Bachmann GP38-2

[Green_Elite_Cab]

It's a strange concept to most brits, as for British outline models Bachmann is a premium brand, arguably the genesis/master gold of the UK market. Yet their US HO is considered in terms of the base market almost toy like.

What tends to get Bachmann in trouble is that they have a "You'll buy it" mentality. The people who run the show as far as details and accuracy go, are more in line with making "toys" rather than accurate models. This is further exacerbated by the tendency of bachmann reps to make dishonest claims about their products.

Ultimately, they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I've had my own experiences with Bachmann reps insisting their Conrail E33s were painted properly and that they had photos. I know now from my extensive research of this small group of engines that this is probably a lie, and at the very most, one engine may have been painted that way briefly, but there is no evidence.

Then there is this excerpted from the PRR Technical & Historical Society website. Rick Abramson is a pretty well known modeler as well, I think his New Haven Electrified layout was featured in either 2004 or 2005 on the cover of Model Railroader.

I was at the Amherst Show in W. Springfield, MA today and saw the new Bachmann GG1. Three interesting items I noticed; on the 4935, the red stripe on the side windows was done incorrectly. Rather than going around the outside perimeter of the window, they painted the window frame. On the single broad-stripe scheme, the "PRR" letters in the keystone were buff rather than white as was the striping within the perimeter of the keystone. The "shadow" on the keystone was also done incorrectly. I discussed this with the Bachmann rep. He informed me I was wrong on all 3 counts and that the PRRT&HS supplied all the data and they got all the info on 4935 at Strasburg. . .including the red striping around the window. I told him I am not speaking for The PRRT&HS, but I doubted very much they would give out incorrect data.

I spoke with the head of R&D for Bachmann on 2/10 about the incorrect PRR logo on their GG1. He basically informed me they spent many hours researching the engines and what they did is "correct." I just let it go at that.

Which was followed by a response by the PRRT&HS president-

Rick - I can assure you that the PRRT&HS Modeling Committee was NOT involved in this model.

Regards
Bruce Smith, President, PRRTHS

This sort of thing has been happening for years with Bachmann USA. Its nice that in this case, we can get some solid proof from the people involved. It just gets to be painful when you KNOW they didn't put any real effort into the model. These mistakes are 100% unnecessary, and its basically due to laziness.

Anyone with eyes can go look at a photo of the GG1s involved and see the difference from the model. The PRRT&HS will give you the specs to make it right! Bachmann, being located in Phildalelphia, is barely an hour away from the REAL 4935 at Strasburg, not that there aren't already a zillion photos of this engine from every angle.


That said, it doesn't matter, for reasons already posted on this thread. People will buy them because its cheap, and so it makes little difference how accurate they are.