It was when Jason Schron spent four hours under a baggage car in —20C weather, with his head lodged beside a generator and directly under a toilet release chute, that he realized he had made the right decision about what to do with his life.

Less than a year earlier, he had quit pursuing a PhD in art history at a prestigious British university to build high-quality model trains – he examines real trains, even in —20C weather, to make sure every detail is exact.

Which is probably why his model train business has been so successful. Schron started a company called Rapido Trains in 2003 with a kit that buyers ordered and assembled themselves. He sold a few, but realized most of his potential customers didn't really have time to build their own models.

Then he met a fellow model-train enthusiast in China and they started up a factory to build his trains.

"Believe me, I tried to get them made in Canada, but I couldn't." he said. "It wasn't the price – when I showed them (Canadian plastics factories) the kind of detail I wanted, they simply couldn't comprehend."

Rapido incorporated in November 2004, had enough business by September 2005 for Schron to be working full time on his trains. Now, he has three employees.

For 2005, Rapido reported revenues of just under $50,000, but in 2007 it pulled in $1,248,217. And it's still growing.

But Schron says he's not in it for the money.

"I have enough to pay my bills, enough to pay my mortgage," he said. "This industry isn't quite big enough for anyone in it to have a private jet."

Instead, he does it, he said, because it's what he always wanted to do.

"My earliest memory is of taking the Turbo Train from Montreal to Toronto when I was 2," he said. "I started building model trains when I was 4 and by the time I was 13, I was stripping down commercial model trains and remaking them for VIA."

Since then, he's dedicated much of his life to trains – actually one train in particular, the Turbo.

The gas turbine-powered, high-speed train that operated between Montreal and Toronto from 1968 until 1982 and on various routes in the United States from 1968 until 1976.

It was the first train Schron ever rode and the only one he truly loves. He's even written a book about it – Turbotrain: A Journey – in which he hoped to lay to rest the belief that the train was a failure.

"It was put on the rails one year after testing – most trains get 10 years of testing – and had some problems," he said. "But once they fixed them, it was the best train in the world with a 97 per cent on-time rate and a 98.6 per cent availability."

He also points out that a Turbo Train still holds the Canadian train speed record at 226.2 km/h and the U.S. train speed record at 274.8 km/h.

His continuing obsession with trains is obvious at Rapido's Concord, Ont., headquarters. It's decorated with posters and other regalia from trains and even real parts taken from antique trains.

Schron greets guests on real VIA Rail chairs. Behind them is a working H0-scale track – in H0 scale, 3.5 millimetres represents 1 real foot – with various versions of the Turbo on it. They light up and they have real announcements in English and French recorded by a real CP Rail conductor.

"When the Turbo project ended, they were going to throw everything away, but I knew someone who collected it all – everything from plans to memos," he said. "And he traded it in exchange for one completed model."

Keep in mind that these are not the kind of train sets you put under the Christmas tree for the kids – they are very serious with individual cars and engines retailing for about $65 and a complete set going for $500. But according to many in the industry, that's bargain for what Rapido offers.

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"His products are of very high quality, a brass model is typically $500, while Rapido is typically only $65," said Tom Tomblin, owner of Oakville-based Canadian Model Trains. "So, you'd think it'd be cheap in comparison, but it's the exact opposite – very high quality, but at a low price."

By making his products in China fashioned out of plastic, Schron has managed to keep costs down.

"Rapido offers models with great fidelity and accuracy to people who ordinarily would not be about to get them," said Tomblin.

And Schron knows how to sell model trains.

"Jason is very aggressive at marketing," said Neil Begsouloff, editor-in-chief of Model Railroader magazine – the industry bible, which has published two very positive reviews of Rapido products.

"He teased the Turbo for about a year, so when it was ready to ship, it was already sold out."

Those customers will remain loyal, Tomblin said, not just because of the quality of the product, but the customer support afterward.

"That's a strong point for Rapido," he said. "If something goes wrong they make it right very quickly and they treat international customers like they're in Toronto or Mississauga, no matter what the cost."

But when it gets down to it, it's the quality of the product. That and the obsessive detail on the bottoms of every Rapido train is something Schron takes a lot of pride in.

"I remember being a kid and waiting at Guildwood and Dorval (Quebec) stations and being fascinated by the pipes and tubes and things under the trains," he said. "And the first thing you do with a model train is pick it up and look at the bottom; on most trains it's just four blobs of plastic, but mine are absolutely accurate; I know, I've been there."

The primary reason why customers are buying Rapido's products as fast as they can be made is Schron's passion for the product.

"There are two kinds of model-train companies: Those run by businessmen who want to keep the costs down and those run by enthusiasts who want to make the most perfect product," Begsouloff said. "And Jason is probably the most enthusiastic we have ever seen."

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