Bachmann announce Blue Pullman

[Ian J.]

Don't misunderstand me - its a six car box set, but construction its is 2 of each of 3 cars. Source is someone who was at the Bachmann launch yesterday and questioned those with the info. ie identical power cars ( except for numbering) etc. Its half the mouldings that need to be produced - does that explain it better.

I get it now, ta

[Barry Ten]

 

Railway modellers are a perverse lot - instead of being grateful (those who have wanted the BP), or neutral (the rest) tere has to be knocking, and at worst insults.

 

 

Hopefully there's a silent majority who are perfectly happy with this announcement, and don't see any downsides. If OT's are/were sensible then they wouldn't have put all their commercial eggs into this one venture, so - assuming that the Heljan tie-in is cancelled - they should weather this, and if it isn't cancelled, well, it's a different BP so they can take a risk on the market supporting two similar models. Not a risk I'd be overly keen to take, but it's not my money...

 

I couldn't be happier, really - if the Bachmann announcement was for a WR set then I'd have to take a long hard look at all the bits of Tri-ang and various etched and white metal bits sitting in my to-do pile. Even then, though, I'd probably still give it a shot - after all the existence of better models hasn't prevented me spending a good few hours tarting up various old Lima and Hornby models over the last year. One assumes that the re-sale value of Tri-ang era BP parts will drop through the floor once a state of the art RTR model appears, or perhaps I'm misjudging the collector mentality.

[Chris116]

Reading news on other sites I note that Hornby are saying that they are looking at their old moulds for the BP. This could start to get very silly if we get three versions but then we should never complain at new models as they are after all what we keep asking for!

 

Chris

 

PS I note that having started to read this thread my computer or the internet or RMWeb have started to slow down!

[oggy1953]

Judging by the response to this news, I'm surprised Bachmann or Hornby didnt produce it a few years ago, Its obviously a Very popular model. Hope its done in N gauge eventualy !

[Guest baldrick25]

Quite frankly I don't need to phone them, you were being asked to cite sources. And this doesn't answer the current position on Olivia's Trains website which is patently not what you stated.

 

Rather than have a go at me , why didn't you bother to look on Olivia's Trains website first:-

 

Blue Pullman

 

and

 

BP - Western region

[frobisher]

Rather than have a go at me , why didn't you bother to look on Olivia's Trains website first:-

 

Blue Pullman

 

and

 

BP - Western region

 

I'm sorry if you think I was having a go at you (and I certainly wasn't), but please refer to Mod4's post above and think about exactly what you just wrote.

 

However...

 

http://www.oliviastr...sp?crit=Pullman

 

Is what is promiently linked from the front page and there is non mention at all of the Western variant there - it's all Midland, and rather lacking in real detail.

 

Also, look under what it says about the "Western Region" one...

 

Blue Pullman Power Cars & Kitchen Car Set In Blue & White Livery

 

Units Transferred From The Midland Region Without The Midland Markings

 

 

 

[the fuzzler]

Yes, I'm surprised how wrong rtr manufacturers have been in the past for demand for this model. Judging by the responses there are loads of folk willing to pay the big money required for an authentic model, both detail and length wise.

 

I don't know. I think were all being spoilt at the moment. I'm a bit fed up to be honest. I had most of the forthcoming specials (lion. D600, 28 etc) on order, but when I sat down and worked out the costs, I just couldn't justify it, and cancelled the lot.

 

In on well above the UK average salary (not wishing to boast at all) but its just getting ridiculous. The exchange rates don't help, but this is now a rich man's hobby. Is it good for the hobby as a whole ?

 

For a few special models the price might be worth paying, but I can't help thinking its all gone a bit silly.

 

There, rant over. Leave the light switched off please.

[The Stationmaster]

Few people saw it, and even fewer remember what it sounded like, but it will have DCC sound..... Specially recorded off an HST or even a Ford Crown Victoria Custom '51...

