GregR posted:They seem to be just about finished, which is too bad because I like their products.
Between 2011 and 2017:
-Average consumer prices in the US increased by +8%, but the price of a Williams F3 diesel increased by +24%
-The Williams catalog shrunk in size by -50%
-The Williams catalog was finally relegated to an appendix at the back of the Bachmann catalog
All true, but to me more likely is that they are right sizing the products to where demand is. There is a glut of postwar and postwar repro and prices and margins (presumably) were low. Bachmann seems to be trying to orient the product towards where the market is, with more scale products with better sound and in models, like the F59s, that are not available elsewhere. In that regard it seems like they are following a similar model as Lionel and MTH. So unless all three are clueless, they are seeing the same market shifts and rightsizing the offerings accordingly. Finally, my hunch is that WBB will be in a much stronger position in a few years when Bluetooth supplants proprietary control systems. We are seeing Lionel go that route now and MTH at some point will be forced to follow. WBB already has Bluetooth in house they just need to put it in O gauge products. If or when that occurs, product choice will be much less "funneled" based on the buyer's choice of Legacy v. DCS v. conventional. A Bluetooth locomotive could do all three seamlessly.
