in order to truly enjoy and keep purchasing and rolling stock for their roster. This is not even taking into consideration, the extreme rise and price of tracks and buildings and scenery. When the bottom line is, it’s all made overseas. The quality is reasonable, but definitely could be better in the production and use of the cheaper plastics and weaker metals that they use within all products. It’s gotten to the point where I will run what I have on my layout, but if something has an issue, then it’s done. I will not try to replace it and I foresee soon just selling off all my model railroading stuff simply do to all the corporations making stuff insanely high priced And non-repairable or replaceable unless someone buys a ton of them and stores them away as new products and resell them. I have been in this hobby for over 30 years and honestly am sad to see it going the way it is knowing that you must settle for cheap all plastic toy versions of any trains to even get into the hobby when I started, you could get decent high-quality products for a reasonable price that would run For years without issue and we’re supposed to be encouraging the younger generation to come in when you pretty much need a second or third job just to fund your model railroad hobby not seeing where this is leading to anything good or positive for these companies and manufacturers and the overall model railroading community.

[@oswaldjacobs1882]

truck lights not ground lights

[@anb7408]

Rapido and Athearn are in a constant race to see who can make their models the most expensive. Every time a new run is released, they tack on another $10 to the price tag. A whopping $670 retail for the mother/slug. That’s a h*** no for me. Beyond ridiculous.

[@ExplodedwarlockD2]

Then don’t buy anything. Two locos 300 each. With sound isn’t that bad. Plus elections have consequences.

[@markiewodi3371]

Ya know I thought the same…. Until I added up the detail parts, painting, sound/DCC, LEDs, wiring…. So do it all yourself, let us know how it all comes out and how much it cost. I’ve got 2 Rapido locomotives and I wanna say 5-6 passenger cars and there is NO comparison. Just great stuff. A pro tip…… no hobby is cheap.

[@jlwii2000]

MSRP is the 670, you're paying about $300 per loco as is with other companies after discounts anyway but completely your call. Your wallet, your decisions.

[@oswaldjacobs1882]

no one asked you & no one cares

[@JeffC-dj3gd]

It is sacrifice that adds sweetness to ANY human endeavor. Too easy=too boring.