Will Bachmann will make any more new steamers

The WbB 2014 catalog is online. Looks like the 4-8-4 and 4-6-4 are still available. If you mean "new" offerings, there is a Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey version of the 4-6-0. FWIW, if they offered an N&W version of the 4-6-0 (Class V) I'd buy it. Beyond that, I dunno.

Gilly

There was a furor about that some time after the ten wheeler came out, where they

were thought to be going to offer a Mikado, I think, or a Consolidation.   I thought

that might be a good companion for the tenwheeler as a shortline loco, but when

I asked Bachmann reps about it in a show, the project had been canceled and they

did not seem happy to answer the question.  I was thinking "economy, contractor/source problems, or ?"   Shop owners on here may have the truth vs.

rumor.

My vote for a repro PW 675.

I doubt we will see any new tooling for any WBB steam. I have no evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, to defend this opinion but I just don't see Bachmann investing much money into the Williams line, especially steam engines. I would suspect that the WBB line represents an incredibly small percentage of Bachmann's total worldwide sales and that future investments will primarily be made to the HO lines of business. As many here have said in other threads, WBB steam engines are no longer the great bargain they used to be. the MSRP for WBB steam is near the MSRP of some Lionel and MTH steamers that offer a whole lot more features. I remember my reaction when I first heard that Bachmann was acquiring Williams some years ago: "this isn't going to end well".

Hello guys and gals.....

Yes it is too bad they are no longer a bargain as they were before. I purchased a WWB S.F. GP-9 in 2013 and the quality has fallen as my Geep has bend frame and the body or shell was forced on the frame thus slightly warped the body. The wheels and the outside middle gear were pressed on crooked(all wobbled when running). It was sloppy made so I straighted the frame and have extra shell for it. I also had to install mylar washers on four axles because of too much side play of the axles but it runs well. There is not much I can do about all of the wheels being wobbling. Because of this, it is the last WWB I will purchase,it is too bad.

The woman who loves the S.F. 5011,2678,2381,2003

Tiffany

WOW Tiffany. WbB from "Hero" to "Zero" in one move! Very disappointing to hear about the problems you had with that GP-9. Did you call WbB or consider sending it back?

FWIW, my old Williams engines are still solid and will be running again at the County Fair in just a few weeks.

Gilly

WBB had announced a scale proportioned USRA Light Mikado (ex K-Line?) a while back. 

As I recall, it was going to MSRP for around $800.00, was conventional and was pretty much cancelled right after the ink dried on the fliers.

Rusty

If they were to re-gear the current/older steam offerings to match the superb low-speed

performance of the Ten-Wheeler, I would look at a couple of their steamers as

project-fodder. The current gearing rules out any of these locos that have been produced in the past. I buy few diesels, so if that's all they got...meh.

I've said it before: an 031/036-capable, $400, small, conventional, Ten-Wheeler-geared, generic/realistic, 2-6-6-2/0-6-6-0, a la the Mantua HO articulated, is a product that I believe WBB could quickly turn into an institution. Cute/cheap enough for the toy guys, realistic enough for us Hi-railers to buy and attack on the workbench.

========

WBB "incredibly small percentage" of world-wide sales...is this info or merely opinion?

I don't really care, but WBB does do business in a nation with 318 million people, and

even a small percentage of that number can be a lot of choo-choo buyers.

Germany, which is a FAR more model RR'ing-oriented nation than is the US, granted,

has a population of "only" 80 million.  Great Britain is at about 60 million.

So-o-o-o...I have doubts about "incredibly small". 

Some actual sales facts would be nice, right about now.

At $800 for a CONVENTIONAL USRA Light Mikado, which has already been offered for years by both MTH & Lionel, no wonder WBB canceled it.

Hello Gilly.....

It was disappointing when we took it out of the box seeing the bend frame as it was purchased new. But we will just keep it as it is running OK .  We didn't want to deal with the hassles of sending it back knowing that we may get a replacement that may be worse. It is too bad that bachmann pretty much ruined Jerry Williams reputation which he worked so hard to make quality reasonable priced trains.

The woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2381,2003

Tiffany

WBB needs to do something new, never done in O.  Such as a Forney locomotive.  Most everything else has been done.

Dan

I don't think ANY manufacturer has EVER produced a New Your Central heavy pacific (K-5), nor the H10a/b Mikado, at least in 3-Rail SCALE.

