Future Thomas & Friends product suggestions and predictions

[Mulfred]

Very impressed with the Samples of TT7 and The China clay wagon. I'll be completely honest when TT7 was announced I genuinely thought they would just take the Grey van and stick a face on the front and tbh I'd have been fine with that but they have gone too alot of effort with this which I really appreciate. I have a few topics I'd like to raise here.

Firstly with the Troublesome truck numbering system, I do somewhat worry how that may impact other scales. For example right now if Bachmann wanted to make TT7 in N scale they totally could however with 3-6 not being available will that hamper its chances. Same with Large scale. I mean theres no written rule to say they couldn't make a Troublesome van in N or large but I do worry the numbered system may stop them.

My second point comes off the back of a conversation with Chaz. He mentioned how nice it would be if the China clay wagon was offered in additional colour schemes which I fully support, even if that means changing a 4 to a 5 to renumber them. Same with the FQC wagon that would be great if they released a couple of additional colour variations.

While I am talking about the China clay wagon. One idea that I had would be maybe Bachmann could make the removal loads available separately in say a 4 pack or something? I know alot of modellers would appreciate being able to buy the loads so they can create their own rakes. You could also apply this to the coal load and even the drums on the diesel Flatbed.

My last point is definitely out of season right now, but it would be great if by Christmas 2027 there was an N scale Thomas Christmas set. You could have the Christmas wreath van in there and maybe some variation of rolling stock used in previous Christmas sets. I know that alot of use would buy it just for the Snowplow on Thomas.

Its great to see that in 2026 we should have a nice steady stream of releases throughout the year too, not all coming out in November. Very excited to see what is next. I am extremely hyped for N scale Henry and looking forward to seeing how everything turns out

[Chaz]

I definitely agree that a Bachmann Troublesome Truck #8 would make the most sense as an open wagon. With the most recent releases already covering a tanker and a van (both of which also appeared in the CGI era), it might feel a bit too soon to revisit those toolings again. Going with an open wagon would help keep things feeling fresher in that regard. Whether Bachmann uses the older tooling or transitions to the newer UK 7 plank design, I think either approach would work nicely as long as it brings something a little different to the range.  This truck in particular I think would be a perfect candidate for troublesome truck #8:


I feel like this works the most because it offers a different emotion (angry) along with a different color from Trucks 1 and 2, helping it stand out more and adding some nice contrast.  Plus giving it a coal load would also be a nice bonus. Like truck #7, this would be a CGI troublesome truck I would be perfectly fine with, and I would happily add to my collection.

I also want to reiterate a point I mentioned earlier about the China clay wagon, specifically how a green livery would be a really welcome addition. Not only would it add some visual variety to the rolling stock lineup, but it would also be a smart way for Bachmann to reuse the existing china clay load tooling. It feels like a relatively simple variation with a different color and new road number that could go a long way in expanding customization options for modelers.

Overall, it's really encouraging to see the level of effort going into these recent releases, and I'm excited to see where they go next.

[Mulfred]

Something I've been thinking about alot is vans within the range. Unfortunately at the moment in N scale and Large scale we have the 12 ton van however in HO theres both 12 ton van and the GWR vent van but there's an ever growing number of van variations being ticked off year after year and this leads to N and Large having one tooling for a van and their HO counterpart being a different one. But that doesn't need to be the case. We can still have a GWR vent van in N scale and maybe even Large (although N in my reason for this post)



Alot of goods trains in the show have multiple vans making up a train. See here the Mr Jolly's chocolate factory train where theres both 12 ton vans and GWR vans. Which leads me to my point. What if Bachmann introduced the GWR van into N Scale as a new tooling that they can add onto consists. I know some may say "its just rehashing old vans. Why introduced whats already in the range" but its not, its doing exactly what we do with things like Road numbers or having variations of different coloured wagons like for example the high sided wagons in NG line or Gondolas or even the gunpowder wagons.
Here's a couple of edits which I hope can help with my point.



First one here shows what the chocolate van would look like in Grey next to the Large scale version of the van (because N scale isn't in the sample stage at time of the post) the colour being different enough to warrant us fans buying another version to have an engine pulling trains made up of both van styles.



My next example is of the Sodor fruit and veg van. I've recreated it into a brown which would look lovely in a train with the green 12 ton versions

Plus theres at the moment still several vans untouched in N scale like the Brendam Bay van, Explosives and original blue van itself. Which can all have a slightly darker or lighter shade.



