I would like to see either of the excursion cars available in HO made in On30. Or preferably, both types.

Hamish

Quote from: az2rail on May 13, 2012, 08:37:00 PM
I agree, nice video. If Bachmann made one with american couplers, I would buy one. Maybe I would get one with anyones couplers.

Bruce

The prototype has small knuckle couplers, and the height scales, in O scale, very close to normal HO height, in other words the normal couplers fitted by Bachmann to its On30l(and HO) ranges are close prototypical matches for Victorian Railways 30 inch gauge stock, including the Garratt.

I would love a model of this, or any other, Garratt in On30, but  I am not holding my breath as so far Bachmann has not made, in On30, a model of locomotive not made by an American maker. They have however made locos from American makers exported to other countries.

Hamish

If you are thinking of  the DCC automatic reversing loop module made by Bachmann that does not reverse the direction of travel, it enables a reversing  loop to be installed without special wiring. A reversing loop is where the track loops back on itself and is connected to the original track by a turnout. A loco running around the loop ends up travelling in the opposite direction when it reaches the original track. If you want ti shuttle backwards and forwards automatically on one bit of track there are DCC modules to do this made by other makers. Bachmann does make a set to do this, but this is not DCC, it requires special track (provided in the set and available separately)  and comes with its own controller.

Any device should work with the rail-bus, which comes with a dual mode DC/DCC decoder.

Hamish

The problem I have had is not with the gears inside the truck but with the connection between the rear  truck and the driveshaft. There is a joint that  connects the shaft to the the truck. The sleeve that fits over the end of the gear shaft that protrudes from the truck has cracked, and the drive shaft becomes disconnected from the truck. Placing a ring around the sleeve is a cure for this. I know this is a common problem, I understand that others may have had cracked gears inside the truck, but I have not had that problem.

Hamish

If a class A Climax was made by Bachmann I would buy it, whatever boiler it had!

Hamish

Anubis and Frank S

I am fron Canberra and I too would love a Tasmanian Garratt, but I don't think it is likely, although it would have some appeal in the UK as the surviving  2 foot gauge Garratt is on a preserved Welsh line. (It should be returned to Tasmania!)

With excursion cars I would prefer the other (non Jackson Sharpe) car made by Bachmann in HO,  but either, or preferably both, would be nice. 

Hamish

Dear Bach Man

I see the that the 2012  catalogues are now available for downloading (top post this thread). Many thanks for the prompt uploading  - much appreciated.

Hamish

Dear Bach Man

Thanks for your reply and for the online posting of the catalogue.  I am looking forward to it.

Hamish

Dear Bach Man

Do you know when the 2012 Catalogue will be available for downloading from this site?

Thanks

Hamish

What i would really like would be a larger, conventional (not a Forney or articulated) tank locomotive than the Porters. A 2-6-2t, 0-62t or 2-4-2t would be fine.  I suspect that a SR&RL tender 2-6-2 is more likely, but perhaps both the tender and a tank version could be made. A tank version of a SR&RL 2-6-2 may not have an exact prototype, but would certainly pass as a catalogue locomotive (Baldwin's  system would have allowed a tank version to be ordered) and would be reminiscent of locos that operated in Hawaii, Mexico and other places.

I would also like to see buildings, as well as Railroad and trackside items, perhaps a few mining and logging structures, many people build mining and logging On30 layouts or incorporate a mine or sawmill into a larger layout.

Hamish

Marketing and pricing are complex subjects - and I am no expert for any field, let only model railroads. However here goes - to make a profit broadly you can aim for low margins, i.e. keep prices down and hope to sell a lot, or aim for higher margins, have higher prices and need to sell less to make a profit. MMI seems to have been aiming at the latter, and it doesn't seem to have worked. Thus for Bachmann to make a success of it they would need to sell it at a lower price, and sell a LOT more. Can they be confident of doing so, given that they already market other 4-4-0s? (the Christmas village or other casual narrow gauge modeller may well be happy with the IF 4-4-0 even if it is a bit small for the modeller of mainstream 3 foot gauge railroads.) lI don't know the answer to that.

Of course this is a very incomplete analysis as the cost structures between the companies are probably quite different, and the quality of the final product is another factor among many. Bachmann and other manufacturers have to weigh all this up. What may seem a no-brainer to me or you may not be when a full analysis is done.

Hamish

If this is the case, would Bachmann be able to sell sufficient to make it worthwhile for them? I suspect that Bachmann needs to sell more of a particular model to make a profit than does MMI They are quite different operations.

Hamish

In recent years at least the catalogue (and the New York Tot fair announcements) have not contained any major new announcements for On30. These have been made at the NMRA convention in summer. The catalogues have shown new sets, new liveries and the like. The catalogue does show as "new" items announced since the previous catalogue, so the Heislers and lLog Skidders will probably be in the catalogue as "new".

I hope the delay in the Heislers does not prevent the announcement of one or more major new items in the summer, I would hope for a 2-6-2 of some sort, my preference is for a tank locomotive but others will have other ideas.

Hamish

The Gilpin Tramway. It was small and funky, as narrow gauge should be. 2 foot gauge, all locos were small Shays, and the Shays hauled passenger excursions as well as ore and freight.

Hamish

Unlikely I would think. The HO QJ is a Bachmann China product produced mainly for the Chinese market, although some have been sold in the USA and elsewhere. Bachmann China does not, as far as I know, make N scale  Chinese trains and there seems to be very little produced by any-one. I doubt that they would be produced solely for the non Chinese market. So unless and until Bachmann China decides to introduce N scale I doubt that we will see one.

Hamish