I actually did want to talk about Stephen after sitting back on the open carriage announcement from earlier.

The more I'm thinking about it, the more I see this as a stand-alone rolling stock announcement without any sort of hint/plan for Stephen to be announced.  The reason being is that the open carriage, while pulled often by Stephen (more than most engines on the show), isn't necessarily assigned specifically to Stephen.  In fact it was introduced a year before Stephen did in season 16, which Bachmann did use a photo from in the catalog:



I've said it before and I'll say it again, but I think the reason why we are getting the open carriage is because Bachmann wanted to introduce products this year that would be great additions to go along with the upcoming figure packs.  The fact that the carriage and Sir Topham Hatt's car of all things were the only new HO announcements in the catalog further solidifies that idea.  Hopefully this gives us more ideas on what to expect for figure packs like a Sodor passenger pack or even a brass band figure pack, which the latter has been seen pretty frequently in the open carriage on numerous occasions in the CGI series.



Either way, more figure packs coming in the future would be really exciting and I would love to see more in the future and hopefully updates on the previously announced packs.

Mavis would be a lot of fun in N scale.  I am a little surprised they never did her in large scale since she has such a simple design and her basis would go great with garden railways.  She's definitely one of the better female characters in the show who doesn't rely on female stereotypes for her persona or bright colors and/or makeup/eyeliner to look marketable so I'd argue she'd make a better fit in N scale than Rosie (in her lavender livery) or Rebecca.  So I feel she would be a welcome choice, but I would be surprised if she was announced in N scale in the coming years when characters like Henry and Duck have had a higher demand and are a lot more popular in the fandom.

I think as long as Henry and Gordon's express coaches are included in the NMRA announcements next year, I think that would make for a really solid lineup of new products for the summer.  I do agree though that after Henry, other characters like Edward, Duck, Diesel and Oliver would make for great additions in the N scale range, considering how popular their sales were in HO since their release and those sales will most likely reflect in N scale too.  They're definitely my top 5 engines I'd like to see the most introduced in the future for sure and I'm sure many others would welcome them with open arms as well.

Paxton on the other hand feels more like a "given" since he got introduced almost immediately after Diesel in large scale.  Unlike the HO model though, the eye mech wouldn't be an issue at all for Paxton and they'd have the proportions spot on so I could see Paxton being a welcome addition too.

The N scale Gordon engineering sample turned out incredible at the Trainworld stream tonight.  I'm especially impressed with how the siderod configuration turned out on such a small model.  Gives me all the more hope for Henry to join the range next!

Toad being completed was also a nice surprise, and it was also great seeing the box vans too. 

Bachmann has gone above and beyond my expectations with the N scale range recently and I'm excited to see further updates down the road!

Wanted to bump is thread up again in light of the two new HO announcements, the open carriage and STH's car.

I feel like these two have more or less been picked because of the figure packs.  Topham's car is an iconic vehicle usually almost always present with Sir Topham Hatt on the show, and the open carriage being a thing makes sense if fans want to put the figures inside the carriage to give the figures a ride around the layout.

Hopefully Bachmann can provide updates on the upcoming figures soon.  I'd really like to see more figure packs soon depending on how the first six turn out.  A passenger and Sodor Celebrity pack in particular would be a lot of fun to see as discussed earlier in the older thread before it got deleted. 

It's more than understandable why the announcements this year are so small considering all the projects Bachmann is behind on.  For what it's worth though, just about everything that got announced this year shows quality over quantity.

A new rolling stock tooling is highly appreciated.  The open carriage wagon itself is random, but a new tooling all the same is a welcome addition.  Makes me wonder if Stephen will be planned soon.  Either way, I feel this is a nice step-up in HO, and I'm interested to see how this will turn out.

Once the figures got announced, I had a feeling Sir Topham Hatt's car would find its way in the range.  This will be a very hot seller with the figures and having a new road vehicle is also a welcome addition on its own.  Another thumbs up to Bachmann on this one!


It's really nice seeing the box vans make their way into the N scale range.  I'll be picking up a few of the great western vans for sure, I'm really glad these are going to be another new tooling.  They all look fantastic, and I'm amazed how they got done so quickly! Hopefully it continues to stay this way and the tankers being Graham farish toolings is just a one-off.  Either way, I'm amazed how much the N scale range has grown in almost 5 years since the ranges first announcement.

The biggest surprise of all has to be the N scale Henrietta!  I'll be honest I wasn't sure if Bachmann would pull this off, given how Henrietta got the short end of the stick in large scale but it's nice knowing Bachmann's willing to go the full mile with Henrietta.  I mean, if they're making a new tooling for Toad the brake van of all things, it wouldn't make any sense to not invest in Henrietta after Toby's release.

Emily getting a set in N scale is a little strange, since Bachmann has stated that sets for other characters don't sell well.

Overall I'm really happy with all these.  Hopefully in the summer, the N scale range will be able to add Henry and Gordon's express coaches.  It's also more than understandable why there's no new narrow gauge announcements, given how Bachmann is behind on several NG products (including the brake vans announced back in 2020!), so I think it's wise for Bachmann to play catch-up with narrow gauge and all the other previously announced products. Looking forward to updates Bachmann, thanks for always thinking of the fans!

The fact that Trainworld announced that for their next Thomas stream the first unpainted sample of N scale Gordon will be ready definitely gives me the impression that they have to be working on Henry or have plans for him.  I can't see any other reason why that's the case, especially since there's no word on Emily and she was announced a few months before Gordon. 

