Interesting discussion on RMWeb, Bachmann have release a combined catalogue covering all gauges, with no new products at all (nor re-liveries or anything), but will instead provide a separate quarterly booklet covering new releases, much closer to their release time.
Clipped quote from their MD here:
Quote
For 2020 we have combined our British-outline ranges in a single annual brochure for the first time, making it an ideal reference for our customers and collectors around the world. Over two hundred colour coded pages easily identify the different scales of Graham Farish, Narrow Gauge, Branchline, Scenecraft and other complementary products.
The Combined Volume illustrates ongoing items that are available to purchase from your local retailer, or have been included in previous catalogues for delivery at a future date. It does not include any unseen re-livery or new tooling products.
In response to customer and consumer feedback, we have taken steps to reduce the lead time between the announcement and release of new products. Working with our colleagues at Kader, real progress has been made in the latter half of 2019 to release many of the outstanding items announced several years ago. Last year 13 new tooling projects were released by ourselves, plus more than 200 re-liveried or modified models and a further six Limited Edition models produced exclusively for you as members of the Bachmann Collectors Club. When our non-railway ranges are taken into consideration, it is easy to see how Bachmann releases more than one new item for every day of the year and this volume shall increase as we travel through these next years.
We are ever mindful of the support we receive from our Collectors Club membership, and so starting this February each issue of your Bachmann Times magazine will feature a new product brochure, highlighting completely new items to be released during the following three months. New tooling announcements will no longer be illustrated by black and white photographs of the original prototype, replaced instead by pictures of our actual models.
While we continue to deliver items previously announced, it is anticipated that your first new product brochure will highlight fewer items than those you will receive towards the end of this year. This is quite natural as we reduce the number of outstanding items, clearing the path for an increasing quantity of exciting new models.
To support these quarterly product launches, we'll be hosting a Trade Showcase event in a different part of the country each quarter and we want to make these events available to you too. As a member of the Bachmann Collectors Club we'll be giving you an exclusive time and date to join us at each showcase event to see the display of new products up close for yourself, and discuss them with your Bachmann team – look out for full details of these events on the news pages of each Bachmann Times.
Our very best wishes to you,
David Haarhaus
Managing Director
Thanks Nick,
A step in the right direction, in my humble....
Best
Scott
Agreed, a shorter gestation period can only be a good thing. Suggestion from BRM's Phil Parker is that it's likely to still be 12-18 months, just not 5+ years!
I saw that, but couldn't reconcile it with this quote from your quote above:
(the quarterly brochure) "highlighting completely new items to be released during the following three months."
If the brochure is to advise on imminent releases (3 months lead time), when and how do new projects get announced "12-18" months in advance of release?
Best
Scott
Pass, but his comment was in response to people getting worried about only having 3 months notice on new releases. I must say that if it's 12+ months then that still feels like quite a long gestation (and kinda undermines a quarterly announcement interval), but I guess it'll become clear in due course, and inevitably it'll take a while to settle down, as there's still a backlog of items which we're not going to see any time soon!