Thomas Rolling Stock Availability in the UK

James Day

James Day

Guano Corner Rly - Runs weekly - Guano permitting
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Dear All,

I have been following the UK introductions of the Large Scale Bachmann Thomas series, buying each new introduction as it reaches the shops, but supplies in the UK seem to be quite erratic.

Just before Xmas I was able to get the new Goods Brake Van and the S C Ruffey open wagon, but I have still not been able to find anyone stocking the Oil Tank. (This is black like tar Wagon, but without the word TAR!). Most dealers I have spoken to say it has not yet arrived in stock here.

I wouldn't mind getting another Brake Van too (to paint brown), but anyone who ever had any appears to have sold them, whilst many dealers say thay are still waiting.

Can anyone point me towards anyone in the UK who has any stock of either?

I manged to pick up the Xmas Coach and red open wagon from the Christmas delivery set from E-bay USA. Again this appears to be another item that has never actually been sold here. My guess is that it will be a good 9 or ten moths before it arrives here now, if indeed it ever does.

I would like to think that Bachmann will continue to expand the range and introduce different types of goods stock and some more, different locos, but they seem to need to be able to make the existing range available properly before they do anything new.

Best wishes,
James
 
Model making for the mass market is now done in batches.Sad to say, once the batch has gone out to the retailers, thats it. The next batch, if ever even made will be distributed likewise. There is no back up stock in a warehouse. Once a retailers stocks has gone (if they ever ordered any) your stuck. Even the smaller, less expensive models (say Hornby) are now made this way.
 
Have a look on ebay.com there are a couple of US sellers who have stock that appears. They ship to the UK as well. By time you factor in shipping cost and maybe some customs charges (20%) if it is over $50 or so, the price for three wagons is about the same as bought directly over here.
 
Thanks Guys,

I appreciate both the replies. I will try to avoid buying more from USA Ebay for the time being, as the costs involved do tend to add up to more than the UK value of the item, although I was very pleased with the Xmas stock I bought that way and even got to run it in the snow recently!

Yes I understand the concept of batch production, but what is a batch? In the case of the Brake Van the 'batch' that reached the UK must have been tiny. I only found one shop that actually thay had it, just before Christmas, it had just arrived. I snapped one up right away. Even now most stockists claim not to have had any supplied to them yet. It was and still is a similar story with the Tar tanker. Not sure about S C Ruffey open - The story could be similar. The recent Bachmann Large Scale Thomas introductions seem to have incredibly long gestation periods and then appear in very tiny numbers, before dissapearing overnight.

However big the 'batches' are, they look to be too small to meet the demand or even supply the hungry stockists.

James
 
James Day said:
However big the 'batches' are, they look to be too small to meet the demand or even supply the hungry stockists.

James
Click to expand...
Although this may be a pain in the backside for us consumers, this is actually a fairly healthy situation as far as the retailers are concerned in the current financial situation. Better for them to have people queueing to buy their products than to have a warehouse full of stuff that no-one wants (evidence the recent batch of Accucraft W&L cattle wagons which already appear to have all gone).

The only solution IMO is to pick a retailer you can trust (Steve @ Back2Bay6 would be the one I would choose for the Thomas stuff) and place an order before the items are delivered.
 
It also makes sense for the manufacturer as they produce a batch and when that is sold produce another batch, if the sales have justified this.
 
The last time I was into 00 Gauge was some 8 years ago, and at that time a general "batch" for a Hornby locomotive would be 600-750 units. For steam outline this was generally more but usually no more than 1000 units. Locomotives like the Flying Scotsman etc that are generally always in the range appear to be produced yearly but in smaller quantities. The original Class 90 in Anglia "ONE" livery produced by Hornby (in the wrong blue) was a batch of 700 but the second batch (correct blue, different name and number) was only a batch of 550 units. More recently Hornby have become secretive about the number of models produced in a batch.

USA Trains replied "Lots" to an enquiry I made regarding a loco batch.
 
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