By 1968, the N-Scale sector of the model railroad had become crowded with players.  Arnold was going to have to respond, simply to keep market share. What had once been a quiet crosstown rivalry between two Nürnberg model train companies had blossomed into a full blown market explosion.  Even the model railroad market leader, Märklin, was forced to explain itself. With this rapid expansion of the N-Scale market, there had been loud questions as to when Märklin, the biggest model train manufacturer in the world, was going to enter the N-Scale sector.  They ran this advertisement in a 1968 issue of MIBA magazin:

     Even Mother Märklin had been thinking about getting into N-Scale, so much so that they had produced a series of preproduction models with the possible intention of full scale manufacture of a line of N-Scale trains. Ultimately, this would have made Märklin just another manufacturer of trains in a crowded sector. Märklin would produce model trains in an even smaller scale than N, but that is a story for other web pages and for another time.

     N-Scale had become crowded, and Arnold was going to have to respond if it wanted to maintain its considerable market leadership. The product line had grown in fits and starts, but 1968 would mark the beginning of a massive expansion of the Arnold rapido product line, and it would be a continuation of the progress which Arnold had been making in improving its product line.

     As the competition in N-Scale grew, it became more apparent that portions of the Arnold rapido line would need to be reworked (“retooled” in the model industry parlance).   While the freight cars needed some retooling, the problem was considerably more apparent in the passenger car line.  For the first seven years of the Arnold rapido production, the basic curved track had been the 0131, which was 192mm (7 1/2”) radius. This was a relatively sharp turn, but in the early days it was not much of a matter for discussion. Eventually, Arnold would add the 0142, of a radius of 222mm ( 8 3/4”).  This additional curve track allowed modelers to build a railroad with two parallel tracks.

     These curved tracks were sufficient for the relatively short rapido locomotives and freight cars.  The longer passenger cars were another matter.  If these cars had been built to exact scale length, they would have looked very toylike as they passed over the curved sections of the railroad.   So, Arnold shortened these cars to about 5 inches in length; the width and height of the cars was the same as on the prototype. In the early days of the product line, this shortening was acceptable, but as N-Scale’s popularity grew, the market expectation for scale length cars was evident. The problem was obvious:

0343 (front), is an earlier car, while 0384 (rear) is a later car built closer to scale length.

     But the length of passenger cars was not the only thing that would change in the Arnold rapido product line in the late 1960’s.  The New Items brochure of 1967 announced a new locomotive, the 0236 E03 (later Class 103) electric locomotive.  Unlike earlier electrics, this locomotive was fully detailed. While the earliest Arnold electric locomotives had dummy pantographs on their roofs, and the interim electrics had adjustable pantographs, the E03 had fully operation ones.  This was a reflection of the decision by Arnold to produce a fully scale line of products. Accompanying this new locomotive was a set of scale length passenger cars, exemplified by 0384 (above). These cars were sold both separately and packaged as a train set with the E03, set No. 051.  To many, this would be the best train set ever marketed by Arnold.

     Things would not end there however. In addition to the turn toward scale accuracy, Arnold also established a marketing agreement with Revell Plastics of California.  The exact character of this relationship is not clear at this writing.  The 1970/1971 catalog has many items which are models of North American prototypes, yet Charles Merzbach is still listed as the United States Agency [for Arnold], yet Revell Rapido packaging is also marked with a 1968 copyright. Apparently, there were two catalogs with many of the same products, one for Revell Rapido and the second for Arnold rapido.

   Regardless, Arnold had become a large presence in the North American model train market.  This market had become crowded by 1968, see this table.  It is not clear at this writing if the American freight cars being offered were manufactured in Nürnberg; several other manufacturers relied upon Roc of Austria and Mehano of Yugoslavia to help them get into the N-Scale game.  Apparently, Lima also performed similar manufacturing services, but probably not for Arnold or for Revell.

     It was a time of great upheaval, and not just in the train business.  But by the end of 1970, the Arnold rapido line had changed from a crude toy into a scale replica. Hundreds were in the employ of the Company in Nürnberg and all was right with the world.  N-Scale had arrived.

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