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Bachmann 2020 Announcements - Spring


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There shouldn't be too many delays, at least in theory (!).  The Chinese factories and assembly plants have apparently been working with social distancing, and the container shipping network is up and running, though there is no shore leave for crews or officers.  Cruise ships are problematic, not cargo vessels so much.  There will of course be some delays, and i predicted some time ago that the pandemic would be invoked as an excuse for some of them.  I will not explode with rage if my 94xx is not delivered on time in September. especially if I am informed of the situation by the May announcement; these are strange times.  

 

I would, however, expect some sort of online announcement from Barwell on or around the 5th of May, and would hope it is a little more informative than the standard 'in these troubled time blah blah blah'.  

Edited by The Johnster
Needs to be on Wheeltappers topic
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Kernow MRC continue to suggest the first 117s are "due very soon".  So something is getting through even if not as much as we might like nor as quickly as usual.  

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18 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 

 

I would, however, expect some sort of online announcement from Barwell on or around the 5th of May, and would hope it is a little more informative than the standard 'in these troubled time blah blah blah'.  

Hopefully, that would be ideal. But most manufacturers are playing it rather close to the chest at the moment. 

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Not ‘just at the moment’; it’s competition red in toof and clore out there, but this should not affect models already announced where the cat is already out of the bag.  The Kernow 117s are probably in a container at sea somewhere.   And I’m hopeful that components of my 94xx are probably already produced, though I’m expecting the eta to be deferred in the  May announcement, which I’m expecting to be an online one. 
 

But there’s a lot of ‘probably’ and ‘expecting’ in this.  It’d be nice to be reassured and better informed by the next announcement; I’m not expecting  (!) trade or commercial secrets to be revealed.

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On 09/04/2020 at 04:46, ndg910 said:

Just wondering, and I know the current Covid situation will mean deliveries may be delayed, but if Bachmann are announcing on a quarterly basis now, does that mean there will be another set of announcements on or around 4th May?

 

Guesswork.

 

  • there will be some delays - while China is (at least from our hobby perspective) back up and running there was an additional 3 week delay in restarting after Chinese New Year.
  • there won't be any in person announcements
  • they will have something to announce, if not on that particular date then sometime in May - while the western world has changed dramatically in only 3 weeks, and from today's perspective another 4 weeks or so until May 4th, that 4 weeks will be an eternity given the uncertainty around everything.
  • despite the above point, there will have been contracts signed for product to have been made before this all started happening and while Bachmann may attempt to stretch things out a bit you can't realistically just suspend a pipeline that easily - particularly when Bachmann UK (as well as Kader) need to keep the cash flowing.
  • there will definitely be more of an uncertainty included in anything - we simply don't know if at this point for example if China will be able to control Covid-19 or will they be forced to implement temporary shutdowns as has been speculated by many for most countries as they, after the initial shock, attempt to balance the economy with the health care system.
  • while things (from a hobby perspective) look pretty good at the moment everyone will be looking around attempting to guess how to survive this.  Simply because they report numbers weekly we know that the US has experienced never before seen levels of people applying for unemployment - 16 million applications in the last 3 weeks.  The guesses are the US is already at 15% to maybe 20% unemployment given the struggles many are having navigating the application process, and the large number of people who simply don't qualify for unemployment benefits.  Most countries in the western world (well, as least those doing the social-distancing/shut-down/stay-at-home dance) will likely be in the 10% to 20% unemployment range, and at some point this will impact even hobby spending.  This means all companies are now rethinking their plans going forward, and our hobby will be no exception.  But we likely won't start to see the results of that until later, maybe the summer (and at that what might be more noticeable isn't announcements per se, but rather a lack of announcements).
  • This will apply to everyone, not just Bachmann, but the big expense/risk in hour hobby at this point is the cost of new tooling.  Again, won't see this immediately, but there will be a lot of companies putting a hold on starting the tooling process as they rethink the viability of a model in the current circumstances - they won't entirely stop tooling new items, because there will still be money to be made, but (not that we will ever know it) there will be projects suspended/cancelled as the number of new tooled items gets reduced - when November/January arrive don't expect the same number of new items to be announced in the Warley/Hornby time periods.
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One small thing I would add is that it is not clear if the world will return to BAU with China once we are through this pandemic.  There are certainly noises coming from America about restitution from China for the damage they have done to their economy in particular.  With President Trump in charge these noises may become government policy and we could see China being isolated in some form.

 

For businesses who rely on Chinese manufacturers this could be catastrophic but may be seen as a price worth paying by the political class and significant segments of society.

 

Personally, I believe the West in particular is addicted to low cost Chinese manufacturing and breaking free would be very difficult.  In a lot of cases, there simply is not an alternative to the Chinese option so “buy British” (insert other country as appropriate) is not practical.  If “we” decided to go down this path then we should expect significant changes to our standard and way of life.

 

Who knows, maybe CV19 will be a turning point in history where we start to move away from excess consumption and globalisation...  May be Hornby will have to restart production in Margate.  :)
 

Kind regards 

 

Paddy

 

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4 minutes ago, Paddy said:

There are certainly noises coming from America about restitution from China for the damage they have done to their economy in particular.  With President Trump in charge these noises may become government policy and we could see China being isolated in some form.

