Bachmann Branchline is a British

OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to , or 1: ...

model railway brand manufactured by Bachmann Europe PLC, a subsidiary of

Bachmann Industries Bachmann Industries (Bachmann Brothers, Inc.) is a Bermuda-registered, Chinese-owned company, globally headquartered in Hong Kong; specialising in model railroading. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of its North American headq ...

, and is used for British outline OO scale model railways. OO Scale BR 25054

Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased by Kader Industries in 1987. Kader had previously produced models for

Palitoy Palitoy was a British toy company. It manufactured some of the most popular toys in Britain, some original items and others under licence. Its products included Action Man, Action Girl, Action Force, Tiny Tears, Pippa (doll), Pippa, Tressy, Mainli ...

under the Mainline brand. Palitoy required its manufacturers to produce and retain ownership of the toolings and Kader had used the toolings and added new ones for models commissioned by Replica Railways following the demise of Mainline. Kader formed Bachmann Europe PLC in 1989 with its main UK headquarters in Moat Way,

Barwell Barwell is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents in 2001, increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census. The name "Barwell" literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from ...

, and the following year launched the Bachmann Branchline range for the British market with the moulds that had previously been used for Mainline Railways and Replica. From this starting point Bachmann has developed the range further and now produce a large range of models competing in particular with Hornby. In 2000, Bachmann Europe PLC bought

Graham Farish {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Graham Farish is a Chinese-owned brand of N scale, N gauge British railway models. The Graham Farish Ltd company was founded in 1928 in the UK and Kader Group of Hong Kong bought the firm in 2001. Kader's subsidia ...

, an

N gauge N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. Effectively the scale is 1:159, 9 mm to , which is the width of standard gauge railway. However the scale may ...

manufacturer, and since then many of its models have been made available in both gauges.

Items

Bachmann is known for its consistent quality of model trains . Many of its trains include NEM pockets, making it possible to replace standard tension lock coupling with close couplings such as Kadees or screw link couplings.

Models produced

The following locomotive models have been produced, or announced by Bachmann Branchline:

Diesel locomotives

Electric locomotives

Diesel multiple units

Electric multiple units

Steam Locomotives

OO9 Gauge Steam Locomotives

OO9 Gauge Diesel Locomotives

Rivals

Hornby Railways Hornby Hobbies Limited is a British-owned scale model manufacturing company which has been focused on rail transport modelling, model railways. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccan ...

- Bachmann and Hornby are the two largest OO manufacturers in locomotives, wagons, coaches, scenics and more * Dapol - Produces models of locomotives and wagons in OO and N * Heljan - Produces a number of locomotives and wagons * Rails of Sheffield - Recently started producing OO locomotives with Dapol and Bachmann Branchline * Accurascale- produces models in OO and O. * Rapido trains UK- produces models in OO and N.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Bachmann Branchline pages on the Bachmann Europe website
Bachmann Industries Model railroad manufacturers Model manufacturers of the United Kingdom