Pullman Car Services-Archive
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PULLMAN CAR SERVICES-ARCHIVE The Quality of Service is Remembered Long after the Price is Forgotten SPECIAL EDITION No. 16. ‘00’ GAUGE PULLMAN MODELS - 2005 to 2019. Pullman Car Services-Archive - Special Edition No. 16 - Bachmann Branchline - ‘00’ Gauge Pullman Models 2005 to 2019 - Issue 1 - March 2019 “Information is for sharing and not gathering dust” Page 1 of 48 Contents. Page: Details: 1 Cover 2 Contents 3 Acknowledgements & Publication Sources 4 - 8 History of Bachmann Branchline UK - By Paul Lumsden 8 Bachmann Collectors Club 9 Bachmann Era Classifications 10 The History of the BR Mk1 Pullman Cars 11 - 13 Type B Kitchen First 14 - 16 Type D Parlour First 17 - 19 Type C Kitchen Second 20 - 22 Type E Parlour Second 23 - 25 Type F Bar Second 26 - 28 Train Pack - Vintage Trains “Shakespeare Express” - 99335 Unbranded & 99353 Unbranded 29 Coach Pack - WREN LABORATORY 14 RDB975427 30 - 31 Coach Pack - BR Open First E347E & E353E 32 - 33 Coach Pack - West Coast Railways 99347 & 99352 34 - 37 Class 251 - Blue Pullman 37 The difference between the Midland Blue Pullman and the Western Blue Pullman sets 38 - 40Pullman East Coast Main Line Brake Parlour Provision 40 - 4Pullm4 an East Coast Main Line Pullman Car Allocations 45 Pullman BR Mk 1 Pullman Cars Allocated to the Western Region 46 Acknowledgements & Publication Sources 47 Pullman 2019 Bachmann Branchline ’00’ Gauge & 2019 Graham Farish by Bachmann ‘N’ Gauge Catalogues For further information on all the products available visit the web site https://www.bachmann.co.uk/ Pullman Car Services-Archive - Special Edition No. 16 - Bachmann Branchline - ‘00’ Gauge Pullman Models 2005 to 2019 - Issue 1 - March 2019 “Information is for sharing and not gathering dust” Page 2 of 48 9.History of Bachmann Branchline UK - By Paul Lumsden. When I was first asked to write a short article charting the history of Bachmann Branchline in the UK, my initial thoughts were that this should be straightforward enough. After all it was only in 1989 that Graham Hubbard and his wife Ros set up the UK arm of the already established US company Bachmann Industries. A combination of hard work, innovative design and effective marketing, touched with a smattering of good luck has seen the company grow to become a major name in British railway modelling and part of a Global company. However, following a conversation with Bachmann Europe’s PR Manager Dennis Lovett (now retired), I began to see another story emerging and certainly one worth further investigation. The story of what lead to the creation of Bachmann in the UK is actually a fascinating and complex web of events and decisions involving some great names from the UK toy industry as well as global toy businesses. Its roots also begin almost two centuries ago. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin - at the beginning….. In the beginning. Henry Carlisle founded the company that became Bachmann way back in 1833. At this time the business produced vanity items such walking cane handles, combs and hair ornaments from horn, tortoise shell and ivory. In 1899, Carlisle merged the business with that of a competitor company run by a German immigrant and master carver, Henry G. Bachmann, and his son, Walter J. Bachmann. The newly merged business was soon renamed Bachmann Bros. In the early 1900s Bachmann Bros began to use celluloid in their products and produced celluloid optical frames. This lead to experimentation with plastics and they became the first American company to produce prescription sunglasses. Called ‘Solarex’ they became a worldwide success and were even purchased by the US Army and the US Army Air Force for use by troops during World War 2. After the war the business further diversified and began to make ‘Birds of the World’ model kits, shooting glasses, and ski goggles. The company also used its expertise in injection-moulded plastic to enter the model train field with ‘Plasticville U.S.A’. These were snap-together kits of buildings and they were hugely successful. By the early 1950s Bachmann began to actively look for a cheaper production base and they found that Hong Kong was able to offer stability and quality as well as being cheap. Bachmann eventually partnered with a company called Kader who began production for them in 1952. During the 1960s and 1970s Bachmann continued to diversify and produced everything from slot cars to toy airplanes, plastic animal sets, robots, and even cassette cases. However, it was the growth of model railroading that proved the most lucrative and the company began producing everything from locomotives to scenery. In 1969 they turned to their Hong Kong partners, Kader Industrial Ltd, for manufacturing support with the model railroad products. Pullman Car Services-Archive - Special Edition No. 16 - Bachmann Branchline - ‘00’ Gauge Pullman Models 2005 to 2019 - Issue 1 - March 2019 “Information is for sharing and not gathering dust” Page 3 of 48 Kader was formed in Hong Kong by Mr Ting Hsiung-chao in 1948. Before World War 2, Ting had bought and successfully run a battery and light bulb business in Shanghai. However, during the instability of the immediate post war period, the Chinese communists rounded up known capitalists, Ting was imprisoned, and his business collapsed. Upon his release he fled to the British colony of Hong Kong and set up his new business. Kader became a major manufacturer of household goods and also produced models and toys for export. Kader became known for its fair pricing and fine products and won several prestigious awards in the USA. In the 70s and 80s, business from overseas clients continued to expand, leading the Company to produce such famous products as the original Star Wars figurines, Teddy Ruxpin and Cabbage Patch Kids. From 1969 Kader and Bachmann worked hand in hand to create quality model railroading products for the discerning hobbyist. Eventually in 1987 Kader acquired Bachmann Bros, renamed it Bachmann Industries and has since become the world's largest manufacturer, by volume, of model railroads. PICTURED Left Mr Ting, founder of Kader and Right Graham Hubbard (MD) and the late Merl Evans (Head of Research and Development) of Bachmann Europe. How does all of this link to the UK model railway scene? Well, Airfix first introduced ‘OO’ gauge railway related items to their plastic kit range in 1957. By the 1970s this was a fairly comprehensive range including trackside items as well as wagons and static locomotive models. The range was very successful and could be seen on many layouts and some even converted the rolling stock and locos to run on their track. The UK ready to run market at this time, was all but dominated by Hornby but the products had become rather dull and the market stagnant - not unlike the economy during those dark days of the early 1970s. Pullman Car Services-Archive - Special Edition No. 16 - Bachmann Branchline - ‘00’ Gauge Pullman Models 2005 to 2019 - Issue 1 - March 2019 “Information is for sharing and not gathering dust” Page 4 of 48 Airfix however saw an opportunity to introduce well-designed, high quality, detailed ready to run ‘OO’ models into the UK market, by taking advantage of the modern moulding technology and low costs that were available from far eastern factories. The Airfix team set about designing a new UK ‘OO’ rail system, which was to be tooled and manufactured by another Chinese company called Sanda Kan. The gap in the market that Airfix had spotted, had also been identified by another British company: Palitoy. They were already manufacturing well-known toys like Action Man in China and Kader Industries produced them. When they decided to introduce a new model railway range in the mid-1970s they turned to Kader, who offered them the choice of marketing the Bachmann US range in the UK or tooling a new range of British outline models. They chose the latter option and again decided that the opportunity lay with higher quality and better accuracy than the Hornby offering. The range was to be called ‘Mainline’ and, significantly the agreement with Kader was that the cost price of each item would include a contribution toward the tooling cost - Palitoy never owned the ‘Mainline’ tooling. By complete coincidence both Airfix and Palitoy were ready to launch their new railway ranges at the same time and it was in January 1976 at the Brighton and Harrogate Toy Fairs that the model railway world got their first sight of both as they went head-to-head. Although both ranges were successful to a degree it was generally acknowledged that the ‘Mainline ‘ range was the superior of the two. The partnership with Kader worked well and the resultant product was so good that Hornby was forced to react and make changes in order to compete. Sadly, for Airfix the parent company was struggling financially and in 1981 the receivers were called in. Most of the Airfix GMR (Great Model Railway) tooling was sold to Palitoy and was immediately absorbed into the ‘Mainline’ range. However, just two years later in 1983 the story took yet another twist, when General Mills, the American owners of Palitoy, decided to pull out of the UK Railway market altogether. The reason is not 100% certain but it is widely believed that the board of directors wanted to focus on global opportunities and ‘OO’ gauge was seen as to parochially British. The Palitoy UK offices in Coalville were closed and the design team, headed up by the late Merl Evans were made redundant. Just one year later General Mills announced that its entire European toy operation was to be wound up and Palitoy itself was to be closed down.