I'd be very curious to see how the models would turn out with smaller rods too. 

On the whole though, I really enjoyed reading your thoughts too Kemptown, and looking back it made me realize that some of the earlier criticism I had with the Thomas model itself may have been a little harsh and I like how you took the time to show that there's more to it as far as scaling and accuracy goes. 

I never got around to getting any of the tankers, might wait for Bachmann to release milk and possibly tar tankers.  The water tanker does look nice though, I'm probably just gonna stick with seasons 1 and 2 for N scale as far as engines and stock go.  Once you get Percy and other stock from this range I'd love to read your thoughts on these as well.  It's nice seeing other people sharing in-depth reviews on here besides me, and I think it should be encouraged since it allows Bachmann some solid feedback on their products. 

Great review, and loved the pictures.  Can't wait to see progress on the buildings too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bif748mK9ek

Looks like the user Trains Tsar Fun got around to uploading a video showing off all the sounds that Bachmann included for their DCC/sound system including the characters made in HO.

With Bachmann adding DCC and sound to their HO Thomas and Percy models, hopefully they can add DCC and sound to some of their other characters since the whistle/chuff sounds for the characters are available and Bachmann does have models of Gordon, Henry, Edward and Spencer in HO.  If their DCC/sound line in HO proves to be as popular as I hope they are I will happily look into some of these and replace my current analog ones as I feel it's a great way to show Thomas fans how great it is to own models with DCC and sound.

Mavis is not discontinued, she is still present in the 2021 catalog.  If anyone's going to be dropped anytime soon my bet is on Rosie (at least in her lavender livery).

Otherwise those are definitely some interesting points on future engines for the N scale range.  The more I think about it, the more I'm really leaning towards Gordon and Henry being picked as their next engines now that the express coach tooling is out there and the market for them is clearly open if the Tomix Henry and various custom Gordon models are anything to go off of.  That being said, I can't imagine they would be announced until, at the earliest, 2023 after they release James and Toby and expand their rolling stock options with hopefully some of the suggestions I shared earlier.

I really appreciated all the feedback on all my N scale rolling stock suggestions!  

I was never a fan of Hannah and I wouldn't buy a model of her, but I figured it would be worth the mention as a recolor possibility since it seems that whenever Bachmann announces any form of a new rolling stock tooling they always need to find a recolor option either during or after it gets announced, hence why I mentioned Hannah and the Henrietta Christmas coach recolors.  

I would definitely buy the red coaches if those came out in N scale too.  Don't know if they would jump on them right away though, but I wouldn't rule them out for the future either.  Same can be said for the vent vans or even a mail car.

I'd be very curious to see how they would tackle express coaches if they go ahead and announce Gordon next.  Graham Farish did announce some decent express coaches too, even if they're not the most accurate to the show, they'd still look decent enough if painted in the express colors.  I could see them going down that route for express coaches if they're able to pull off Gordon and Henry anytime soon.

Well seeing as how my thoughts on Sir Handel and some new open wagons went really well with everyone I wanted to share my thoughts on N scale range suggestions for NMRA/2022.  My ideas are only going to consist of rolling stock and a Christmas set.  I'd really like to do a post on another engine, but given that James and now Toby are in production and we only have S.C. Ruffey on the way, I would rather expand on rolling stock ideas for now before jumping on the next engine suggestion.

Let's start with the easiest first before moving onto the new tooling which is working with the toolings Bachmann has currently in their Thomas range.


With the Graham Farish tankers being used in their previous tankers, I'm genuinely surprised that the milk tanker wasn't considered for their first batch tankers (especially since the water tanker got thrown in first).  The milk tanker is arguably the most iconic tanker in the entire brand, it's almost ridiculous how this has not been considered in N scale yet considering how it was introduced early on in the HO and large scale range.  Even the UK range got the milk tanker out early.  Again, the tooling is clearly available and I hope Bachmann can use this to make a milk tanker in N scale.


