hornby vs bachmann

[sirtophamhatt]

I always believe that hornbys thomas range is far superior in build and running qualities. Quantanties are my issues. Only a limited number of engines in 30 years of production. Bachmann have at least 15 engines and are introducing the narrow gauge engines starting with skarloey.

Which companies products do you prefer and why?

Once hornby have there products back i will be purchasing all of what they produce.

[LCDR]

I think you must be referring to products only available outside the UK.  To the best of my knowledge Bachmann UK do not sell OO / HO Thomas products, only a limited range of Large Gauge items.

 

I also think that this topic is in danger of breaching Forum guidelines.

[Ozwarrior]

It's funny how tribal people are, I have mainly Hornby, which I personally prefer overall, but have "fleshed out" my collection with the other company. I always take the view that the more the merrier in our hobby even if it means duplication.

[sirtophamhatt]

True thomas by bachmann is only avaliable from the us. And true bachmann uk do sell the thomas large scale only here. I am merely asking for opinions. As i have previously stated my collecton is 99%hornby. 

[Luciton St James]

I have the Bachmann US models. Bought a Salty , Emily & Mavis at christmas, they run faultlessly. Great models that put Hornbys to shame. Designed to be sold in the likes of Walmart etc ,quite why you cant buy Thomas models by Hornby in Tescos , Asda fair boggles the mind.. My Dad managed to secure a Hornby Gordon that a shop in Windsor where getting rid of for £60 brand new. Quite why a suedo A3 thats been being made for years should cost £118.95 is a mystery & hence why i purchase the Bachmann ones.At £60 its manageble , but £118.95 for a childs toy is quite frankly laughable. My little boys birthday is approaching & hes asked for a Bill & Ben & it will be Bachmanns ones that will be arriving. Hornby have had their chance & as is usual theyve sat there palming off old rope for new money. Shouldnt take Bachmann to make them up their game. I run a 95% Bachmann / Lima set up , best mechanisms , great performers & so proven product gets the vote.  Bachmanns foray into the narrow gauge models is a inspired move , & merely shows that they have better product developers than Hornby as the class 466 networker, class 110, class 142 , class 29 , class 92 have illustrated. It would be nice to buy Hornby , but the British trait of relying upon a name / rich heritage doesnt cut any ice with me. You progress or you die & Hornby have somehow allowed the rug to be pulled from under their feet with the Thomas stuff. Charging expensive sums for things built to ROCO / Marklin / Flieschmann standards is ok , but with Hornby they've fluncked every oppurtunity to set the standard.  Before christmas my dad bought my little boy a Marklin my world set. What a way to kick off with model railways. The standard marklin c track , battery operated , full use of remote control technology with the headlights ,sounds etc. If i hadnt already had a large 00 gauge set up then id have happily gone down the Marklin path as it just leads beautifuly from the basic my world starter sets into the full Marklin range. The Thomas range is a a great way to get much needed new blood into what has become a stockpilers/ wealthy old mans past time (Hattons are wanting £99 for a model of toad - collectors piece apparently - hence why this hobby has lost its way) State of the art models that have moving eyes,make nosie etc is the way forward given the increasing technological nature of childrens toys. My little boy loves anything that lights up , enthralled with the cab lights on the DB shenker class 66, headlamps 7 tilt on the Voyager & Wienhoff mpv that arrived at christmas & if Hornby is serious about Thomas then the new range needs to meet the requirements of demanding young boys & girls. Again the 'girl' engines are not marketed properl ,my 7 year daughter is constantly asking if they make a Rosie , Molly, Millie & Daisy. Again revenue is being lost from a sector thats almost discarded from the outset. Fact Girls do like Thomas the tank engine hence why Mavis & Emily arrived at christmas. 

[keith_mitchell]

Re the Bachman Emily, I have one but it continually derails going around 1st radius curves. Additionally, following the Hornby annonceemnt, I went on to the site and found that they are bringing back Thomas, James, Percy, Edward, Gordon and Henry.  Went onto another site which sells Bachman and there is a large range available now, including Spencer, Toiby, Bill a ]nd Ben etc etc. Is Hornby going to Bring out these others or are they lilmiting the reissued to the original 6? If so, they are missing out!!!!

