# new products unveiled!



## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

At the TCA york meet, bachmann unveiled their new eggliner and speeder-- but that isnt whats important- many are wondering what they are using for the power block, so i asked.:

THEY ARE REPRODUCING THE ARISTO POWER BLOCKS!!(the only difference is they have bachmann stamped on them- I asked) THEY ARE ALSO GOING TO SELL THE ARISTO BLOCKS SEPARATELY, AND IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS MORE ARISTO TO COME!!
also, i visited USA trains stand. they had a lot of neat products(i really liked the NYC hudson!)

nate


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

Did you learn or get any hints of anything from USA?


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## Doug C (Jan 14, 2008)

Now-a-days . . . new product from any manufacturer, any industry.

I'm only getting 'excited' when I hear/see it is in the warehouse or at the vendor waiting to be purchased ! 

Otherwise it is just "rumour", or a manufacturer's 'dream'.  


doug c


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

Good detective work Nate. I'm sure Bachmann will sell plenty of those power blocks which will keep older AristoCraft locomotives going. 

Andrew


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

thanks one thing i noticed on the new eggliner is that the body is on ewhole piece rather than 2 pices . i like this as there is no visible seam between the two. funny thing is, this guy was selling wuhu live steam engines, and he kept bugging me to buy the casey jones 4-6-0


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

Tomahawk & Western RR said:


> thanks one thing i noticed on the new eggliner is that the body is on ewhole piece rather than 2 pices . i like this as there is no visible seam between the two. funny thing is, this guy was selling wuhu live steam engines, and he kept bugging me to buy the casey jones 4-6-0


That's interesting seeing the eggliner was originally made from two observation car ends.
Bachmann must have retooled the molds.










Andrew


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

> funny thing is, this guy was selling wuhu live steam engines, and he kept bugging me to buy the casey jones 4-6-0


That was Bob Clark, I bet, who obviously had nothing else to do except bug you.
http://www.livesteamg1us.com/


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Great, I hope they reissue the center cab drive blocks, they were my bashing bread and butter.


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

Tomahawk & Western RR said:


> At the TCA york meet, bachmann unveiled their new eggliner and speeder-- but that isnt whats important- many are wondering what they are using for the power block, so i asked.:
> 
> THEY ARE REPRODUCING THE ARISTO POWER BLOCKS!!(the only difference is they have bachmann stamped on them- I asked) THEY ARE ALSO GOING TO SELL THE ARISTO BLOCKS SEPARATELY, *AND IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS MORE ARISTO TO COME*!!
> also, i visited USA trains stand. they had a lot of neat products(i really liked the NYC hudson!)
> ...


Given the many comments about lack of new product or some on the horizon, it surprises me that this thread has received little comment. When Lewis Polk was Aristo there was much to talk about regarding their products, some enthusiastic, some adverse. 
The highlighted part of the quote by Nate is quite encouraging. I believe. As Bachmann was the importer into the UK of Aristo one hopes that the 'new Aristo' will be available at some future time in the UK.

As blocks and Eggliners are the only items mentioned the question of what has happened to all that Aristo stock that was supposed to be "on the quayside"? Surely if it existed then Bachmann should be offering it for sale. The other explanation, of course, is what there was got sold to PolksGenNext. 

I guess a visit to the Bachmann web site might be a good idea. (if my Log In still is valid)


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

I assume that they will eventually go through the Aristo line and maybe bring back some of the better selling items, and leave the dead fish out. Otherwise, I'm not sure why you would spend the capital to buy a product line just to leave it in mothballs. Of course, there will be those 'insiders' who will argue that point, and will also drop that it is really Kader, not Bachmann.

Chris


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## Lorna (Jun 10, 2008)

I think it was speculated that Kader/Bachmann would probably end up with the old Aristo molds. In a way it is cheaper for them to reintroduce some of that old line then have to come up with completely new mold work.


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

It would be nice to see them make some small improvements where needed before releasing. I'm not at all a fan of the Eggliner, but to hear they revised it to be a one piece body is promising. 

Chris


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Folks;

This is not much consolation, I know, but in their 1992 catalog, Aristo stated they would be offering a Reading Crusader locomotive. It's my favorite locomotive, and I'm STILL waiting for it (not much hope there with Aristo gone).



















I finally ended up purchasing a Crusader train by Concor in HO. Still would rather have one to run on #1 gauge track.

Nuff said,
David Meashey


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Great Western said:


> Given the many comments about lack of new product or some on the horizon, it surprises me that this thread has received little comment.


Maybe the reason is that none of these items are REALLY new.

Knut


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Bachmann using Aristo molds...once again Criswell is proven accurate


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## Lorna (Jun 10, 2008)

Shoot maybe AML should just transfer the remaining line and any work they have done on the GP60 over to them as well. While on that I remember both Aristo and AML making noises about the SD9. Oh and did not Aristo once even put a SW1500 in the catalog as well?


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Lorna said:


> Oh and did not Aristo once even put a SW1500 in the catalog as well?


Yep, they said it was going to come out in 1996, it even had an Aristo product number.
Greg has the announcement archived here, bottom of the page:

http://www.elmassian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=88

Scot


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yep, and with a part number even:


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

vsmith said:


> Bachmann using Aristo molds...


I don't think the Bachmann eggliners use the Aristo molds.

The Aristo eggliners were made from two streamline observation passenger car ends, thus the seam, whereas the Bachmann ones I was told are molded in one piece - no seam.

Knut


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Greg Elmassian said:


> Yep, and with a part number even:


There were a half dozen or so locos/cars that Aristocraft announced, most with part numbers, that were never produced.
I'll start a new thread on that to see if we can get a complete list.