The inverse can be true for HO aswell.
HO Concepts


They'd look something like this. If Bachmann want to reuse the 12 ton van and do a Grey van with Mr Jolly on the side I don't think fans would mind. At the end of the day its using what is available to get the most variation into the range and into our goods trains and adding that new tooling into a range and giving it a purpose. In HO it'll allow Bachmann to revisit the classics with the new 12 ton van and reuse the paint schemes used on the GWR van in N scale (hopefully) so modellers of all scales can have fuller goods trains.
N Scale Concepts



And for any future vans in either range this gives Bachmann an chance to do both styles in the different scales I.e. Bakery, Fireworks, Circus so on

[Zorran202]

I definitely agree that a Bachmann Troublesome Truck #8 would make the most sense as an open wagon. With the most recent releases already covering a tanker and a van (both of which also appeared in the CGI era), it might feel a bit too soon to revisit those toolings again. Going with an open wagon would help keep things feeling fresher in that regard. Whether Bachmann uses the older tooling or transitions to the newer UK 7 plank design, I think either approach would work nicely as long as it brings something a little different to the range.  This truck in particular I think would be a perfect candidate for troublesome truck #8:


I feel like this works the most because it offers a different emotion (angry) along with a different color from Trucks 1 and 2, helping it stand out more and adding some nice contrast.  Plus giving it a coal load would also be a nice bonus. Like truck #7, this would be a CGI troublesome truck I would be perfectly fine with, and I would happily add to my collection.

I also want to reiterate a point I mentioned earlier about the China clay wagon, specifically how a green livery would be a really welcome addition. Not only would it add some visual variety to the rolling stock lineup, but it would also be a smart way for Bachmann to reuse the existing china clay load tooling. It feels like a relatively simple variation with a different color and new road number that could go a long way in expanding customization options for modelers.

Overall, it's really encouraging to see the level of effort going into these recent releases, and I'm excited to see where they go next.

I agree especially since #7 (#6 if we feel like including the "international" purple tanker) is exclusively CGI, though it would be intriguing to see where'd they go from there, plus they can't reuse the same ol' face shown on #7, if not risking to look cheap and all....

I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that about the SCC wagons, because it would come full circle of the Wooden Railway's 2 pack set of these wagons... All we need is the green one and boom, we're there!

Here's another question: how come we haven't seen the dual ventilated vans be turned into Troublesome Trucks? They were prominent during the model series era...

[Chaz]

I really like Mulfred's idea of reusing decals on pieces of rolling stock while changing the livery, allowing for greater diversity without feeling too redundant. Especially since this was a pattern used back in the model seasons. I would fully welcome these additions and would happily pick most of them up. It also saves Bachmann time by reducing the need to create new decals when they can simply reuse existing ones. Overall, it seems like a nice win-win for both Bachmann and the fans.

Here's another question: how come we haven't seen the dual ventilated vans be turned into Troublesome Trucks? They were prominent during the model series era...

Probably because they weren't brought into the CGI seasons. Personally, I think a model era Troublesome Truck face would be more fun, especially since the faces are more expressive, but I understand why Bachmann hasn't considered them.

[Awesometrain77]

Honestly, what I really hope is what Bachmann will do is make the troublesome trucks more often now that Matt is in charge. 

Tbh I would like to see the LMS van with a classic face which I have mentioned sereval times when suggesting troublesome truck 7 back in the day before it got announced . I am very disappointed chose a international van but it's what ever . I will also suggest Lei the Chinese van .

But a LMS van with a classic face would be fun maybe that iconic face that says oh look Henry's spooked .

I'd like to see a sodor cgi 7 plank with the darker livery as seen pre kotr . And maybe give it a working hard or grumpy face .
And maybe a international coffee bean truck
I'd also like to see a sodor tanker and a narrow gauge slate wagon as both can use the same face tooling.

And maybe another troublesome slate wagon that could be a surprised one that is more based on the model era .
Another truck idea is the Blue James's truck with a classic face that could be angry and reuse the china clay load to make it distinct and use that load
do a season 1 truck .

I also like the idea of more colors for certain wagons but tbh the only one I see this happening to is the ones that have color variations in the show

[Mulfred]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it would be a win for both Bachmann and us fans regardless of the scale they model as its adding new 12 ton veriations to the HO line and finally adding the vent van to N or Large. In regards to the point Awesometrain77 made regarding only the vans that appeared in the show. If we were doing that then a good chunk of vans we have now would also be defunct.

The Fruit and Veg van and GW van both sell really well and have made it into all three scales at this point. The Brendam Bay and Explosives van also both sell well and none of those 4 vans appeared once on screen. So theres not really a harm in adding an additional van with the same logo but using a different tooling. More rolling stock and choice is always a good thing. Plus having the 2 would probably help boost those sales even more. Someone who is on the fence seeing just one iteration of a van may not buy it but if theres 2 vans they might think "I can make a train out of these"

I personally would rather see the GW van in N scale and potentially large rather then the same old recolours of the 12 ton van. Plus the GW vent van has been used alot within the HO range. I mean theres been 10 different versions of it so far including the Christmas set and one they were going to use in the Thomas 80th set.

The HO range now has that 12 van and GWR van so lets use them both in HO and lets try to get them both into the other scales. Lets face it sadly if they didn't do something like this for the GW van in N scale they'd probably not do it at all. I'm just trying to provide a way in which it can be done and be worthwhile for Bachmann and please us fans

One last point on this. The GW van could also be a great Troublesome Truck candidate which would be helpful if it was available to the other scales.