DEAR MR. BACHMANN...

[train guy]

WHEN A ENGINE OR CAR IS DISCONTINUED WILL THEY EVER RETURN?

[rogertra]

It's not polite to shout, which may explain why you haven't rec'd an answer to your question.

[Hamish K]

Quite a few Bachmann items have been discontinued and reappeared at a later date. Examples include the Large Scale Lynn 2-4-2 tank and the industrial 2-6-0, the On30 Porters, the HO 2-8-0 (discontinued as a spectrum, re-appeared as a standard line), and many others. On the other hand there are a lot of discontinued items that have never reappeared. I guess it depends on many factors, including how well the item sold originally, why it was discontinued, whether the tooling is in good condition, what would have to be done to bring it up to modern standards, as well as perceptions of the current market for the item. If you have particular items in mind perhaps you could  ask about them in the relevant scale forum.

Hamish

[fla.guy22]

what does it mean when engines going fine then it hits a certain spot on track and either slows down then picks back up or stops all together

[ebtbob]

Folks,

      I agree that shouting is inappropriate  but,  maybe the "offending" person does not realize that typing in all upper case letters is akin to shouting.

[ebtbob]

Fla Guy,

     Your explaination of an engine slowing down and then picking back up or stopping sounds like a voltage drop in you track.   As the power in your rails gets further from the power source,  due to resistance in the rail,  the amount volts available to your engine decreases.   There is a very easy remedy.   Put more than one set of wire drops from you rails.   You will not be putting more power in the rails,  but will simply be putting the power into the rails at more than one spot,  thus defeating the voltage drop.

[Bucksco]

Could also be dirty track....

[Doneldon]

Your explaination of an engine slowing down and then picking back up or stopping sounds like a voltage drop in you track. 

Could also be dirty track....

FL-

I'll vote for dirty track. The distance-related voltage drop is far to slow and gradual to be perceptible. The only exception to that
would be a voltage drop due to a bad rail junction which doesn't carry electricity well. But then the drop would be abrupt and I
wouldn't expect power to return unless there was another bad joint with freshly fed track beyond it.

                                                                                                                                                          -- D

[ebtbob]

Doneldon,

     I slightly,  but politely disagree.   As a kid,   I ran on a 4x8 platform and would see my engine slow down on the opposite side of the board from where my power pack was located.   The engine would slow down,  then speed up again at the same two places,  even with clean track.   However,  dirty track would be the easiest to check out.

[Doneldon]

ebt-

Yes, I can see that since your power pack was probably an older one without modern internal controls and you probably had only a single feeder. You aren't likely to see a slowdown with a modern power supply and you certainly wouldn't see one with multiple feeders.

                                                             -- D

[M1FredQ]

Just my 2 cents

While down in Ft Lauderdale for a conference I had a chance to visit one of my favorite

"Super" big Hobby Stores where one of the managers used to work in the "Toy Train" 

Industry. We always talk about the hobby and the topic turned to current trends.

He mentioned back in the 1950's and 60's that 1 in 100 adult/kids males where into

model trains that number now is around 1 in 10,000  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The average age of

model railroaders is over 60 years young!!!!!!!!!

With those numbers in mind you can see the dilemma the industry finds itself.

How do these companies we "love" survive??

They appear to be doing everything possible to keep themselves viable and "alive"

in a market that has shrunk.

However

The good news is the number has plateaued over the last few years and there has been

a noticeable rising increase!!!!!!!!! There a several reasons. Baby boomers are

becoming grandparents and semiretired and rediscovering a hobby that gives

them a lot of pleasure and things to share and do with grand kids, girls are

included in this too!!!

All this helps (I hope) to give some answer to your question. By discontinuing units

they can bring "new" inventory out on the market with different railing names and

find out through customer feedback where demand may be.

I'd like to throw in video games are the biggest "culprit" in the decrease of demand

of "The World's Greatest Hobby".  Medically and Scientifically studies are now

revealing that "males" have a high tendency to be "addicted" to video gaming.

Therefore if you are a parent or grandparent do what you can to minimize playing

video games. Find time to be outside, play, work ride a bike, build things and do

your best to promote this hobby. I can can go on about all the benefits this hobby

produces. My own 9 year old 3rd grader has benefited greatly in enhanced reading

and comprehension skills just to mention one.