Bachmann's HO trains, then and now

[wiley209]

Here's a link to a 1984 Bachmann train catalog from 1984, about 30 years ago from this year, from Tony Cook's excellent HO-scale Train Resource (perfect for looking up old Bachmann, Tyco and AHM products, etc.)
http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/bachmanncatalogs/id63.html

In 1984, Bachmann was still one of the really big players in the consumer HO train market. AHM and Tyco were slowly starting to dwindle down a bit, Life-Like and Model Power were growing a bit, and of course there were the higher-quality (and pricier) offerings from Athearn and Mantua, etc. This was before the Spectrum line came out, so Bachmann was still pretty much seen as low-end and cheap (along the levels of Tyco), compared to the high-quality products Bachmann offers today. But back then, Bachmann had almost as large an offering as they do today.

Bachmann came out with an N-scale TGV train set that year, and they also had their "Powerhouse" HO-scale set that came with a decorated layout mat and several nifty operating accessories, obviously to try and get more kids into model railroading.
Bachmann also had a M.A.S.H. -themed train set (similar to how Tyco had train sets based on G.I. Joe, the A-Team, etc.)

They also had their DeWitt Clinton set out at this time, and they just released the John Bull train set. They also had several other sets that came with accessories like bridge-and-trestle sets, utility poles, and a few other accessories.
Some of their other operation accessories available today was also around back in 1984, such as the lighted passenger and freight stations, electronic steam whistle in billboard, that cheesy "diesel horn" oil tank, the blinking light storage tank, "gandy dancer" hand car, crane cars, dual crossing gates and "tracksters," but they also had some other interesting operating accessories available in 1984 that were discontinued by the 1990s, like the Tri-Level Car Transporter and the "Disaster Crossing" (there's a rumor it was discontinued for being too "politically incorrect.")


Get a load of those diesels with "space age electronics." Today you can get those same locomotives but in much higher quality and with DCC (and sound on the DD40X!)

A bunch of these locomotives are still available today, but perform much better and have nicer detail, and are also available in DCC. (The GP40-2 was, and still is, a Bachmann favorite.)

Many of the steam locomotives available at the time are also currently available in improved models, like the Class J and Daylight 4-8-4s.


Back then, Bachmann offered conventional Code-100 track in steel (E-Z track did not come out for another ten years.) It was better than their prior brass offerings, but not as good as today's nickel-silver E-Z track (and other tracks of the same material.)
Also note many of the accessories on the page; those are still available today as well (even the water pump!)
They also used to offer those bridge-and-trestle sets, similar to the ones Life-Like and Model Power currently offer, along with AHM, Tyco and Walthers having offered similar bridges in the past.


They also had "lighted scenic classics" building kits, basically select Plasticville building kits with a structure lighting unit and a little landscaping material.

Their "regular" Plasticville buiding kits were also available at that time, having been a mainstay of the company for over 50 years now.

They also had RC and die-cast cars available in 1984, but I don't know if they sold really well compared to Bachmann's train line. Perhaps they were trying to compete with Tyco or something that way.

Some things just never change, and Bachmann is one of those things, in some ways!

[Doneldon]

Wiley-

Cool! Thanks for posting this.

                                    -- D

[ryeguyisme]

wow talk about nostalgia, I had the Golden Spike train set I'm pretty sure of it