Rapido models Santa Fe repowered Alco PA and PB diesels
Rapido’s Santa Fe PA/PB set captures the February 1955 repower that raised the roofline a foot, giving modelers a rare late-life passenger scene.
Rapido Trains is modeling Santa Fe PA-1 51L and PB-1 51A and 51C as they looked after a February 1955 rebuild with EMD prime movers, including a roofline raised by about a foot. That makes this release more than a standard Santa Fe rerun, because it gives a layout a very specific late-life passenger or secondary-service moment to model.
Rapido’s master-class notes tie the story to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway’s repowered units, including PB-1 51C, ex-63L and née-51B. The company says the rebuild added a unique roof blister and EMD-style fans to the model, details that separate these units from an ordinary PA/PB and make them useful for a narrower but richer slice of railroad history. On a passenger-themed layout, that kind of change opens the door to a transition-era consist, a repowered assignment in secondary service, or a later lashup built around a well-worn cab unit that has been kept useful a little longer.
The prototype itself was a strong choice for that kind of story. American Locomotive Company and General Electric built the PA between 1946 and 1953, using ALCo’s 16-cylinder 244 diesel engine. Rapido says the PA-1 produced 2,000 horsepower and the PA-2 produced 2,250 horsepower, and the locomotive was designed to compete with General Motors’ EMD E-units in the passenger market. That history explains why a repowered Santa Fe PA still looks right on a serious streamliner roster even after the rebuild changed its roof profile.
Rapido’s second-run pricing puts the Santa Fe versions at US$239.95 for the DC/Silent HO PA-1 #51L and US$459.90 for the DC/Silent HO PA-1 + PB-1 set #51A + 51C. The DC/DCC/Sound versions are listed at US$349.95 for #51L and US$669.90 for the paired set. Rapido also lists A-units and A-B sets, with dynamic or non-dynamic brake versions where appropriate, giving modelers a choice between a single locomotive or a matched set built for a more complete passenger consist.
The Santa Fe PA story carries extra weight because the railroad’s surviving examples have drawn preservation attention as well. The Museum of the American Railroad took delivery of ex-Santa Fe Railway Alco PA-1 #59L in May 2011, after two Santa Fe PAs were repatriated from Mexico in 2000 through the efforts of William Withuhn of the Smithsonian Institution. Trains magazine later gave the museum a 2016 Preservation Award, including a US$10,000 prize, for restoration of the last surviving Santa Fe-painted Alco PA diesel locomotive. That is the same appeal Rapido is tapping here: a familiar passenger icon, but rebuilt into a very specific chapter that makes the roofline, fans and roster number part of the scene.
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