The Midland Pullman and The Elephant In The Room.... PRICE!

The recent arrival of the Bachmann Midland Pullman Train Pack, often referred to as the Blue Pullman has seen the most common complaint of recent times.... "How much???"

The offending product! Bachmann's superb Midland Pullman train pack



The six car set is superbly reproduced and comes in the stylish Bachmann packaging we have seen with the previous sets, such as The Ambulance Train, Railway Children and Shakespeare Express. Along with additional features like the pack of Scenecraft figures depicting stewards and train crew, book telling the history of the train, reproduction menu and special edition print of the artwork on the box.

All nice touches, although three of the four are hardly necessary to run the train. However, there only seems to be one talking point with this set and that's the price. With an RRP of £599.95 and a discounted price of £509.95 it certainly isn't cheap but is it really all that expensive?

One comment that cropped up was "I think I'll stick with my Tri-ang one" which is absolutely fine if you wanted to do that and it makes you happy, but let's assume we want to have the best we can get. How much would that cost? Well a quick bit of research shows that you could easily run up a bill of £300 investing in a reasonable Tri-ang version, extra coaches and all the details and modifications you need to bring the model up to a standard that would be acceptable on a modern layout.

To some that might not matter (and if it doesn't then great, as I've said many times before it's your railway!) and if you've got the spare time then it makes a nice modelling project,  but to me I'd rather spend the extra money and have the far superior product without the extra work.

For those of you who do want the model then it represents a second chance to acquire one if you missed out first time round. Yes, the price has increased since that first release and Bachmann's price increases are well documented. However, I have seen second hand ones sell for over £400 before so at least this presents the chance to obtain a new one for slightly more. On the subject of second hand prices, before the first run of this model came out I can remember people asking £200-£300 for the Tri-ang set due to the fact "nobody else makes one"

When you open the box it doesn't disappoint the set is beautifully presented as with all Bachmann train packs

 

Another interesting comment to come out of the production is "it's not practical" well yes if you have a layout depicting a sleepy country branchline station or a steam shed then this set certainly will not fit in! However, it's no different to running a medium sized steam, diesel or electric loco on five coaches so if you run a train like that then you can run one of these!

In conclusion, I'm not saying this product is cheap but I believe it is a wonderful model wonderfully well presented and if you want that kind of quality then this is what it costs. Personally I'd pay it, but can fully understand those who don't want to or can't justify having one. This is just my opinion and you are more than welcome to disagree :)

On another note, we are at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway's excellent Cotswold Festival Of Steam this weekend, it's a great event with eight locos in steam (three of which are visiting) well worth a look and if you do visit drop in and say hello :) we will be selling the Midland Pullman there too! ;)

Full details: http://www.gwsr.com/planning-your-visit/2016-events-calendar/cotswold-festival-of-steam-2016.aspx

Hope you've enjoyed this one and don't find any of my views controversial, this blog is intended to be thought provoking as well as promoting the shop. Keep enjoying your modelling, however much it costs! Tony :)