Another candidate I think would work would be the tar tanker.  Considering it has appeared in the CGI series with the classic seasons 1-5 decals, I think introducing the tar tank alongside the milk tanker would also be a good move.  It's almost as iconic as the milk, fuel, and oil tanks and should also be thrown up for consideration.


Now for the next tooling wagon wise, the most obvious choice is the coal wagon with load (please, please, please don't pick the Sodor Coal Co. wagon over this one).  S.C. Ruffey was a very obvious and welcome choice, and the coal wagon with load has always been popular in the HO and large scale ranges.  It would definitely be worth Bachmann's time and effort to introduce one of these in N scale as well. 


As for Graham farish toolings Bachmann haven't used yet, the most obvious would be a brake van. 


Just like the tankers, all this would require is removing some of the detail off of this tooling while painting it in the same colors as the large scale one. 



This tooling could also work for a spiteful brake van in addition to standard one, as that one has proven to be a popular recolor in large scale and especially HO, and it would be no different here too.

And finally time to talk about the one entirely new tooling I want to suggest to Bachmann for their N scale range... Henrietta.



Henrietta, again like the milk tanker has always been very popular and iconic to the brand.  In fact, she's become more of an actual character in CGI since the 18th season with a new face and voice in the show.  She goes hand-in-hand with Toby as she seems to be popular in both HO US and UK ranges.  She's still a popular request in large scale, which does make me a little nervous that we will be going down the same slippery slope again.  However, considering that tooling costs for N scale is a lot more minimal than large scale, I'd argue that Henrietta is more likely in the N scale range.  Best of all, after doing some research I want to propose that Henrietta's tooling is viable for the range as it opens the door for other recolor possibilities. 


The most obvious one is Hannah, she's been in CGI and would only require a new face, different paintwork and some additional lamp details.

However, there is one more recolor possibility out there I really want to touch on as an option for Henrietta which ties into my big suggestion for Bachmann... a Christmas set! 



The set would include Thomas with a Santa hat and a snowplow (hope we can see this sold separately too like in large scale!), a circle of track, an open wagon (troublesome truck tooling) with a Christmas tree/presents load, and a recolored Henrietta as a Christmas coach!  I took this idea as an inspiration from some of the Christmas LGB coaches as an inspiration for an additional Henrietta recolor seeing as how there is a slight resemblance.  I got into contact with Justin (theNighttrain3) and I asked him to make a photoshopped image of what a Christmas coach recolor of the Henrietta tooling could look like if Bachmann wants to look into this:



Just for variety here's a second one:



Which do you prefer?

I'll admit I was never too wild about the Emily's coach recolor that was used in the past HO and large scale sets, but I feel that a design like Henrietta's looks a lot nicer for a Christmas train set.  Again, it really shows just how much you can do with Henrietta's tooling.


So my closing thoughts are this.  I think the tanker and wagon recolors and self-explanatory, but I do hope we can have brake vans and especially Henrietta join the range as it shows how much you can do with these toolings and why they are worth the investment.  These would also make up for the lack of rolling stock announcements as while there's nothing wrong with introducing S.C. Ruffey in N scale, I feel Bachmann could have easily made room for more additions in the range.  I really hope all of these additions will be considered in the future, and maybe as time goes on I'll talk about another engine and possibly some more rolling stock to go along with it too.

But what are your guy's thoughts?  Would you buy any of these pieces of rolling stock?  Would you be open to buying Henrietta in addition to some of the recolor suggestions with her tooling?

This will be my last in-depth post in a while but I really wanted to get these N scale rolling stock suggestions and my narrow gauge post out there a lot sooner in hopes to have these being considered sooner in the future.  In the meantime, discuss.

The stream was terrific and Doug did a great job discussing all upcoming products in addition to revealing the engineering samples.  The N scale James looks like it's coming along really nicely so far and I'm excited about Daisy too.  Can't wait to see future updates on these two in addition to Peter Sam in the near future!

