# Brawa is getting out of G-Scale



## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I found out a couple of days ago that Brawa is getting out of G-Scale.

They are currently clearing all their G-scale inventory at rock bottom prices -well, compared to their normal prices that is.

Knut


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

This is the manifestation of their appearance at Nuernberg. There was nothing G-scale there and they lost their interest because of a failed introduction - that doesn't surprise me at all.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Sad to hear, but not surprising as Axel said. Having seen the RhB SLM built 4/5, it was a pretty loco, and unfortunate that it was not a sign of things to come. 

On the same thought, did anyone in the US sell their deck girder bridges?


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I'm not sure what you mean by "unfortunate that it was not a sign of things to come". The details of te Brawa loco were nice, but the engineering was terrible. 

First the motor and drive train of the digital version were a disaster - how Brawa could not notice that is beyond me because that was an issue people noticed immediately after they received their unit; then after a while it became apparent that the loco was just not suitable for Gardenrailroading with parts falling and breaking off, the plastic developing cracks etc. 
I thought it was *fortunate* that this wasn't a sign of things to come.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By krs on 04/19/2009 8:13 AM
I'm not sure what you mean by "unfortunate that it was not a sign of things to come". The details of te Brawa loco were nice, but the engineering was terrible. 




Yes, the technical details were terrible, but let us look at Bachmann? The first generation Big Hauler was not that wonderful. The current stuff is much better. If they had learned from this and built quality products as they have in HO for decades, then it would have been a win win?

Fair enough????


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Sorry - I had to laugh when I read your post. 

How can you compare a Big Hauler to the Brawa Loco? 

Price-wise they are in two totally different categories and address two totally different markets. 

When I pay top dollar for a Brawa loco - more than for a loco from any other high-volume G-Scale manufacturer, then I don't expect to be a guinea pig doing the field testing on their behalf. 
That they didn't notice the motor/drive problem before shipping is inexcusable - that came up as soon as the first customers tried to run the loco. 
Actually - if I remember right, I think one of the German G-Scale magazines pointed out the motor/drive problem to Brawa when the magazine did testing on an early sample and Brawa just ignored it. 
And the fragile parts breaking and falling off, well that's just poor engineering on Brawa's part. If they wanted to sell this as a "Garden Railroad" Loco, which they did, they totally missed designing it for that environment. 

I don't think they had any choice to get out of this market segment before their name got even more tarnished. 
The remaining locos and cars are now being liquidated at less than half the price they used to cost - that must really piss people off who bought at their former price level.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Ha, I almost fell out of my chair myself! 

If you take a minute to look past the trees and you will see they are very much alike both were first steps in a new market and direction. Yes, different markets and different prices, (just like Bachmann and Bachmann-Liliput HO and Brawa H0) but both were "testing the water" for large scale. It is a sad comment that the cheaper of the two lived maybe? 

True, the technical end was a BIG problem from the start, and as you point out, many comments about the fragile nature of the locos and cars. But let us say you are going to come out with a big large scale loco, and it becomes a difficult situation, do you make them durable (toy like) or good models (fragile) and where do the two cross? But in the end, bunch of people with nothing better to do will jam the forums complaining about the one situation or the other regardless of the direction taken. And while they made good on the repairs; however, exactly as you point out, in the end the damage was done, perception being a lot. 

My comment (and the same comment on some other fourms ) is if they had continued in their development, it would be interesting to see what direction it would have gone. 

And honestly, the prices were on par with the retail (ha!) larger Bachmann and LGB engines such as the Harz locos, and I am willing to bet (I could be wrong, I would love to buy one of the cars myself) that we will not see the large price drops here in the US. And this hobby is full of price drops, I have boxes of H0 and H0e locos, some bought new when they came out, others at closeout, often with up to 75% difference in price. It depended on if "I gotta have it now" in most cases.


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

Hi, 

It does not make too much sense to argue with "if they had". They do not continue with 1 : 22,5 scale, they decided to give up. There probabably is not enough turnover or money in this segment of the model hobby. There also seems to be some change of ownership of some Chinese toy factories. 

So now is the time or maybe even the last chance to get a Brawa RhB train for a very good price. Brawa states, that servicing and repairs will be continued to be offered. I doubt, that Chinese labour ever will get cheaper in the future. Most toy makers have announced price increases for this year. 
Some Germans firms alread have given up production in china due to price and quality issues. 

Have Fun 

Fritz / Juergen


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## Steven Gugel (Jan 9, 2008)

To answer your question, Garret, "On the same thought, did anyone in the US sell their deck girder bridges?", their deck girder bridges were my deck girder bridges - Garden Metal Models - and they are available at over 50 dealers in the US, many in Canada, and now one in the U.K. You can see the dealer list at www.gardenmetalmodels.com. Brawa was my European distributor and featured them in their catalog. Those bridges really traveled. First from the factory in China, then across the Pacific, then across this country from California to Maryland, then across the Atlantic, then to Germany. Then is is conceivable that when LGB carried Brawa you could order the same bridges from them and have them shipped back halfway around the world. Too bad there's no short cut tunnel/elevator thru the earth, it could speed these shipments up.

Regards,
Steven Gugel

Garden Metal Models, Inc.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Steven, and I assume your deck girder bridges are also the ones sold by Bridgemasters? I had asked some questions about them in the following thread without reply.... 

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/9/tpage/1/view/topic/postid/96188/Default.aspx#96188 

Interesting post on the travel paths of the briges! The strait path would be nice, but a tad hot maybe with that whole earth core issue....


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## Steven Gugel (Jan 9, 2008)

Garrett,

I just posted an answer for you on the thread you linked to.

Regards,

Steven Gugel
Garden Metal Models, Inc.


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