Graham Farish Winter 2022 announcements

[fezza]

Love the 31/1 Cricklewood and 31/4 but what are they going to pull? Fresh air? Come on guys let's see some Blue/Grey and Regional Railways coaching stock.

 

And still no 158?

[TomE]

Going to be hard to resist a 31423!

 

Any recommendations for model shops in that area though? 

 

Tom. 

[Crepello]

Maybe a promising sign is the maroon Thompsons  in OO.

[Kris]

I was not expecting much from Bachmann, too many previous announcements have led me to this feeling. Thankfully I was not disappointed (it's amazing what a lack of expectation can do). Looking at the other posts on this thread it appears that many others are lacking in excitement. 

 

I do agree with everyone who is rightly bemoaning the lack of rolling stock. I decided to do a little work avoidance and a little research. Using Bachmann's website to look at previous quarterly announcements this year I have found the following:

 

With the exception of a couple of wagons from EFE I don't think that Bachmann have announce the production of any new of existing toolings of wagons or coaches in N this year.

Looking on Bachmann's on website, they list 64 different coaches, 83 wagons and 13 departmental vehicles. This would make a new entrance to the hobby feel like there was a lot of stock available in n gauge. With the most rose tinted fan boy glasses on you would say that this is a reflection of what there might be in the shops. At the other end of the spectre some might say that it is getting very close to false advertising.  

[fezza]

34 minutes ago, Kris said:

I was not expecting much from Bachmann, too many previous announcements have led me to this feeling. Thankfully I was not disappointed (it's amazing what a lack of expectation can do). Looking at the other posts on this thread it appears that many others are lacking in excitement. 

 

I do agree with everyone who is rightly bemoaning the lack of rolling stock. I decided to do a little work avoidance and a little research. Using Bachmann's website to look at previous quarterly announcements this year I have found the following:

 

With the exception of a couple of wagons from EFE I don't think that Bachmann have announce the production of any new of existing toolings of wagons or coaches in N this year.

Looking on Bachmann's on website, they list 64 different coaches, 83 wagons and 13 departmental vehicles. This would make a new entrance to the hobby feel like there was a lot of stock available in n gauge. With the most rose tinted fan boy glasses on you would say that this is a reflection of what there might be in the shops. At the other end of the spectre some might say that it is getting very close to false advertising.  

 

A few weeks ago I went into Farish's official outlet in Hinckley, Leicestershire hoping they might have some modern image coaching stock - there was almost nothing and from what the staff said they couldn't get any either... 

[scottystitch]

44 minutes ago, Kris said:

 

 

With the exception of a couple of wagons from EFE I don't think that Bachmann have announce the production of any new of existing toolings of wagons or coaches in N this year.

Looking on Bachmann's on website, they list 64 different coaches,…This would make a new entrance to the hobby feel like there was a lot of stock available in n gauge.

It’s not even as good as that because there isn’t enough of a cross section of different coach types IN THE SAME LIVERY to make a proper train up…

 

Best

 

Scott

[woodenhead]

11 minutes ago, fezza said:

 

A few weeks ago I went into Farish's official outlet in Hinckley, Leicestershire hoping they might have some modern image coaching stock - there was almost nothing and from what the staff said they couldn't get any either... 

well I guess that is good, as that is a personal caller only establishment and we wouldn’t want Bachmann hoarding stock for sale in its own shop.

[scottystitch]

Just now, woodenhead said:

well I guess that is good, as that is a personal caller only establishment and we wouldn’t want Bachmann hoarding stock for sale in its own shop.

I think before the anecdote we already knew that wasn’t Bachman’s MO.

 

Best

 

Scott 

[Standards_in_OO]

Are there even any coaches to run with the collectors club Northern Belle coach? Looks like it’s difficult to get hold of a rake of maroon Mk1s now, let alone something that would match the Northern Belle one. Plenty of talk recently around the size of N since Hornby introduced TT but the lack of availability of a lot of items is reason I wouldn’t go back to this scale now. 

[fezza]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

well I guess that is good, as that is a personal caller only establishment and we wouldn’t want Bachmann hoarding stock for sale in its own shop.

I don't think anyone expected hoarding but I thought their own shop might try to keep a representative sample of current and recently issued models. Turns out they have a high street shop with very little of their own N gauge to sell. It's rather like the old joke about the Soviet Spud-u-like that opened without having any potatoes....

[meatloaf]

The 20s look nice but its a pity they havent had a sound upgrade

[Hector Lawn]

Nothing for me this season - I’m still waiting for a re-run of Black 5’s and mk1 maroon coaches (as are a lot of others it seems). Are Bachmann actually listening to what their customers are asking for, which will also encourage them to open their wallets by the way? 

 

Hector

[Mike Harvey]

12 hours ago, fezza said:

I don't think anyone expected hoarding but I thought their own shop might try to keep a representative sample of current and recently issued models. Turns out they have a high street shop with very little of their own N gauge to sell. It's rather like the old joke about the Soviet Spud-u-like that opened without having any potatoes....