[keith_mitchell]

I have the Bachmann US models. Bought a Salty , Emily & Mavis at christmas, they run faultlessly. Great models that put Hornbys to shame. Designed to be sold in the likes of Walmart etc ,quite why you cant buy Thomas models by Hornby in Tescos , Asda fair boggles the mind.. My Dad managed to secure a Hornby Gordon that a shop in Windsor where getting rid of for £60 brand new. Quite why a suedo A3 thats been being made for years should cost £118.95 is a mystery & hence why i purchase the Bachmann ones.At £60 its manageble , but £118.95 for a childs toy is quite frankly laughable. My little boys birthday is approaching & hes asked for a Bill & Ben & it will be Bachmanns ones that will be arriving. Hornby have had their chance & as is usual theyve sat there palming off old rope for new money. Shouldnt take Bachmann to make them up their game. I run a 95% Bachmann / Lima set up , best mechanisms , great performers & so proven product gets the vote.  Bachmanns foray into the narrow gauge models is a inspired move , & merely shows that they have better product developers than Hornby as the class 466 networker, class 110, class 142 , class 29 , class 92 have illustrated. It would be nice to buy Hornby , but the British trait of relying upon a name / rich heritage doesnt cut any ice with me. You progress or you die & Hornby have somehow allowed the rug to be pulled from under their feet with the Thomas stuff. Charging expensive sums for things built to ROCO / Marklin / Flieschmann standards is ok , but with Hornby they've fluncked every oppurtunity to set the standard.  Before christmas my dad bought my little boy a Marklin my world set. What a way to kick off with model railways. The standard marklin c track , battery operated , full use of remote control technology with the headlights ,sounds etc. If i hadnt already had a large 00 gauge set up then id have happily gone down the Marklin path as it just leads beautifuly from the basic my world starter sets into the full Marklin range. The Thomas range is a a great way to get much needed new blood into what has become a stockpilers/ wealthy old mans past time (Hattons are wanting £99 for a model of toad - collectors piece apparently - hence why this hobby has lost its way) State of the art models that have moving eyes,make nosie etc is the way forward given the increasing technological nature of childrens toys. My little boy loves anything that lights up , enthralled with the cab lights on the DB shenker class 66, headlamps 7 tilt on the Voyager & Wienhoff mpv that arrived at christmas & if Hornby is serious about Thomas then the new range needs to meet the requirements of demanding young boys & girls. Again the 'girl' engines are not marketed properl ,my 7 year daughter is constantly asking if they make a Rosie , Molly, Millie & Daisy. Again revenue is being lost from a sector thats almost discarded from the outset. Fact Girls do like Thomas the tank engine hence why Mavis & Emily arrived at christmas. 

 

 My 11 year old granddaughter also asked if there was going to be a Mollie.

 

 

[PJH194]

Not a comparison of models, but I would like to share my experience of the two companies. My son is Autistic and loves his Thomas trains, but the range of Bachmann is so much greater. I bought him a 'Mavis' Bachmann shunter from Australia because it is not sold in the UK. It lasted about two months before coming to a halt. I contacted Bachmann Europe in the hope that it would be covered by a warranty. I have been told that not only is there no warranty because I bought it from abroad, but there are not willing to provide any servicing or repair for the train even if I were to pay full price. By contrast my son lost a part of his Hornby/Airfix Quickbuild clip together model Spitfire. Hornby promptly sent me a replacement for the part free of charge.You will all have a view about the respective models, but in terms of customer support in my view it's no contest.

[trainlover23]

Not a comparison of models, but I would like to share my experience of the two companies. My son is Autistic and loves his Thomas trains, but the range of Bachmann is so much greater. I bought him a 'Mavis' Bachmann shunter from Australia because it is not sold in the UK. It lasted about two months before coming to a halt. I contacted Bachmann Europe in the hope that it would be covered by a warranty. I have been told that not only is there no warranty because I bought it from abroad, but there are not willing to provide any servicing or repair for the train even if I were to pay full price. By contrast my son lost a part of his Hornby/Airfix Quickbuild clip together model Spitfire. Hornby promptly sent me a replacement for the part free of charge.You will all have a view about the respective models, but in terms of customer support in my view it's no contest.