Quote from: TrainFan97 on February 10, 2021, 03:01:44 PM
For the N Scale range, if Bachmann is still not ready to tackle the big engines like Gordon or Henry yet, another medium-sized engine is possible, like Edward or Emily. I feel Emily is most likely next. If Bachmann finally does announce N Scale Gordon and Henry (hopefully simultaneously), that will open up the possibility of another big engine; Spencer.

As much as I would like to see them tackle a fifth engine in N scale, I can see Bachmann taking a break from adding an engine next year and instead focus more on rolling stock since we are still waiting on James and now have Toby joining the range too.  Once they add more rolling stock, then I could see them add a new engine.  If they can afford the tooling and production cost, hopefully Gordon and Henry will be next.  If not, I'd be very happy with an N scale Edward.

Quote from: plas man on February 15, 2021, 04:26:39 PM
Bachmann please catalogue some HO/00 scale people from the Thomas series

The Bach-man responded to this request on this thread here:

https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,35707.msg263572.html#msg263572

Quote from: the Bach-man on March 07, 2019, 09:31:59 PM
Dear All.
Since we want younger fans to be able to have the
Thomas characters, the figures have to be large to
avoid being a choking hazard.
Happily they work great with Large Scale!
Have fun!
the Bach-man

Bit of a delayed response, but a huge thank you to everyone else who responded positively to my Sir Handel post from earlier!  Here's hoping we can still see him produced at some point in the future.  

As far as future HO candidates for Bachmann to pick in HO from the CGI era go from Trainfan97's post, Sidney does seem to be the most obvious choice, especially with two new engine toolings in HO/OO in production.  But new tooling wise, it's a little hard to say on my end personally.  Hiro would be the one I could see happening if they were able to pull off a new tender engine tooling, but considering how much Ryan is going for it does have me worry what kind of price we would see for Hiro.  But unlike Ryan, I feel like Hiro has a much bigger following, both as a character and icon, so I feel he would be one of the few characters I could see a lot of people willing to spend the extra money on him.

Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine as far as any of other CG era characters go.

Quote from: Plow_Bender on February 07, 2021, 08:52:29 PM
There certainly seemed like far more demand for Sir Handel back in 2020, and Smudger was hardly mentioned.  Now we suddenly have people who would rather step back and see another minor recolor get announced, rather than a new tooling/character.  These sort of discussions aren't necessarily a bad thing, but when people constantly want to discuss items that clearly don't have a chance of being made rather than something that would actually be considered, that's how we end up with announcements that no one wants...

THANK YOU!

Sir Handel rightfully deserves priority over Smudger regardless of the latter being a recolor, Sir Handel will be the better seller and more people would be excited for him
than Smudger in a landslide.  So prioritizing Smudger over Sir Handel is honestly kinda silly.  It's no different than prioritizing Splatter and Dodge over Stepney.

So as usual, I have plans to carry out my thoughts on what Bachmann should introduce with full-on in-depth posts and I wanted to start with narrow gauge first before moving on to the other ranges.  Best way to start this off is by talking about the top narrow gauge engine request, Sir Handel.


So, why should Bachmann introduce Sir Handel as the next narrow gauge engine?  Well to make the first point simple it comes right down to his design.  Out of all the narrow gauge engines that are in CGI that Bachmann hasn't announced yet, Sir Handel has the best design, proportion and detail wise.  In addition, he offers a nice dark blue color contrast compared to the rest of the other engines in the range, in addition to filling the infamous gap between the first 5 narrow gauge engines (being #3).


In addition to that, Sir Handel is also a safe character for Bachmann to make since recolored engines for narrow gauge are not out of the question based on Yellow Rheneas' announcement.  The best choice out there would be "Falcon" which would only be Sir Handel with a different nameplate.  They wouldn't even need to change the face either.  It would not only take less effort than Yellow Rheneas since the paintwork wouldn't need to be updated.  But odds are, more people would buy that than Yellow Rheneas, thus making Sir Handel's inclusion all the more welcome if Bachmann wants to make characters they can reuse toolings for.


