Polybulk re-release?

[Stoker]

Anyone in the UK show and press loop know if there are any plans to re-release these?

Right now they're selling for 100 quid a piece on ebay. Keeping my eye out as I'm in need of one or two more. Seems there's demand but as usual with the UK no supply.

[TravisM]

I suggest you contact Bachmann in the UK directly but I’m sure you’ll get a “no plans at the moment”, but who knows, it might be on the 2020 release calendar.

[tetsudofan]

….. and if you do contact Bachmann maybe you could suggest they do a 3-pack with different running numbers.

 

Keith

[No Decorum]

7 hours ago, tetsudofan said:

….. and if you do contact Bachmann maybe you could suggest they do a 3-pack with different running numbers.

 

Keith

Now that’s a good idea. Bachmann tends to knock out one running number for each livery and sometimes, later on, another running number and sometimes not.

[YesTor]

Agreed, it seems crazy that Bachmann haven't re-run this fantastic model.  I'd imagine that their reason will be that the retail price would be 'prohibitively high' at current rates.  A real shame if so, as in my view this has to be Bachmann's best wagon to date.  I'm just glad I picked up a rake from the original release, which looking back at my original order were priced at what now seems a meagre £21.00 per wagon!  My only regret is that I didn't pick up any of the alternative liveries at the time, which I would indeed be interested in if they were to re-run.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by YesTor

[Stoker]

Well in terms of detail and quality, I'd say it's on a par with the offerings of Tangent and Athearn Genesis in the US. For a more complex freight car from either of the aforementioned, you can expect to pay $50 or more. At current exchange rates, that's £38. Add VAT to that and you're up around the £45 mark which seems to be the norm for high-end rolling stock. I think that's about what I paid for my PBA wagons from DJ Models, which I'd say are roughly on a par with the Polybulk in terms of complexity.

[brushman47544]

Didn't Bachmann rerun of (some of) the Polybulks a year of so after their first release? It was around the same time as the first round a major price hikes and I seem to recall they cost around £50 then, so they'd be way above that now.

['CHARD]

The conundrum at the present time would be the actual (real) demand for a third run of a minimum 500 pieces.  At current prices, demand may be suppressed compared to (and by) the previous releases, meaning a slow moving stock item that occupies a factory production slot that could otherwise supply - for example - ScotRail or Virgin Mk2Fs, which have considerable latent demand.   

 

Speaking hypothetically, other examples and scenarios are available.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Normally, one would think that 500 of such a popular/important modern vehicle would not be an issue. But at that price level???????

 

Probably best done as a commission by one of the big retailers.

['CHARD]

2 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Normally, one would think that 500 of such a popular/important modern vehicle would not be an issue. But at that price level???????

 

Probably best done as a commission by one of the big retailers.

 

'Important' for those modelling certain scenarios, eras and regions; but relatively-speaking unimportant in quantity for collectors and the many (majority?) who live by Rule One.  Popularity too is driven along similar lines, added to which RRP is a crucial factor, heightened by the introduction of weathered versions or different running numbers.  Sure, if a retailer were to take that risk of tying up warehouse space....

[Joseph_Pestell]

11 minutes ago, 'CHARD said:

 

'Important' for those modelling certain scenarios, eras and regions; but relatively-speaking unimportant in quantity for collectors and the many (majority?) who live by Rule One.  Popularity too is driven along similar lines, added to which RRP is a crucial factor, heightened by the introduction of weathered versions or different running numbers.  Sure, if a retailer were to take that risk of tying up warehouse space....

 

Warehouse space is surely not the issue - it's only one pallet (I think).

 

The issue is tying up £150k.

['CHARD]

3 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Warehouse space is surely not the issue - it's only one pallet (I think).

 

The issue is tying up £150k.

