Seems to finally be that time again, I can't believe it's been so long since the first one.
Happy to keep this going....
Thomas will be coming down our track forever.
Nooooooo rip .
Well new threat and at a perfect time with Stanley nearing arrival and the NMRA in a few days .
I'm excited for NMRA and the description they have given is exciting.
Going to make a post recapping last New Model Monday again cause there was a shocking amount of Thomas News within it.
N Scale: Henry, Diesel, Paxton, LBSC Thomas, and Origins James are all in the design phase. They are hoping to be done by 2026. They didn't want to announce anything new at NMRA to add to this backlog just yet, they have ideas they are hoping will be able to announce in 2026.
G Scale: They are waiting for the right time to expand this lineup, given the skipped product codes I wouldn't be shocked if they considered it for this year, but the state of the world gave them pause. I could be wrong on that, but it's further proof they do have plans and are just waiting out the ideal time to drop.
Stanley: Is on the water, should be shipped out and released in about a month give or take.
Salty: Hoping to be done by 2026, they are still working on him as hard as they can.
Bulgy and Gunpowder Wagons: Same case as the N scale guys, in the design phase, hoping to be release by 2026.
Sir Hayden: Not Thomas but felt wrong not to include. Waiting on painted samples, hoping to release early 2026.
Open Carriage: Same as above
Thomas Anniversary Set: Repeated some of the things they said last Thomas Tuesday. Said they weren't opposed to maybe going back and doing this set at a later date, but not right now. A similar set might be announced in 2026 to fill the spot, but it won't be this. (Nor do I think that'd be required given this was always meant to be a single run item.) They also said they want to look into doing more retro items like it, most likely more rolling stock like the China Clay Wagon as they have implied that before.
NMRA Announcement: Repeated the announcement is for HO Scale, and implied there is only one but there is in fact a weird use of plural world sometimes. Could just be talking in general of the catalog, could be including British narrow gauge stuff, I could be overanalyzing it (Most likely outcome). Either way, they said the announcement would be "Unexpected" and "excite fans of most eras of tv Thomas"
Which is telling, but also vague enough to encourage tons of speculation. Only thing I think for sure is it isn't Trevor, BoCo, Scotsman, or Stepney. Use of tv Thomas rather than Thomas as a whole feel like it'd exclude the RWS, it's not like they are unaware of it after all.
I believe that is everything, hopefully cataloging this info here is useful
so the old thread just got deleted?
Yes. It seems to happen once it gets too big. The first topic was created in 2005 so it's been some time. This is I think the 4th or 5th iteration.
Just one announcement?
Looks like Bachmann added artwork for the N scale LBSC Thomas, Origin James, and the wagon repaints. A lot of the other newly announced products also seem to have pages on the webstore, but no artwork yet.
Prices also appear to have been updated, likely reflecting the tariffs. Probably the most notable change is Rebecca, which went from $299 in the 2025 catalog to $329 on the webstore... yikes.
Rebecca is nearly or pretty much $500 here in Australia...
Odd, I see many products have specific pages for most scales. Henry is noticeably absent on the N-scale section. Though I believe his price tag will be equivalent or relative to $219 (Gordon's current price tag). Can only hope for major progress on these upcoming models so that Bachmann can redeem themselves for next year
In terms of listings everything up to 2025 has a page now except N Scale Henry (probably earlier development than the other 4), Salty (development stalled, they are hoping to have him done by next year but might not be ready to recommit having a page on this website), Gunpowder wagons (development is far along apparently but might be waiting until the gondolas are out to drop the page), N scale Brakeven (nothing has been said on this front since announcement), and G scale LBSC Thomas. I think it's good sign everything else is account for, hoping this means they're confident in all these products dropping sometime next year
Quote from: travel_is_fun on July 13, 2025, 04:01:58 AMOdd, I see many products have specific pages for most scales. Henry is noticeably absent on the N-scale section. Though I believe his price tag will be equivalent or relative to $219 (Gordon's current price tag). Can only hope for major progress on these upcoming models so that Bachmann can redeem themselves for next year
I could see that, especially if they reuse the same motor and chassis from Gordon just like they did in HO.
What about Sir Handel? He just needs a box sample to be ready to ship out right?
Stanley is out !!!
This is so good to see .
I can't wait to see people getting this model .
The NMRA 2025 is this weekend and we will be getting the new HO announcements on Saturday
Same here Awesometrain77.
The narrow gauge items yet to release and knapford station are going to be the next items to release which are going to be out hopefully by Christmas.
Sir Handel seems to be like a fall 2025 release .
No mention of the 80th vans I'd assume Matt just forgotten those when mentioning the new stuff as we have painted samples . And the large scale DCC set which may be out but I am not sure .
If I were to guess .
We will see Sir Handel and the DCC set in the fall .
And right before Christmas in late November we will see the 80th vans, ng gonaldas , and maybe knapford but I could see that be more of a early 2026 item .
Sir Handel should definitely arrive in stock by the end of the year, along with the Narrow Gauge Gondolas, and DCC Sound-Fitted Thomas and Percy.
Within the next few streams, we will definitely see the first unpainted samples of the N Scale Express Coaches. No update on N Scale Diesel, Paxton or Henry yet. Same for HO Scale Sidney and Mainland Diesel. Bachmann is doing everything they can to get Salty back out there after a seemingly endless wait. Soon, we should also see the first painted sample of the HO Scale Open Carriage, as well as the 80th Vans in packaging.
They managed to get the 80th Anniversary Vans a release for this fall, but the set unfortunately had to be cancelled, which was such a shame... I was so looking forward to it when it was announced.
The September stream should have an exciting reveal. Matt said there's something on the way, but did not specify what it is. There's only three streams left for this year.
Appearlty there is a surprise coming for the factory . I have no clue what this could be I'd imagine it's some new product tool . So maybe the express coaches or the gunpowder wagons .
I don't think knapford will be out before the end of the year . If anything I'd say early 2026 .
No updates on any of the other N scale products aside from the express coaches. I feel we will see them along side the open wagons and the LBSC Thomas and black James release in 2026
I hope we see Paxton and Diesel but that's hopeful thinking at this point they are super behind with n scale .
Henry we would be lucky see by 2027 .
Rather then Edward for 2026 what about Sidney . To have a new character but also not getting to ahead by having yet another class 08 .
G scale really only needs that set which I am pretty sure will either be out in the fall or if not I am sure that this time they are going to release it as the same time as DCC Thomas and Percy which have in been announced for FIVE YEARS WHERE ARE THEY. So is the G scale line dead what do you guys think? Will we ever get anything new tooled in it . Or do you think we're just gonna be seen repaints .Is black James the only chance we have a new engine . Paxton is number 49108 while LBSC Thomas is number 49111 which leaves three open slots . So who knows
Quote from: Awesometrain77 on August 12, 2025, 11:45:04 PMI hope we see Paxton and Diesel but that's hopeful thinking at this point they are super behind with n scale .
Henry we would be lucky see by 2027 .
Rather than Edward for 2026 what about Sidney . To have a new character but also not getting to ahead by having yet another class 08 .
I'd rather not see Bachmann introduce another engine repaint in N scale next year after announcing the LBSC Thomas and Origin James this year. I think once Bachmann makes progress on some of the previously announced engines, (hopefully before too long), they can finally introduce Edward in N scale in 2026. After Edward and Duck, I would personally be fine with Bachmann taking a breather and introducing another engine repaint in N scale, such as Sidney.
It's not likely that we'll get to see unpainted samples of N Scale Diesel/Paxton or Henry by the end of the year. We're to for sure see the unpainted N Scale Express Coaches, and the other unpainted sample could be the Narrow Gauge Gunpowder Wagon.
For finished products awaiting release, there's Sir Handel, Narrow Gauge Gondolas, HO Scale 80th Anniversary Vans, and DCC Sound-Fitted Thomas and Percy to look forward to by the end of the year.
Following the cancellation of the 80th Anniversary set, which many including myself were bummed out about, they do have ideas to make up for this, and we should hopefully see something good in the 2026 catalog. Flying Scotsman's recent announcement did get us in better spirits. Hope to see an unpainted sample around mid-2026.
So after watching their Thomas Tuesday video, it's interesting to note that they'll reuse Gordon's wheels to use on Flying Scotsman, just like how Stanley reuses Thomas's wheels. How fitting given that they're brothers, but at the same time, Gordon's chunky looking side rods look a little thick.... if it saves money to make it not too expensive, let's see how it turns out....!
Quote from: Luke22 on August 14, 2025, 10:44:00 PMSo after watching their Thomas Tuesday video, it's interesting to note that they'll reuse Gordon's wheels to use on Flying Scotsman, just like how Stanley reuses Thomas's wheels. How fitting given that they're brothers, but at the same time, Gordon's chunky looking side rods look a little thick.... if it saves money to make it not too expensive, let's see how it turns out....!