 

I jest of course....

 

Or maybe not I've no doubt some film of them with sound survives although it is rather unlikely to have the full range of engine etc speeds. But the basics are simple - yet another rattly MAN engine but coupled to an electric transmission so without all the entertainment of rising and falling engine note at gear change of a diesel hydraulic. Biut certainly for their earlier years well maintained and cosseted which probably reflected in the noise they made but I can't really remember apart from the (internal) cab noise which was typically diesel-electric.

[waggy]

2) If anything ever goes wrong with my model, there is a genuine UK service team to help me. Barwell are usually good with spares, though not as good as Margate at the moment.

 

Re item no 2, Margate must have improved greatly in the past two months, i had to e-mail them 3 times over a 4 month period about some spares, when they finaly replied they told me to try East Kent Models. I have always had excellent service from Bachmann.

['CHARD]

Waggy, you might wanna edit that post and cut the quoted content from Implacable down to just the point about spares you're responding to. I just had to connect the laptop to the City Council's events flatscreen in Victoria Square to fit the whole lot on at once

[7013]

I remember seeing the WR BP on its first runs, it was certainly something to behold so clean and pretty quick, I seem to remember the engine not was not unlike a Warship but had a high pitched whistling noise. My brother in law drove them and said they were crap! always breaking down and having faults fixed.

[reevesthecat]

Just found on Bachmann website 31-256 the one with yellow ends,(as opposed to 31-255 the blue one) look in products, modern image loco's and scroll down. Not seen it mentioned already apologies if this is not the case.

mark

[Mod2]

Waggy, you might wanna edit that post and cut the quoted content from Implacable down to just the point about spares you're responding to.

 

A fair point Chard, it would be appreciated if all members could bear in mind that quotes can be selectively edited to make for easier reading. Just carry it forward as normal and then delete what you don't want by your favourite method.

 

Thanks.

[Pennine MC]

... but this is now a rich man's hobby.

 

 

Ah, this trite old chestnut again.

 

There's always been 'superior' models around for those who can afford them (Exley coaches, Kirdon diesels; even good old Hornby Dublo and Trix were relatively expensive compared to Triang). But it can also be a very cheap hobby, even without considering Railroad or old Lima stuff - my local shop currently has a Bachmann BR 4MT 2-6-0, a Fairburn and a Hornby Grange, all current-generation models, secondhand but immaculate and all around £45. Hattons are selling new Heljan diesels at less than £50; there are scores of other examples.

 

It's only an expensive hobby if you want it to be. It's like saying motoring's expensive because you insist on driving a Maserati rather than a Mondeo.

[Andy Y]

but this is now a rich man's hobby. Is it good for the hobby as a whole ?

 

 

No one's being forced to buy everything and manufacturers are not liable for any OCD related unauthorised overdrafts.

 

There's more choice than ever but there has always been a range of products to suit ones' pocket depth.

 

Now, this B P is of no interest to me,

..................

Plus there is a better chance that us N dabblers could get a BP produced via Farish.

 

I'm sorry; I have to say that given that it's of no interest to you personally you have been poking several sticks into hornets' nests over the last 24 hours. To the extent that the admin team are inspecting the undersides of bridges around the site at the moment.

[The Stationmaster]

Ah, this trite old chestnut again.

 

There's always been 'superior' models around for those who can afford them (Exley coaches, Kirdon diesels; even good old Hornby Dublo and Trix were relatively expensive compared to Triang). But it can also be a very cheap hobby, even without considering Railroad or old Lima stuff - my local shop currently has a Bachmann BR 4MT 2-6-0, a Fairburn and a Hornby Grange, all current-generation models, secondhand but immaculate and all around £45. Hattons are selling new Heljan diesels at less than £50; there are scores of other examples.

 

It's only an expensive hobby if you want it to be. It's like saying motoring's expensive because you insist on driving a Maserati rather than a Mondeo.

