Future suggestions/predictions thread

[Awesometrain77]

Hi there,

I would personally like to see the following below as part of the 2026 announcements.   

N Scale
- Edward
- Rosie
- Mavis
- Mail Trucks
- Troublesome Truck Variants

HO Scale
- Iron 'Arry (re-introduced)
- Iron Bert (re-introduced)
- Whiff
- Scruff
- Hiro

Narrow Gauge
- Luke
- Duncan (re-announced)
- Narrow Gauge Troublesome Trucks

I would absolutely love to see old classics like Stepney, Class 40, Murdoch and Duke however, understanding Bachmann's decision making process, they always like to (for the most part and currently) draw ideas from the CGI era. I do hope they get more creative freedom from Mattel and secure reasonable costs to produce classic characters in future however, for now, I believe CGI is the main focus. 

Whiff and bringing back Arry and Bert are solid ideas .

Hiro seems a bit to big since Scotsman is in development. But I'd love to see him . However here is an idea that I have

Since Thomas is so popular in Japan that Hiro would be a good idea . Why not make Kenji . A lot of American people want a O series with and without a face .
Kenji and his coach would share a lot of the same design and while idk how they could possiblely use parts of the design for the coach minus the nose and moving eyes of course .

Kenji
Kenji's coach

[Luke22]

Hi there,

I would personally like to see the following below as part of the 2026 announcements.   

N Scale
- Edward
- Rosie
- Mavis
- Mail Trucks
- Troublesome Truck Variants

HO Scale
- Iron 'Arry (re-introduced)
- Iron Bert (re-introduced)
- Whiff
- Scruff
- Hiro

Narrow Gauge
- Luke
- Duncan (re-announced)
- Narrow Gauge Troublesome Trucks

I would absolutely love to see old classics like Stepney, Class 40, Murdoch and Duke however, understanding Bachmann's decision making process, they always like to (for the most part and currently) draw ideas from the CGI era. I do hope they get more creative freedom from Mattel and secure reasonable costs to produce classic characters in future however, for now, I believe CGI is the main focus. 

Whiff and bringing back Arry and Bert are solid ideas .

Hiro seems a bit to big since Scotsman is in development. But I'd love to see him . However here is an idea that I have

Since Thomas is so popular in Japan that Hiro would be a good idea . Why not make Kenji . A lot of American people want a O series with and without a face .
Kenji and his coach would share a lot of the same design and while idk how they could possiblely use parts of the design for the coach minus the nose and moving eyes of course .

Kenji
Kenji's coach

I mean, the only way I'd see this going through is if they use the same method with Beau: just keep everything low cost by just having a static face and then just focus on the detailing here and there, especially since the cost wouldn't be anything to sneeze at...

[JLK2707]

How about a Large Scale Edward and a large scale Black James? In addition to this, the chocolate syrup tanker and toffee tanker should be released in HO Scale.

[Jake86]

Happy New Year everyone I have found the link to the red buffet express coach if you click on the link you will see the pictures of them thanks https://www.deviantart.com/denisew54/art/Red-Express-Buffet-Coach-3D-View-1022546727

[Luke22]

How about a Large Scale Edward and a large scale Black James? In addition to this, the chocolate syrup tanker and toffee tanker should be released in HO Scale.

They should at this point for James since they're doing LBSC Thomas, so an Origins James is perfect at least in terms of reusing a character AND with a meaningful relation to the age of the show...!

Hopefully, they can create Edward as well since he's another similar sized tender engine to James, so that'll be amazing...!

[TrainFan97]

We should soon know when exactly the 2026 catalog will go live.

HO Scale already has Flying Scotsman on the way, but if another newly-tooled engine was to be announced, my best guesses would be Whiff or Norman. Maybe even Philip. The Chocolate Syrup and Toffee Tankers are still exclusive to Large Scale, but we still have several pieces of rolling stock on the backburner, like the China Clay Wagon, Tar Tanker, and the flatbed with diesel drums.

Don't know if Edward will be announced for N Scale, though I personally hope he does in the near future so that the original Steam Team would be complete in N Scale. We still haven't seen samples of Diesel, Paxton or Henry yet, but we should soon, as progress has been made. For rolling stock, we need the BR 20-Ton Brake Van and Red Coaches for N Scale. Sidney would also be possible in N Scale, as well as 'Arry and Bert, though the latter two are discontinued in HO Scale, but there is demand for them to return, while the former is coming soon to HO Scale.

