A new western train and expansion sets.

[playmofire]

I'd advice them to take their profits from the expansion packs such as additional tracks, wagons, a trainstation and such. Those parts won't sell without a train, the train is pretty much a requirement for them.

It's not sound business practice to sell a major item at little or no profit (or even a loss) in the hope of selling subsidiary items (expansion packs, if you like) at an excessive price.   And, a train station is no use without a train, but you can have lots of fun with a train set with no station.  And, of course, you can always make your own station.

They could make the prices on those packs a little steep to balance things out. The lower price on the initial train would also be justified by the somewhat limited content of that package. Just a round track, a locomotive with two wagons, a few clickies with accesoires does not seem to warrant an overly high price.

You can only justify a low price if costs are low to start with.  What you describe as a package with limited content (in this case, VERY limited content - http://playmodb.org/setpics/4010.jpg) used to sell for well over £100.  It's hardly likely to sell for less in the future unless the contents are very limited, in which case people won't want to buy it anyway.

Excluding batteries is also a good way to lower the price since batteries are expensive. Should be noted on the box that it does not have batteries.

Compared with the cost of the item, a set of batteries may not cost a lot.

 

[Duckman]

Another possible addition to a new western train, an exploding dynamite wagon, perhaps somthing similar to this one from another well known train maker.

Set would include two bandits with reversable faces, pre and post explosion, a barrel, some dynamite, pistols a rifle and a squirrel??

Oh and of course some kind of naked flame so they can see when inside the wagon.

Wagon works by a lever being flicked up throwing the sepearte pats every where if the coupling is knocked too hard, hence the warning not to shunt loose or to bump.

[Baron Marshall]

  AWESOME

[bonniebeth]

That would be a really neat addition! That's the kind of thing the creators might go for, too. We already have an exploding volcano, and knock-out walls on jail cells and castles and such.

[zugpferdchen]

Only one small correction:

On a steam locomotive you need two persons: a train driver and a fire man (who is shoveling coal).
That means: you need in the first/main set these two men/clickies.

[Justindo]

I'm on board for those train sets!

[Bill Blackhurst]

  I love the curious cowboys with soot all over their faces! Well done !

[Rhalius]

Maybe if they release houses again, maybe they could release a bit of a western village in a large set?

its always the sherrif's office but that gets boring, in a village set there would be room for buildings that may not do well when sold seperatly, such as an undertaker.

Aside from an undertaker, the village could also have a bank, a hotel and maybe some stables and all kinds of street decor. Includes clickies could be a banker, a bankrobber, an undertaker, two cowboys and several civilians. Several horses too, and maybe a part of the bank that can be blown up.

[bonniebeth]

What about a western building with interchangeable signs so that it could be changed from one building to another?

It could have signs for a sherriff's office, bank, saloon, drug store, general store, hotel, post office, and restaurant, with these signs perhaps being pieces of card that slide into a holder, rather than permanent stickers, so it could be changed over and over again. In fact each one could have two different sides so they could produce less pieces.

 Then it could have a desk, a jail cell wall/bank bars, a bed, a table, four chairs, bar/counter, safe, and a shelving unit. That way by changing around furniture and the sign you could make different things out of it. It would be fun for a kid even if they just had one, but you could also buy multiples and use each one for a different use.

It could also have a small hanging sign to attach to the outside wall which could have changeable inserts making it serve as a wanted poster, an ad for the latest show at the saloon, the day's menu for the restaurant, etc.

[Jay]

I would love to have new Western cars. I got the whole train set a few years ago on Ebay at a price so reasonable I really thought I'd never actually get it from the seller. I don't have the Western station, but have almost all the other things, particulaly with the reissue of the windmill and water tank.