From my memory, I think Matt said that Gordon's chassis BLOCK was going to be used. The Wiki states that Scotsman's CGI model reuses Spencer's wheels but Gordon's pistons. If Bachmann did just that (Gordon's main engine chassis block and pistons mated to all of Spencer's wheels), the only real new tooling for the chassis that'd need to be done is to come up with new linkage/valve gear to accomodate this setup.
As the weeks have worn on, I have come around to Scotsman and will more than likely preorder once TrainWorld has the link at the ready.
The unpainted sample of the Narrow Gauge Gunpowder Wagon has just been teased on Bachmann's social media, and will be shown off in the September stream.
So the gunpowder van is the tale end of the large huge narrow gauge back log . It's crazy that this backlog is over . I hope development continues on the new products.
DCC Thomas and Percy may be released by the end of the year. Maybe along side the gonolas.
I think the reason the large scale DCC set is taking so long is because Bachmann wants to produce the decorders all at once so it's waiting for the HO scale DCC Thomas and Percy to be ready.
So it seems like
Sir Handel could be fall 2025
DCC items , NG gondolas, and 80th vans winter 2025
And then like knapford , salty ,n scale express coaches , and the gunpowder vans in spring 2026
Maybe we could see both LBSC Thomas and the N scale black James for a summer release alongside the China clay wagon and the CGI tankers which we know are somewhere in the design process.
It seems progress has started up to rise up again . I sorta am lowballing these so I would to see some of these products come sooner then that but I really don't know.
Quote from: Awesometrain77 on August 19, 2025, 10:46:32 PMSo it seems like
Sir Handel could be fall 2025
DCC items , NG gondolas, and 80th vans winter 2025
And then like knapford , salty ,n scale express coaches , and the gunpowder vans in spring 2026
A few things here. Matt said the next items that would be on the horizon after Sir Handel are the gondolas and Knapford. With that in mind I don't think we can say with confidence anything else will be released in Winter if even those he says they're shooting for next may be pushed back to 2026.
I also wouldn't expect to see Salty that soon. Per pretty recent they're still hard at work on him and even once they get the issue fixed, they still have to wait on box samples. Fall 2026 for him is more realistic I'd think. The open carriage has also had an unpainted sample longer than the gunpowder wagons and soon to be the express coaches though, so I'd expect to see that in Spring. the aforementioned two I'd also admittedly expect to be a bit later than Spring but if they can get it sped along even faster that'd be good to see
Pretty sure the 80th vans are still coming this year as they would've been canceled .
It's funny to think that they still have a lot of stuff to produce after they are done with the stuff that is the loop.
Like beyond Sir Handel ,the Gonaldos the gunpowder vans , The 80th vans , DCC Thomas and Percy , Salty , N scale express coaches , and the open coach .
There is still the CGI tankers , the troublesome van , Scottsman , the oil flatbed , China clay wagon , bulgy , Sidney , mainland diesel , LBSC Thomas in 2 scales , n scale black James , n scale open wagons , N scale Henry , and the n scale class 08s .
There is never a dull moment in this line for sure . There is always something that's far away from release , or expected to be shown off any day or expected to be released any day .
I'd say the item we are farthest from is definitely n scale Henry i'd hope that we would see it by 2026 but honestly, I feel like it's gonna be 2027 .
As of a few hours ago Mainland Diesel, Sidney, the anniversary vans, troublesome truck #7, and N scale Henry have gone up for preorder on Trainworld. I want to say they all already had pricing info on Bachmann's webstore so I imagine some of the other things that went up on here recently (mainly N scale stuff now) will go up for preorder shortly. My hope is that all this pricing already being finalized means we'll have a pretty quick turnaround for a lot of them to drop in Q2 and Q3 next year. Maybe that's a bit optimistic but that'd be nice.
Does anybody here agree with me when I say that Bachmann N Scale S.C. Ruffey just has rusty orange on him, which makes him a bit rusted?
Yeah I'd say so . He definitely looks like that in the episode if you rewatch it.
We have seen the sample of the gunpowder vans .
As the 3D print of Bulgy to make up for how long he was taking.
The N scale LMS brakevan got cancelled.
The amount of products that have gotten cancelled in the past 2 years is wild.
Henry is in process .
N scale class 08s are going on well .
The China clay wagon is going along well which is intresting to note .
More RWS wagons are a possibility .
The 80th vans should be out by the end of the year
DCC Thomas and Percy is late winter early spring
This month's big reveal was the unpainted sample of the Narrow Gauge Gunpowder Van. We also saw a 3D printed sample of Bulgy, which is very crude compared to what the final model is going to be, but gives us a good idea. The N Scale LMS Brake Van was cancelled, but they should announce more show-accurate brake vans in the near future. At least N Scale Diesel, Paxton and Henry are still very much in progress and should hopefully have something to show in the very near future.
Sir Handel was recently shown in the package and will arrive in stock sometime very soon. HO Scale DCC Sound-Fitted Thomas and Percy are gunning for late winter/early 2026.
There's only two streams left for 2025. One of them should definitely show the unpainted samples of the N Scale Express Coaches. It's crazy how many products have been getting cancelled lately. We can only hope Duncan eventually gets a second chance.
Bachmann Thomas & Friends Star Ratings
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/902017696235937854/1412958333807235183/AD4D7F93-A22A-494B-8AC8-DAD39C2736C9.jpg?ex=68ba2f7e&is=68b8ddfe&hm=70d7819aef19992aa33f2976e7024bc894b6b0842600f8c8c73a2a60019027b2&=&format=webp&width=1720&height=1290)
Hello everyone,
I've been collecting the Bachmann Thomas & Friends range for a long time and I've recently done star ratings for the HO/OO & HOn30/OO9 locomotives that have are in the range. Everything that is rated his is out of 5 stars and they are locomotives that I've purchased and I think it would be a fun idea to rate the models I've bought. If you have any questions on the star ratings, I've be glad to answer any questions.
Thomas 2.5
Percy 2.25
James 3.5
Henry 3.5
Gordon 3.5
Toby 3.75
Spencer 4.75
Emily 4.75
Edward 5
Mavis 4.5
Salty 4.5
Bill 4.5
Ben 4.5
Donald 4.75
Douglas 4.75
Diesel 4.75
Duck 4
Sound-Chipped Thomas 3
Arry 4.75
Bert 4.75
Celebration Thomas 3
Oliver 4
Rosie 4
Paxton 4
Grumpy Diesel: 4.75
Red Rosie 4.5
LBSC Thomas 3.5
Busy Bee James 3.5
Origin James 3.75
Daisy 4
Ryan 5
Beau 2.75
Rebecca 5
Stanley 5
Narrow Gauge:
Skarloey 5
Rheneas 5
Rusty 4
Peter Sam 5
Yellow Rheneas 5
Hey, does anyone know if the figures from the Railway Personnel packs can fit inside of the Narrow Gauge Engines' cabs? Thanks!
Quote from: Kemptown Branch on October 05, 2025, 03:20:20 PMHey, does anyone know if the figures from the Railway Personnel packs can fit inside of the Narrow Gauge Engines' cabs? Thanks!
Unfortunately not, I've tried. All the HO Thomas figures are slightly overscaled.
Quote from: GordonPacific04 on October 05, 2025, 04:51:18 PMQuote from: Kemptown Branch on October 05, 2025, 03:20:20 PMHey, does anyone know if the figures from the Railway Personnel packs can fit inside of the Narrow Gauge Engines' cabs? Thanks!
Unfortunately not, I've tried. All the HO Thomas figures are slightly overscaled.
Sadly, that is the case. I've had the figure packs for a while and have been meaning to get a review up, but life has unfortunately been a little hectic on my end, and I haven't had the time to get around to it. Hopefully, I'll be able to sometime this month.
Quote from: GordonPacific04 on October 05, 2025, 04:51:18 PMQuote from: Kemptown Branch on October 05, 2025, 03:20:20 PMHey, does anyone know if the figures from the Railway Personnel packs can fit inside of the Narrow Gauge Engines' cabs? Thanks!
Unfortunately not, I've tried. All the HO Thomas figures are slightly overscaled.
Thanks!
This month's reveal was the painted sample of the HO Scale Open Carriage, which is now the next thing to join the list of products with painted samples awaiting release.
There's a few other samples that unfortunately didn't make it in time for this stream, but will be seen next month for sure. They must be the N Scale Express Coaches.
Sidney and Mainland Diesel are still very much in progress, and we should see them in early 2026.
I looked at the stream for this evening.
