Farish summer announcements

[Suffolk Rob]

These seem to have passed the forum by.

Not much, 12t vans and conflats, both now with NEMs, some EWS hoppers(?) and a bit of Scenecraft.

Bachmann buying into the running toilet block gag was amusing.

Probably just 2-3 wagons here for me but encouraged that we may see planked opens and 16t minerals getting the NEM upgrade too in due course.

I have a couple of 20s on the horizon plus Halls for those of a steam persuasion so personally quite happy despite the small nature of this time's announcement.

[Yet_Another]

What is the running toilet block gag?

I'm glad I didn't have to watch much, given the lack of anything interesting.

[Suffolk Rob]

There have been several scenecraft toilet block releases in the last year or so, often in the more sparse announcements for Farish, that have lead to comments, some tongue in cheek, some not so much, about where the Bachmann N gauge priorities are.

I guess that, with another being released this time, someone must by buying them.

Yes it was light for n this time, and that seems to be the way it is every second announcement. But three new tooled locos on their way including the EFE class 23 that were previously announced means still a fair bit to look forward to (provided any fit your area of interest of course) I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next one at the beginning of August is quite light too, or just reissues, but hopefully followed by a video just before TINGs revealing something entirely new or upgraded for sound.

[montyburns56]

What is the running toilet block gag?

There was a quarterly announcement a few years ago where there was next to nothing announced for N gauge modellers apart from a few Scenecraft item including a toilet block.

[bluedepot]

very boring announcement this quarter really.

that's good some more 4 wheel wagons will have nem coupling pockets though.

[scottmitchell74]

very boring announcement this quarter really.

that's good some more 4 wheel wagons will have nem coupling pockets though.

Agreed! But I await a certain Precious.   










(37 EWS Sound)

[njee20]

HTAs with NEM pockets is an improvement too. Not really the most exciting announcements though. 

[Michanglais]

I was kinda hoping for more, being new to N gauge and wanting to add to my stock.

That said, I've got some Class 20s on order and also some Canadian stock for my N scale (I like to make a distinction between 'gauge' and 'scale' to differentiate the countries).

I really (REALLY!) want an era 7/8 Class 37, but I guess I'm going to have to be patient...

[Richard Taylor]

I was kinda hoping for more, being new to N gauge and wanting to add to my stock.

As I've posted "in another place" Bachmann/Farish can't win: they switched to quarterly announcements so that they were only announcing things that were to arrive on sale very soon, rather than an annual "everything" announcement of vapourware with long lead times, and they get criticised because the smaller quarterly announcements aren't exciting enough!

Also: the summer announcement is always small. This is a dead time for model railway sales. Normal people are spending money on holidays and DIY. They are better saving the bigger announcements until the "hobby season" starts in the autumn, and for N this also ties in with TINGS and other big autumn shows.

If you're looking to build up your stock quickly then it's the secondhand market I'm afraid.  New product announcements in the UK N market are going to be 2/3 new locos a year per manufacturer if we're lucky plus assorted rolling stock across all eras. Given modern batch production lead times, you have to plan over several years to build up your stock.

(It also means that for me, approaching my mid-sixties means that I have to accept that what has already been announced or in production is "it" as far as making future plans is concerned: there's no point waiting for any more of my wishlist to be announced as otherwise I'll run out of active life time to build the layout before they're produced.)