 

Didn't the orange man in the white house try that recently? ISTR he ended up with some egg on his face.

 

4 minutes ago, Paddy said:

we should expect significant changes to our standard and way of life.

 

I think they're already here, and aren't likely to be restored to the 'old order' at any time in the near/medium future.

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Hi Nigel,

 

Personally, I would call the pre-CV19 trade war between America and China a draw.  China was willing to wait it out in the expectation that President Trump would not be elected for a second term.  It is not possible to say whether President Trump’s handling of the pandemic in America has damaged his chances in the upcoming election.

 

Prior to the outbreak, I would say President Trump was on course to win a second term.  There is no credible opponent coming from the Democrat side.  I suspect the Republicans will have a strong anti-China message in their campaign and this will resonate with “normal” American voters and get Donald re-elected.

 

Whatever happens, toy trains will not be anywhere near the top of the priority list.

 

Kind regards 

 

Paddy

 

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On 09/04/2020 at 14:15, The Johnster said:

  I will not explode with rage if my 94xx is not delivered on time in September. especially if I am informed of the situation by the May announcement; these are strange times.  

 

 

 

Ah - but you haven't specified which September.................

 

:diablo_mini:

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7 minutes ago, AlexHolt said:

Do we know if Bachmann still plan to post the Summer announcements today? Originally it was going to be a physical announcement held at a Hotel on May 5th but obviously thats not the case anymore with Coronavirus shutting everything down. 

 

I've seen no communication from Bachmann as to whether they intend to still make the announcements today but online instead. Does anyone know whats happening? 

 

Quote

Despite the disruption, the Summer edition of British Railway Announcements has been completed and this will be published with the Summer 2020 Bachmann Times magazine at the start of May. Naturally, Covid-19 has been a major influence on the contents of this supplement, but all of the items that will feature are currently on course for delivery by the end of July. Our team here in the UK and our colleagues in China are still working hard on new products to bring to you in the coming months and years.

 

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1 minute ago, AlexHolt said:

 

So do we actually know when this next edition of the Bachmann times is coming out? I'm assuming that the announcements will not be today. Good to see that as per usual there was no notification of this on Bachmann's website or any social media accounts that Bachmann own making it that much harder for anyone who hasn't found that topic or doesn't use this website. 

Unless any retailers let slip today as to what the announcement includes as I'm sure they would be told at some point.

I would think an effort would have been made to get the Bachmann Times to members on the day of the announcement but with the postal system stretched currently it could be delayed so I think it will be a case of it arrives when it arrives. 

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5 minutes ago, AlexHolt said:

 

So do we actually know when this next edition of the Bachmann times is coming out? I'm assuming that the announcements will not be today. 

The magazine should be released around now. Obviously given the current situation there may be a small delay depending on how the printers and postal service are affected at the moment. I'm sure Bachmann will release the info on their website and send it to retailers & model press at the same time as it should arrive at club members.

 

Quote

Good to see that as per usual there was no notification of this on Bachmann's website or any social media accounts that Bachmann own making it that much harder for anyone who hasn't found that topic or doesn't use this website.

Given that the announcement is almost certainly a small amount of new liveries on existing tooling I'm not surprised. Far better to drop an announcement of 'what's being released over the next three months' with little notice, rather than build hype and ultimately disappointment.

 

As far as I am aware apart from a Youtube channel (last video was a what's in the spring club magazine), Bachmann Europe PLC doesn't have any social media.

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So... no froth ahead of time, no wish listing, no pangs of disappointment and no posts with .... they missed my unique requirement from when an existing model had 32 rivets on the left sandbox.... not for me... it’s a diesel/steam, etc, etc.

 

I like this new method of blue box announcements!!! I think....

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1 hour ago, ndg910 said:

So... no froth ahead of time, no wish listing, no pangs of disappointment and no posts with .... they missed my unique requirement from when an existing model had 32 rivets on the left sandbox.... not for me... it’s a diesel/steam, etc, etc.

 

I like this new method of blue box announcements!!! I think....

 

It's the "new normal"...

 

 

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2 hours ago, ndg910 said:

So... no froth ahead of time, no wish listing, no pangs of disappointment and no posts with .... they missed my unique requirement from when an existing model had 32 rivets on the left sandbox.... not for me... it’s a diesel/steam, etc, etc.

 

I like this new method of blue box announcements!!! I think....

 

So you don't want anything new then?  ;) 

 

 

TBF I feel that nobody was expecting much. Personally I think it's about right and if you like units then I reckon your wallet has ran down the street.

 

I wish they would put one of these in a Fisons growbag.....

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/32744/graham-farish-372-163ds-n-gauge-lms-stanier-class-8f-2-8-0-48773-br-black-late-crest-dcc-sound

 

 

 

Jason

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On 05/05/2020 at 17:58, ndg910 said:

So... no froth ahead of time, no wish listing, no pangs of disappointment and no posts with .... they missed my unique requirement from when an existing model had 32 rivets on the left sandbox.... not for me... it’s a diesel/steam, etc, etc.

 

I like this new method of blue box announcements!!! I think....

I think people are now realising that their requests won’t get made or will take about a decade to produce, hence the lack of froth 

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