A Bachmann by any other name

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Hey Mark ( @spookshow )

I found this rather odd caboose listing on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363371006482?hash=item549a998a12:g:wwEAAOSwefNfMZnI

The model in the box is obviously different from the packaging, but at some point (obviously after 1968 when PC was founded), Bachmann went by the name Bronco?

So Bachmann also used Tomy, Parkway and Bronco names for various retailers around the world.

[ncbqguy]

Never heard of “Bronco”....Kader sold to Tomix, Parkway and Bachman but that one is a new one on me.   Maybe a Canadian brand similar to J.C. Trimmer???
Charlie Vlk

[peteski]

That is an oddity.  I just put a best offer on it - maybe I'll get lucky.
I wonder if @DKS would have any clues about the Bronco brand?  The box sure looks like one that Bachmann and Parkway used.

[Point353]

Another eBay listing has two Bronco brand tank cars with remnants of Macy's price stickers on the boxes, so maybe the Bronco brand was distributed to certain department stores.



Macy's was the first place I saw N scale trains, but those were AHM/Lima products.

[peteski]

I just checked, and DKS actually mentions Bronco (but not Parkway) as one of the Bachmann brands on http://www.davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/bachmann.htm

[DKS]

That is an oddity.  I just put a best offer on it - maybe I'll get lucky.
I wonder if @DKS would have any clues about the Bronco brand?  The box sure looks like one that Bachmann and Parkway used.

I'm aware of the Bronco brand, but no clue as to its origins. I dug and dug and dug, but this is from an era when there was very little (and sometimes no) documentation.



Oh, and I did mention Parkway--

Some of their products have been rebranded by AHM, Con-Cor, Busch, Parkway, Revell and others. Also, for reasons presently unknown, Bachmann sold some of their N Scale trains under the brand name Bronco.

There's a little more on Parkway here: http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/cusp-2.htm

[Mark5]

Interesting!

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Box from an HO caboose.

[spookshow]

Cool stuff. For a company that also sold HO stuff, you'd think there'd be more info out there about them.

-Mark

[peteski]

Oh, and I did mention Parkway--

There's a little more on Parkway here: http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/cusp-2.htm

Thanks for the link.
I own some of those items (repackaged in Bachmann's "jewel" boxes with PARKWAY name molded and hot-stamped on the front.







If you want, feel free to add those to your website.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Was Parkway the one that was sold by Montgomery Ward? If Bronco was only sold by Macy's...

I wonder if it works something like this:

1. Bachmann was the brand sold though distributers to independent hobby shops.

2. Large retail chains would negotiate massive orders for a lower price point directly to manufacturer.

3. Kader/Bachmann brands these differently to provide department stores an "exclusive" (in name only), and the brand name change would make it a bit harder to compare prices between the hobby shop Bachmanns, and those bought at Macy's, etc.

Now I have to find some old Macy's catalogs and see if they offered everything Bachmann did, or streamlined the product offerings, or even simplified the paint schemes. Both tactics were done when Industrial Rail offered the same Life-Like cars for less. Cars were molded in color to reduce the need for paint, and some of the graphics used reduced colors.

[thomasjmdavis]

Thanks for the link.
I own some of those items (repackaged in Bachmann's "jewel" boxes with PARKWAY name molded and hot-stamped on the front.



If you want, feel free to add those to your website.

Pretty sure that repackaged dome car is repackaged Arnold Rapido. 

[brokemoto]

It could be something similar to Industrial Models, which basically re-packages old LL N scale freight cars along with some of the old MP designs.  The caboose in Original Poster's link looks like the typical ATSF steel caboose sold by several manufacturers in both that era and the current.

[peteski]

Pretty sure that repackaged dome car is repackaged Arnold Rapido.

Yes, that Parkway car is by Arnold.  Like DKS mentions on his website, Parkway repackaged models from other manufacturers (like Bachmann).

But that "repackaging" was more involved than just a new cardboard box, or sticking a label on existing box. As you can see, it was done using plastic-molded boxes that Bachmann made.  And they had the Parkway name actually molded on the box, so Bachmann must have made a custom mold inset for the boxes, with the Parkway lettering.