Finally (and this really is more speculative), if there really is a "mandate" from Mattel that companies like Bachmann can't invest in new toolings of characters that aren't from the CGI era (which I can sort of see that also being a reason why Bachmann picked Ryan over Stepney (hopefully we can still see Stepney happen regardless)) then I would argue that Sir Handel should be the top priority for the next new engine tooling Bachmann should consider above all their other ranges.  Especially when their HO and N scale ranges both have two new engine toolings we are waiting on.  And while a lot of people are on the fence with Duncan and there's no real interest in any of the newer CGI styled narrow gauge engines, I think it goes without saying that Sir Handel really would be their safest and most well-received option for their next new engine tooling.  


Overall though I think it's suffice to say that once Bachmann is able to pull off a new narrow gauge engine, regardless if it's a new tooling or a recolor, no narrow gauge engine deserves the honor of being announced/made next than Sir Handel.  The demand and following for him is definitely there, and he easily one of the few remaining narrow gauge engines that has a wide all-around appeal.  If he's announced either at the NMRA, or even 2022, I think that it would make up the disappointment/lackluster response from Yellow Rheneas.


So now that I'm talking about Sir Handel, I wanted to talk about the next rolling stock suggestion for narrow gauge, a new open wagon.  


While Peco rolling stock recolors may have been a good idea at the time (minus the stupidly high prices), it's fair to say that after seeing how Bachmann's introducing new box vans while replacing the Peco ones respectively that Bachmann does the same with their open wagon.  


Clearly using new toolings would not only be a lot cheaper but these will sell a lot better long term, similar to that of the slate wagons and the coaches.  Especially with all the different recolor possibilities they could come up with.


The great thing about introducing these wagons is they can either be released with or without a load or be a great possibility for future recolors once a new tooling is invested in these.  Either way, combine this with the cheaper production and cost it would take to make these, I feel like this is almost a shoe-in to be added next in the narrow gauge range.


Anyway, what are everyone's thoughts on these suggestions?  Would you buy Sir Handel and also agree that no other narrow gauge engine should take priority over him?  Would you be interested in buying the new open wagons as well?

Let me know your thoughts and I'll talk about HO and N scale in future posts.

I think what disappoints fans the most about yellow Rheneas was the timing of when it got announced, especially when HO was able to pull off Ryan while still working on Daisy and vice-versa for N scale Toby while N scale James is still in production.  Especially when the demand for Sir Handel was very evident.  However, Doug made it clear in the video that Peter Sam will be taking some extra time, which is likely why they went with a recolor like Yellow Rheneas over a new engine tooling like Sir Handel.  If for some reason they still aren't able to do a new tooling, Smudger would really be the only recolor option they would have left (unless if they wanted to make Stuart out of Peter Sam and just incorporate a new funnel and nameplate for the model, but I won't get my hopes high on that one)

But to answer the initial questions, yes I would buy Smudger and I agree he would be a lot more of a welcome addition than Yellow Rheneas.  But to answer the third question, I think Smudger would be a solid backup option for the summer announcements if and -only- if they aren't able to pull off Sir Handel.  While I don't know if it would make up for the mixed reception of Yellow Rheneas, it would be an all around better choice, and that's what made people happy about the Origin James announcement last summer after the previous disappointment of the Busy Bee James.

Loving the museum coaches!

It was nice seeing large scale Diesel and Paxton in the stream too

https://resources.bachmanntrains.com/bachmann2021/html5/index.html

The catalog is up!  The large scale Paxton is up and finished and they did a much better job on his face than the HO model.

In addition we are getting HO models of Thomas and Percy with DCC and Sound!  Never thought I would see Bachmann include DCC and sound in their HO models after putting it off for so long so that's super exciting to see!