 

All too true - I was looking through a 1948 magazine the other day and a company in London were offering an OO 'built-to-order' diesel shunter for the princely sum of £15, elsewhere in the same mag Merco sheets were advertised for a next to nothing.

 

On the face of it the BP might look pricey but it seems in fact to be quite reasonably priced - 4 high spec coaches which would look for a current market price of c.£30 each and two 'locos' - in the marketplace at £90 each for a fairly good spec nowadays. That lot adds up to £300 - undeniably a lot of money but not really all that far adrift when compared with a contemporary equivalent - say a Hornby 'Castle' at around £110 plus 5 coaches at £33 (rrp) each, which comes to c.£275. The only difference is that one comes as a 6 coach unit while the other could be bought, possibly over a period, as separate items.

 

The natural consequence of the market asking for a unit train is that any realistic manufacturer is most likely to deliver it as a unit train - it's simpler to market & distribute. And it must surely be simpler for dealers (who won't be left with stocks of unwanted intermediate coaches and the associated debt from taking them into stock)?

 

Only time (and possibly pre-orders now being placed?) will show that the wish list aspirations can turn into a profitable product. I hope that Bachmann will be rewarded in that respect because if they are not the whole business of wish-listing could end up in disrepute and a lot of development potential wil have been lost.

[Pixie]

Better get your extra bits grafted in due course then.

 

Goodbye student overdraft!

 

Pix

[ozzyo]

I have read this thread and the one on the Hornby B P. At the moment we have three players all doing a bit of saber rattling, one I think will retire injured, the other two may call it a draw. We could all be winners if we have Backman doing the Midland Pullman and Hornby doing the Western Pullman, or is that to much like joined up thinking.

 

Only time I saw any of them was in 73 when I went passed Swindon and they were in the works for scrap.

 

OzzyO.

[Diesel Dayz]

Did someone mention the Blue Pullman?

[petee19]

Well done Bachmann for going ahead with this long awaited model and at what appears to be a realistic price,if you really want to make a 63 year old happy perhaps you could follow this with the Brighton Belle,again at a realistic price and not £2,000!

 

Peter.

[James]

again at a realistic price and not £2,000!

 

But for the work involved in a handbuilt unit, £2,000 is a realistic price.

[petee19]

I'm not disputing that the 'Golden Age'Brighton Belle is not a nice model and probably well worth the money,but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that its well above the price many of us could afford.

 

Peter.

 

 

But for the work involved in a handbuilt unit, £2,000 is a realistic price.

[Barry Ten]

 

In on well above the UK average salary (not wishing to boast at all) but its just getting ridiculous.

 

 

 

That's like saying, I don't wish to boast, but I'm married to a top italian supermodel.

 

I've spent the thick end of a year doing one GWR coach, so - while it's not really within my sphere of interest - the

price of the Brighton Belle seems pretty reasonable to me.

['CHARD]

I don't wish to boast, but modesty is my most attractive attribute.

 

Ahead of dashing good looks, a supermodel wife, and more Lima and Hornby than you could shake a stick at.

 

After all, who'd want to be spoiled with a broad choice of new models up to contemporary standards, that would be ridiculous

[beast66606]

That's like saying, I don't wish to boast, but I'm married to a top italian supermodel.

 

You as well ?

 

I don't know. I think were all being spoilt at the moment. I'm a bit fed up to be honest. I had most of the forthcoming specials (lion. D600, 28 etc) on order, but when I sat down and worked out the costs, I just couldn't justify it, and cancelled the lot.

 

Did you not check the cost BEFORE you ordered them ?

 

Only time (and possibly pre-orders now being placed?) will show that the wish list aspirations can turn into a profitable product. I hope that Bachmann will be rewarded in that respect because if they are not the whole business of wish-listing could end up in disrepute and a lot of development potential wil have been lost.[/i]

 

 

I'm sure Bachmann will have done their research but *I* wonder how many wish listers will actually buy the product