Bachmann are perfectley within their rights to do this as a] You have imported the product and b] They do not have the licence to sell the OO/HO range in the UK and there do not carry stock of the spares. I suggest you contact Bachmann USA for the spares 

[Buz]

True thomas by bachmann is only avaliable from the us. And true bachmann uk do sell the thomas large scale only here. I am merely asking for opinions. As i have previously stated my collecton is 99%hornby. 

Hi

Well at the risk of breaching the peace,  geting shot, hung drawn and quarterd ect

The blue box mob is mechanicaly a far superior product and the details on the product are a bit on the heavy side

The cartoon apearance of the locomotives is a bad joke I blame the TV rubish for that as the the blue box mob take there apearances from the TV shows.

 

The Hornby product is unfortunatly mechanicaly inferior I literaly wore out a brand new Hornby  Percy in one weekend and then found no backup service to get a new motor for him.

The Hornby product wins hands down in the apearance stakes as it is closer to the real Thomas as found

in the books.

I buy the product that does what I want bearing in mind I am not building a Thomas layout Hornby's product is easier to cross over into the real world

If Hornby can get decent mechanics into its rainge of Thomas loco's then we would have a winner.Tthe other thing I would like to see is a replacement smoke box doors for the Thomas range.

So that the real Thomas with no faces could be done as well.

And just why doesn't Duck waddle along like he should  ;-)

These are my opinions no to be confused with any version of reality

regards John

[m_duck]

I've only ever had Hornby Thomas related items other than Cranky & Bertie. Although I have just bought the Christmas Express when I was in the US with the intention of running it around the Christmas tree. First impression is that I prefer the Hornby Thomas but I'm sure the kids will love it. 

[JeremiahBunyan]

Thought I'd add my 2 pence worth on the matter...

 

Discussions like this almost always boil down to personal opinion. However in a rare instances like me, there's always a divided opinion. My views are however based on feedback from quite a few people who know these products from both companies.

 

1) When it comes to accuracy, it depends on which you like. If you find the TV series more attractive, you're bound to like the Bachmann ones as they are more suited to the ones on TV.

Hornby However based their models on what the actual prototype was (eg: Thomas being based on an E2). However the part where Hornby loses out IMO is where they've used older inaccurate tooling (eg: Devious Diesel, Bert and Arry are all Class 08's however Hornby uses the generic 0-6-0 chassis that looks wrong).

 

2) When it comes to running mechanisms I've heard many complain about the Bachmann one. Reviews have also shown the

Hornby model to be superior at times. However the older Hornby 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 chassis was very crude and jittery. However since 2014 onwards it seems as if Hornby have upgraded the chassis. I have a brand new 0-4-0 Pug. It's as smooth as silk. I will post a video if needed for proof. But in this case I can fairly say that both have their pros and cons.

 

So it's personal taste.

[walkingthedog]

Spot on JBM. 

 

I only had Thomas, Duck and Percy from Hornby, some time ago I might add, when the kids were young, my daughters 38 now to give you a clue. 

Percy was either stopped or off like a rocket. Thomas and Duck had the same chassis and ran beautifully, in fact I put new non Thomas bodys on them and used them for years. 

[LCDR]

 I recall talking to the Rev. WA at a model railway exhibition many years ago and he told me that he originally intended Thomas to be a LMS 0-6-0T but the artist drew him as an E2 and it sort of stuck!

 

Nowadays I take a couple of Hornby 'Thomas' models with me when I put on a show of my old Triang, because the kids love it. However I need to take two because the early SSSP chassis proved very unreliable, and needed frequent TLC. If I adapted them to the older Triang X04 powered kind I might get a better performance from them. My old R52 'Jinties', R153 Saddle Tanks and R152 Diesel Shunters go on forever!

