Bachmann Trains

Bachmann Train Sets - If Bill Gates Was a Model-Railroader...
By Liam Bern
in Hobbies Collecting


largest maker of model trains and railway equipment.

 By slowly and steadily acquiring
larger and larger chunks of the market, but absorbing other makers who
have run into trouble, Bachmann is, in a sense, the Microsoft of
model-railroading. Most surprising of all is how little time, in
relative terms, Bachmann has been in the train set business: the first
N gauge products under the Bachmann name appeared in 1968, followed by
the HO gauge range in 1970.

 Since that time, Bachmann train sets can be
had in just about all of the major scales, with the exception of
diminutive 1:220 Z scale. Your train box may say Lilliput (European,
mostly German prototypes) or Graham Farish (British N gauge), but it's
all still Bachmann.

 As well as its very extensive range of American
models from both the steam and diesel eras in N, HO and O gauges,
Bachmann has recently begun to fly the flag for some of the more
specialized model-railroading niches - narrow gauge modeling.
A word or two about gauge.

Gauge refers to the space between the two parallel tracks that the
train runs on. In the real world, by far the largest proportion of
mainline railroad tracks are spaced precisely 4 ft 8½" apart. Indeed,
it is so ubiquitous that this spacing, 4ft 8½" is referred to as
standard gauge. However, some railroads and some whole countries have,
for various reasons, spaced the rails closer together.
 In Southern Africa, Japan, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and New Zealand, for
example, the space is 3ft 6". In the USA, 3ft was common in mountainous
areas, where construction is greatly simplified if narrower gauges are
used. Europe still has a number of charming short-lines still in
operation today where the gauge is as little as 2ft 6".

In the model-railroading world, Bachmann, more than any other single
manufacturer, makes it possible to experience the singular joys of
narrow gauge railroads in HO, O and G gauges. Lilliput, Bachmann's
European subsidiary, makes a range of 2ft 6" prototype locomotives and
rolling stock in HO gauge, while under the Bachmann brand, there is a
growing range of On30 models - On30 being 1/48th scale models running
on 30" gauge track - 30" in the real world, that is; 16.5mm wide on
your model railroad.

 Bachmann's G scale models represent the big and
rather expensive end of the hobby. These are wonderfully large,
detailed and chunky pieces of metal and plastic. They steam, they're
ready for digital command control (DCC) and as if this wasn't enough,
they'll run outside in the garden as well!