How would their own shop be able to stock things that Bachmann themselves do not have in their warehouse? Imagine the shop received a stock of maroon Mk.1 SKs. They would be sold in hours if posts on here are any sort of demand indicator, because nowhere else can get items that are no longer in Bachmann’s stock.

[richierich]

The BR Mainline Executive Class 31/4 is a surprise. Very tempting. 

[davebem]

There was a time during the pandemic you couldnt get any n gauge locos, now we are almost inundated with 08s, 37s, plus 20s, 31s, 60s and 90s (although Id take 25/3s over 31s anyday ;-).  The regional exclusive method is a good idea if it means more livery options and its helping support the local/smaller model shops.  They must be focussing on the stock now for 2023. I remember when the mk2fs were released they barely touched the shelves, I think I purchased the very last TSOs for sale that I only was able to get as the shop closed during one of the lockdowns when they came into stock.  I replaced my mk1 putting them on ebay and they sold for the same price i bought the Mk2s for.  There is hardly any Blue and grey Mk1s on ebay now.  The Mk2f seem like a basic model to produce compared to Mk1 so hopefully they are in the pipeline and a quick porfit win for Bachmann..

 

As for MCC in hinckley, if your in the area you have Rocket Railways in Coalville and Signal box in Anstey, can try your luck with the 2nd hand bins!  Ive just managed to get a TPO coach to go with the recently release BGs!

Edited November 4, 2022 by davebem

[romley midland]

5 minutes ago, davebem said:

There was a time during the pandemic you couldnt get any n gauge locos, now we are almost inundated with 08s, 37s, plus 20s, 31s, 60s and 90s (although Id take 25/3s over 31s anyday ;-).  The regional exclusive idea is a good idea if it means more livery options and its helping support the local/smaller model shops.  They must be focussing on the stock now for 2023, I remember when the mk2fs were released they barely touched the shelves, plus they seem like a basic model to prduce so hopefully they are in the pipeline.

 

As for MCC in hinckley, if your in the area you have Rocket Railways in Coalville and Signal box in Anstey, can try your luck with the 2nd hand bins!  Ive just managed to get a TPO coach to go with the recently release BGs!

There was plenty of Graham Farish on the shelves of the Signal Box in Anstey when I visited yesterday!

[maq1988]

Nothing new here for me I'm afraid.

 

I would have hoped that we've get more manufacturers on N rather than moving to a new scale (TT). I'm very glad I got a good amount of Mk1 stock a few years ago. I mostly missed out on the Mk2s of any version.

 

I guess it's good that there are still N modellers who want things, just need products to sell. I'm after a couple 47s, 37s, 31s and it'd be nice to have another Class 40. If you miss the once in 5+ year release cycle then it's second hand time... which is almost full price retail!

[woodenhead]

1 hour ago, maq1988 said:

Nothing new here for me I'm afraid.

 

I would have hoped that we've get more manufacturers on N rather than moving to a new scale (TT). I'm very glad I got a good amount of Mk1 stock a few years ago. I mostly missed out on the Mk2s of any version.

 

I guess it's good that there are still N modellers who want things, just need products to sell. I'm after a couple 47s, 37s, 31s and it'd be nice to have another Class 40. If you miss the once in 5+ year release cycle then it's second hand time... which is almost full price retail!

Same here I filled my boots with Mk1s many moons ago, there is nothing I need to buy at present and in the summer I finally accepted I had to much and offloaded anything that did not fit my existing layout as the time it takes me to do anything and the point at which I will no longer be doing anything are closing towards negative figures.

 

One decision I made and don't regret is moving from all BR Blue or all steam to end of steam on the LMR - at which point I got my third and final class 40 - a split box in green and rebodied a number of other locos to green.  I now have some LMR tender engines, green diesels, blue diesels and a nice mix of maroon and blue/grey coaches.  The only new items on order or awaiting are the Rapido Co-Bo, a Rapido green class 44 and a Revolution class 120 probably in green too or the all over blue.

 

Being realistic I have too much even now before these last three items but I am loath to offload anything that could be used on the current layout.  What I did get rid of were ex GWR steam locos, ex GWR coaching stock and some Scottish diesels.  So I am in the very lucky position of not needing anything and when these announcements come around unless it is something brand new then it's not going to follow that I will be ordering anything, I don't see many locos beyond the Peaks from Rapido, it's just going to be units and I imagine from Bachmann at most that will be a 105 in N if at all and I will be looking at RevolutioN or Rapido going forwards.

[03060]

12 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Same here I filled my boots with Mk1s many moons ago, there is nothing I need to buy at present and in the summer I finally accepted I had to much and offloaded anything that did not fit my existing layout as the time it takes me to do anything and the point at which I will no longer be doing anything are closing towards negative figures.

 

One decision I made and don't regret is moving from all BR Blue or all steam to end of steam on the LMR - at which point I got my third and final class 40 - a split box in green and rebodied a number of other locos to green.  I now have some LMR tender engines, green diesels, blue diesels and a nice mix of maroon and blue/grey coaches.  The only new items on order or awaiting are the Rapido Co-Bo, a Rapido green class 44 and a Revolution class 120 probably in green too or the all over blue.

