Home Shops is proud to announce a new partnership with Rapido Trains Inc., created to bring freelance locomotives and freight cars to a wider audience than Home Shops could reach alone. This collaboration allows both companies to do what they do best: Rapido brings world‑class manufacturing and distribution, while Home Shops continues to curate freelance projects and champion the world‑building community that has grown around them. This is not a takeover or a merger — both companies remain fully independent, working together where it benefits the freelance niche.

Home Shops began as a personal vision — a cottage‑industry effort built after hours, driven by a passion for world‑building and a belief that freelance railroading deserved a platform of its own. While the community has always been collaborative, the day‑to‑day execution of the business fell squarely on my shoulders. That reality created natural limitations. There were landmark projects I wanted to pursue — projects the community would have embraced — but the bandwidth simply wasn’t there. The ambition was bigger than the infrastructure.

Over the years, Home Shops has partnered with many manufacturers, including Rapido. Together, we’ve delivered several standout projects: the C30‑7 locomotives, the C36‑7 locomotives, the Berlin Mills boxcars, the B‑70‑69 boxcars, and the GP20 tank cars. Each one demonstrated what was possible when strong manufacturing met strong freelance storytelling. This new partnership with Rapido builds on that history, but it does not replace our relationships with other manufacturers. Home Shops may continue to collaborate across the industry wherever a project makes sense.

A major part of this next step is how these products will be purchased. All Rapido‑produced Home Shops models will be available directly from Rapido or through any authorized Rapido dealer. This shift is intentional. By moving fulfillment, warehousing, and shipping into Rapido’s established system, I can spend far less time acting as a stock clerk and far more time doing what Home Shops exists to do: curate freelance projects, support world‑builders, and lead the growth of this niche. All other Home Shops inventory will continue to ship directly from Home Shops, but new Rapido‑produced items will flow through Rapido’s channels for consistency and scale.

Rapido‑produced Home Shops projects will follow a preorder‑driven model. This ensures that each locomotive or freight car has the support needed to move from concept to production. Preorders determine which roadnames move forward, how deep each run can be, and how many future freelance projects become possible. Pricing will follow Rapido’s standard structure, ensuring consistency across dealers and making it easy for customers to know what to expect. Freelance projects will be scheduled alongside Rapido’s regular production, with timelines coordinated so that the pipeline remains steady and predictable.

At its core, this partnership preserves what Home Shops has always been. Home Shops remains the curator and advocate for the freelance community — the source of roadnames, artwork, storytelling, and world‑building vision. Rapido adds the production capacity, engineering expertise, and distribution network needed to bring these ideas to life at a scale Home Shops could never achieve alone. The identity stays the same; the possibilities expand. The Freelance Forum also remains unchanged — still a Home Shops event, still independent, and still focused on celebrating the creativity of world‑builders.

None of this would be possible without the world‑builders who have supported Home Shops from the beginning. Every decal sheet designed, every freight car ordered, every layout shared, every story written — all of it built the foundation that made this next step possible. Your creativity is the reason this partnership exists. Your imagination is what drives the future of this niche.

This partnership is not the finish line — it’s the starting point for a new era of freelance railroading. Keep designing. Keep world‑building. Keep imagining the railroads that never were but should have been. And when you have an idea you want to see brought to life, reach out to Home Shops. The next great freelance project may already be in your mind. I’m here to help you bring it into the world.