Future suggestions/predictions thread

[King_of_pc]

That's ok. I guess I can agree with the eye mechanism adding character, and also being a major selling point.

[NWRLevi]

I think a fair compromise would be having the eye mechanism more easily removable? Not so much that a younger person could do it accidentally, but designed to slot out if the body is taken off. This way, it can still be included in the model, but if someone wants to take it out to try and improve performance or add posable eyes to the face, it could be done rather easily.

[[email protected]]

009-suggestions Talyllyn Railway.
Dolgoch
Edward Thomas
Douglas
Tom Rolt
Carriage #4
Brake Van #5
Brake van #6
Carriage #7
Carriage #8
Carriage #9
Carriage #10
Carriage #11
Carriage #12
Carriage #13
Carriage #14
Carriage #15
Talyllyn Bogie Carriages
Carriage #17

[[email protected]]

00-9 Corris Railway suggestions.
Corris Railway No. 7
Corris Railway No. 10
Corris Railway No. 6
Corris Railway No. 5 Alan Meaden
Corris Railway No. 2
Corris Railway No. 1

[[email protected]]

HO scale Suggestions:
Nia
Phillip
Murdoch
Charlie
Porter
Dash
Bash
Ferdinand
Norman
Bulstrode
Frankie
Hurricane
Fergus
Henry (old Shape)
Lady
Elizabeth
Neville
Whiff
Scruff
Rocky
Judy and Jerome
Arthur
Harvey
Stephen
Connor
Caitlin
Ashima
Raul
Gina
Frieda
Yong-Boa
Hong-Mei
Lei
Hiro
Patchwork Hiro
Stafford
Boco
Den
Dart
Lexi
Merlin
Theo
Hannah
Henrietta(with face)
African Salt wagon
African vent van
Jack
Alfie
Oliver(excavator)
Max and Monty
Timothy
Gator
Marion
Sonny
Troublesome LBSC Railway 8 Ton Van
Troublesome Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Van
Troublesome NER Vans
Troublesome GWR Ventilated Vans
Troublesome Slate Wagon( standard gauge).
Troublesome Oil Tanker
Hector
Short Wheelbase Trucks
Kevin
Trevor

00-9 T&F suggestions
Luke
Millie
Victor
Yellow Victor
Freddie
Duncan
Mighty Mac
Skarloey Slate Trucks
LNWR Slate Trucks
Dinorwic Slate Trucks
V-Tipper wagon
3-Plank Trucks
4-Plank Trucks
5-Plank Trucks

[[email protected]]

HO scale Suggestions:
Nia
Phillip
Murdoch
Charlie
Porter
Dash
Bash
Ferdinand
Norman
Bulstrode
Frankie
Hurricane
Fergus
Henry (old Shape)
Lady
Elizabeth
Neville
Whiff
Scruff
Rocky
Judy and Jerome
Arthur
Harvey
Stephen
Connor
Caitlin
Ashima
Raul
Gina
Frieda
Yong-Boa
Hong-Mei
Lei
Hiro
Patchwork Hiro
Stafford
Boco
Den
Dart
Lexi
Merlin
Theo
Hannah
Henrietta(with face)
African Salt wagon
African vent van
Jack
Alfie
Oliver(excavator)
Max and Monty
Timothy
Gator
Marion
Sonny
Troublesome LBSC Railway 8 Ton Van
Troublesome Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Van
Troublesome NER Vans
Troublesome GWR Ventilated Vans
Troublesome Slate Wagon( standard gauge).
Troublesome Oil Tanker
Hector
Short Wheelbase Trucks
Kevin
Trevor
Carly
Big Mickey
Skiff
Samson


00-9 T&F suggestions
Luke
Millie
Victor
Yellow Victor
Freddie
Duncan
Mighty Mac
Skarloey Slate Trucks
LNWR Slate Trucks
Dinorwic Slate Trucks
V-Tipper wagon
3-Plank Trucks
4-Plank Trucks
5-Plank Trucks

[Stephen62]

