Unless you care about steam engines, particularly small ones, 19th Century railroading and rolling stock, then you will notice Bachmann leaving the market. Broadway Limited majority does big mainline steam engines, their smallest being a generic 2-8-0 less detailed than Bachmann's model and the Pennsy 4-4-2 Atlantic. Athearn rarely does steam but when it does it is way overpriced for what it is and what few small steam they make is in very small numbers, basically no advertising for it, and they sell out quick like when they sold their Roundhouse 2-8-0's a few years ago that you can't find anywhere. Other than them and Bachmann you have no representation in the market vs. diesels. If you only do and like diesels then sure you won't miss Bachmann since you are well covered with lots of options available, but not everyone models current day railroads like me who has zero interest in them.
Not for nothing, no one but the retailers that sell it would care...So called "Serious" modelers don't use it, and another entry level importer would fill the gap for starter level modelers. Rest assured, Kader / Bachmann are not going anywhere.
Highly doubt otherwise they would have done so already. Walthers Trainline and Lionel HO (blah) have been the only ones that make HO starter train sets outside of Bachmann and not nearly on the same scale. Walthers Trainline is alright but offer no steam sets and Lionel, well is Lionel. Their HO is rebranded Model Power/Mantua/Marx tooling that is overall crap. Bachmann is better quality than Lionel in this scale.
So I guess, the hobby of model railroading will be around for a long time? Nothing to worry about, right?
I would say yes to a degree. You can budget in this hobby but noobs don't want to do extensive research to find a cheap train they expect to just hop on Amazon and have something delivered to their door right away. That is the nature of commerce now whether people agree with it, like it, or not.
Especially, considering Kader is owned by the Communist Government of China, (PDR).
Unless you only buy from Accurail, KATO(?), Bowser, or ScaleTrains you are supporting the PRC. Every other HO manufacturer outsources to China and you think their government has a hands off approach to it? Like they are letting them in as a charity? No, the Chinese government profits off American companies in China from the tax revenue collected to the stealing of IP's. Every factory has political commissars and every company there must submit complete control and authority to the PRC or you will not operate there. They can commandeer the factory for any reason on a whim, take your tooling, and there is nothing you can do about it. So if you don't want to buy from Bachmann because they are Kader owned I hope you don't buy anything from Walthers, Athearn, Rapido, Atlas, BLI, etc. since they all are benefiting the Chinese government too.
Ah, 'Sams Trains'... [Rolls eyes upwards...]
Unfortunately, the doom mongerers, tea leaf and chicken entrail readers and anyone with an "opinion" and access to social media have been prattling on the last few weeks about the supposedly doomed UK model railway scene as one major annual show was cancelled in the same week that a major retailer shut up shop.
A lot of nonsense and waffle has appeared in the popular press and online, much of which is not worthy of further comment.
Well if you watched the video you would have seen that he took a balanced approach and showed the argument on both sides while ultimately concluding the hobby is fine despite the UK's recent setbacks.
(no typo this time)