Is On30 dead to Bachmann?

[Dbarefoot]

I've noticed Bachmann really hasn't been turning out many things for On30. Are they planning to faze them out, or continue to make off the wall models that won't sell well?

~Dusten

[John Tumolo]

Ok, folks-time to stick up for Bachmann.  Here's how I see it-the late and greatly missed Lee Riley at Bachmann saw a need for "O" scale narrow gauge over 20 years ago, and was able to sell the idea to the money cruncher's, first to compliment the people purchasing those plastic/ceramic Christmas village buildings to use as a Christmas layout, but really a way to work his way in to model railroad hobbyists.  Rivet counters be damned, the ability to do in mass production what folks had been doing for many years before, taking reliable HO mechanisms and readily available HO track  and modeling narrow gauge in "O" scale was going to be a winner if sold properly.  Ok, the much discussed and either hated or accepted compromise, that being a gauge that was either 1/8" too small for 3-foot modelers or in my case 1/8" too large for my beloved 2-foot or just like the bears in the children's story just right for 30" folks.  The point is, for me and many other folks that love narrow gauge in "O" scale Bachmann made it affordable and do-able.  Have they always been perfect?  No, but WAY better that the brass stuff that was way too expensive, and virtually never worked correctly unless you spent a small fortune trying to get it to work.  That hell that so many narrow gauge friends went through kept me away from modeling Maine narrow gauge until Bachmann came along.  This being a limited niche of model railroading, it's difficult for any manufacturer to re-coop  set-up and manufacturing costs for something that's only going to sell a fraction of what they sell in popular scales.  WE ARE NOT AS APPEALING TO THE MASSES AS STANDARD GAUGE AND HO SCALE-GET USED TO IT.  Bachmann has to make a profit on this stuff, and unless WE talk the scale and gauge up to others, we will remain a niche.  We already know how much more realistic our scale and gauge is to the "other" popular O scale 3 rail product out there.  Bachmann is trying to keep the market going as best they can-Hey, how many Forney's did YOU purchase?  I'm sure all the Bachmann products are built with a number in mind to allow for profitability, and once gone, whether it took 6 months or 6 years to clear out, will think long and hard before re-introducing said product.  I happen to be a fan of the EBT, and am glad to see the new offering in the 2021 catalog.  Ok, rivet counters, it's not perfect, but Bachmann isn't aiming this product at you.  They did something cool with what they had available,  and I say BRAVO to them.  Put a couple of those sets at Orbisonia Station, and you'll surely sell them when the train gets back from a trip down the 3-foot rails.  Look, Bachmann has had it's run of reliable product and a couple of problems along the way, but I have always found them willing to help correct any manufacturing failures and they have earned my faith and trust.  On30 is certainly alive and well, and we shall always have Bachmann to thank for it.  Be patient and supportive, and eventually they will be able to take time away from the more profitable lines they have to produce, like their offerings in N,HO & O gauge and devote a bit of time to our end of the hobby.   Hey, I've been patiently waiting for a Maine-style Prairie for years....................Keep the faith!

[Fred Klein]

Well said, John. I totally agree with you. Thanks to Bachmann, I switched from N scale (also about 95% Bachmann) to On30 (100% Bachmann) because of the affordability that Bachmann's mass-production provided. I am not a rivet counter or purist. I do model railroading simply for the fun of it. Do I wish that Bachmann would offer a more comprehensive assortment of locomotives and/or rolling stock? Sure! The kid in me always wants the most he can get but I'm very familiar with the constraints placed on a company by having to maintain a viable bottom line.

Like you, I have been waiting patiently for another run of Combines - I just don't want to pay ebay prices. Some day I'm sure my patience with be rewarded (hopefully).

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

[Len]

This is all well and good, but there is another factor involved in the lack of popular interest in On30. Price point.

I ran a repair shop in a local hobby shop for almost 15 years before I retired. When the On30 sets aimed at the Christmas Village fans first came out, along with the usual Lionel sets, the shop owner ordered a number of them. The week after Christmas the Lionel sets were sold out. All but one of the On30 sets were still sitting on the shelf.

