Bachmann Plus

[Pacific Northern]

I was on vacation recently and had the oppotunity to visit a couple of Hobby Shops who specialized mainly in HO trains.

I was surprised to see quite a number of Bachmann Plus HO engines for sale intermixed with the Standard and Spectrum stock.

How old are these engines? When did the Spectrum brand first emerge?

Seeing the amount of "Plus" items certainly put a new emphasis of the term "new old stock".

[the Bach-man]

Dear PN,
The Spectrum line was introduced in the late 80's. The Plus line was an intermediate line between Spectrum and the old pancake motored early locos, which had a well-deserved poor reputation. As these older, lower quality items were phased out, the entire line was streamlined to Spectrum and Standard, the latter now being the former Plus items. Now, as the Spectrum line continues to improve, several of the early Spectrum items have been moved to the Standard line designation.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Jim Banner]

It is a great time to be in model railroading.  There was a time, back in the sixties, when model railroad manufacturers competed on price alone.  As the prices spiraled downward, so did quality.  Even the brass locomotives of the day were not great runners, compared to what we expect today.  But the plastic was awful.  It is my belief that model railroading as a hobby came close to disappearing.

But there came a time in the eighties when model railroad manufacturers realized that there were modellers wanting quality and willing to pay the price.  I remember agonizing over whether to buy four Athearn locomotives or spend the same money on a single Atlas/Kato which had just come out and was getting rave reviews.  The local hobby shop owner put an Atlas/Kato in my hand, told me to take it home and try it for a few days, and if I didn't want it, bring it back.  (Try that on eBay!)  It never went back.  Bachmann and Life-Like soon followed suit with Spectrum and Proto 2000,  Other manufacturers fell by the wayside.  Tyco, Varney, PlayArt, Cox, - all gone.  Manufacturers, like Bachmann, who committed to quality have worked hard ever since to produce better and better products that have more detail, more realism, and run more smoothly than ever before.  These are the good times, and for that we are truly thankful.

Jim

[RAM]

At one time Varney made some great steam locomotives. 

[rustyrails]

The Varney loco's would be thought to be pretty crude by today's standards, but they were fun to build and were good runners if you took the time to assemble them carefully.  Bowser eventually began to make the kits.  Now Bowser and Stewart are somehow joined at the hip and I don't even know if the old Bowser line is being made.  This link works, though: 
http://tinyurl.com/lavslr
If you buy the valve gear assembled, you're a wus.     By the way,  English's Model Railroad Supply in Montoursville, PA seemed to be the retail arm of Bowser.  The store is still in busniness (there's an ad in MR), although I couldn't find a link for them.

Rusty

[Woody Elmore]

Bowser has a website. The old die cast line of former Varney and Penn Line engines has been discontinued. These engines were good in their day but they have been surpassed by high quality plastic RTR engines. Bowser bought Stewart and will still continue to manufacture them.