Knut


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Isn't there still quite a bit of the Aristo product out there as new old stock? Pix I've seen of dealers in train shows you see piles of it for sale. Just wonder how much demand there is? Plus I've seen dealers complain there is so much used stuff being sold out as us old guys shut down our layouts that there is little interest in new product. But I'm out here in the middle of Nebraska, so don't hear much.


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

There is still a small amount of new Aristo here in the UK Jerry.
Quite a few dealers have new stocks - those with the most is because their prices are way too high. Three years ago I visited a model shop in NE England and enquired about a Hershey York boxcar. He lost interest when someone he knew wanted to buy a model helicopter! He still has that boxcar. 
There is also a fair amount of used Aristo on auction sites where the sellers are waiting for some mug to pay the 'rare collectors' prices they want.
I often wonder if this 'rip off' attitude actually deters some from taking up our great hobby.

Despite some Aristo models never being produced it has to fairly said that Aristo did produce a very large inventory and at pretty fair prices: not bad for a small family company. In fact if it were not for the availability of Aristo, through their UK importer Bachmann, and their good prices I would not have got into the hobby.
The UK alternatives were either toylike ot expensive.

I hope the product does become available again as it was an integral part of our hobby.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

We will see... I find it hard to believe Bachmann would make a new mold for such an inexpensive loco when they (Kader the parent company) already has the molds.

Also, a single piece would be a little tough, but doable.

Let's revisit this when someone gets one.

Greg



krs said:


> I don't think the Bachmann eggliners use the Aristo molds.
> 
> The Aristo eggliners were made from two streamline observation passenger car ends, thus the seam, whereas the Bachmann ones I was told are molded in one piece - no seam.
> 
> Knut


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

krs said:


> I don't think the Bachmann eggliners use the Aristo molds.
> 
> The Aristo eggliners were made from two streamline observation passenger car ends, thus the seam, whereas the Bachmann ones I was told are molded in one piece - no seam.
> 
> Knut


Im going to say its 98% likely Bachmann is using the Aristo eggliner molds, and they just added a step to fill in the seam so its less obtrusive.

Scot


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Scottychaos said:


> Im going to say its 98% likely Bachmann is using the Aristo eggliner molds, and they just added a step to fill in the seam so its less obtrusive.
> 
> Scot


That is probably true although we won't know 100% until someone can compare the two products carefully.

I recall years ago when Newqida introduced the small German steam loco and the LGB "type 4040" tank cars everyone was absolutely sure that they were using the LGB molds over in China.
Until we actually got a hold of the Newqida products - they were extremely close to the LGB ones (not the quality of course), but they were definitely not made from LGB molds. Parts were just a tiny bit different and there were a lot fewer screws used to assemple the pieces - a lot of pieces just snapped together, very efficient for assembly, much better for quick manufacturing in that respect than LGB.

We came to the conclusion at that time that one can make molds in China relatively quickly and inexpensively - it's not that Newqida were going to sell millions of those items and the price of the car initially was around $15 or $20 in the US and a fraction of that price when one bought in China (where one had to buy small lots, they wouldn't even sell them individually).

Knut


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

BTW - I meant to ask before....

Is it a hard fact that Kader/Bachmann actually owns the Aristocraft molds?


What about the speeder Bchmann is coming out with - that product started way back, then became a K-Line product before USA Trains offered them.
Did USA Trains sell those molds to Kader/Bachmann or did Kader own them all along or did Kader/Bachmann just copy the product.
Anyone have any facts?

Knut


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, it is a had fact, except for the track ties..

Realize that Sanda Kan, who made Aristo and USAT, was purchased by Kader. Whether Sanda Kan owned the speeder molds before USAT sold them is unknown, at least to me.

Greg


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

You can often tell if a mold has been adapted for a different tooling set-up because of tell-tale screw heads molded on the back side of the components where a part of the mold has been filled in to be omitted. Likewise where material is added to the finished component, some of the mold has been re-machined. Marklin have done this on some of LGB molds to remove the LGB logo leaving a blank raised area. 
Automated CNC machining is a relatively simple process now driven from computer generated models. You still need a good design that is easy to manufacture, assemble and that functions as expected. Often it is easier to copy what has already been proven to work. 

Andrew


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Along the lines of Nate's OP (thanks Nate), and seeing encouraging signs on the Bachmann front, I thought their new turnout switch stands were cleverly engineered, great looking, and low-priced. 

Also, I'd like to mention their new moguls. I first saw them at ECLSTS this year in a pre-production form, and their details really caught me eye. Since I model the V&T, I really drooled over their Glenbrook, which ran on a sister RR to the V&T (the Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company RR). 

So, here's a little backstory. When in NV a couple weeks ago for a V&T conference, my big thing to visit was the Nevada State RR Museum (never been there). The Glenbrook is not only housed there, but was very recently completely rebuilt by the NSRM. Wendell Huffman, the curator of all that equipment, was kind enough to tour me through their shed. When we got near the Glenbrook, I remarked that the new BM version's painting & pinstriping (which I saw at ECLSTS) seemed remarkably true to the prototype. Wendell's response was that this was was due to their contacting him, and him advising them on all the details. 

Point being: BM clearly took the time and made the investment to get things right on the Glenbrook, which I find very encouraging. If you compare the pics, you can see how much work went into getting the pinstriping right. I appreciated also that BM had the reversing linkage on the inside, like the proto. 

Here's the BM model (from their web site):










Here's my pic:










Sure, some details didn't transfer, and that's understandable. But an amazing amount of detail was replicated, and that took an investment. I haven't bought one yet, but sure plan on it. 


Cliff


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice loco Cliffy, adding it to your stable? It is really nice they spent the extra money to tool up the correct pilot for it also.

Chris


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