Glad that the open carriage is fully done just and this was one of the products doug was involved with before he retired.
and I'm glad to know that there's progress on sidney and the mainland diesel. (though I've mentioned I'm just hoping they're going to have the faces improved to how they should look like unlike how they did paxton that's just what I'm really hoping for).
and of course I am glad they're adding the flying scotsman to the line. (been busy with life where I've not been active that much). yes it's disappointing the 80th anniversary set was canceled. but doing the flying Scotsman makes up for the canceled set. and also the atticapation for the release of sir handel is coming close.(still am hoping for duncan for 2026).
so it was a nice stream to see what progress has been done. look forward to see what comes next.
Is there still no release date set for Sir Handel?
Quote from: harrison05 on October 10, 2025, 02:20:54 AMIs there still no release date set for Sir Handel?
He is currently scheduled to arrive in November.
Sir Handel is November has me wondering if the late 2025 releases will be
The DCC set
The 80th vans
Sir Handel
Narrow gauge gonalas
Interesting to see the progress on the class 08s glad to see everything has started up again product development wise .
November I definitely see the samples being shown at the trainworld Thomas event
Hello everyone,
Based on Trainworld's special livestream tomorrow, it might be the last Thomas Tuesday for this year (assuming a December stream isn't planned). I look forward to seeing the new prototypes of products that we haven't seen from previous livestreams. Based on the promises of the event, it gives me hope that Bachmann is making an attempt to push out these long overdue products to the shelves. Along with custom made models, it could bring some light before the year comes to a close. It's surprising how close we are to the end of the year. Just wanted to keep the the forum up and running
So it seems sir Handel has been delayed yet again .
On the bright side the 80th vans should be out by Christmas .
The gunpowder vans painted have been shown off as well .
Alongside the new tankers.
I expecting the express coaches however I feel Bachman is trying to get the narrow gauge backlog finished up . But I imagine we will see them by early 2026 .
Salty the class 08s troublesome truck 7 china clay wagon flat wagon with fuel loads flying Scotsman and knapford are some products in HO we don't have much info about . I wonder what will be the focus next .
Although I wasn't able to attend the event at Trainland, I saw pictures and caught some of the stream earlier and it looked like a lot of fun!
Naturally, I'm most excited for Sir Handel, and I'm thrilled he'll be arriving early next year. The gunpowder vans turned out great too; I might have to grab one (or maybe two) of the D. Fusit ones.
Right behind Sir Handel, I'm especially looking forward to the DCC and sound Thomas and Percy models. These have been nearly five years in the making, but I'm so glad they're finally set to release by the end of the year. I've wanted DCC versions of Thomas and Percy for a long time, and I can't wait to run them at train shows when the time comes. It's always a pain to run only analog on our modular setup (especially when I want to have multiple engines moving at once to make it feel alive), so I'm glad this will be resolved by our next show in January!
It's great to see the tankers finished and the 80th anniversary vans making it out in time for the end of the year. Hopefully, these releases open the door to more new HO and OO9 rolling stock announcements in the next catalog. Possibly even a chance for Duncan to be reconsidered too, (though I'm not holding my breath just yet).
I'm a little bummed the N scale Gordon's express coaches didn't make it this time, but hopefully we'll see those soon, along with updates on other previously announced N scale products. I'm doubtful we'll get a new N scale engine announcement in 2026 with so much still in development, but maybe things will change by the NMRA. Fingers crossed for Edward or Duck! I'm sure we will at least get some more N scale rolling stock if nothing else.
OK, so it seems the DCC Thomas and Percy are arriving before the end of the year. Glad to see this happen
So I think the late 2025 shipment will be DCC Thomas DCC Percy classic logo van 1945 van and maybe the large scale DCC set.
Sir Handel seems to be early 2026 .If I were to guess the gondolas will come out around the same time .
We don't know for sure about the tankers and the open coach possibly the same time as Sir Handel but I honestly could see be into late spring 2026 .
The gunpowder wagons are nice and we are missing the tan one . Which I feel we will see very soon . I feel these will be spring or summer 2026 .
Now as for products that are still upcoming Here is the following status for some of them And my guesses for when we can see them come out .
Sidney and Mainland diesel are going along well and we will see samples of them in early 2026 (maybe they will release Q4 2026 )
Salty needs a quieter motor before release (maybe he will be out in fall or summer 2026 )
Flying Scotsman flyer says late 2026 but these flyers are not right most of the time (I would honestly say mid 2027)
China clay wagon confirmed to be in development however load is a new tool however this could be in any stage (I will guess the end of quarter 3 or quarter 4 of 2026 )
Flat wagon with a diesel load I don't remember if we got an update on this I think it was mentioned on a Thomas Tuesday (I could see this come out as early as summer 2026 or as late as early 2027 )
Troublesome Truck 7 apparently some design ideas have been going into this and how the face will work being fit on it but aside from that no real update (I could see this in quarter 2 or quarter 3 2027 )
Bulgy we have actually seen a 3-D printed sample of him ( I could see him come out Summer or Fall 2026)
Sir Handel is out this is sooner then I thought .
The 80th vans and DCC Thomas and Percy are said to be out by the end of the years so we will see them in the next few weeks . No update on the the DCC set but I assume it will be out very soon .
The DCC set and the narrow gauge gonalas could be the start of 2026
Into spring I think the Open coach, the new tankers , and the narrow gauge gunpowder vans will come out around then.
It's nice to see Sir Handel out now, he looks stunning one of the all time greats.
Although given the 2026 initial release window he had I am a little surprised.
The only other products with a 2025 release window were the anniversary vans and they are currently nowhere to be seen, I wonder what's going on there.
Addendum: On this weeks new model Monday confirmed there was a delayed container shipment and they should be arriving within the next few weeks.
With 24 days until 2026 I wonder if they're gonna be out in time.
Hey everyone,
So far it's just been a few eBay shops but DCC Thomas, DCC Percy, the anniversary vans, and the narrow gauge gondolas have now all begun their release. Glad Bachmann were able to get another large project drop out before the end of the year.
Believe only things we have samples for fully painted not released yet are the cgi milk tanker, updated tar tanker (funnily finally got myself my hands on an original this week), the open carriage, and the G scale set, unless that's released and I've completely missed it.
Hopefully after Salty comes out next year (I hope) we can slowly gets some updates on N Scale Diesel and Paxton.
I really hope Bachmann re-introduce Iron 'Arry and Iron Bert to the line. I would definitely buy it. I think they should consider some facial changes for the 2, so they do not look completely identical but they would be a welcome addition for me. ;D
After contemplating for a bit, I caved and purchased Sir Handel. Normally I wait until Amazon releases him on there, BUT he's more expensive than he should be, so I got him somewhere else.... hopefully he'll arrive before Christmas 😅
Does anyone know when the Red Express Composite coach will be back in stock?
Quote from: Zorran202 on December 18, 2025, 11:01:15 PMAfter contemplating for a bit, I caved and purchased Sir Handel. Normally I wait until Amazon releases him on there, BUT he's more expensive than he should be, so I got him somewhere else.... hopefully he'll arrive before Christmas 😅
Got my model, despite it getting it before Christmas like I anticipated... I was gonna post it after I got it, but I ended up being busy due to the upcoming Christmas rush, as well as came down with a cold and I ended up having to take care of recovering from it... something was floating around that's for dang sure... -_-
Anyways, I enjoyed the fact that Sir Handel got a model that's even more detailed than his CGI model...! I'm Happy that he's finally released... Normally I usually wait until the following year to be able to get the models on Amazon, BUT seeing how absurdly expensive he was getting, I opted to go to eBay for this guy, and in a way, he was well worth the trouble...! Separately fitted parts, dark blue paint, and now there's no blank spot in the middle of the numbering lineup. Now we just need Duncan in the future, and then we'll go from there!
Now that it's the New Year, it's time to look forward to the 2026 catalog drop sometime very soon.
With the first Thomas Tuesday stream of 2026 coming, we should see some exciting new samples of upcoming products. One of them that was teased was the first unpainted sample of Bulgy. We can hope there's more, like the N Scale Express Coaches. We should also get updates on HO Scale Sidney and Mainland Diesel, with samples being shown sometime this year. Will we finally see the first unpainted sample of N Scale Diesel/Paxton? We're bound to get an update, along with one on N Scale Henry. This year for sure, the wait should finally be over for Salty's return to HO Scale.
Some products with painted samples that are awaiting release include the HO Scale Open Carriage and the Narrow Gauge Gunpowder Wagons. We might also see images of N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James in the catalog.
Pardon my double post, but I just saw the stream. Matt Stern showed off the first unpainted samples of Bulgy and the N Scale Express Coaches. Within a few months, they should have painted samples shown. Flying Scotsman is just about to enter the development phase, and they're about to have the design ready, so sometime this year, we should see the first unpainted sample of Flying Scotsman. Still don't know if the coupling between the two tenders will be a hook-and-loop or a drawbar. The 2026 catalog will drop by the end of this month.
Not Thomas products, but Sir Haydn and the Ffestiniog Railway High-Side Wagons are fully painted.
