I got a new Williams by Bachmann catalog in the mail today. The stuff inside looks really good. They have some scenery supplies in it. This is the first time I remember scenery supplies offered by Williams. Does anyone know if the new Williams by Bachmann trains have been shipped yet? How well do they run?
Thanks,
George
My LTS has the Bachmann scenery and I gotta tell you, it looks great!!! Very impressed. I may have him order a grass mat of giggles and see what the quality is. Can’t speak of the engines, yet. Waiting for the LTS to get some in, then I’ll find out.
The Williams by Bachmann catalog arrived on Tuesday.
The Grand Trunk Western and DT&I GP38s are of interest to me because they used to be common on the Grand Trunk Western line from Detroit to Chicago.
The new C&IM Box Car looks great.
There is the new Gondola paint scheme of Canadian National. CN Gondolas are numerous in some trains on the CN-GTW mainline.
Andrew
The GM&O GP-38’s would be high on my list of things to buy. I used to see those “Red Birds” back when GM&O merged with IC.
George
I did notice the 027 Alcos such as the Golden Memories Rock Island, Erie, UP and Burlingtons have a special notation that they have a improved design and now have DUAL motors. I hope this is true where they can be wired in series and slowed down.
Strange that the Bachman web site has the Golden Memories products listed, described, and priced but has no photos. Yet the Williams catalogue is already out. What gives with that? Camera being hogged by the catalogue department?
Jack
Looks like most of the catalog is a rehash of last years except for the scenic supplies. Very disappointed that the Platinun Club lacks the nice product disscounts that they had before. I do not have any Williams locos yet but have heard nothing but good things about them. Also seems that the prices have gone up but that should be expected. Can’t wait to try some of their Golden Memory stuff.
The first Platinum Club Car has graphics about the club itself.
The self reference is a bit more than what I like.
What I would like is for Bachmann to produce is the Trinity Railcar 4,194 Cubic Foot Capacity 3-Bay High-Sided Covered Hopper. There are many schemes from similar and larger cars that can be applied to this new model.
Andrew
I received this catalog a while back, assuming it was because I had been a member of the Platinum Club in the past. My only purchase was the Williams’ Semi-scale GG1 which is a very nice engine. I see in the cataog promo that I’m suppose to contact my favorite hobby retailer to order… My local, small, hobby shop, loaded with Lionel is probably not going to start carrying a whole lot of Williams by Bachmann. But we’ll see. I also thought it was pretty convenient to just order from Williams in the past… I also thought it odd that there was no price on the power supply. The scenery materials do look good.
Got my copy yesterday. Nothing in there that I don’t have or want this time except they are offering the electronics for a Tru Blast Horn/bell sounds. I think I could use that for my scale GG-1 which has a bad horn. All the other stuff looks good but I did’nt see any ACL GP9’s. They did have the E-7’s which I already have. Prices are higher but what is’nt? Ray
They offer membership in their Platinum Club for $30.00. A couple of years ago I called Williams to order a GG1. The sales person suggested that if I joined the Club ($25.00 back then) I would save more on just this one order than the cost of membership. Nice of him to do that. I was ready to send them more money. I think they knocked $50.00 off the cost of the GG1, plus they sent me a box car of my choosing. (PRR of course).
The current Bachman Platinum Club gives no specific discount, doesn’t allow ordering over the phone, and has only 1 boxcar with Williams advertising on it.
Dose it seem worth it to you?
Well, $30 does get you a boxcar which is less expensive than their retail price. I remember getting a great price on a GG1 and a free car back in the old days.
I got the catalog today. Liked everything in it 
I understand that Bachman has dropped the many small dealers that Williams had by making the ordering process more complicated.I do not know the details.
Detail wise the Williams diesels would never be confused with their much higher priced brethren in the market place. Their sounds aren’t fancy but they will run until the cows come home.
My Headquarters is right down the street from Bachman and one day during day work it was slow so my partner and I went to see if we could get a behind the scene tour. The people were very nice and I forgot his name but he gave us a wonderful walk thru their place.They ran some Williams trains on a test track and they seems very good. They ran quite and the horn was pretty good sounding. He even showed us some of they’re new HO stuff. Even though it was HO they had it had a feature almost like TMCC, with the sounds and smoke. I made a suggestion of them putting it in the Williams trains. I know I would buy it.
I know it’s not likely that they will have any trouble there but it has become one of my rounds when I work to say hi. Plus they thought it was pretty cool to have the SWAT team checking on them since the nieghborhood they are in is called “The Badlands”.