bachmann products made during 1980's & 1990's

[tracy1947]

wow.  so many things to learn again.  thanks guys.  again.  it is the manufacturer's main business objective to discontinue all the old models.  and come out with a new one.  so people can start to buy again from them.  

i remember during the early 90's that the general public were stop buying those train sets.  because it became unpopular among those kids after booming around the start of late 1980's.  i was able to buy some 30 train set at $6.00/set.  no wonder that is the end of the game.  factory discontinue.  but then i was able to give some 24 set to my relative's kids as a christmas gifts.  we have a big family.  eight brother and sisters.  i saved a lot of money too.  a set during those days is costing $19.95.set.  now the remain six sets are still hanging in my closet for 17 years.  now a set at costco cost $48.95 plus tax $53.29 per set.

i love train.  i lived in a small place that i can not put up a layout.  so i just keep buying different loco and freight cars.  it run up to 100 set and then i stop buying.  enough is enough.  total cost me around $3,000.00.  every thing is cheap stuffs i should say.  but i am not a professional train hobbyist.  and i am contended and happy.  if i buy those at a good brand like atlas, kato, mentua, or other european brand name.  it might cost me $50,000.00 or up for those 100 set.  that i calculate before and for the new bachmann train.  i should say hasta la vista baby.  no more new train.

[jward]

who are the dealers selling new bachmann at a reasonable prices?.  dealers near new york city?.

train world/ trainland comes to mind.

[tracy1947]

yes.  that's the only one left at new york city.  i bought from them before too.  but i think they don't carry bachmann now.  i saw a lot of lifelike stuffs. 

[jward]

wow.  so many things to learn again.  thanks guys.  again.  it is the manufacturer's main business objective to discontinue all the old models.  and come out with a new one.  so people can start to buy again from them.  

i remember during the early 90's that the general public were stop buying those train sets.  because it became unpopular among those kids after booming around the start of late 1980's.  i was able to buy some 30 train set at $6.00/set.  no wonder that is the end of the game.  factory discontinue.  but then i was able to give some 24 set to my relative's kids as a christmas gifts.  we have a big family.  eight brother and sisters.  i saved a lot of money too.  a set during those days is costing $19.95.set.  now the remain six sets are still hanging in my closet for 17 years.  now a set at costco cost $48.95 plus tax $53.29 per set.

i love train.  i lived in a small place that i can not put up a layout.  so i just keep buying different loco and freight cars.  it run up to 100 set and then i stop buying.  enough is enough.  total cost me around $3,000.00.  every thing is cheap stuffs i should say.  but i am not a professional train hobbyist.  and i am contended and happy.  if i buy those at a good brand like atlas, kato, mentua, or other european brand name.  it might cost me $50,000.00 or up for those 100 set.  that i calculate before and for the new bachmann train.  i should say hasta la vista baby.  no more new train.

i would rather have the one or two locomotives that are reliable performers ( and these don't have to cost alot you just have to know what you're buying) than have 50 junk ones. it is a case of buyer beware. i don't think that with bachmann and some other manufacturers it was as much as case of them discontinuing the old stuff so people would buy new. a good model locomotive or freight car will last forever. my dad still has cars from the 1950s and 1960s in service on his layout. and i've gotten 30 years of service out of athearn locomotives for example.

no, the situation bachmann, lifelike, tyco and others found themselves in was that the market for low quality entry level sets dried up as kids lost interest. these companies had bad reputations from serious model railroaders for this same low quality stuff. it was a situation of either upgrade or die. to their credit, bachmann did and i'd recommend their newer products to anybody.

the bar was raised by the serious modellers, and bachmann is to be commended for meeting the challenge while maintaining a reasonable cost. you think $50 for a set is steep? compare that to sets by atlas or kato.....

[tracy1947]

yes.  tyco, bachmann, lifelike, model power and one imported from yugoslavia.  i forgot the name.  you mean to said others did not upgrade their products.  just bachmann?.

the reason that i bought cheap stuffs is because i like to collect different style, design, and different name on it.  if i collect brand name.  it will cost me a lot.

[simkon]

Tyco no longer exists for that reason. Life-Like does not have any high quality locomotives, only lower/toy end locos. Model Power only has one good loco, which is all metal. Pretty much they still have loco that run like locos from the 1980's.

[jward]

model power does offer some upgraded cars and locomotive under the mantua or metal train names. their regular cars have knuckle couplers added and no other upgrades.

lifelike offered upgraded equipment under the proto2000 and proto1000 names. they are no part of walthers, who offers cars similar to standard bachmann cars under the trainline name.

tyco, mercifully, is no longer in the model train business. neither is AHM, though some of their stuff was sorta upgraded under the IHC name......

if all you want to do is display shelves of model trains then i can see why cost would be a factor. believe me, i am not rich either. but if you intend to do anything more serious than running them around in a circle, you'll find the older cars flaws very frustrating to say the least. me i run the wheels off my stuff.......

[tracy1947]

then i have to try to buy a set.  but a set most likely is not composed of those good stuffs that you guys mentioned.  so i have to buy a set and buy some individual good freight cars.  just one set for running and have fun.

[simkon]

You don't have to buy a set, buy a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0, a couple freight cars from either ebay or the dealer I mentioned and you can buy track from Atlas and any power pack will do.

[tracy1947]

now i knew why the old bachmann stuffs were obsolete.  not because of the brand name indifferent, freight car, additional weight, or metal wheels or not.  it is simply because without changing the couplers.  you simply can not attach both car together between newer and older bachmann cars.

now i even don't have to buy new bachmann.  cause i got 100 set before. all new with 100 power pack and 100 diesel locomotive.  many tracks that i can divide for those 100 set.  10 freight car for each set.  scenery and figures.  accessories and others.  i can give those to the kids during christmas.  and i think they will be very happy and might encourage them to be one of the future professional model train hobbyist.

[tracy1947]

how do we check the spectrum catalog?.

oss.  i found it.  but there are no diesel locomotives.

[jward]

if i recall correctly, the gp30, gp35, h16-44 and dash 8s were all originally spectrum locomotives. don't know why they are in the regular line now, but they are good runners.

[tracy1947]

are n scale freight cars the same with that of 80's/90's?.  are there any changes?.

[simkon]

The newest ones have working knuckle couplers, the newer ones have dummy knuckle couplers both of which are not compatible with the 80's and 90's cars which have Rapido couplers. The newer ones all have metal wheels, while most older ones had non-metal wheels. The newer cars have more detail. It is much harder to adapt the couplers on the older N scale rolling stock.

[RAM]

As soon as you say they are no longer around, bingo they are back.  ihc-hobby.com.  They never die, they just go away for a while.