The N Scale Express Coaches are based on Season 2, but will have the CGI paint scheme. Other paint schemes are definitely possible, like the red stripe. The Express Coaches change a lot throughout the show. Looking forward to seeing how they look fully painted in the near future.
Of course there's more to show, but Matt wants to save that for next month. We may see teasers for it on social media in the coming weeks. The HO Scale CGI Milk Tanker and the reintroduced Tar Tanker are also awaiting release. For now, we at least have Bulgy and the N Scale Express Coaches as the next products in the unpainted stage.
I meant to write about my thoughts on the stream video yesterday. I can say that out of the new product samples shown I'm the most excited for bulgy.
now I already said i just collect the engines and rolling stock. bulgy is probably going to be the one vehicle I buy. I was impressed about the handrail being metal. so I'm definitely going to get him when he's released.
now I just hope they show samples of sidney and the mainland diesel. I'm just pretty excited to see them released. (even though I've mentioned I hope the faces on them would improve to how paxton turned out. I thought of buying paxton since I joined my local ho club. we have a thomas layout for the kids and we have a model of paxton. and looking at him i guess the face isn't too bad looking when see in person than watching video reviews. so I would like to buy all three of them).
and now I'm just anticipating when salty is finally released. it's been almost four years since they announced he would return to the line. I can't believe it's been that long. so I hope he's released soon.
and of course I am curious to see when the flying scotsman is released. (I'm just waiting to see about the price and the how they do the tenders).
now I just hope they do duncan again as I've been saying and hoping repeatedly. but we'll just see.
Happy new years everyone!
After watching the Thomas Tuesday stream on Wednesday (Korea's timezone is 14 hours ahead of EST), I would like to share my thoughts.
- I was most impressed to see the unpainted samples of Gordon's express coaches. Glad to learn that it'll be based on season 2 with the CGI livery (I don't mind that part). I wonder if they'll announce the red express coaches at some point in the future. Towards the end, Matt mentioned that he has more painted samples saved for next month (Don't know if Bachmann will update the images on the catalog before the next stream). Hopefully Henry, Diesel, or Paxton. We'll find out once we enter February.
- Bulgy looks great, though the price is a bit off-putting.
- I think that most, if not all of the remaining HO products could release by the end of the year, including Salty (Surprised that Salty hasn't been cancelled after being reintroduced 4 years ago, time flies).
- Interesting to see the painted samples of Sir Haydn.
- Now that almost every narrow gauge item has released, I hope Bachmann considers reintroducing Duncan.
- Good to know that the catalog will be out before late January. I wonder if they'll add products originally planned for the NMRA announcement last year. This time, it has to be the year Bachmann adds N-scale Edward with a new item number like #58901 along with a couple newly tooled rolling stock.
It gives me hope that '26 will get more announcements than the previous year.
Looks like it will be two more weeks before the catalog drops.
Quote from: TrainFan97 on January 16, 2026, 10:08:30 PMLooks like it will be two more weeks before the catalog drops.
*One week ;)
It'll be up during the Amherst show next weekend on the 24th.
So the 2026 catalog will be up next Friday the 23rd, as it's typically up on Fridays.
Already less than a week before we see what exciting new products will be announced, once the PDF file is available.
Quote from: TrainFan97 on January 17, 2026, 07:14:12 PMSo the 2026 catalog will be up next Friday the 23rd, as it's typically up on Fridays.
Already less than a week before we see what exciting new products will be announced, once the PDF file is available.
As I mentioned in my last post, it's going to be posted Saturday the 24th, not Friday. Bachmann's mentioned this in their recent livestreams and Yard Master also confirmed it in another thread this morning:
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,40182.msg289147.html#msg289147
Quote from: Yard Master on January 20, 2026, 09:11:56 AMHi Jim,
The digital version of the catalog will be posted to our website this Saturday, January 24th. Print copies will be available for purchase in February.
Won't be too much longer either way.
I didn't know that meant it was being uploaded on Saturday instead of Friday, since we're more used to it being uploaded on a Friday. That one year, it was so late, it was uploaded on a Monday at the end of February.
So it's four more days we have to wait then. Won't be until the very end of this week when it's up. THEN we'll see what exciting products we have to look forward to.
As of this year, product announcements will now happen four times a year, but it's not guaranteed a Thomas product will appear in all of them. I'm guessing the next announcement after this one will be in May. Other Thomas products are possible for the other quarterly announcements, but no promise for all of them.
On a side note, Bachmann's Facebook has shown higher quality images of Bulgy and the N Scale Express Coaches, which are currently in the unpainted stage, and will have painted samples in the coming months. Might see their painted samples within the next few streams. In a few weeks, we might see an upcoming N Scale engine or two in the February stream that's also in the unpainted stage.
This is it. Tomorrow is the day the yearly catalog goes up. Once the PDF file is available, we'll get to see what new products we can look forward to.
Regarding currently announced products, those with painted samples awaiting release are the HO Scale Open Carriage, CGI Milk Tanker, reintroduced Tar Tanker, and the Narrow Gauge Gunpowder Wagons. Products currently shown in the unpainted stage are Bulgy and the N Scale Express Coaches. Products that haven't had samples shown yet include HO Scale Flying Scotsman, Sidney, Mainland Diesel, China Clay Wagon, Diesel Fuel Drum Flatbed, N Scale Diesel, Paxton, Henry, LBSC Thomas, Origin James, Red Open Wagon and Sodor Scrap Wagon. Like I said, we may see unpainted samples of one or two of those upcoming N Scale engines in the February stream, as teased by Matt Stern. Images of N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James might be shown in the catalog.
As for the reintroduction of HO Scale Salty, this year should really be it.
Not terribly exciting announcements, to be totally honest, but with everything going on right now, it's understandable.
The highlight for me, easily, is the NW brake van for HO. That was probably the one thing I was especially excited for in the 80th anniversary set, and I'm so glad that at least is making it out as its own release. The Ffarquhar company wagon is also fun; definitely getting both of these. I don't have too much of an opinion on the CGI fuel tank, other than that it was a pretty obvious choice after the milk tank announcement.
Shockingly, the announcements I'm least excited for are in N scale. I don't mind the stock itself, and I had a feeling they'd be repaints. The blue open wagon is fine, and I'm glad to see Mr. Jolly's van in N scale as well, the latter I'll be picking up for sure. Still no BR brake van, but it is what it is, I guess. Hopefully that gets announced this summer along with the coal wagon with load.
Large scale getting some form of love is always welcome. The milk tank reintroduction and the fun fair vans will, I'm sure, make people who model in G scale happy to at least get something.
I love the blue Talyllyn announcement, as well as the gunpowder van repaints. I am a little disappointed that the Thomas narrow gauge line didn't get anything new this year, considering all we're waiting on are the gunpowder vans, and those are already finished. Hopefully that changes at the NMRA this summer, which generally seems to be when the more exciting announcements happen. So here's hoping we get some new engine announcements then.
Apart from the lack of narrow gauge announcements on the Thomas side, I'd say this is a pretty solid lineup rolling-stock-wise. Gordon's coaches look gorgeous in the picture I saw from Christian this morning, and I like how the N scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James models look too. They skipped the tail lamp decal on James and only added the red lining, which I'm really glad they did. I'll be passing on both of these, since I am only collecting model era characters only in N but maybe I'll pick up Origin James at a much later point since the tail lamp decal is not included. But the N scale express coaches I am buying day 1 and I'm even tempted to get the flat car with diesel fuel loads too.
Either way, can't wait to see and hear more updates on these announcements and more later this year.
I'm in a weird spot with the announcements especially in HO.
The FQC trucks are cool to see, but knowing wagon yard has already made them and in two colors I feel less excited for it than I should probably be. If it was a more unique color like the goldish yellow from the books I might be more on board, although if this does well maybe that'll come later. (and who knows, if it gets into N it could boost Mavis's chances as well.)
The brakevan is neat, but a little weird it is just RWS spiteful, number and all. It's still neat but I almost would have rather a more generic one to army build better.
I don't really have any thoughts on CGI fuel wagon, it makes sense especially with the new chassis but I don't particularly love this design.
The diesel fuel wagon annoys me, as the stamps aren't made to fully wrap the text so there is some letter cutoff, and the barrels are inaccurate. Expected but not particularly thrilled with that unfortunately. Hope that can be tweaked between sample and final.
The painted express coaches look amazing, and the additional wagon recolors are nice to see. Although a tiny nitpick is the van being in the middle of the sequence of open wagons, not sure why these are segmented like that, maybe the van wasn't the original plan? The two engines look nice, hoping for updates on the new molds soon
G scale getting love is nice, 2 new wagons and a reintroduction is really appreciated. Although the tanker is labelled as Tidmouth, wonder what design we'll get in the final.
Blue Talyllyn very happy about, rode behind her and she's a beautiful loco, will be picking up for sure. Matt alluded to potentially doing Hayden's current livery on stream as well and that is something I'd love to see. The gunpowder wagons are really neat as well.