 

Being realistic I have too much even now before these last three items but I am loath to offload anything that could be used on the current layout.  What I did get rid of were ex GWR steam locos, ex GWR coaching stock and some Scottish diesels.  So I am in the very lucky position of not needing anything and when these announcements come around unless it is something brand new then it's not going to follow that I will be ordering anything, I don't see many locos beyond the Peaks from Rapido, it's just going to be units and I imagine from Bachmann at most that will be a 105 in N if at all and I will be looking at RevolutioN or Rapido going forwards.

 

I've also adopted a similar policy due to the rising costs over the last couple of years, I've reduced my N gauge projects from 3 down to 2, although I've not gotten around to selling my West Riding steam and diesel locos yet I have managed to stop buying any more. I'm regretting not being more strict with myself regarding time periods for my main project (West Highland Line) and have spent a small fortune this year buying class 37s but I'm working on the theory that I won't be able to afford them when they next come around in another 5 years !

 

Nothing personally for me this time but pleased to see the class 31/4s appearing although none of these liveries suit me this time around. The 20s also look very nice. I do think that it must be harder for manufacturers these days to supply what each of us wants when there is a much more diverse livery / time periods than in the days when diesels were either green or blue and with N gauge being a smallish market it makes trying to produce something that will appeal to the majority that much harder long before cost implications are taken into consideration.

[woodenhead]

I remember a very good N gauge West Highland layout in the 80s, featured in the modeller, it covered Oban, Fort William, Crianlarich and Mallaig if I recall correctly.

 

It used the original Farish 37s in the early Scotrail Scottie Dog period.

 

I had plans to do something Highland myself so got a couple of 26 and 27s to go along with 37s but all other themes and ideas got in the way.

[03060]

11 hours ago, woodenhead said:

I remember a very good N gauge West Highland layout in the 80s, featured in the modeller, it covered Oban, Fort William, Crianlarich and Mallaig if I recall correctly.

 

It used the original Farish 37s in the early Scotrail Scottie Dog period.

 

I had plans to do something Highland myself so got a couple of 26 and 27s to go along with 37s but all other themes and ideas got in the way.

 

The layout you mention was by Chris Thorp and is top of my file as my main inspiration (as I know it has inspired others) .... unfortunately, no matter how hard I try I frustratingly just can't quite match all of it's content or ingenuity in the space that I have available .... I've literally spent years pondering this .... hopefully this winter will see the start of my compromise.

 

Apologies to others for the thread drift.

 

Regards,

Ian.

Edited November 5, 2022 by 03060

[John M Upton]

Of course there is the other side of the coin, if in the next announcement Bachmann Farish announce lots of wagons and coaches, we will get the shiny box Youtuber brigade complaining across Socail Media or wherever else they lurk, about no snazzy new locos instead.

 

You can't please all the people all the time unfortunately.

[scottystitch]

I honestly don't think that would be the case. I would suggest that if Farish could issue one new or re-tooled locomotive every twelve or 18 months that would be sufficient for the size of the market, and we wouldn't have ,much cause for complaint.

 

If they could re-issue existing models more often, such as 20s, 25s, 40s, 42s, 47s, Black 5s, Std 5s, (I know it's coming), 8Fs, Princess Coronations, etc., (along with regular supplies of coaching stock, that would go a long way to relieving frustrations.  I don't think the issue is really about brand new items.

 

Best

Scott.

[woodenhead]

It's not like Bachmann are exactly chucking out lots of OO and OO9 to the detriment of N and they have been forced to alter how they produce models so the 47 and 37s have come in large batches with lots of models in the style of Heljan and Accurascale which will in turn put pressure on production slots for other models back at Kader.  It's the same in N albeit on a smaller scale with the 08s, 03s, 37s and 31s now.

 

As Kader supply to markets across the world and some markets are bigger than the UK's then those big 00 loco runs are possibly at the expense of other UK models.  Bachmann is also getting commission work from the likes of Rails, that's probably quite lucrative too and if Bachmann don't take it then Heljan will.

 

The knock on effect is that things that we may consider bread and butter are at the back of a queue - people want to buy 'new' stuff and generally when it arrives the new stuff sells, whereas people asking for coaches want something that might sit on shelves for a bit.  How many people really are there who have no coaches, against those who have most of what they need and would like some more against those who have enough.  Bachmann might understand this ratio better than those on social media asking for them.

[scottystitch]

4 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

How many people really are there who have no coaches, against those who have most of what they need and would like some more against those who have enough.  Bachmann might understand this ratio better than those on social media asking for them.

Up to a point I don’t disagree with what you’re suggesting.  However, why would anyone contemplate starting modelling in N when, yes they can buy a shiny big ticket locomotive but, they can’t buy the vehicles to stick behind it. It’s not conducive to growing nor even maintaining the sector. 
 

The thread is going ‘round in circles, as they always do, for which I appreciate I’m as much to blame. 
 

best

 

Scott.