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Messages - Radioguy

#1
Alas, no N scale MOW stuff like the old HO ballast regulator (and still no N scale FRED). I wish they'd reconsider.
#2
General Discussion / Re: 2020 Catalog
April 25, 2020, 02:43:47 AM
Found that posting the actual is easiest for most, so...

https://resources.bachmanntrains.com/Bachmann_2020/offline/download.pdf

Enjoy!
#3
General Discussion / Re: Old Catalogs
April 25, 2020, 02:42:36 AM
Quote from: 3rail on June 28, 2018, 11:20:27 AM
Ok, I posted what is available as PDF files on our:

Catalog and Brochures Page.

Have Fun!

3rail

Well, thanks for that! I tried sourcing images from several years for a couple weeks after my last post, but was stymied by not having completed them. I think I might be able to replicate a year or two when I get it together (collate!)

So, some interesting gaps there. The mystery of what became of 2001, 2003, and 2005. Odd years indeed!

1984 was a nice touch, although the HO and N scale catalogues from the 80s and 90s was the classic train porn some of us was looking for. ;)
#4
N / Re: Why can't I post pics?
October 14, 2019, 10:51:00 PM
#5
N / Re: Where do we buy and sell our used train stuff?
October 14, 2019, 10:47:59 PM
Facebook groups are also another, ever-more popular, place to buy, sell, and trade model railroading items (eBay is becoming more and more expensive due to fees). There's also Craigslist.
#6
N / Re: N Scale FRED on the horizon?
March 06, 2019, 01:20:48 PM
Ooh, just noticed this:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US8869708B1/en

Looks like Daniel mentioned N and Z specifically. The again, GATR Works has one, which may mean they have a different design, as Bachmann might as well.
#7
N / Re: N Scale FRED on the horizon?
March 06, 2019, 12:10:00 PM
Quote from: Maletrain on March 06, 2019, 08:52:07 AM
There is already an N scale version from "Firefly FRED" that uses rail power and comes already mounted on a truck, which you use to replace one truck on any piece of rolling stock.  The coupler extensions come in short, medium and long.  It is not cheap ($25).  And, it is not easily taken off one car and put on another, like the prototype is designed to be.  So, for display, it is fine, but for operating sessions, it is about the same as having a caboose - you need to make sure that the car with the FRED is put at the end of the train when you build your train.  Worse, it is much more conspicuous when your car is not facing the right direction than it is with a caboose (at least, that is true for most of us that don't go to the trouble of putting actual lighted marker lamps on our cabooses).

And, the FireFly FRED is patented, so there may be some inhibition to Bachmann making something too similar.

Oh, like I said, I had seen those but was thinking of Bachmann when I posted.

But I get it. If you're one who uses cabooses and sticks to that era this is no need. I, like some who buy the more contemporary Bachmann releases, only run modern-day layouts and consists. For those folks, well those who run N, it's odd not to have one to begin with from Bachmann, but to have one, only in HO from the outset...even more odd. To me, at least.

Going back to the existing ones, considering HO is one scale away from N, wouldn't any actionable similarity (at least in the litigious sense you're implying) already be met already and especially with the actual IRL FRED? I'm no patent attorney, but I have to assume that there's a downscaled version that doesn't violate any patent from Daniel Meyer (aka Firefly FRED) or GATR Works (are theirs patented differently than Daniel's?)

Either way, those are a great small project providing something those of us can afford buy, but Bachmann obviously saw the appeal, if not need, and acted on it for HO. I have to assume that were they to do it in N as well, it would likely be a little more reasonably priced than the former ones. Let's see?  :)
#8
N / N Scale FRED on the horizon?
March 06, 2019, 08:13:35 AM
As we see rolling stock and a truck available in HO from Bachmann now, what about N?

Like you, I've seen aftermarket ones on eBay, both pickup and (watch) battery-based, so I wonder when, if, and why haven't we already, see/seen one alongside HO for N here. Seems to me to be more sensible to have it available in at least HO and N on rollout, if not other scales.