 

You got it, I was being 'dignified'  

[66738]

It is a beautiful wagon, and beat myself up that I didn’t put my hand in my pocket for one or two when they originally got released. Sadly, it’s too late now, as I refuse to pay the eye watering amounts being asked on eBay. My only hope of getting one at a reasonable price would be if they released another batch. Maybe the original versions would drop slightly in price into my price range so I could have both with different running numbers.  I can but dream. 

66738

[rob D2]

I’ve got two gatherin dust in a cupboard as I’d didn’t pursue my China plank.

 

might have to flog em and retire to the Seychelles 

[Stoker]

I see the naysayers have stepped in to give their 2 cents.

We could go back and forth forever about whether there's "demand" but I've always found it to be a rather pointless discussion. This is a growing hobby, and a great many naysayers have been forced to eat their words over the last decade with a lot of releases that many said would "never happen" because "there's no demand". To be frank, unless you're the head of Pew and have just conducted market research among railway modellers, I really don't care what your "opinion" is, and I doubt anyone else does either.

We can also pluck figures like £150k out of thin air all day long and make silly claims that a company with a $146 million revenue would have qualms about "tying up" that amount in a production run. Let's put aside for a minute that a £150k production run of wagons with a paid off tooling would be a slightly implausible run of approx 5000 units. Even if you spent that much on one wagon and made a loss on it, that doesn't mean you're making a loss overall, there is such a thing as a "loss leader" which can generate profitable add-on sales elsewhere. There are for example many locos people won't buy without suitable wagons to go with them. Maybe the wagons aren't profitable, but selling more locos with a loss leading wagon will still give you a net profit provided the loss on the wagon isn't too large.

Ultimately though, I don't care to get into these kinds of discussions with people who, to be brutally honest, clearly know nothing about the industry and are just making useless speculation.

If you want to doom and gloom, maybe consider starting your own thread titled "stuff that people will never make". It will give us something to laugh at in another 10 years.

[rob D2]

1 minute ago, Stoker said:

I see the naysayers have stepped in to give their 2 cents.

We could go back and forth forever about whether there's "demand" but I've always found it to be a rather pointless discussion. This is a growing hobby, and a great many naysayers have been forced to eat their words over the last decade with a lot of releases that many said would "never happen" because "there's no demand". To be frank, unless you're the head of Pew and have just conducted market research among railway modellers, I really don't care what your "opinion" is, and I doubt anyone else does either.

We can also pluck figures like £150k out of thin air all day long and make silly claims that a company with a $146 million revenue would have qualms about "tying up" that amount in a production run. Let's put aside for a minute that a £150k production run of wagons with a paid off tooling would be a slightly implausible run of approx 5000 units. Even if you spent that much on one wagon and made a loss on it, that doesn't mean you're making a loss overall, there is such a thing as a "loss leader" which can generate profitable add-on sales elsewhere. There are for example many locos people won't buy without suitable wagons to go with them. Maybe the wagons aren't profitable, but selling more locos with a loss leading wagon will still give you a net profit provided the loss on the wagon isn't too large.

Ultimately though, I don't care to get into these kinds of discussions with people who, to be brutally honest, clearly know nothing about the industry and are just making useless speculation.

If you want to doom and gloom, maybe consider starting your own thread titled "stuff that people will never make". It will give us something to laugh at in another 10 years.

Well , that was a rather rude overreaction wasn’t it, I don’t care to waste my time answering your pointless thread , but I still got involved......

[Stoker]

20 minutes ago, rob D2 said:

Well , that was a rather rude overreaction wasn’t it, I don’t care to waste my time answering your pointless thread , but I still got involved......

Yes thank you for your "valuable" input to my "pointless thread". Maybe next time you can find something better to occupy your very valuable time.

[newbryford]

The other wagon that may benefit from a re-run is the JPA bogie cement wagon.

Two more liveries to go at - Hope Industries and Hanson (although there are minor detail differences on the Hanson version)

The Hanson JPA could be used in rakes with the Accurascale Castle Cement PCA as they have worked together in the past couple of months.

The Castle Cement JPAs seem to go for good figures on ebay.

