Description
By the mid-1960s most class-one railroads were trying to get out of the passenger business as quickly as possible — but the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe went the other way, buying new passenger diesels from both EMD and GE. GE answered first with ten U28CGs in 1966 in the famous red-and-silver warbonnet, then followed in 1967 with six U30CGs (numbers 400-405). The U30CG carried a full-width cowl carbody with steam-generator equipment and stainless-steel fluting matched to Santa Fe's passenger fleet, plus a rounded nose that set it apart from the earlier U28CG. They went into service on the Super Chief, Grand Canyon Limited, Texas Chief and San Diegan.
Their passenger careers were short. A 1969 wreck soured the ATSF on the GE units, and although they were cleared back into service, they spent most of their time on high-priority freights. In 1970 all six were renumbered 8000-8005 and rarely led a passenger train again. They wore the original red-and-silver warbonnet, briefly the blue-and-yellow bookend scheme in 1971, and finally the yellow warbonnet from 1973 — by the late 1970s the paint was wearing thin enough that the original red and silver showed through. Rapido's HO U30CG is designed from original measurements and captures accurate nose and roof contours, three different back ends, full traction motor casing details on trucks with rotating bearing caps where appropriate, and roadnumber-specific stepwells.
Each locomotive comes DC/Silent (DCC ready) or Dual-Mode DC/DCC/Sound with ESU LokSound 5 Micro. Full lighting includes track lights, step lights and walkway lighting. MoPower capacitor and Rapido's metal Macdonald-Cartier couplers are standard. Pre-orders require a 25% deposit; balance collected when stock arrives.
This unit: HO GE U30CG w/o SG (DC/DCC/Sound): Santa Fe - Yellow Warbonnet w/ Large Logo: #8005
- Designed from original measurements with accurate nose and roof contours
- Three different back-end configurations; roadnumber-specific stepwells
- Heavy die-cast frame, full traction-motor casing details, rotating bearing caps
- Full lighting package: track lights, step lights, walkway lights
- Etched-metal steps and rubber sanding lines
- DC/Silent (DCC ready) or Dual-Mode DC/DCC/Sound with ESU LokSound 5 Micro
- MoPower capacitor for uninterrupted DCC running
📦 Preorder details:
Expected ship date: see the Rapido Product Delivery Schedule for the latest dates
25% deposit required at checkout, balance charged when product ships.
Preorder cancellation: 7 days from order date; deposit non-refundable after that.
Browse more from Rapido Trains and our HO scale collection, or see all preorders. Ships from Oakville, Ontario. Contact us for special orders.