Bachmann Panniers - How to Date Them?

[M.I.B]

Is there a website which covers collector details for Bachmann stuff?  There is an excellent one for Hornby which allows you to see from the running numbers or names on an engine, when that particular model was in production.

 

This can be important for venerable models like panniers which have had long production runs.  This potentially stops you from purchasing something worn out or with a different chassis or motor to the one you need.

 

I am in the market for a couple of Bachmann panniers (8750s and 5700s) to breathe some life into old K's kits on Triang chassis.  But I need the latest versions.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks.

Edited October 7, 2018 by M.I.B

[The Fatadder]

An easy way with the panniers is to look for those that are DCC ready, given they will certainly be recent production

[M.I.B]

Good point, and I had already considered this for boxed items.

 

But unboxed items are usually only identifiable by the cabside number.

 

Unless someone tells me that every Bachmann pannier has the same number.............Hornby had the decency to change the running number each time it re-issued a class of engine.

 

Thanks.

[TheSignalEngineer]

There was a list of Bachmann items up to about 2011 on the website but I don't know if it is still on the re-vamped site. I have a PDF copy saved somewhere. Otherwise it is the Pat Hammond book.

 

Basically IIRC it goes

ex-Mainline 5700 from 1991 was split chassis. (31-xxx cat. nos.)

ex-Mainline 5700 from 1996 "Improved" chassis (31-xxxA / 31-903 cat. nos.?)

Bachmann 8750 from 1999 new chassis

Bachmann 5700 from 2005 new 8750 chassis

Bachmann 5700/8750 from 2007 releases DCC chassis.

 

I think that all issues carried either a different number or different livery if the number was repeated.

[81C]

Try this.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20171112221118/http://www.Bachmann.co.uk/pdfs/branchline_products_by_item_no_rev11.pdf

[57xx]

Also pay close attention to the domes. The ones with the areola on top of the boiler dome are the earlier Bachmann releases using the old Mainline moulds.

[M.I.B]

Thank you all - some great info there.

 

Shame that the giant table has no dates on.  But with a bit of detective work:   cat numbers from 32-xxx onwards equate to  the sort of numbers needed to find late 8750 chassis with "DCC/DC ready" build states.

 

32-200K (the 2009 collectors edition pannier) is a ready reckoner for a date.

Edited October 7, 2018 by M.I.B

[The Fatadder]

Likewise handrails, didn’t the original have some of them moulded on?

[TheSignalEngineer]

You have a PM

 

Eric

[Butler Henderson]

The 8750 series was never produced with a split chassis

[TheSignalEngineer]

The 8750 series was never produced with a split chassis

But of the 18(?) different 8750 type numbers used so far only about six are DCC ready.

Conversely most of the retooled 57xx numbers are DCC ready, only about the first three or four issues didn't have a socket.

[Butler Henderson]

But of the 18(?) different 8750 type numbers used so far only about six are DCC ready.

Conversely most of the retooled 57xx numbers are DCC ready, only about the first three or four issues didn't have a socket.

Quite simple to hard wire a decoder in one of non DCC ready ones, a rather complicated approach is shown in this MRF article

https://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?autocom=custom&page=Bachmann-Pannier which is linked by Bromsgrove Models decoder installation list due to use of a Lenz Gold with a built in wire socket - a simple flat board decoder will fit easily once the pcb posts are trimmed off, while the DCC ready ones are more awkward in decoder choice due to the 8 pin socket taking up much otherwise useful space. 

 

Split chassis can be easily recognised by not having NEM coupling mounts.

[The Fatadder]

I actually prefer the non ready version purely because the space the socket takes up is perfect for fitting a decoder

[The Johnster]

The 8750 series was never produced with a split chassis

 

Not by Bachmann, but it was by Mainline/Dapol.  Only the cab and bunker were different mouldings; everything else was common with the 57xx, which was the model Baccy continued with after the toolings were acquired from Dapol.  When Bachmann introduced an 8750 version, it was with their own chassis.  At least I think that's right...

[Butler Henderson]

Not by Bachmann, but it was by Mainline/Dapol.  Only the cab and bunker were different mouldings; everything else was common with the 57xx, which was the model Baccy continued with after the toolings were acquired from Dapol.  When Bachmann introduced an 8750 version, it was with their own chassis.  At least I think that's right...

Mainline did the 57xx but not the large cab 8750 series.

 

The toolings never went to Dapol, When General Mills pulled the plug on Palitoy, Dapol merely bought the stocks of Mainline models in the Palitoy warehouse and sold them as their own. The toolings were owned by Kader who then used them for models commissioned by Replica until they launched Bachmann Branchline in the UK.

 

Pre Bachmann models were:-

5764 Great Western green  (Mainline 937084)

5768 BR black early crest (Mainline 937085, Dapol D61)

7752 GWR green (Replica 11003)

7768 GWR shirt button logo green (Replica 11001)

7843 BR black late emblem (Replica 11002)

Edited October 24, 2018 by Butler Henderson