As for Narrow Gauge, either Duncan should get uncancelled, or Luke gets announced, now that Sir Handel is out. For repaints, there is still Smudger using Rheneas' tooling, or Proteus using Sir Handel's tooling. For rolling stock, we need tan and gray brake vans and box vans, which would be simple repaints of existing toolings, or for a new tooling, 4-Plank wagons.

[harrison05]

Norman is the most unique choice for HO to me so I want him the most also Smudger will sell like gangbusters.

[Awesometrain77]

So 2026 will be different with the catalog having announcements and Quarterly announcements which is really cool to see . And is the first change to the announcement system since the NMRA announcement introduction .

So we will still get the announcements at the catalog
But also quarterly announcements though out the year
So
Q1 - Catalog
Q2
Q3
Q4
Not all of these will have Thomas announcements
We know that the catalog will have Thomas stuff . Such as a paint schemes maybe new variants . And we know that there will be a product that pays tribute to the 80th anniversary of Thomas as a character .

[DustyMarie53!]

Also noting Matt specifically alluded to having an engine on hand for N scale comparisons they didn't want to show off until the febuary stream, so we'll probably see one of the outstanding N scale engines next month

[TrainFan97]

So some things were mentioned in the stream this morning. Announcements will now be quarterly, although not every one of them will have Thomas announcements, but we know the catalog will.

So there will be new paint schemes and possibly variants. There's going to be a product celebrating 80 years of Thomas as a character, since Thomas himself wasn't introduced until 1946. We don't know everything the 2026 catalog will have yet, but we'll see sometime very soon.

Don't know if the new paint schemes will include engines, like Green Salty, Fernando, Smudger, or Proteus. Most likely rolling stock. It would be interesting to see if Mainland Diesel will have different face variants, like the ones on Ulli and Fernando. With Sir Handel finally out, they must announce a new Narrow Gauge engine, like Luke, or bringing Duncan back on the table.

We may not see any samples of outstanding N Scale engines until the February stream, likely after the catalog is already out.

EDIT: Turns out the stream was done earlier today, and the new samples shown were unpainted samples of Bulgy, and the N Scale Express Coaches. There will be more to show in the February stream.

[Armada Starscream]

In regards to the new paint schemes and variants, some repaints and variants I would love to see Bachmann do would be Blue Donald, Blue Douglas, and Green Bulgy.

In addition, somethings Bachmann could also bring out would be Splatter and Dodge. Splatter and Dodge could just re-use and re-paint the 'Arry and Bert chassis and shell, and given that Splatter and Dodge always appear together with the same faces, they would just need to make a single new face sculpt for both engines.

[Stephen62]

I would also like to see a blue Donald and Douglas. That would be very different or old shape Henry. Old even a red "scrap" Oliver. Some color variations of rolling stock would be nice. Even rickety and Fred pehlay who were once announced but cancelled. Smudger would be easy if they just used Rheneas chassis and body with a couple of slight changes. Brown mail van or logging flatcar with pipes load instead.

[TrainFan97]

I too would like to see a flatbed with a new pipe load for HO Scale rolling stock. Don't know if we'll ever get Blue Donald and Douglas, but RWS repaints were confirmed to be possible, like the China Clay Wagon, and the RWS Thomas from the cancelled 80th Anniversary set. Some people would like to see Scrap Oliver and Toad, so people can accurately recreate the episode "Escape". Too bad the autocoaches were never in the TV Series for budget reasons.

I still hope that sometime this year, Edward will finally be on the cards for N Scale, and complete the original Steam Team. It should help if upcoming N Scale engines like Diesel, Paxton, and Henry already have samples hidden somewhere. Edward would be a much better-received announcement for N Scale than Busy Bee James. Once we finally have N Scale Edward on the way, the next in line should be Duck.

If Smudger or Proteus were to be announced for Narrow Gauge, since they'd be simple repaints of existing toolings with new faces (with Proteus being given his signature lamp), it would really open up the possibility for Splatter and Dodge, which would be simple repaints of 'Arry and Bert with new faces. Smudger, Proteus, Splatter and Dodge are model series repaints whose toolings do exist. They were all one-off characters, but never say never. Fernando, Green Salty, Blue Bill and Ben would be tooling repaints based on the CGI series.

[harrison05]

Knowing Splatter & Dodge could be possible for a Bachmann repaint would give me so much joy.

[travel_is_fun]

Also noting Matt specifically alluded to having an engine on hand for N scale comparisons they didn't want to show off until the febuary stream, so we'll probably see one of the outstanding N scale engines next month

Fingers crossed that it'll be N-scale Henry.