Is Bachmann a bad manufacture? A response to Maybe Train Enthusiast's video

One of the first entries I did on this blog revolved around the discussion of weather Lionel was outpricing their customers or not. Today's response is about a little known company called Bachmann, and a video called "Bachmann is not a bad Manufacturer: Casual opinions with MTE" 

I do recommend you guys watch the video for context, but to summarize it, Maybe Train Enthusiast talks about how Bachmann is over hated, mostly because people still hold a grudge against the company for their less then stellar models in the 80's and 90's. 

I wanna just come out and say that I don't quite have that much experience with early 80's to 90's Bachmann. I don't have any early Bachmann trains in my collection and while I did have a rough experience with my first train set (which was Bachmann's Chattanooga train set), that was more so because I dropped the steam train accidently as opposed to it becoming faulty after a while. 

That said, I do have a soft spot for Bachmann for a couple of reasons, some of which MTE went over in his video. 

 One of them has to do with the fact that Bachmann is still selling and making train sets.  For as overly saturated as the HO scale market is, it really baffles me that Bachmann, Lionel, and Walthers are the only HO scale companies that are selling HO scale train sets. 

Yes guys, I know that model railroading is a niche hobby, but I don't think that's enough of a reason for companies to not sell starter sets. Weather it's HO scale, N scale, or even G, people are more likely to get into it with a starter set, as opposed to buying an engine, enough track to make a loop, and a controller separately (or just adding them all at once into a shopping cart of their choice.) 

I also like how Bachmann's train sets vary from simple train sets with 4 cars and a simple circle loop to train sets that have a large number of cars and 22 radius track. It gives folks an option for what kind of train set they want and for what price. 

Got the money for the Amtrack City Sprinter? More power to you. Just getting into the hobby and want to start out small with a train set that won't break bank? Train sets like the Santa Fe Flyer and Pacific Flyer are perfect for you. 

It's also nice that Bachmann has train sets that are DC only as opposed to all DCC. As much as I love trains that have sound that isn't just the motor as much as the next guy, there's nothing wrong with just a simple DC train set that doesn't have all of that. 

While it's nice that Bachmann is friendly to those who want to start out in the hobby, they also try and win over those that have been in it for a while. 

This is anther point that MTE made in his video, that Bachman's been stepping up their game recently. The Siemens ALC-42 Chargers look great, the Dreyfuss Hudson looks amazing, and while I agree that the streamline cars aren't the most detailed on the market, I wouldn't turn my nose up to them. They still look great and are at a price point perfect for budgeting model railroaders.  

Speaking of budgeting, that's something that Bachman is well aware of. According to MTE, someone from the hobby shop industry told him that Bachmann doesn't want you to buy their trains from them, but instead go to a hobby shop or site and buy them at a discounted price. 

On one hand, this is all word of mouth. On the other hand, selling and giving hobby shops their train sets at a discount is an incentive to go to these shops, especially in an area where again, trains have taken a back seat to things like video games and other tech stuff. 

Even on sites like "TrainWorld" you can find Bachmann's train sets sold at a lower price then what's presented in the catalog. For example: 

And yes I know shipping and handling will rise up the price, but even with that you're still getting a discount. 

A little under $300 for a Hudson? Sounds like a steal to me 

To close out this blog, I wanna state that yes, I'm well aware that Bachmann isn't perfect, but I do agree with MTE that they don't deserve to get as much hate as they do. 

Bachmann isn't like they were in the 80s and 90s, they'll gladly give you some reliable train sets, detailed steam trains, and even a DCC controller which is pretty simple and easy to use for those who aren't so tech savvy in that area, and all for a discounted price if you know where to look.