Bachmann did Forney's.  It's just that they were in On30.

Rusty

I don't think you will see WBB competing with Lionel/MTH/3rd Rail on those types of engines(scale, highly detailed, and mostly accurate).  Their dealer pricing setup will not allow that.  As shown by the failure of the $800 Mikado, which tends to scare off many (high list / room for dealer discounts).  From the WBB point of view Pacifics, H10s, and Mikado's have already been produced.

Without a command control system I don't see WBB jumping into the detailed scale engines.  I always like to see competition but there may not be room for another.

Rusty, I know they have done them in almost every other scale except O.

Dan 

Frankly, if WBB ever does another steamer, it'll be a copy of something already done by Bachmann in HO or N.  As I recall, on one of the York presentation videos, they pretty much eluded to that fact.  They're not going to break any new ground.

Even the current 4-6-0 is a simplified version of their HO and N Spectrum models.

Rusty

loco-dan has it right.  Not sure about there being a lot of Mikados offered by the

BIG TWO.  I could not get excited about old Williams because most of it was a "repro"

that somebody above is asking for...When MTH was ramping up, there was new and

different, and Lionel was still repros, then K-Line came along and there was a two

truck Shay, a suburban tank engine, aluminum passenger cars, etc. (true, they did

do some repros, but they did some innovations), now Lionel does offer more than

repros, but both seem reluctant to get away from the big buck sellers and too often

duplicate each other.  Weirdly, that was my complaint when I was looking for Lionel-

compatible in the 1980's, and almost never bought actual Lionel....repros...thought we had gotten away from that.  There have been many threads on here asking for new and different...I guess it doesn't sell.  Wish I was a better kit basher/scratch builder

of locomotives.  I sure hope what is described above is not where Bachmann now is

with Williams.....

D500-

for the love of Mike, man, read my freakin' post: I clearly stated that " I have no evidence, anecdotal or otherwise..." And then said " I suspect that the WBB line represents....." So I think you can safely conclude that this is my opinion and not fact. I don't know what the populations of Germany and the UK have to do with WBB  3 rail O gauge. I will bet you that neither Germany nor the UK has even one single retailer for the WBB line. Perhaps this is why many of our forum members from the UK purchase their WBB from US sources.3 rail American O gauge is simply not a big seller in Europe. And that's a fact. And whether we like it or not, HO is a much larger market here in the US compared to our beloved O gauge.

having lived in the UK for four years I can attest that British OO gauge represents about 60% of the British model railroad hobby with N gauge at about 30%. O, HO and G make up the other 10%. And Germany? Marklin, Roco, Fleischmann and Bachmann Germany are the big HO names and HO is easily 80% of the German model rr market. WBB is never going to be a big player outside the US and compared to Lionel and MTH, it's a small player in a small market here in the US.

Oh, before I forget: all of the above is IMHO

PS- in the UK, Bachmann competes head to head with Hornby for the large British OO gauge market. British Bachmann produces beautiful OO gauge trains and accessories but still is a distant second to Hornby for market share. 

I'm on the sidelines watching the WbB game. It looks like the folks at Bachmann have "milked" the Williams product line dry. Why wish for anything new? The entire WbB product line needs so much work. The postwar look is a good thing gone too far. It's time for a little more detail.

I'll shut up now. My corner is calling my name .

Don't forget WBB has all of the old plastic K-Line tooling.  Their plan is to release a coupled of cars and engines a year.  They are not going to dump it all on the market at once.  They have a plan.  Don't worry that they are ignoring O scale.  The first post in this thread is about new tooling.  I don't count the K-Line tooling as new.  

Lionel has access to the scale, old Korean DIECAST K-Line tooling.  There may be some low end Kader/K-Line diecast tooling they do not have. 

At some point WBB is going to do something with the scale high end rolling stock/passenger car tooling.  Maybe a Spectrum WBB line????

No doom and gloom with WBB.

Dan

WBB is planning the release of a new engine in December.  Unfortunately it's not steam.  It is a scale GE 44 ton engine in four liveries.  Micro-Mark has it listed under trains/new offerings/Williams by Bachmann.  Surprised they sprung for the new tooling.  The Micro-Mark listing is the only one I've found to date for this engine.

I have also heard through the grapevine that MTH will be introducing their version of the 44 tonner in the next catalog.  If this is so, this could be the kiss of death for the Bachmann unit as their version will lack some form of command control.  Bachmann's unit will come with sound and a die-cast frame though. Will be curious to see how the battle of the 44 tonners turns out.

