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 .