HO scale engines:
Murdoch
Stepney
Arthur
Wilbert
16
Donald (blue)
Douglas (blue)
Boco
Bear
Spamcan
Class 40
Derek
Den
Dart

HO scale rolling stock:
Hannah
Fred pehlay
Rickety
Rocky
Troublesome  #? truck standard gauge slate wagon
Troublesome truck #? African salt wagon
Old coaches
Circus flatbeds
Well wagon (reintroduction)
S.c.Ruffy rebuilt
Silver tanker
Oil tanker v1 (reintroduction)

Narrow gauge engines
Duke
Duncan
Smudger
Mighty Mac
Freddie

Narrow gauge rolling stock
Green open coaches

[[email protected]]

Bachmann Talyllyn Railway coach suggestions:
Talyllyn Railway coaches Nos. 9-10, 16, 18-23, 24-26

Talyllyn Railway coaches Nos. 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13

Corris Railway Saloon Coaches Nos. 1-8

[Zorran202]

Look, we get that you want to see that BIG list of characters we want to see be made, but there's only so much Bachmann can do as a company since this isn't the only line of merch that they're focusing on. You don't need to make a bajillion posts of what YOU want to be made. We too want to see the characters you made, but again, you need to be patient and level headed...

Back to what this topic is about: if there's a chance that the characters could be potentially be made, I'm gonna be realistic to what's possible at least in terms of the steam engines/diesels, since rolling stock is a free-for-all if the likes of the Spiteful Brakevan was made despite being a classic series character;

HO/OO (engines and rolling stock):

Spencer (silver paint from Season 10 onwards): considering Spencer's been with the show even going into the CGI era as one of the Season 7 characters to make it past the New Series, it would make sense if they needed to have a repaint of sorts. Heck, we got repaints of existing characters like Rosie w/ her Cherry Red livery, Thomas' LBSC from TAB, James' w/ his Black livery + Busy Bee repaint from Season 10, and even Rheneas' Yellow livery from BMM. I'm rather surprised nobody considered it, if not recently or if this was somewhere mentioned in the early parts of this thread.

Salty's Green livery (from Season 16): again, like Spencer (and this is assuming that he's made without delays this time), this can be another alternative if they need to, plus he'd be the first diesel to get a repaint livery. Also if the Busy Bee James/Yellow Rheneas that only showed up once would even be made into the line, I hope this is possible...

Stephen: since the open carriage was made, it would be fitting if he were made to go along with this piece of rolling stock.

Hector: if they need a unique rolling stock that's a hopper that they could potentially reuse for the other ranges, he's the one they need, albeit w/ some slight modifications regarding his size...

Slip Coaches: since we have embedded faces on Annie and Clarabel, hopefully they can utilize this onto the Slip Coaches too. They'd just have to reuse the same coach model (maybe use Spencer's Coach, just also changing the front and back of it to accommodate the face and unique window placements...) as well as make different faces for the first, second, and third coaches.

Dexter: man, imagine if they could reuse the red brake coach to make Dexter as a character, that'll be amazing since he doesn't have any merchandise to my knowledge.

Old Slow Coach: if they can mould together the roofs of Emily's coaches and the moulding of the express brake coaches, Old Slow Coach can be possible since she's a brake coach herself, it would be amazing to see her made after all this time...!

Kevin: this is only if Victor gets made, but the Steamworks duo wouldn't feel the same without one or the other due to them being shown together most of the time...AND would be a new road vehicle after Bulgy.

HOn30:

Victor: again, if Kevin gets made, it would make sense he'd be considered since there's only so much CGI narrow gauge characters made in the show.

Luke: since Duncan was canceled, he can be next in line to be made, plus the fact we got the high side wagons and the gondola wagons seen in the Blue Mountain Quarry, it would only make sense he'd be made for the Skarloey Railway.

Millie: I'm sure she'll be made after the latter two seeing that she barely showed up in the show after KOTR/Season 17-18...or unless if they need a female character to fill in the gap of the majority of male characters running on narrow gauge rails, who knows...