 

Cheers,

MIck

[GordonC]

On 06/05/2019 at 13:10, tetsudofan said:

….. and if you do contact Bachmann maybe you could suggest they do a 3-pack with different running numbers.

 

Keith

 

The only issue with that could be the price. If the wagons are around £70 each then you'd be looking at over £200 for the pack and that could limit sales.

 

Different numbers yes, but not sure as a pack is a good idea

[brushman47544]

4 hours ago, GordonC said:

 

The only issue with that could be the price. If the wagons are around £70 each then you'd be looking at over £200 for the pack and that could limit sales.

 

Different numbers yes, but not sure as a pack is a good idea

 

Whilst I agree the potential price might seem high, but that modus operandi seems to work for Accurascale and would to me have merit when the prototype only worked in block trains of several wagons, not individually. I could never replicate a full length train on a layout, but say 4 or 5 wagons would be an acceptable representation.

[GordonC]

19 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

 

Whilst I agree the potential price might seem high, but that modus operandi seems to work for Accurascale and would to me have merit when the prototype only worked in block trains of several wagons, not individually. I could never replicate a full length train on a layout, but say 4 or 5 wagons would be an acceptable representation.

 

I certainly take your point about Accurascales packs and Hornby have done the same, but there is a large difference in the individual wagon cost between 4 wheel 24t hoppers and Cement wagons to these Polybulks where you'd probably be looking at the pack of 3 being a comparable price to one Polybulk so I think you'd sell more than 3 individually for every single pack of 3. But I would agree it a good idea to release several wagon numbers at the same time with minor tampo printing differences so in Bachmanns case they normally have the same catalogue number appended with A, B, C, D etc. Kernow normally do the same with their Limited Edition commisions like the PBA Clay Tigers or JIA Bogie Hoppers

 

Taking your example, if you wanted 4 or 5 wagons and they came in packs of 3 ... would you buy 3 or 6? ...

[No Decorum]

7 minutes ago, GordonC said:

 

I certainly take your point about Accurascales packs and Hornby have done the same, but there is a large difference in the individual wagon cost between 4 wheel 24t hoppers and Cement wagons to these Polybulks where you'd probably be looking at the pack of 3 being a comparable price to one Polybulk so I think you'd sell more than 3 individually for every single pack of 3. But I would agree it a good idea to release several wagon numbers at the same time with minor tampo printing differences so in Bachmanns case they normally have the same catalogue number appended with A, B, C, D etc. Kernow normally do the same with their Limited Edition commisions like the PBA Clay Tigers or JIA Bogie Hoppers

 

Taking your example, if you wanted 4 or 5 wagons and they came in packs of 3 ... would you buy 3 or 6? ...

Yes, a good point. Releasing them individually but simultaneously would let us know that a rake will be achievable. The way it’s done at the moment we don’t know. Competition is so hot these days that I dare say that I’m not alone in looking for a reason not to buy some things so that I can buy others. Recently, Accurascale has mopped up quite a bit of my cash which might have gone elsewhere. 

[TravisM]

Not being a “wagon” man, are they still in use or now been withdrawn from service?  I must admit, I’ve not seen them around for ages.

[Fat Controller]

4 hours ago, jools1959 said:

Not being a “wagon” man, are they still in use or now been withdrawn from service?  I must admit, I’ve not seen them around for ages.

The china clay ones dropped out of use a decade or so ago.

The NACCO ones, used on the silica traffic to Dows at Barry Dock were replaced by containers within the last five years or so.

Some may have gone into lime or sand traffic, but I think that's finished now. Still, they managed about 40 years in traffic.

['CHARD]

On 07/05/2019 at 22:31, Stoker said:

Ultimately though, I don't care to get into these kinds of discussions with people who, to be brutally honest, clearly know nothing about the industry and are just making useless speculation.

 

That's good then, it will keep the topic on the straight and narrow, and well-informed, which is laudable.  Thank you.