Overall, I'm not disappointed but some of these announcements aren't as cool as they probably are for other people. Although it makes sense to keep things light while they continue to catch up, look forward to the next announcements.
I see that the digital version of the catalog is up, but I can't access it. Can somebody post images of the new products they announced please?
Just checked the catalog.
Discontinuations this round seem to be Raspberry syrup tanker, the sodor coal co. wagon, G scale tar tanker, slate truck #178, and the old peco open wagon (no real surprise.)
Interestingly, Knapford isn't in the catalog. I hope this is an oversight and it wasn't cancelled.
Definitely one of the weaker catalog announcements, especially with nothing new for Narrow Gauge, even though the Gunpowder Wagons are the only products for that range we're currently waiting on. Guess we'll have to wait until summer before they announce any new Narrow Gauge engine. Disappointing...
No new engines were announced. Rolling stock only.
HO Scale is getting a new 20-Ton Brake Van, CGI Fuel Tanker and the Ffarquhar Quarry Wagon, N Scale is getting the Blue Open Wagon and Mr. Jolly Van, and Large Scale is getting the Funfair Vans, along with the reintroduced Milk Tanker. Regarding engines, HO Scale at least has Sidney, Mainland Diesel and Flying Scotsman to look forward to. N Scale has Diesel, Paxton, Henry, LBSC Thomas and Origin James. The latter two still have their HO models illustrated in the catalog, but those who went to the event must have seen the actual samples, which haven't been shown online yet. Guess those are the products that Matt teased in the stream earlier this month... The tail lamp on Origin James being a decal ruins it. Could've been molded and separately fitted like on HO Red Rosie. There could still be hope that unpainted samples of N Scale Diesel/Paxton or Henry get shown soon... Still hope for the February stream, or March.
Not Thomas products, but Blue Talyllyn was announced with Ffestiniog Railway Gunpowder Wagons.
At least HO and N Scale still have engines coming, but the lack of anything new for Narrow Gauge is what really made it disappointing when there's almost not a backlog for it at all, with the only new Narrow Gauge announcements being for the Talyllyn line. May not be until summer before we get more exciting announcements. Wasn't there supposed to be a product celebrating 80 years of Thomas as a character, or was it the Ffarquhar Quarry Wagon?
I finally saw the images of the catalog. I will definitely get some Ffarquhar Quarry Wagons 'cause they'll look great with my Mavis model. I wish they included a rock load. But then again, if they're empty, I can have them carry other stuff besides rocks since rocks aren't the only things mined at the quarry.
Well today bachmann has released the catalog for 2026.
I checked it out and there's some products I'm hyped up for.
the first is the new Ffarquhar Quarry wagons. (I've been hoping they would do rolling stock for mavis since we're still waiting for the china clay wagons for bill and ben. so I'm definitely going to pick up a few of these upcoming wagons).
than there's also the 20 ton breakvan. (it's just so nice that a piece of the rolling stock from the 80th anniversary set is having a release and it's also refreshing they added another break van into the line since toad and the spiteful breakvan were the only ones available and not any other's so it's great to have a third breakvan). also with the 20 ton breakvan added to the line I got a feeling they might do bradford. (I'm really hoping for that and I'm still crossing the fingers that they'll do samson cause we need samson to go along with bradford).
than they announced the cgi fuel tanker. (probably was expected since they're doing the cgi milk tanker). I think i may pass on the cgi fuel tanker. (I got the classic sodor fuel tanker that one is just better looking to me i thought of buying three more of the classic sodor fuel tanker as a consist for diesel. but I'm going to think real hard about that).
than there's some disappointment I've seen they discontinued the sodor coal co. wagon with the coal load. (I was going to buy a bunch of these as a coal train consist maybe I may just buy one). I mean they might of been the same as the original wagon with the coal load. i thought the green on the sodor coal co. one had a nicer shade of green. (at least the sodor scrap co. wagon is still available i may buy a few of those. though I'm not going to get the mining wagon i thought I would maybe for mavis. but no since they're coming out with the Ffarquhar Quarry wagons I'll do those one's instead).
really disappointed there was no announcements for the narrow guage line. though they've discounted the slate wagon no. 178 leaving the 136 as the only one with the numbers still available. along with the three new ones in different colors. they've also discounted the open wagon that was one of the first pieces of rolling stock when bachmann started to do the narrow gauge engines. (I'm not disappointed with that one being discontinued as I feel the other rolling stock that would follow is a lot better. plus I felt like that wagon didn't fit for the narrow gauge engines anyway).
though they at least got images of the upcoming gunpowder wagons. the d. fusit one i think is the best one of the bunch. (the other ones are nice looking it's just the d. fusit one is going to be the big seller).
I was disappointed that I had hoped they would re-anounce duncan but no. I'm hoping he get re-anounced in the mid year announcements or latter on. we'll just see.
and seeing the n scale line I've seen they announced the mr. jollys chocolate factory van that's a nice pick. and the blue open wagon. (that one was in the ho line for a long while until they discontinued it).
so bachmann has announced some nice products. I'm looking forward to the Ffarquhar Quarry wagons the most along with the 20 ton breakvan. still waiting to see the other products they've announced for the last few years will be released down the road. (there's so many items to buy). hope to see what the nmra announcements are latter this year.
Saw the new catalog after I came home! The only things they ended in terms of HO/OO are the Raspberry Tanker and the Sodor Coaling Wagon. I bought the 4 CGI ones, and glad I decided to get them just in case. I thought more were off the market due to a lot of items being out of stock. I kinda panic bought a few items that were out of stock on the Bachmann site, but it doesn't matter. Better safe than sorry. Though I need to buy some of the coal wagons. I'm surprised they are being out of stock compared to the original green ones. I guess it shows some people prefer the logoless wagons at times.
Quote from: DustyMarie53! on January 24, 2026, 02:18:11 PMJust checked the catalog.
Discontinuations this round seem to be Raspberry syrup tanker, the sodor coal co. wagon, G scale tar tanker, slate truck #178, and the old peco open wagon (no real surprise.)
Interestingly, Knapford isn't in the catalog. I hope this is an oversight and it wasn't cancelled.
I saw that they're bringing back the Milk Tanker for G Scale, but it says Tidmouth yet it uses the CGI logo. Did they ever called that tanker "Tidmouth" when it was in the market years ago?
Quote from: MrNormalDraws on January 24, 2026, 08:23:34 PMI'm surprised they are being out of stock compared to the original green ones. I guess it shows some people prefer the logoless wagons at times.
The original coal wagon with load continues to sell really well. Christian mentioned to me the other day that it continues to sell out at Trainworld, and they're often ordering more stock. I imagine this is because these are based on actual wagons used in the show, unlike the "Sodor Coal Co." wagons. Based on that and other locations I've seen, I'm not at all surprised the Sodor Coal Co. wagon was discontinued. Hopefully Bachmann takes this into consideration when adding coal wagons in N scale, since the original coal wagon has been a pretty popular request for repaints and will inevitably mirror the same sales the HO model has seen for almost two decades.
I was kinda worried that the flatbeds with the logs are going to be off market as they haven't been in stock for months (same with Tidmouth Sheds) and with the oil drums coming, I thought they would do that. But thankfully it wasn't, even though I'm not a fan of the logs.
I'm surprised they're doing the CGI Fuel tankers as well, so I wonder if Bachmann plans to keep both the original and CGI ones together?
I agree with some, that this is shocking. All but one of the new products announced feel underwhelming as they comprise of repaints. But, I'll let it slide due to the complexities of the world. Besides that, the catalog feels exactly what we saw from last year's catalog with few differences. Flying Scotsman's inclusion and the prices of '24-'25 products such as Henry.
On the positive side, it's great to see Gordon's express coaches painted weeks after the reveal of the same products.
I'm sure that the NMRA convention in August will not be HO only like last year. There's a chance that Bachmann will shine later this year with newly tooled items. We may at last witness the release of Salty after what feels like a student about to graduate from high school. (Time flies)
I apologize for sounding negative, but I needed to share my reflection of these announcements. Many in the forum have mentioned about this year being a catch-up year for Bachmann, how many consecutive years has it been?
I can understand HO and N Scale not having any new engine announcements, as they both have several on the backburner, but Narrow Gauge? There's almost no backlog for that one. The NMRA for sure should announce more products for Narrow Gauge, including an engine. Most likely Luke. Guess N Scale Edward or Duck won't get announced until we start seeing more N Scale samples awaiting release.
Apparently, those at the event got to see N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James, and even the fully painted samples of the Express Coaches, this soon after the unpainted samples were shown off, but there are no photos of them online anywhere. I wasn't there, so I didn't get to see them.
