Bachmann Branchline is a British OO gauge model railway brand manufactured by Bachmann Europe PLC, a subsidiary of Bachmann Industries, and is used for British outline OO scale model railways.
Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased by Kader Industries in 1987. Kader had previously produced models for Palitoy 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, 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, an N gauge manufacturer, and since then many of its models have been made available in both gauges.
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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