Of course, HO could be "the" test in sales, but a FRED seems a pretty basic staple in contemporary consists. I was more surprised we didn't already have one in all scales Bachmann issues contemporary stock in than surprised it's just HO so far.

Anyhow, I'd love to know if it's in the works here.
#9
General Discussion / Re: Bachmann Catalog 2019?
March 06, 2019, 08:00:15 AM
For those having difficulty navigating to that (I did at first), here's the link:

https://resources.bachmanntrains.com/Bachmann2019catalog/offline/download.pdf
#10
General Discussion / Re: Doctor Bachmann
October 21, 2018, 01:09:29 PM
No worries. I'm sure a mod can do a thread split to make a new thread from the OT discussion (at least most board software allows mods nd admins to do it)

As for Doctor Who and model trains, it seems the Doc himself is one of us:

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Model_Train_Set_(short_story)

Saw some fun being had among the O-gauge folks...


http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/t/247927.aspx
#11
N / Re: GP40 2018 bodyshell on older chassis?
October 21, 2018, 12:14:53 PM
Quote from: spookshow on October 20, 2018, 06:30:54 AM
Pictures of the Freightmaster trainset on this website show the old version with open pilots. Of course it's possible that the pictures haven't been updated. Maybe someone from Bachmann will chime in.

-Mark


Considering the Freightmaster sets I'm seeing in shops are from '17 or '16, I suppose it's a foregone conclusion.

Shame. I was going to grab the all-blue alternate CSX shell from the parts store under the current MONSTER promo, but won't order now as the standard issue doesn't have that one available. If only... :(
#12
General Discussion / Re: Doctor Bachmann
October 21, 2018, 12:07:11 PM
Quote from: Warflight on October 20, 2018, 02:08:26 AM
I just got in from Who Con (heading back early tomorrow to put on a panel) and I brought this up there... a LOT of folks LOVE the idea, and would totally buy a Doctor Who themed train set (and they too talked of making a UNIT train)

Really, the more I think about it, are we 100% certain one hasn't ever been done?

Back in '07 or '08, I remember seeing pictures from the UK of counterfeit series-branded cheap Chinese R/C cars and similar toys you'd expect to find in a dollar store, so there's a chance something unofficial might even exist. Plus, it's a property that has been going since the 60s. There had to have been interest, and possibly even a cheap plastic set at some point.

Perhaps someone else can pin this down?
#13
N / Re: GP40 2018 bodyshell on older chassis?
October 20, 2018, 02:04:28 AM
Is the GP-40 in the current Freightmaster set one of the new or old ones?
#14
General Discussion / Re: Doctor Bachmann
October 20, 2018, 01:51:56 AM
Quote from: Yardmaster on October 07, 2018, 10:53:52 PM
Unfortunately we don't make a train shaped like a police box....

As others have said, you have made Star Trek and STAR WARS sets, so it's actually hard to comprehend why you haven't sought this license as well. Incidentally, those sets didn't look like NCC-1701 or the Millennium Falcon either...  ;)

That said, any Doctor Who fan who knows anything about licensed merchandise knows the first right of refusal ought to lie with Dapol, as they, aside from producing trains in the scales we know, also produced the official Doctor Who action figures in the 80s and 90s. If I ever expected a N or HO set, it would have been from them.

However, if by some stunning chance they wouldn't produce any, a UK-based producer still seems more realistic, and Hornby seems the next most likely choice. They have plenty of licensed brand experience as they were the official producer of Thomas The Tank Engine in AC trains before Bachmann obtained the license.

Still, with producers ever-dwindling, Bachmann really ought to be vying for this. The time is right to try, what with new contracts being done for the new series merchandise.

Really, there's something poetic about a Doctor-branded engine with companion-branded carriages following behind...
#15
General Discussion / Re: Brick & Mortar
June 08, 2018, 03:14:17 AM
Quote from: bbmiroku on June 07, 2018, 10:00:20 PM
I've used them before, things like Mibbit or Discord, but just called them 'chat rooms'.

IRC still exists. It inspired/evolved/forked into something called Direct Connect (DC) as well. Both types of networks allow files to be shared if you use a client app instead of embedded pages in web browsers (like mibbit).