I guess the reason why it's taking so long for samples of HO Scale Sidney and Mainland Diesel is because they had to actually fix the eye mechanism so their faces would look perfect, unlike Paxton. I know part of the reason is because they're trying to perfect Salty's reintroduction.
With the exclusion of Knapford Station from this catalog after just being announced at NMRA, I am worried if maybe they've quietly cancelled its reintroduction. Very disappointing if so. I really hope the Yard Master can clear this up for us.
I want the Chocolate syrup tanker wagon and the toffee tanker wagon just in HO and N.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the Amherst Train Show for the first time, and of course, one of the first goals was to head over to the Bachmann booth to converse with some familiar faces and check out the new 2026 catalog. With a fresh mind, here are my overall thoughts.
Beginning with the positives, it is good to see another announcement in Large Scale. The funfair vans offer new paint schemes that will continue to brighten garden railroads featuring the Thomas line, and they are memorable pieces from the show. The reintroduction of the milk tanker is nice as well. I reckon the paint scheme will match the HO version, with brown framing.
The other positive is the classic model era blue wagon announced in N scale. This is a favorite of mine, that has unfortunately been discontinued in HO. Mr. Jolly's Van is also a decent choice, but not one I expected at this time. And given the coal wagon with load and BR brake van have been the most popular requests for N scale rolling stock, I hope those will be announced next.
To be honest, I think the HO announcements were the weakest this time, not because of the fact that there is no newly tooled engine announced or new tooling in general, but because of the choices for recolors. I know many were anticipating the brake van from the canceled set, so I'm all for that. However, for the other two, I think a well wagon reintroduction, green china clay wagon, or Gordon's special coaches would have been more eclectic, and hence enticing amongst fans. That being stated, I'm sure there are fans who will purchase these.
The biggest disappointment is that Knapford Station is officially cancelled, due to the high RRP. To be blunt, I do find it somewhat strange that Rebecca, a controversial new computer generated character who is not a top seller received the green light as a product with expensive RRP, while arguably the most iconic station did not. Moreover, I know the engines and rolling stock generally sell better than the buildings, but the range has really felt empty with a lack of buildings in it. Even small, popular buildings such as an oil depot, coal hopper, or round water tower reintroduction, would fill that void, all of which would not be too expensive as well as work in resin or plastic.
All in all, not the most convincing announcement, but not bad either. As always, very grateful for the new announcements and optimistic for the road that lies ahead.
Quote from: TerencetheTractor525 on January 25, 2026, 09:37:51 AMYesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the Amherst Train Show for the first time, and of course, one of the first goals was to head over to the Bachmann booth to converse with some familiar faces and check out the new 2026 catalog. With a fresh mind, here are my overall thoughts.
Beginning with the positives, it is good to see another announcement in Large Scale. The funfair vans offer new paint schemes that will continue to brighten garden railroads featuring the Thomas line, and they are memorable pieces from the show. The reintroduction of the milk tanker is nice as well. I reckon the paint scheme will match the HO version, with brown framing.
The other positive is the classic model era blue wagon announced in N scale. This is a favorite of mine, that has unfortunately been discontinued in HO. Mr. Jolly's Van is also a decent choice, but not one I expected at this time. And given the coal wagon with load and BR brake van have been the most popular requests for N scale rolling stock, I hope those will be announced next.
To be honest, I think the HO announcements were the weakest this time, not because of the fact that there is no newly tooled engine announced or new tooling in general, but because of the choices for recolors. I know many were anticipating the brake van from the canceled set, so I'm all for that. However, for the other two, I think a well wagon reintroduction, green china clay wagon, or Gordon's special coaches would have been more eclectic, and hence enticing amongst fans. That being stated, I'm sure there are fans who will purchase these.
The biggest disappointment is that Knapford Station is officially cancelled, due to the high RRP. To be blunt, I do find it somewhat strange that Rebecca, a controversial new computer generated character who is not a top seller received the green light as a product with expensive RRP, while arguably the most iconic station did not. Moreover, I know the engines and rolling stock generally sell better than the buildings, but the range has really felt empty with a lack of buildings in it. Even small, popular buildings such as an oil depot, coal hopper, or round water tower reintroduction, would fill that void, all of which would not be too expensive as well as work in resin or plastic.
All in all, not the most convincing announcement, but not bad either. As always, very grateful for the new announcements and optimistic for the road that lies ahead.
I generally agree. Not every year has to have a bunch of new groundbreaking announcements, so I'm cool with bachmann having a catch-up year.
Knapford station getting canceled is a big loss in my opinion, as I know several fans were anticipating it's reintroduction.
I do like the new Ffarquhar Quarry cars, love that they're doing RWS inspired rolling stock now. The other two don't excite me as much. I agree that I want the well wagon to return and would LOVE to see Gordon's Special coaches.
Quote from: TerencetheTractor525 on January 25, 2026, 09:37:51 AMThe biggest disappointment is that Knapford Station is officially cancelled, due to the high RRP. To be blunt, I do find it somewhat strange that Rebecca, a controversial new computer generated character who is not a top seller received the green light as a product with expensive RRP, while arguably the most iconic station did not. Moreover, I know the engines and rolling stock generally sell better than the buildings, but the range has really felt empty with a lack of buildings in it. Even small, popular buildings such as an oil depot, coal hopper, or round water tower reintroduction, would fill that void, all of which would not be too expensive as well as work in resin or plastic.
Oh, that was canceled? I was kinda hoping to get it as I actually like the colors on that version of Knapford instead of the original bright red colors. I guess I'll hold onto my old ones for the time being.
Okay so a bit to take in here are my thoughts before I read everyone else's
New items
So the Thomas 80th thing is the brakevan . I saw this coming but I had my doubts as it is not 100% a repaint .
The fuel tanker is one I should have seen coming but I thought they would do the cream tanker but regardless they are doing the CGI fuel tanker which may be out at the same time was the Milk and Tar . Honestly a good pick overall
The Ffaquarr quarry wagon is a good pick that I sorta saw coming but did not think we would see it so soon . I also thought it had happened it would have had the quarry stone load . But it did not .
The blue open wagon I did not see coming and I honestly thought the only reason why they did not announce more open wagons in N scale was because they wanted to do the ones with the coal load but I got proven wrong as they just announced more this year that don't have the load . The blue wagon is retired in HO so it was a shocker but nice to see none the less .
Mr Jolly's chocolate wagon I did not expect to see but I am not surprised it happened . It is a good seller in HO scale and I'd imagine it will sell well.
The fact we got more large scale stuff is crazy .
The funfair vans are cool to see . I am not shocked they did them .Id imagine these will sell well .
The milk tanker coming back was a shock.
Okay as for the retired products .
Tar tanker is one that I am shocked lasted so long in G scale but it is gone. The Peco NG wagon took a long time to be finally retired but it is gone now.
The raspberry tanker is retired which honestly again I am shocked it lasted this long . But I wish they retired the diesel co tanker instead of it .
The sodor co wagon was a shocker but I could care less for it .
Nothing major was lost but something huge was cancelled .
Knapford being cancelled is such a let down . Please Bachmann if your gonna announce something actually commit to making it . This is the fourth time this has happened in the past three years and honestly, I'm getting sick of it .
Very disappointed to hear that Knapford has been cancelled. It's becoming a very bad habit of Bachmann's to announce a highly anticipated item only to cancel it a few months later.
Bachmann, please stop announcing new items unless you are 100% certain they'll be arriving to market. It is very tiring to constantly get our hopes up and then get let down shortly after. You are damaging your customers' faith.
Quote from: RailsByRick on January 25, 2026, 04:15:27 PMVery disappointed to hear that Knapford has been cancelled. It's becoming a very bad habit of Bachmann's to announce a highly anticipated item only to cancel it a few months later.
Bachmann, please stop announcing new items unless you are 100% certain they'll be arriving to market. It is very tiring to constantly get our hopes up and then get let down shortly after. You are damaging your customers' faith.
Indeed.
I was about to post something similar - I am ok with a quiet year of announcements to allow the backlog to clear; I don't want another Duncan situation whereby everyone gets excited just for it to be cancelled due to technical issues. Do the R&D, make sure a product is feasible, commit to manufacture, then announce it. I would rather wait 6 months for something that is certainly going to happen, than 2 years for a nope!
Given that Bachmann is willing to go into Railway Series rolling stock, first with the China Clay Wagon and now the Ffarquhar Quarry Wagon, maybe they would be more willing to recolor Donald and Douglas into Blue Donald and Blue Douglas.
Its good to see that Bachmann is releasing the 20-ton Brake Van from the canceled Anniversary set. I would hope that they would also release more variants of it like the gray livery that was previously intended for the brakevan from the anniversary set, so that way they we have more options than just a variant of the Spiteful Brakevan.
