Ok I'm happy and confused about the new stuff announced from the Bach-mann. Just in case you haven't looked at it yet, here's a link. http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/docs/NMRA_2015_ANNOUNCEMENTS.pdf Beyond the K4 (there's a whole other thread on that) why did they choose to do a GG1? Seriously, a GG1! Why?????? I'm sure it's nice, but........ Kato not good enough for us? And doing it both in DCC w/sound and non-DCC versions? What's the rational behind this? Why didn't it apply to the K4? 72' Heavyweight Coach re-issued, but at $79.00 a pop? And then not one, not two, but three new passenger cars (which will probably look a lot nicer than the old 72'-er), but they're only $59.00 or $49.00 each? Not complaining about new stuff coming out here, and not complaining that these new ones are too much or anything, but why the re-issue so high? Oh well, time to go back to saving my pennies up for the BLI Centipede. Bronzemeister
I've noticed that a lot of Bachman stuff has a high MSRP, but sells for a steeper discount than normal. I hope that's the case with the heavyweights as a 4 axle version of that type of car is needed. And in defense of the MSRP of the heavyweights they come with lighting which can easily cost $20 aftermarket and $60 is more in line with other passenger cars.
Too bad they didn't do an L1s instead of the GG1. They could even have re-used the boiler from the K4s instead of having to develop a new mech and a new shell for a locomotive that's already been produced by several other companies. Weird timing for another GG1, too... since there's still such a huge surplus of Katos out there that are vastly less expensive (granted, the Bmann offers a few more schemes and DCC/sound, and it does look like a very nice model). I agree the MSRP on the coaches is a bit excessive. If they come available for somewhere in the $30-40 range, I'll snag a few, but otherwise I'm content to keep buying $10 MP/PMI P70s and MPB70s even though the trucks are wrong.
Yeah, the K4 I understand but the GG1 is way beyond my understanding. As for the passenger cars the price is a killer. Even discounted the price is excessive for my wallet. The MT passenger cars can be gotten for a lot less and the old Lima/Model Power/Atlas/Rivarossi/ and who ever else made them passenger cars of the '60's and 70's can be found at flea markets and garage sales for as low as $2.00 each.
Makes me want to buy THREE Micro-Trains cars for the price of a Bachmann car....and help keep the economy of Oregon in the black
I found this amusing in the description for the GG1: "Introducing our first electric locomotive in N scale!" Didn't they produce an AEM-7 in N scale?
The K4 is a good announcement even though I'm not a future buyer of these. The GG-1 is just weird??!!?? I was reluctant to buy even one GG-1 from Kato, but, because it was part of the Broadway Limited set, I bought one.
Perhaps you were thinking of the HHP-8: The HHP-8 was the successor to the AEM-7 and is itself already out of service - replaced by the ACS-64, a model of which Kato is releasing later this year. The MARC commuter rail agency also bought a few of the HHP-8 locos and were having Amtrak perform the maintenance on them. However, since the locos are now off the Amtrak roster, they're no longer stocking any spare parts and thus won't perform service for MARC. MARC is now reportedly shopping for some diesels as replacements.
The biggest surprise for me in these announcements is the price of the n-scale heavy weight passenger cars.. These appear to be the same car that was sold with the dcc version of the doodle bug. Thus one would assume the mold and tooling already exists. I think they are delightful cars based on the fact I have two that came with B&O doodle bugs; in fact, I had posted previously that I wish they would release the cars separately. As a retiree on a "fixed income", even the discount price is likely to be way beyond what I am willing to pay for a single passenger car. I am even wondering if the price was a misprinted, but then I reflect on the K4s......
It's releases like this (Bachmann GG1, but there are plenty of others) that blow those "we just don't have enough factory time" theories/whinefests from the manufacturers out of the water. Of course Bachmann--like Kato and a few others--tend to just do their own thing and don't really pretend they are gathering preorders like the rest. But still....there's really no good reason for a GG1 in n-scale, and you gotta think that the market (for a locomotive that Kato has released in fairly large numbers for Kato) has to be as small or smaller than some of the things that seem to be at the top of everyone's list. I mean, why not the AEM-7? Actually I did concede one possibility is that Bachmann is planning to release a working system of Northeast Corridor catenary so they want to have another era covered so that the sales would be better from the git-go.
No, actually I forgot about the HHP-8. That's an even better example because it was much more recent and they even still have some parts for that one. The AEM-7 was a much older release of theirs. I'm not even sure if they ever sold it individually, but it came in the "Bahcmann N scale Electric Train Set".
Please post a photo or a link to any reference you can find proving the existence of a Bachmann N scale model of the AEM-7.
I stand corrected. I had seen it referred to as an AEM-7 somewhere and just assumed that was correct.
As noted above, it is actually an E60CP, but here is one of the sets on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bachmann-Am...c-Train-Set-/161809207990?hash=item25ac9492b6
