Bachmann acquires Williams Electric Trains

[Rene Schweitzer]

While this news isn't directly large-scale related, I thought everyone would be interested in reading this release:

Mr. Jerry Williams, President/Owner of Williams Electric Trains, Columbia, MD and Mr. Bud Reece, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, along with Mr. Ed Winter, Senior Vice President Finance & Operations, Bachmann Industries, Inc., Philadelphia, PA announce the acquisition of the assets of Williams Electric Trains.

After 35 years, Mr. Jerry Williams decided to retire from the model railroad business. Bud Reece had contacted Mr. Williams a year earlier and planted the seed for the possibility of this acquisition. Bachmann has been in business since 1833 and has an extensive line of model trains and accessories in HO, N, On30, and Large Scale. Reece observed that the Williams O gauge 3-rail fits perfectly into the Bachmann family and complements the O scale Plasticville® U.S.A. buildings that Bachmann has been producing for 60 years.

Reece is very pleased to also announce that Mr. Larry Harrington, General Manager of Williams for several years, will be joining the Bachmann team as General Manager of the O gauge division. "I am very happy that Larry will be joining us, since his experience and background in the 3-rail market and Williams in particular will be invaluable to us."

"We at Bachmann feel that the Williams brand is very important in the 3-rail market place. We will continue to use and promote the Williams name as "Williams by Bachmann" to capitalize on both brand names. With the help of Larry Harrington, we plan to expand the availability of Williams by Bachmann products by supporting both the current Williams dealers and our national distributors. We will certainly continue to honor warranties from Williams, and we also hope to continue the Platinum Club on a modified program, yet to be determined, plus offer and expand the club to all of our Bachmann family."

"We couldn’t have asked for a nicer gentleman than Mr. Jerry Williams to work with during the negotiation of this acquisition. Not only his patience and understanding, but his friendship, are greatly appreciated. I am very pleased that Mr. Williams has voluntarily agreed to council with Bachmann, and I for one will certainly take him up on that offer," assured Reece.

[GearDrivenSteam]

Rene, that's really interesting. So, does this mean Bachmann will now offer 3 rail stuff?

[vsmith]

Yes it does, Bachmann has finally added one of the missing links in its scale line up, now all they need to do is add an S and HOn3 line and they will have their fingers in every major scale kettle.