[mjb1961]

Haven't got any Thomas and friends at the moment but would like to get some in the future ,maybe the original locos from the Rev awrdry series once I work out which ones are the original ,also at time of posting there is a 22 loco collection on eBay for £2500 if any one is interested and it includes murdoch ,,,,,,mjb

[T.J.E]

When I first started into the hornby hobby at about the age of 9 or 10 it was the Thomas models which captured my imagination however I was always quite disappointed at the rather restricted range of characters available and with the tooling of some such as Bill and Ben and Emily which I did not think were particularly accurate renditions of the characters. I also found the price a great hinderance then, it's amazing how much the price has risen in ten years, then you could purchase henry or gordon, which were the most expensive for about £90, and the same models are now priced at £120, on a slight tangent i happened across a packet for a set of points I purchased at a similar time and they were priced at £6.99, the same points today fetch alomst £16 which I think is quite scandalous, surely inflation can have been that bad. But I also had some issues with running quality, I had continuous problems with my devious deisel and james models to the point at which neither now run and my other models were somewhat imperfect in their running. However my Henry model continues to impress me and is a fine locomotive indeed. If hornby were to improve the quality and tooling of the models the price would not be such an issue, but I look forward to seeing more of the new Thomas range, I only regret that now as a student I have neither the time nor the money to indulge my hornby habit again.

[Tony57]

Hi

Not wishing to get involved too much having got a reprint of the original stories of Thomas 1 - 24, It starts with Thomas 1, Gordon 4, Henry 3, Edward 2, James 5, Percy 6, Toby 7, Duck 8, Diesel, Donald 9, Douglas 10, Daisy, (guest apperance of Stepney) Bill and Ben, BoCo, D7101, D199, Oliver and Toad.  There are stories about the Rheneas Skarloey, Duncan, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty narrow guage railways engines, and Mike, Rex, Bert small railway engines non of the other names appear in the original books.

[Yelrow]

Never had any of the engines, but can still quote many stories from memory, as kids would not go to sleep without the LP records, that repeated over and over again. You just must stay and listen dad. As our only grandchild, is a daughter, cannot envisage a need to purchase. john

[Slornie]

I also found the price a great hinderance then, it's amazing how much the price has risen in ten years, then you could purchase henry or gordon, which were the most expensive for about £90, and the same models are now priced at £120

 

Gordon has actually come down in price slightly from two years ago (when I bought him), to £100 new from Hornby.  Henry new is also now £90; I suspect the higher prices still seen elsewhere are people offloading old (higher priced) stock or looking to capitalise on over-inflated market expectations following a scarcity of product in recent years.

[81F]

Not a comparison of models, but I would like to share my experience of the two companies. My son is Autistic and loves his Thomas trains, but the range of Bachmann is so much greater. I bought him a 'Mavis' Bachmann shunter from Australia because it is not sold in the UK. It lasted about two months before coming to a halt. I contacted Bachmann Europe in the hope that it would be covered by a warranty. I have been told that not only is there no warranty because I bought it from abroad, but there are not willing to provide any servicing or repair for the train even if I were to pay full price. By contrast my son lost a part of his Hornby/Airfix Quickbuild clip together model Spitfire. Hornby promptly sent me a replacement for the part free of charge.You will all have a view about the respective models, but in terms of customer support in my view it's no contest.

Bachmann US have a site that sells spares you could try there.

[Forum-1211528]

The Hornby Thomas range are derived from Triang locos but the Bachmann range can't be sold here as Hornby still has the licance here until production ceases! Bachmann Inc get around this by putting their Thomas range on their American website and you can order them direct there like Hornby sell direct, while Bachmann UK doesn't sell direct as that's derives from Eastern Models from the eighties when Graham Hubbard had distributed Bachmann, Mahanotekica and the such like through that company. When Hornby no longer makes the Thomas range this doesn't mean that Bachmann can sell its Thomas range here as it would revert to Mattel but they own the Hit Productions company that gives out the licence to make the Thomas range and Mattel might do the range itself telling Bachmann to go to hell but that's their choice sadly!