Dear All:
Bachmann has discontinued a good bit of rolling stock that I personally would like to get my hands on and stock up on, while they currently are producing some rolling stock that I find less desirable than some of the things that were discontinued: for example flatcar with paint drums vs the current water tanker, or the 6 ton wagon vs the live lobster coach, ( that was probably only seen once in the new series.) While I do understand that they are keeping up with the new series and generation of Thomas and Friends lovers, it may be due to my preference for the Classic Series? I don't really know, but what do you guys think?
I would like them to rerelease the old Sodor Mail vans , and Oil (spelled out), including Tar wagons. Plus the original cattle and salt wagon.
I doubt they would re-release old designs, unfortunately. However, I don't mind some of the other ones you mentioned. Many of the wagons were re-purposed and re-released as other rolling stock, for example the cattle wagons. They used the body of the cattle wagon for Troublesome Truck #3, only adding a face, and same with the GWR Cattle Wagon, but with different livery. It'd be nothing for me to take the face off, put it on a van or something, and repaint those in the original brown: same with the salt wagon. You'd just have to take the face off.
What I'm talking about is rolling stock that aren't being reused with a body that isn't available in any form, unlike the afore mentioned, like the flatcar, well wagon, or RF container wagons. Also, any like the 6 Ton Wagon, which I read that were reused and repainted for Troublesome Truck #4. What I mean by this is, unlike those like the cattle wagon, to repaint Troublesome Truck #4 in the livery of the 6 Ton Wagon at the same level of crispness is just simply unattainable for me to accomplish.
Again, my opinion. I rest my case 😂
The flat-bed is being re-released with a log load in the near future. I don't see the M wagon being re-released anytime soon unless demand for it explodes.
Alternately, the cattle wagon, M wagon, salt van etc. are all toolings you can find eBay under the Mainline brand, which Bachmann UK bought out many years ago, and thus used in their Thomas line up.
BAC77049 Tar Tank would just be another great choice. I would love to see it reused for troublesome truck 6. :)
The tar wagon would be a good choice being that it's just been shown in the new series as the original design with TAR across the side.
Cheeky_ULP:
Thats funny you should mention the rerelease of the flatbed, as I just read about it about an hour ago, and I am very glad for that, assuming its the same design. 🙌🏽🙌🏽
And you're probably right about the 6 Ton Wagon though, especially since its only very briefly seen ONCE EVER in Percy Take the Plunge in the television series. And speaking of that episode, I could probably just paint Troublesome Truck #4 brown as the 4 plank trucks seen in the quarry from that episode, but I digress.
Thats a good thing about the Bachmann Branchline having some pf those other rolling stock you mentioned, which makes perfect sense since its based on British rolling stock!
I'll have to look into that! Thank you for these helpful bits of information. 😁
If you shop from Hattons (best dealer online from the UK that can cheaply ship to the US), you'll find Mainline stuff both under the Bachmann UK and Mainline categories. For example, this is the Mainline tooling salt wagon in the Bachmann UK range, which is the same tooling used for the Thomas range: https://www.hattons.co.uk/442673/bachmann_branchline_33_175_po02_10_ton_covered_salt_wagon_35_in_stubbs_red_livery_pre_owned__imperfect_box/stockdetail.aspx
The only difference the new flat beds have is they have a log load instead of a paint drum load, and say "Sodor Log Company" on the sides.
As for the M wagon, Bachmann and many other companies just look at reference photos and make what is provided in them. Considering Trackmaster also made the M wagon, it's likely the M wagon was in the reference photos they got from HiT Entertainment. Most of the toy companies making Thomas products have no idea what actually appears regularly and what doesn't in the Thomas episodes.
Thanks for posting the link.