when is the new items going to be anounced?

[Engineer1876]

If i remember it is at the nmra convention?

[JohnR]

That was the hint. 

[Bucksco]

As always at the NMRA convention which is fast approaching!

[Hamish K]

Let's hope that there really are some new items this year, unlike last year when the revised Porters were the only announcements. Although they were welcome, new items are needed to keep interest up for On30. I am not going to speculate on what they might be (these decisions will have been taken some tome ago) but I will be disapointed if there not at least one brand new locomotive and a couple of new items of rolling stock. Any less and I will be worried about the future on On30.

Hamish

[JohnR]

Booth 801 is a better benchmark on the health of On30. 

-John

[Hamish K]

If i remember it is at the nmra convention?

Currently, yes the On30 displays at the convention will show that their are a lot of keen and active On30 modellers. But if new On30 items were to stop appearing would the interest stay in the longer term? Other scales and gauges have declined to become small specialist areas once major manufacturers stopped supporting them, S, TT and American 00 for example. TT still exists in Europe where there is some major manufacturer support, but is a very small specialist scale area in the UK and, I think, just about non-existant in the USA. Yet once it was an active scale in both the UK and USA until manufacturers withdrew support. (My first electric train was  British TT).)

Hamish

[Hamish K]

Sorry, my post above was meant to be a reply to JohnR, not Engineer1876.

Hamish

[railtwister]

Let's hope that there really are some new items this year, unlike last year when the revised Porters were the only announcements. Although they were welcome, new items are needed to keep interest up for On30. I am not going to speculate on what they might be (these decisions will have been taken some tome ago) but I will be disapointed if there not at least one brand new locomotive and a couple of new items of rolling stock. Any less and I will be worried about the future on On30.

Hamish

Hi Hamish,

While I agree with you in principal, I gotta question if it really matters at all at this point what the new announcements are, since we have yet to see what was announced last year. Probably the big announcement will be that last years releases have been pushed back even farther, and more price increases are coming! I would be happy if the only announcement this year is that Bachmann has recognized all of their past problems with splitting gears throughout all their lines and has come up with newly designed parts that will eliminate the problem on all past, present, and future releases. An upgraded 2-6-0 with all wheel pickup and DCC-onboard plus optional sound would be nice, too. An upgrade to their decoders to allow programmable speed tables would also be an improvement.

Regards,
Bill (still waiting) in FL

[dto]

Earlier in June at the Big Train Show (Ontario, CA), a certain Bachmann representative mentioned that On30 fans "should be happy" in July.  That's all he could say on that subject, so I suppose we should "anticipate" the official announcements at the NMRA convention.   

[JohnR]

Hamish -

We will have to agree to disagree.  I don't see Bachmann as the single post supporting the whole of the On30 community.  They certainly contribute RTR products to that segment of the community seeking those.  Their entry into On30 has certainly help to expand the popularity of On30 over the last dozen years.  There are however many bash/scratch/kit builders in On30 who are far less reliant on RTR product.

I will grant that Bachmann's announcements and deliveries over the last few years have been slower than many have hoped for.  The economy has been extraordinarily bad over the last 4 years at both the personal and manufacturer levels.  That is enough to justify slowing the pace of product releases - we've had fewer coins to spend and they've had fewer coins to push products through to release.  Even so that slowed release pace hasn't lead to an exodus from On30.  I've personally seen more people continue to join the On30 community over that time. 

Some day, Bachmann may choose to exit the On30 market.  When that day comes (if it should), I really can't see On30 modelers abandoning this segment of the hobby.  Our models and layouts will still be available.  The friendships among the modelers will be just as strong.   Perhaps we'll shed a tear but On30 will still be Fun.

-John

[Hamish K]

John

Yes we will have to agree to disagree. I don't doubt that On30 would continue if Bachmann pulled out (and no other largish ready to run manufacturer came in). Indeed it existed before Bachmann started making it. But as a specialist scratch and kit basher scale it would be smaller than it has become. iI was the easy narrow gauge aspect that attracted a lot of people to On30,, including me. I doubt that I would continue in On30 in it without the availability of ready to run items, and I don't think I would be alone. I know there are those who think everybody should kit bash and scratch build and that some of these wouldn't mind seeing On30 lose the ready to run side. But personally I would like to see On30 continue as a scale catering both for the srcatch and kit bashers and for those who want an easy approach to narrow gauge.

Hamish

[NarrowMinded]

I also would like to see the items from last year in my hands... I don't think it's economics that is holding them up though, that would be a poor business plan in my opinion, theres an old saying, "you can't sell from empty shelves".

twenty some years ago I was into shooting sports, it is a fact that when there is a slump in gun sales the shooting industry introduces a new calibre/bullet configuration. guns in that calibre follow, they do this because they know there is a large base of buyers that have to have one of each of the latest greatest.

I am the same way with the little porters I don't have every road name but each with a differant smoke stack and cab configuration.

NM-Jeff

[lvrr325]

Have to think with the time and money in the tooling for the On30 stuff, if Bachmann quit, someone else would take it over.  Price would probably go up and runs would be smaller. 

[ebtnut]

Expect word to come out on Thursday or Friday.  Thursday is set-up day, and there are likely to be folks in the convention center who will take a gander and report.  Friday is the official opening of the train show.