The reason was simple according to the customers. They came in and saw an On30 set that ran on HO track and was just a bit larger than HO, but the price was higher than the Lionel Christmas sets. While HO sets were roughly half the price for essentially the same set that was in the On30 box. Just with slightly smaller locos and cars. And people just weren't willing to pay what they called a "collector's premium" for what they saw as a just a slightly oversized HO set.

If the price had been a bit below the Lionel sets, they would have sold out. And the customers would have been back for more On30 to expand their Christmas villages, or expand a child's or grandchild's layout. But that's not what happened, because according to the customers, they just couldn't afford On30 compared to the other scales.

Len

[p51]

I think Bachmann flooded the market with On30, as you could find the stuff very cheaply, but after the stuff sold, it's now hard to find.
That, and Lee Riley passing, led Bachmann to think maybe they'd made a mistake?
I showed my ideas for ET&WNC marked cars (including a very easy conversion for the undec tank car) to a Bachmann rep at two train shows but nothing ever happened with it. How they can have 4 ET&WNC engines but not a single car for the same road name, baffles me.
But the new 'trench' engine clearly shows they have ideas for On30.

[RailMan63]

" How they can have 4 ET&WNC engines but not a single car for the same road name, baffles me."

Me too. I've been looking for On30 cars lettered for the ET&WNC from Bachmann ever since I bought my 2 ET&WNC 4-6-0 locomotives a couple of months ago.
All I've found are kit bash car kits on Ebay.
Way too expensive for my tastes.
So, I've settled for running my 4-6-0's with unlettered cars.
It works. For now.
It's almost like Bachmann gave up on On30 shortly after making these On30 locos.
Makes you wonder...

[p51]

I've been looking for On30 cars lettered for the ET&WNC from Bachmann ever since I bought my 2 ET&WNC 4-6-0 locomotives a couple of months ago.
All I've found are kit bash car kits on Ebay.
Way too expensive for my tastes.

You can make an easy 'shorty' converted flatcar/gondola using the Bachmann high gon, by cutting the down the top two horizontal beams, then placing a sheet metal sign in the center of each long side with a three digit road number and weight.
Here's a shot of a real to get an idea what I mean: http://www.tarheelpress.com/img170.gif
Here's what it can look like with paint and weathering:

They're not difficult conversions at all!

[ScottyB]

Bachmann certainly did flood the market at the beginning. But did they take a loss on any of it? I recall St Aubins (long gone) offering 3 freight cars for $39. I don't know what the wholesale price was but I'm not sure Bachmann would sell them at a loss.

The BIG thing that got many into On30 were the logging locos; the shay and climax specifically. They are just phenomenal once you get the bugs worked out. Interest in the scale dried up at the same time inventory on these did.

Very few modelers today are going to start out with the 0-6-0 or 2-4-4-2 as their base. (Please don't misunderstand, these are great models.) But what brought people over to On30 were the shay and climax. Just those two and a dozen log cars and you can have a stunning layout. Those models were just simply "cool."

I do hope Bachmann reintroduces those two models. I think it would be a huge boom for the scale by bringing people over from HO.

To answer the question, I don't think On30 is dead to Bachmann. But there is so much more to be made in the other scales that it's likely not high on the proirity list.

[wernerjp]

In 2009 or so I re-entered the hobby and built a shelf HO scale switching layout.   A few years later I added a new On30 switching layout that trains can continue onto the HO scale layout for additional run time.   I connected via three Atlas girder bridges to span a window in my layout room.   I became hooked on On30 and Bachmann products.   When we relocated to Maine in 2016 I constructed another On30 layout section to the preexisting On30 and HO layouts once again requiring  four Atlas girder bridges this time to span a window in my new layout room (spare bedroom).   I continue to add Bachmann locos, most recently a Heisler, and typically buy their flat car frame units and cut them down to shorter lengths to represent a back woods flat car for hauling timber, cut pulp wood, crushed rock, etc. and also construct box cars with these frames.   I now operate a Forney sourced used from the UK, a Shay, a Gas Mechanical and this new Heisler.   I did purchase a Bachmann Spectrum On30 2-6-6-2 Articulated Loco w/Tender but soon found out that it was too large for my track curves so I sold it to someone in the UK.   I too hope they bring out the Shay again - I had to send mine into Bachmann for repair and they did a great low cost repair on this loco.   Happy railroading!