Has anyone seen the Bachmann 6 wheeled Emily coach in their Thomas range? I guess that it's not officially available in the UK because of some kind of strict global Thomas licensing regime. It's a shame as the Bachmann Toby is light years better than the Hornby one.
The Emily coach is available on EBay and it looks quite nice. I wonder if it's based on a UK prototype? Although it says it's HO I guess it's quite likely to be nearer 00 scale like the Bachmann Toby...
There are two coaches: #76042, a coach, and #70643, a brake coach. Listed at $13US in their catalogue. The street price should be around $8. Train World offers Annie and Clarabelle at $7.99US, plus shipping, so Emily's coaches should be the same price. T/W require a minimum order of $25, and charge a minimum of $24.96 for shipping outside the USA.***
If other Bachmann product is any guide, these are OO scale, or close to it. Many of the Thomas wagons and coaches are Bachmann's regular OO line with new paint and of course faces. But I have no idea what prototype, if any, these six-wheelers represent. They look like an ad-hoc design to me, like the engines.
*** If you want a better deal, contact me off list at wekirch a-in-a-squiggle sympatico li'l-dot ca."Gerald H" wrote
Hornby hold exclusive rights to produce Thomas range model railway items in the UK. I guess they missed the boat in failing to secure them for the US and the rest of the world.
John.
You could equally argue that Bachmann "missed the boat" by failing to secure the rights to the UK market.
(kim)
From the scary amounts mentioned for licencing Thomas and the like I'd hazard a guess that Hornby simply might not think it's worth the candle. There's the costs of setting up distribution (over and above whatever they already have) to reach the mass market in coutries they don't have a wide presence in, etc etc, and then another biggie
- product liability insurance. Our insurers won't insure for the USA and Canada period, never mind the cost. As Thomas is likely to have a limited life outside the UK, Hornby may well have been very sensible in the long-term, concentrating their resources where more appropriate to them, and leave other markets to those who already know them.
Richard
However, the Japanese market is incredibly strong for Thomas as I understand it, and if they could have acquired the rights for it they would certainly have been quids in. The biggest problem would have been that as I understand it most Japanese modellers work in N gauge due to the restricted space in their homes.
Ian J.
Given that TtTE (and associates) appear in the adverts for Japanese N-gauge models in the Modeller, it looks like one of the Japanese manufacturers (Tomiz, IIRC) gor there first.
Just as well IMO. Bachmann stuff is better IMO (I have some of both.)
There is an ongoing market here in Canada for Thomas, which shows no signs of abating. Both boys and girls go through a Thomas phase.
Some years ago we took our British O gauge layout to the NMRA National Convention. You would be amazed how many kids pointed out Duck, Oliver, Diesel etc to their dads. One amazed me by recognising City of Truro, until his dad said it was a visitor in one of the books.
Our son, who has autism, recognised the real City of Truro as it went past on a low loader and then proceeded to tell us the story from the TV series.
Thomas the Tank is the mascot of the National Autistic Society in the UK !
Nice story.
Hornby was producing the Thomas range before Bachmann entered the UK market.
I feel Bachmann have entered more into the 'spirit' of the Thomas than Hornby, the moving eyes for one.
For me it's about play / enjoyment value for our son than accuracy to the books or TV series (wait till the US 'PC' brigade get their hands on it).
Has anyone tried the 'Underground Ernie' offerings from Bachmann ? Can you fit them for DCC ?
Bachmann are doing what Hornby has only just started to do .... bring back model trains for children.
Thomas used to be a regular on Shining Time Station, a children's program on PBS (Public Broadcsating System). George Carlin hosted as the Conductor. Nowadays, he has his own program: Thomas and Friends. I've never heard of any objections, (unlike Teletubbies.)
They already have - all the original charcters were male IC1, except Annie and Clarabelle.
Cheers Richard
The recent episodes I saw were more about planes and helicopters than about chuffers.
According to the editor of MREMag they are "DCC ready" but Bachmann neglected to included this information in their regular catalogue.
(kim)
Was there something Daisy (the single car DMU) forgot to tell us?!
And of course Duck as if she had been male she would have been called "Drake the pannier tank"
Alan
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