I think we may see a turn of the century Class 1  4-4-0 from WbB. They do it in all other scales...so why not?? I'll buy 2-3 but I am conventional and will stay that way. 

Myself I's like to see them scale up their HO scale B&O EM-1 loco with conventional control but upgradeable.

Someone please explain why Bachmann purchased Williams?  The only items I liked in the Williams line were the NW2 switchers and the scale GG1's and hopefully the new 44 tonner will also be there to,  it would be nice to see a new loco  with DCC so I can operate it with the MTH DCS system and hopefully sell them at a reasonable price. There new trolly is nice but I am still waiting for the PTC version.

It is always good to have competition in the market and I thought that would happen when the Bachmann bought Williams but Alas it was not to be so far in the Command control market.

It is still the golden age.

John

I've said it before and I'll say it again. How about they make a small electric. Box or steeple cab. No one has mass produced one yet in O gauge. I've asked Weaver and never even got a reply. Don

Well this is sad to read I think there is that could happen here.Bachmann could always sell the williams part to atlas.I think it would be a great.Casey jones locomotive gets my vote for the next locomotive.I don,t think its been done in o gauge.

Maybe Bachman should try to do a European steam locomotive in O-Gauge.  MTH's European items are out of the price range for most people and a affordable European steam locomotive would do well.  Unfortunately I do not see them investing in new tooling. 

My useless opinion on this is, Yes Bachmann will make new steamers but not tomorrow.

I really enjoy their offerings and expect more from them in the future. I like that the offerings are around for a while because it takes me a while to make up my mind. As far as new steamer the ten wheeler has two new paint schemes this year B&O and SP. Last year the Ringling brothers scheme and Pennsylvania schemes were new and the Santa Fe from the first year offering is long gone. There is change it is just slow and that is fine by me.

Well, sort of...

Other than that, I don't think Bachmann's parent company will sell any tooling to anyone.

Rusty

I would qualify some of that to "3-rail O gauge".  Casey Jones was brought in by AHM in plastic by the thousands in the 1970s, and IMP brought in enough steeple cabs in brass that I have three!  Usually had to part with around sixty bucks for one.  Very close to those YV motors, but copies of South Shore . . .

I do have some Williams, notably the scale "J", and will add a die cast 773 one of these days.  The brass 700 freight cars converted fairly easily, and are way better than the MTH attempt.

Would any model manufacturer produce this small engine that ran the streets(& El's) of N.Y., Chicago, & Boston?  It does not have to be in HO scale, and cost no more then $400 (such as Railking).  This engine pulled cars on the streets before the cars became electrified.  These engines could also be used in any small industrial application.  (picture taken from book on North American Locomotives.)

I would love to have one, or...

Dennis

I'd like to see something similar to Lionel's 224E steam engine done by Williams/Bachmann. Maybe Bachmann can hold the price down as that is what influences me besides a nice model of something, can I afford it?

The thing here is Bachmann/Williams engines are all conventional type, so purchasing a command control type of engine for about the same money makes more financial sense to me.

Lee Fritz

Well, since Bachmann's Pacific is just coming out, I guess the answer to the original posters question is yes.

IMO If Williams makes any steam engines or diesels, they need to use a battery type sound system unit like Lionel and MTh. The sound quality is better. I thought about getting a Pacific and convert it to MTH DCS but I have other projects I have been lacking to do 

Gentlemen,

   Even if they do I have no reason to purchase one, I have the original Williams stuff I want and the quality of the new WBB stuff is more than questionable, if you can find them purchase the originals.

PCRR/Dave

Have you looked at how they have raped the entire line of loco's to basically nothing, no electric at all. And what, like 6 steam engines compared to like about 3 dozen a few years ago. Yeah, there killing the line.

You tell me how to build a decent size O gauge layout in a 1500 Sq. Ft. home, doesn't work to well.

Oh God, Please NO! Then you will never find a new sub $400 loco anymore from anybody.

Ah, Yakima. I've seen this loco in person many times when I was out that way for Uncle Sam. That said, I would think that the market for something needing overhead to look right couldn't be that great in comparison to the steam/diesel stuff they haven't done already.

I have always had a soft spot for juice jacks, but I kinda doubt there's a big enough market for this.