With the upcoming 77410 Milk Tank and 77422 Fuel Tank being based on the CGI series designs of the tankers, something I really appreciate Bachmann doing is releasing them as separate items than the already existing 77048 Tidmouth Milk Tank and 77039 Sodor Fuel Tank, which have the Model Series design of the Tankers. That way, both the Model Series and CGI Series versions of the Milk Tanker and the Fuel Tanker are available at the same time, so modelers can choose which versions they prefer: Model, CGI or Both!
Another idea for Rolling Stock I would like to see in the future would be Blue Gordon's Special Composite Coach and Gordon's Special Brake Coach, repainted from 76034 Gordon's Express Composite Coach and the 76035 Gordon's Express Brake Coach, with the corridors on both ends so that they can fit seamlessly into already existing Bachmann Gordon's Express. I know it is not screen accurate, but I would prefer that they match up. I will even admit that I prefer the Corridors on Bachmann and Hornby Thomas Express Coaches.
Something else I would hope that Bachmann do is update their 76044 Annie and 76055 Clarabel to rectify their gray chassis with a correct black chassis, like the UK Annie and Clarabel have. As well as update the gray lamps irons, dummy coupling hooks, and tender chassis on their Henry, Gordon, and Toby to the correct black. They have already done this with the Thomas, James, and Percy, with Percy recently now also having a his incorrect gray coal bunker updated to the correct black color as well.
Products getting cancelled is really starting to become an issue for Bachmann. It's not making the company look good. Instead of announcing products, getting everyone hyped up for them, just for them to be cancelled, maybe it's better they don't announce it unless they are CERTAIN it will be out. Better that something doesn't get announced for several months, and have it released, than to wait a year or two for it to be cancelled.
Many are really disappointed that the Knapford Station reintroduction was cancelled, yet they still got Rebecca out there, despite having such a high price.
On the more positive side, it may only be a few more months before they have an unpainted sample of Flying Scotsman to show. Don't know if he'll be out by the end of this year though.
So the 20-Ton Brake Van from the cancelled 80th Anniversary set is what celebrates 80 years of Thomas as a character, and is being released as a separate product. Would've liked to have seen the dark gray van or the orange wagon with coal load as well. Maybe they'll get separate releases at some point.
Quote from: RailsByRick on January 25, 2026, 04:15:27 PMVery disappointed to hear that Knapford has been cancelled. It's becoming a very bad habit of Bachmann's to announce a highly anticipated item only to cancel it a few months later.
Bachmann, please stop announcing new items unless you are 100% certain they'll be arriving to market. It is very tiring to constantly get our hopes up and then get let down shortly after. You are damaging your customers' faith.
Considering the amount of products Bachmann has cancelled in the Thomas range's entire 20+ year history can be counted with one's fingers, combined with all the outstandingly high quality products they've been outputting lately such as Ryan, Daisy, Stanley and Sir Handel, I think they're doing pretty decent in terms of customer satisfaction. Bachmann is a business, and sometimes things just don't line up the way they hope they would for a product. Things have been especially volatile in terms of manufacturing and exporting this decade so far. A lot of it is simply beyond Bachmann's control.
I honestly thought the cancellation of Duncan back in Oct '24 was a one-off. But, it is slowly becoming frequent as the months go on. Learning that Knapford station will not happen did come as a surprise even though the Bachmann webpage still has it listed. I do share the same feelings that it is never a good idea to announce items without committing to it. This make me concerned about future new toolings not materializing due to these factors. If it becomes a habit, then it begins to alienate certain consumers. To this day, I still find it hard to understand the reasons for releasing Rebecca, a product with a $300 msrp. I think the new timeline of releasing products will happen 3 years following its announcement, rather than the 24-27 months from past releases.
I'm trying to stay positive upon these revelations, but I cannot become numb to the bad news. Let us hope the implementation of quarterly announcements put some of our disappointment to rest by a degree. :'(
Update 1/31: The listing of Knapford Station has been removed.
Hi everyone,
We want to apologize for the cancellation of Knapford Station and other items- it's just as disappointing to us as it is to the fans.
In trying to keep up the rate of new product announcements and releases from years past, our engineering team and factory were not able to keep pace and over the past few years, the length of time for them to study a project and submit a tooling cost and retail price increased. Compounded by tariffs and the general state of the economy, when we did receive costs, they came back higher than expected.
To elaborate more on Knapford Station: We made the new version half the size and half the number of parts as the first release with the goal of reducing the price. The cost we were given by the factory was higher than the last time we sold it, for a kit that was half the size- It wouldn't be economically feasible for us, nor would it be fair to the consumer to raise the price that much.
We think that this year the production delays have stabilized, and that we will be able to get costs much faster than we have the last 2-3 years. And we are no longer going to announce products until we receive a final cost from the factory, so that we are not announcing projects only to cancel them when they are not feasible.
Quote from: Yard Master on January 27, 2026, 09:59:24 AMHi everyone,
We want to apologize for the cancellation of Knapford Station and other items- it's just as disappointing to us as it is to the fans.
In trying to keep up the rate of new product announcements and releases from years past, our engineering team and factory were not able to keep pace and over the past few years, the length of time for them to study a project and submit a tooling cost and retail price increased. Compounded by tariffs and the general state of the economy, when we did receive costs, they came back higher than expected.
To elaborate more on Knapford Station: We made the new version half the size and half the number of parts as the first release with the goal of reducing the price. The cost we were given by the factory was higher than the last time we sold it, for a kit that was half the size- It wouldn't be economically feasible for us, nor would it be fair to the consumer to raise the price that much.
We think that this year the production delays have stabilized, and that we will be able to get costs much faster than we have the last 2-3 years. And we are no longer going to announce products until we receive a final cost from the factory, so that we are not announcing projects only to cancel them when they are not feasible.
Good to know for future reference. Now we know why the Knapford Station reintroduction was cancelled. Being half the size, it was actually going to cost more than it did before, which just simply was not economical. We've had several products being cancelled over the past few years, so to prevent this from happening again, it's best that you're no longer going to announce products unless it's
certain they will be out.
The days of product cancellations will now be in the past. That way, we no longer have to worry about being hyped for a product, only for it to be cancelled.
They gave us such a bombshell of an announcement with Flying Scotsman back in July that I'm not really disappointed with this year's catalog, at least in the HO scale range. As Bachmann have eluded to, this allows the team to catch up on previous announcements, and we're all more than aware of the turbulent economic times we're currently living in. I'm happy to see that the 20 ton brakevan tooling from the cancelled 80th anniversary set is still getting a separate release as I've been wanting a new brakevan for sometime. It's also nice to see the introduction of FQC wagons as well. I do however find it interesting that the blue wagon got announced in N scale when its HO counterpart hasn't been active for sometime.
Overall though, I'm content with this year's catalog.
I appreciate Bachmann taking the time to publicly acknowledge the concern surrounding Knapford, as well as explaining in detail what happened during production and how they plan to avoid the recent pattern moving forward. Considering that all the new and upcoming products, (besides Flying Scotsman), have prices listed, it does check out that Bachmann is including prices first before publicly announcing said products. Hopefully, Flying Scotsman will have his price listed soon too.
With this new direction of no longer announcing products unless it's certain that they will be out, waiting times between announcement and release could also be reduced. Bachmann tends to announce products much too early, long before they even know the cost before going into production, so we end up waiting years for them to be released, with some being cancelled. It literally took five years for DCC Sound Thomas and Percy to be released in HO Scale.
The biggest cancellations that disappointed me were Duncan, and the 80th Anniversary set. Thankfully, that's not going to happen anymore going forward. No more announcing a product unless it's guaranteed to be coming, that it's economically feasible to get into production. Many bullets will be dodged. No more being disappointed that a certain product isn't coming. As of right now, the only announcements will be products that will be released. Avoiding more cancellations in future.
Quote from: Yard Master on January 27, 2026, 09:59:24 AMHi everyone,
We want to apologize for the cancellation of Knapford Station and other items- it's just as disappointing to us as it is to the fans.
In trying to keep up the rate of new product announcements and releases from years past, our engineering team and factory were not able to keep pace and over the past few years, the length of time for them to study a project and submit a tooling cost and retail price increased. Compounded by tariffs and the general state of the economy, when we did receive costs, they came back higher than expected.
To elaborate more on Knapford Station: We made the new version half the size and half the number of parts as the first release with the goal of reducing the price. The cost we were given by the factory was higher than the last time we sold it, for a kit that was half the size- It wouldn't be economically feasible for us, nor would it be fair to the consumer to raise the price that much.
We think that this year the production delays have stabilized, and that we will be able to get costs much faster than we have the last 2-3 years. And we are no longer going to announce products until we receive a final cost from the factory, so that we are not announcing projects only to cancel them when they are not feasible.
I'm very glad that you are going to break this habit on announcing certain products, only to be canceled at the last minute. I can understand Duncan, but after the 80th set and Knapford kits canceled, I was starting to lose hope. But at least you guys will promise to not announce anything until you are very sure it'll be something you'll commit to.
