Arnold & Hornby America

[peteski]

Thanks for clarifying the Bachmann association. Right country, wrong company. 

As far Arnolds line of products I believe that they are both, reusing (and improving) the old Arnold tooling and producing new models.

Here is some info from reynaulds.com:
Arnold, the worldwide known brand in the N-scale, is back in the market with a selected range of new products. Many of the Arnold range of American outline locomotives will now feature NEM couplings and sprung buffers, as well as being pre-fitted with a socket for a DCC decoder.

and from tee-usa.com:
Hornby International has recently acquired the renowned Arnold hobby name and model moulds to once again re-launch these high-end N scale 1:160 European trains. With over half a century tradition of fine model train manufacturing, this great line of products is now technically improved with superior motors, LED lights, digital interfaces and much more. Models are factory-fitted with all detail parts and packaged in superior protective shells and outer boxes. These models are of very high quality with the finest detailing and running characteristics.

I don't know the full history of the original Arnold but I do recall that they acquired some of Rivarossi's tooling back in the early 90s.  I have some Orient Express cars from that time period using what clearly is modernized Rivarossi molds with the Arnold name re-engraved in the floor.  As for modifications, Arnold converted them from truck-mounted couplers to body mounted Rapidos on close-coupling swing arms (similar to Kinematic by Kato).  There were few other mold changes, but that was the largest one.

So I don't know if at that time Rivarossi was already bankrupt and Arnold picked up some of their N scale tooling, or was that just some sort of partnership.  But I think this this was way before Hornby buyout.

[spookshow]

I'm pretty sure that it was Rivarossi that acquired Arnold (rather than the other way around). FWIW, Wiki concurs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivarossi. Arnold's old North American models were labeled "Arnold-Rivarossi" during this brief/latter era.

Also, I distinctly remember reading Con-Cor's traditional "throw it out there for everyone" disclosures in 2003 where they lamented the fact that Rivarossi had completely cut off communications re a new run of Big Boys (Rivarossi went bankrupt and was acquired by Hornby shortly thereafter).

Cheers,
-Mark

[spookshow]

Speaking of Big Boys, here's some more trivia that people might not remember. The very first Arnold/Hornby North American locomotive project was announced in 2008 - a DCC-Ready version of the Rivarossi Big Boy. Never happened, though (from what I've been told, some of the non-trivial Big Boy tooling got lost during all of Rivarossi's bankruptcy chaos).

Cheers,
-Mark

[Jamesn320]

Graham Farish in Dorest(?) was the UK N Gauge trailblazer who did indeed get swallowed up by Bachmann.

Yes GF was made in Poole, Dorset about 8 miles down the road from me.

-James

[peteski]

Speaking of Big Boys, here's some more trivia that people might not remember. The very first Arnold/Hornby North American locomotive project was announced in 2008 - a DCC-Ready version of the Rivarossi Big Boy. Never happened, though (from what I've been told, some of the non-trivial Big Boy tooling got lost during all of Rivarossi's bankruptcy chaos).

Cheers,
-Mark

Now that you mentioned that, I have a vague recollection of that Big Boy that never happened (and the Arnold/Rivarossi merger/buyout).  How the time flies...  It is probably all for the better since the Athearn Big Boy(and the Challenger) are much nicer models than the good-old Rivarossi.  If Rivarossi released their Big Boys in 2008, Athearn might not have released their version.