Bachmann: when will they realize that we want varid road numbers?

[sirenwerks]

Tell me about it, I have a dozen Bahcmann Clinchfield cars, all the same number, that I will gladly seel cheaply  at this point.

[thomasjmdavis]

Unless they come up with something that I REALLY want, I'm at an age where I no longer pre-order from Intermountain, since none of my heirs is a model railroader, and even if I am still around when the stuff finally shows up, I don't know how many more years I will be able to manage getting up and down the stairs to the basement.  Also, it would be a HUGE help if they let us know HOW MANY more orders they need on the stuff they list as "need more orders"- do they need 5 more or 2000 more to get to whatever their minimum is.  I might only want 2, but if an order of 5 would get it done, I would consider it. Conversely, if they need 2000 orders in the next 4 weeks, because they only got 500 orders in the past 4 years, I will write it off and order something else.

The two sales models I see as actually successful (although I don't think anybody is becoming a billionaire) are Micro-trains and Bluford.  MTL releases 10 or more N scale cars most months, and in addition various runner packs and special pre-orders.  Bluford generally announces 1 body style at a time, each released in several roadnames and multiple numbers - I think the last couple of announcement to delivery times have been stretched out to about a year, but pre-pandemic were shorter.  Which is to say- they have a limited window to get your orders in, have actually produced almost everything (I think I read somewhere they had canceled 1 roadname of 1 bodystyle) they ever took a pre-order for, and their pre-order announcement to delivery time is less than Intermountain's time from "scheduled for production" to "in transit".

Why on earth Intermountain thinks its system is superior to that of MTL or Bluford is beyond me.  I assume it works better in HO.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

In terms of Intermountain,  I think the number of roads and number of numbers actually hurts them giving too many options and then don't meet production quotas etc

And add to that sometimes 10 of a car at a time will overwhelm a customer's budget.
I'd think two smaller runs would be better.

[wvgca]

road numbers to a run don't matter to me ...i put my own road number and railroad name on when i get them, undecorated is best for me anyways, less work

[johnb]

And add to that sometimes 10 of a car at a time will overwhelm a customer's budget.
I'd think two smaller runs would be better.

^this

I wonder how MTL does when they release 2 numbers at a time (non runner packs)

[dem34]

IDK I just lie to myself that I'll fix the numbers one day.

[bbussey]

The 8k and 10k ACF type 27 tanks are both on a 36' frames. The MT car is definitely closer to a 12k car. There is a few cars used by western roads that are close. I haven't looked closely enough to find an exact match, but I would start with SP cars and look for cars featured in Car Builders Cyclopedias or the Newton K. Gregg reprints. They seemed to be used by Kadee alot in that era.

Not trying to bash Bachmann but Bluford Shops makes a much nicer usra hopper in more roadnames with multiple road numbers each, at a better price point... I would spend my money there...

The Bluford USRA hopper is the better of the two overall but the Bachmann hopper is a close second and is extremely well done as far as tooling is concerned.  The paint/deco work is another matter.  But if you want to custom paint and decal a scheme that neither company has yet released, the Bachman model is a great starting point.  The Bachmann model also has the cross bracing for when the model runs empty.  This model and the Atlas offset twin are the only N scale coal hoppers that include the cross bracing.