Mighty Mac: IF Bachmann ran out of narrow gauge characters to make, he should be the next to keep the flow going since it would be fitting since if they needed to, they could use the Season 12 CGI faces as reference to add onto the model itself.

Proteus: not only they'd be able to reuse Sir Handel's model, he'd just need a new face, yellow paint, and a magic lamp added on top of him like in the tale being told by Skarloey back in Season 9.

[Awesometrain77]

Very nice suggestions I really that we definitely need some more variants . I have been suggesting Spencer's brake coach for a while and I think a silver Spencer would sell very well and would be great to release alongside it . Emily with a number 12 would be very nice to see as it is the current version of her and also since we have engines 1 through 11 .

Something I really want to see that I think would be perfect is Diesel 10 . I have suggested him for a while but he is so popular across the fandom and the fact that he is from the model era makes him a classic character . He is also a large diesel which is something that not counting daisy who is a diesel railcar is something we don't have . Not to mention he is a villain. He is the villain he is the ultimate villain of Thomas & Friends .

Another addition that I really think we need in the range is Trevor the traction engine he is an iconic piece of the island of sodor . Being an Awdry character and appearing in the shows intro from season 8 all the way until season 18 .

I would also like to see some rereleases of retired wagons specifically the M wagon which has became a meme in the fandom and the well wagon which is a really nice piece of rolling stock . In addition, I would like to see Judy and Jerome as we need a breakdown train for the line . And the works unit coaches which can be used in a number of different setting. And they would pair well with Ryan and Daisy as Judy and Jerome are on the same branch line as them . 
 
Hector would be nice for a new named rolling stock character as he stands out and could be really fun . Rebuilt S.C Ruffy would also be fun to see get made.

I would love to see more utility vans and more cattle vans which are some rolling stock that we don't have much of

Overall, these are some of my ideas for 2026 

[TrainFan97]

What's holding Bachmann back from doing new scales they haven't done before, like S and Z Scales, is that it would take resources away from what they're already doing. Having to design new track for those scales is already an expense that doesn't even include engines or rolling stock.

[Chaz]

What's holding Bachmann back from doing new scales they haven't done before, like S and Z Scales, is that it would take resources away from what they're already doing. Having to design new track for those scales is already an expense that doesn't even include engines or rolling stock.

The bigger issue is the license to produce models in those scales. Before Bachmann can even think about track resources, they need to secure a license from Mattel to produce Thomas models in another scale. Considering how much we're still waiting on from Bachmann with everything already on their plate, I can promise you the last thing on their mind right now is launching an entirely new Thomas range in a different scale.

[Cheeky_ULP]

The only scale left I can see Bachmann having any interest in acquiring is O Scale, and that's entirely dependent on the kind of contract Lionel currently has.

[Awesometrain77]

S scale is something that is pretty obscure now days
American flyer is all I can really think of for it . Honestly, I don't see it generating a lot of sales . Z scale I see it being cool to make Mike Rex Bert but honestly I just don't think it would ever happen as they also don't make that type of track or anything Z scale .
Maybe a free rolling Mike Rex and Bert that fit on Z scale track . But I don't know how you would even release that.

One idea that I do have for sort of like an expansion of the line up is maybe a Williams EZ road Bertie . But idk .
Or maybe EZ track British buffers. Or maybe some scene scapes grass and turf that resembles sodor . There are definitely some cool trees that you can do. And even a decent amount of plants you can do.  A Sodor signal pack is something that I have not seen anyone really think of . Bringing back the resin buildings and the other accessories could really elevate all of this . Sodor signs and platforms and coal hopper or diesel fueling tank .

[RailsByRick]

I agree. The HO line is in need of signals and buffer stops based on the television series. Signals especially. Importing them from the UK has become very costly due to tariffs. Also, if Bachmann is uncertain about resin buildings, I think plastic kits would be great for a signal box, shed, hut, etc. It'd be nice to see the round water tower back in the line too!