Marketing idea...

[Warflight]

What if... Bachmann included a catalogue in every train set? Not every train, mind... just the sets... you know... kids wake up to their gifts under the tree, find their first train set, and inside the set, is this glorious catalogue that shows them all of the stuff they just KNOW they MUST have someday!

I'll bet it would increase sells to the point, that Bachmann wouldn't even have to increase the cost of a set to cover the addition of the catalogue! (but even if they did have to bring up the price point for the catalogue, it could be done for under a couple of bucks)

Just a thought...

(I don't know about you folks, but catalogues in the toys I got as a kid, just made me mow more lawns to get more or the items in the catalogues!)

[Terry Toenges]

As a kid, I used to just love the Lionel catalogs.

[Piyer]

What if... Bachmann included a catalogue in every train set? Not every train, mind... just the sets... you know... kids wake up to their gifts under the tree, find their first train set, and inside the set, is this glorious catalogue that shows them all of the stuff they just KNOW they MUST have someday!

For the Generation Point-n-Clickers, maybe a CD-ROM that includes track planning software and a link to the Bachmann website and online catalog might be a better idea. This way the catalog and special offers in the box is always current - just because it's a 2017 set doesn't mean that it won't still be sitting on a store shelf in 2018... 2019... 2020, etc.

[tymbomb]

Today's kids are for more savvy than a paper catalog inside a toy box under the tree.  Today they look up the name of the company, go online, and search their online catalog.

Paper catalogs may have been exciting 50 years ago, but that concept doesn't work today.

[Warflight]

Maybe... though, with my goddaughter (she's 14) I'll watch as she tosses a card with a web site on it, but a catalogue, she eats up... shows her friends, and keeps. Oh sure, when she sees something in a catalogue, she goes online to look it up, but the catalogue got her there. According to her, that's what most of her friends do, as catalogues are unique, and rare, while cards with links to web sites are usually too much of a bother if it doesn't give her a reason to check it out. Her and her friend's behaviors is why I even bring it up.

Plus, keep in mind, this is model railroading... where the younger generation is only a piece of the market. Remember, with model trains, we're talking about kids, and grand kids, sure, but we are also talking about parents, grandparents, and collectors, who, like myself (I grew up in the 70s and 80s) have fond memories towards catalogues.

I know I mentioned "kids" in my original post, but hell, when it comes to model railroading, we're all channeling that inner kid, after all.

(BTW... my goddaughter says that trains are WAY cool because "Steampunk"... and then went onto some sort of tangent about hipsters, steam engines, and... giraffes? Which, she assures me is somehow related to it all)

Oh yeah... and whatever you do... do NOT Google "Steampunk Model Trains" or else you will see things that will make you want to make some unreasonable demands of Bachmann, and other model train manufacturers.

[Piyer]

Oh yeah... and whatever you do... do NOT Google "Steampunk Model Trains" or else you will see things that will make you want to make some unreasonable demands of Bachmann, and other model train manufacturers.

Too late!

Dear Model Railroad Industry,
Please make the below pictured train in HOw22 scale (1:87.1 scale, with a wide gauge of 22-scale-feet / 3-actual-inches). Of course, even in HO scale this locomotive would dwarf a 1:29th G-scale standard gauge locomotive! Assuming the man to be 6-foot-0, that puts the top of the stacks roughly 70 feet above the top of the rail. Perhaps 22-foot broad gauge is too narrow for it!

[Warflight]

If I'm seeing correctly, it's running like the Space Shuttle gantry... with multiple sets of track. If you look carefully, you'll see that the drive wheels that are visible, are running dandum, which tells me it has at the very least, two sets... like two locos running side by side.

(I would TOTALLY build a layout for that beast!)