I welcome the response Bachmann has made to address the issues regarding productivity and canceled items. Had a feeling that's the reason for implementing the quarterly announcements to ensure that future cancellations will be avoided. Glad to learn the prices will be paired along with the item so that consumers will have an idea of the cost before any potential problems arise. Lastly, I'm happy that the delays in production has improved to ensure that they release in a timely manner. There's a chance that Flying Scotman's price will appear at some point within the next 6 months.
I think the reason Bachmann hasn't announced Luke yet is because they're not ready to announce him yet, that they need to see if his tooling is feasible first, in order to avoid another situation like Duncan. So there won't be a repeat of what happened with Duncan, with all of us looking forward to him, only for Duncan to get cancelled, especially over a year after being announced.
We most likely won't see Duncan back on the cards until after Douglas finishes overhaul. That way, Bachmann could actually make Duncan based on Douglas, instead of his CGI render like originally planned. Rusty was based off his CGI render, which is very different from how Midlander is now. Because Rusty was smaller and simpler, so he was more doable. He's unfortunately too small for an open cab for crew to fit inside.
I personally am in no hurry for Luke anyway. Not that he's a bad character, Id just rather see them complete the original lineup first.
The CGI series is being revived, but with one notable difference being the colored irises, which carried over from All Engines Go.
The 2026 reboot appears to have actually been made with the older fans in mind, unlike All Engines Go, which wasn't, and it completely alienated older fans. So far, it's been much better-received. At least it actually looks like Thomas. Maybe there's a chance characters like Stepney or BoCo could return in the reboot. If they do, and Bachmann eventually makes them, it would be strongly advised the models wouldn't have colored irises, so that they wouldn't look so out of place compared to what we have. After all, the N Scale models didn't have the additional rivet details, and Emily didn't have her number 12.
I was looking up mainline OO coaches since some of the toolings were used for Bachmann's Thomas line and I came across this Mainline LMS Parcels Van on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116960135744?_skw=LMS+period+1+parcels+OO+mainline&epid=6070524958&itmmeta=01KGE1HXM2TWEG6W8GWYMBM6T1&hash=item1b3b5e0a40:g:F5QAAeSwRpBpVzGw&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA4O7PUuNWmJ%2B%2BUShgI9tQz%2Fp5ygWtdIdcLvkdgyeZ7w1opFIDeTfddutBYE8d%2FllE67VqhVBSf4RLl10DmBxdMVse4AWDrmG8%2FxZaC2%2BcezK6y2K69RYOEBFQT7zNCQNPq%2FDcJwT8zGcPYkxhowyIZX6eFKnY8slJQ15SS8GrP%2F4%2FZ7i2cu8iVq7eHHCfXLzNngfnPevaD1ge5IRFYYfpAf1%2B5rie5yhcBJ20im4GRf2%2Fzu6fYGKxlXcrfRrpE3PK9FTDL%2FBcvYKxqoaN5ltmETyJaUndDQogfPD85IZMgiLb%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR47ax8GDZw
Does anybody who owns this know if this is the same length as the Bachmann Express Coaches in the Thomas line? I'm curious cause I want to know before I buy it.
This month's Trainworld stream has been postponed to next Thursday. Something must have happened.
But they did show the first real image of the fully painted N Scale Express Coaches. Should certainly be available by the end of the year.
As soon as Trainworld added Flying Scotsman, did anyone notice a sudden price hike for a number of items for preorder? Diesel and Paxton's price increased twice from $99.99->$119.99->$129.99. Similarly, Origin James and Henry had a $10 hike. I understand that tariffs are still an issue today, but markets fluctuate frequently due to various economic problems. It does concern me how expensive Edward would cost since he's a new tooling with most of elements already available for him to initiate development.
Fortunately, it's likely trainworld will honor the original price tag once the product becomes available. Also, the express coaches look fantastic. Looks like Gordon won't be waiting for too long.
Let's hope that the postponement of Thomas Tuesday could bring other great news for products in development.
I was just looking on the Trainworld website, and they apparently have listed a Large Scale Christmas themed Thomas with a removable snowplow.
https://www.trainworld.com/bachmann-91412-g-thomas-the-tank-engine-christmas-w-removeable-snowplow.html
Quite the shadow drop announcement, but it's one I welcome nonetheless if it's a real thing! (if any admin or someone wants to weigh in on that, cause it's not on the official bachmann website)
Ever Since the Christmas Thomas set and the Snowplough were discontinued, I've always wanted a snow clearing Large scale Thomas, so this is a pretty good move on Bachmann's end. I assumed the large scale line was on death's doormat in the current economy, so It's good to see that there is still an spark in the Large Scale line, from both Bachmann and Consumers.
Noticing this is explicitly the product code after LBSC Thomas which is interesting. That seems to suggest this is at least something, Trainworld exclusive perhaps? Something change with the delayed train set?
I'm not into the Large Scale stuff, but assuming this isn't an error of some sort, it's nice to see the G scale Christmas Thomas making a return. Judging by the item name, maybe they're selling the Christmas themed Thomas that was in the original set separately?
Next Thursday's stream will most likely have Matt showing off the fully painted N Scale Express Coaches, and possibly N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James. Not sure if we can expect the unpainted samples of Diesel, Paxton or Henry just yet. Might be in a few months before we see the first unpainted sample of HO Scale Flying Scotsman, and Bulgy fully painted. Why Flying Scotsman is so expensive could largely be because he has two tenders. I'm hoping we'll soon also see the first samples of HO Scale Sidney and Mainland Diesel. Just one of those two costs about as much as I paid for both 'Arry and Bert in 2014. I remember the days when one small engine costed $60. Now we're paying twice as much as we did for models over a decade ago.
Loved the reveal of N scale Diesel and Paxton on the stream today; easily the highlight for me by a long shot. Definitely can't wait for Henry once his sample is done, which, as hinted, shouldn't be too much longer now.
Hope to see an exciting N scale engine announcement at NMRA this summer too. Either Edward to finish off the original main cast, or Duck to be added alongside his old rival, Diesel, would be very fitting choices.
Today's stream was great. lots of good things to come down the line. probably the highlight for me was the update for sidney and the mainland diesel. hearing the news that bachmann will change sidney to have the correct face and showing the sample of his face has me really more excited than ever. the fact bachmann heard the criticism of how paxton turned out and that they took the extra time to give sidney the proper face is really good. I think theybmay do the same with the mainland diesel. I never thought I'd be excited for repaints of the class 08 shunter tooling. but it's great they're doing the proper face this time. really can't wait to see how sidney and the mainland diesel turnout after more samples arrive.
At last, we finally got to see the first unpainted samples of N Scale Diesel and Paxton, and shouldn't be much longer before their painted samples arrive. We did get an update on N Scale Henry, and he's finishing the design phase, so it won't be too much longer before we see his first unpainted sample. We also saw a face sample of HO Scale Sidney, showing he has a perfectly-proportioned face, unlike Paxton's HO Scale model, which had a disproportionate face. It won't be too much longer before we see the first samples of HO Scale Sidney and Mainland Diesel within a few streams. Paxton's unpainted N Scale sample didn't have stepladders, but they'll be there on the final model. Maybe we can get 'Arry and Bert in N Scale too, which are discontinued in HO Scale.
We were also shown the fully painted N Scale Express Coaches, but we saw those on Facebook last week, and those will be available by the end of the year, alongside the Narrow Gauge Gunpowder Wagons, HO Scale Open Carriage, CGI Milk and Tar tankers. We weren't shown N Scale LBSC Thomas or Origin James, but those too should be available by the end of the year.
Within a few streams, we should see Bulgy's painted sample, along with the fully painted samples of N Scale Diesel and Paxton, HO Scale Sidney and Mainland Diesel samples, and the first unpainted samples of N Scale Henry, and HO Scale Flying Scotsman. We're starting to get more exciting reveals. With the N Scale backlog finally starting to clear, maybe this NMRA will finally be the time for Bachmann to announce N Scale Edward or Duck.
With the new Thomas series on the horizon, I wonder if Bachmann would make anything from it. There is bound to be new characters, and it would be interesting to see Bachmann handle them. Would they be 1-to-1 with their models, or maybe be redesigned slightly to fit the more "classic" look that Bachmann aims for? I do doubt Bachmann would update their models to align with the new series, since that would be a lot of effort, and Mattel still does seem to be using the classic CGI Thomas (Such as in Wonders of Sodor).
Just some thoughts I had, interested to see anyone else's perspective on this.
At least we know why Bachmann just chooses to do CGI engines because kids who watch the show are more familiar with them.
Sort of old news, but TrainWorld has a listing for an unannounced Bachmann Thomas item: Large Scale Christmas Thomas w/ Snowplow (91412). If the Yard Master could provide some more info on this, that'd be greatly appreciated!