Also the prices went up again (no shock there) but Ryan's RRP is only a few dollars behind Spencer... yikes.

Quote from: Angelob6660 on January 29, 2021, 08:23:06 PM
I believe their reissuing the same narrow gauge box vans with different serial number.

Yeah about that... check the catalog.  Bachmann discontinued the Peco ones but instead announced them with a new product number, cheaper price and new pictures from the show.  These are going to be new toolings like the coaches/brake vans.  Likely due to the poor sales from the Peco recolors.

Hope this means we are getting more accurate narrow gauge open wagons at some point too.

Gonna re-post my earlier post here with additional thoughts included:

Ryan is definitely an interesting choice. I would argue that out of all of the newer characters, he seemed to be a very popular request with both the older and younger fans.  Plus he goes hand-in-hand with Daisy and has always been popular merchandise wise.  So if anything Ryan was a shoe-in for Bachmann.  He's not the first choice of locomotive for me personally but I think the model itself will turn out really nice.  I can see him being a popular seller.

Toby's Museum coaches are honestly a really solid choice for rolling stock in HO.  I not only appreciate that these are pieces of rolling stock based on something from the show, but also that these were requested by fans on here and Twitter briefly and clearly Bachmann listened to that suggestion and followed up with it.  It's funny how a standard museum coach never was made in the show but I'm assuming Bachmann went this route just to allow fans to buy a complete pair of two coaches to make a standard train.  

I may pick these up actually since these are some of the few pieces of rolling stock past season 5 that doesn't scream "toys" from a mile away and they genuinely look really nice on the show.  Probably won't get more than two of them though.

Yellow Rheneas is... honestly a disappointment.  I am surprised Bachmann decided to go down the route of repainting the same character again for narrow gauge instead of making a new tooling in narrow gauge to go along with Ryan (like Sir Handel).  But perhaps they want to take things slowly since narrow gauge is a more niche scale than HO?  Either way this won't be something I'll be picking up.  Hopefully Bachmann has plans to announce Sir Handel once Peter Sam and yellow Rheneas are out.

The box vans are a really interesting choice.  It looks like these will most likely be new toolings since the Peco ones are still listed at Trainworld with a different product number.  Which if that's the case I'll definitely be purchasing some once released.  Hopefully they do the same with open wagons too.

The highlight for me without a doubt is N scale Toby, as he's one of my favorite characters and he's the first character in N scale that Tomix didn't do so I'm happy to see him come to the range.  He was popular in all ranges beforehand so it's no surprise to see him so soon after James.  A purchase I'll be making day one!

N scale SC Ruffey is not a surprise I'll probably be purchasing him as well.

The large scale Paxton is probably the least surprising out all these announcements since it was technically "leaked" from Bachmann UK a few months back.  But regardless Paxton has proven to be a very well liked character, clearly well enough to get Bachmann to introduce him before 'Arry and Bert.  While I do think Paxton was a much safer option than 'Arry and Bert long term, I don't think he's gonna fly off the shelves as fast as the previous engines did, including Diesel.  I'd be very curious to see how they handle his faceplate too.

The large scale wagon recolors aren't a surprise, like the tankers I don't see these selling too well if I'm being totally honest.

Can't wait to see more info on these hopefully tomorrow at the Amherst show!  Bachmann's presentation will be at 2:30 PM East coast time so look out for that.

The highlight of the stream for me without a doubt was the large scale Diesel.  It was really nice seeing him fully painted and he will in no doubt look very sharp once he is released.  A bit bummed the engineering sample for the N scale James was mentioned but not shown, but hopefully it won't be too long until we get a good look at it.

While there was no update on Daisy and/or Peter Sam, Bachmann will be participating in another stream on Saturday and we have the Thomas stream from Trainworld coming in a few weeks, so we at least have those to look forward to.