Either way, it's very exciting to hear they've made so much progress on Gordon already!

I definitely agree with the general consensus, that Duncan is the most obvious if not inevitable pick for narrow gauge.  However, with how far behind Bachmann is on several projects for narrow gauge, including the brake vans announced back in 2020(!), I think this year Bachmann will take a breather and focus on releasing the vans and starting work on Sir Handel and the new wagons on the way.

As for Nia, if I'm honest, I'm surprised that she wasn't announced before Rebecca since Bachmann hasn't announced a tender engine in over a decade and Nia seems to have a much bigger push by Mattel, especially with marketing.  The only possible explanation I can think of why they picked Rebecca first was maybe they thought Rebecca's price would be a better value of money between the two since Nia has a far more detailed and complicated design to work with than Rebecca does despite Rebecca being a tender engine.  Granted, I'm sure Rebecca being a "top requested locomotive" were most likely a response to requests coming from Mattel, but it still makes her a very questionable choice since Hiro was very clearly a more popular demand and would have sold far better than Rebecca too.  But anyways, I do think unfortunately, Nia isn't that far off from being added in the future.  However, like Sidney, Nia just strikes me more as premonition that most fans are dreading to see happen rather than something they're getting excited and hopeful for like they have for Hiro or an N scale Henry.

Figured I would post recent updates on my OO9 layout, a lot has changed:


I was able to add some more scenery like trees and bushes in addition to a lake which was by far the most tedious project on the layout by far.  Nonetheless I'm really happy with the result.

Quote from: Zekeism on January 21, 2023, 07:40:53 PMI do think Beau is such a strange choice for an engine, especially for the reason we were given for us not getting Stepney.

Beau will be a repaint of Bachmann's 4-4-0 model with little new toolings.  He's just for fun and will most likely be a limited run due to the tooling cost of the 4-4-0's.

Since the forum has been deleted, I wanted to start a new thread, dedicated to the upcoming human figure packs. These were announced last year, and they have not been many updates on these.  Feel free to discuss your thoughts on them in addition to other future figure pack suggestions or ideas you may have.

Well this was definitely a surprise, the forum has been gone for over half a year and over a year's worth of posts have been lost.

I guess here and now is a good time to start over, especially with a rather interesting summer announcement back in August.  That being said, it does leave me hopeful for a positive future for upcoming product suggestions.  So with that in mind, here are my predictions for N scale, since I think narrow gauge has more than enough to keep them busy for this year and there isn't much to really discuss in HO for future products on my end, aside from more figure packs.

The next engine pick shouldn't be a surprise to many, but is also a top request on any social media regarding future product suggestions - Henry. 



Now that Gordon is coming, I have zero doubt Henry will be added next.  Not only is there a solid market for Henry in N scale, but Gordon and Henry also share the same chassis on the show and Bachmann used the same method in HO scale when producing models of them as well.  He seems like a natural and inevitable addition, along with being a hot seller.

Honorable mentions go to Edward, Duck, Oliver and Diesel.  Edward seems like another obvious pick after Henry gets announced, since I can't see them adding Henry without Edward not far after him.  Duck and Oliver were also very popular sellers in HO and now that Toad is coming with a new tooling, they seem to be like solid possibilities much further into the future after Edward and Henry.  Diesel doesn't need much of an explanation since he's basically a shoe-in at any time in the future, especially with how easily Bachmann can add Paxton almost immediately after Diesel for a 2 in one deal.

Now for the thing I wanted to talk about even more, rolling stock:

Since there is a lot more worth talking about with rolling stock I figured I would share the top 5 suggestions I personally would like to see for the future.


Like Henry, express coaches are the most obvious, if not inevitable additions to the range now that Gordon is coming.  I would imagine they would introduce Gordon's express coaches first before moving onto the red ones, but either of these would be wholly welcome additions as the lack of express coaches for Gordon is something I feel should take priority.



A close second would be a new tanker tooling.  I bring this up because Bachmann has shown with the narrow gauge box vans that they're not afraid to cancel poor selling recolors in favor of a more accurate tooling.  The tankers to me are the biggest letdown of the range, but Bachmann has since learned from this as they jumped on making Toad a new tooling instead of the Graham Farish tooling.  Even reintroducing the fuel and oil tankers in a newer and more accurate tooling would be acceptable, but instead of the water tanker, the milk tanker would be a much more welcome addition since it's far more iconic and popular than the water tanker.


I'd also love to see vent vans introduced in N scale as well.  Bachmann's introduced quite a variety of liveries/decals for the vans in HO and large scale and it would be nice to see these in large scale as well.  The great western van in particular would be a lot of fun.


The red coaches would also make nice additions into the range as well, as these look great behind most of the characters on the show, including many engines who haven't been made yet. So making these now before more engines can be introduced is always a smart move.


And finally, despite Toad being a welcome addition, I feel Bachmann's N scale range would still benefit majorly with a new brake van tooling.  Whether they go with a standard brake van or spiteful brake van (or even both) would be perfectly acceptable additions to the range.

Honorable mentions go to the mail car, coal wagon with load and Henrietta.  Henrietta and the mail car I'm sure will find their way into the range eventually, especially with all the recolor possibilities they offer.  The coal wagon with load on the other hand is the only other wagon recolor I'm interested in, and again not newer one with the Sodor Coal Co decals.  For now though, they aren't high on my priority list but would still be welcome all the same.

I could definitely see Salty being reintroduced next year and Bachmann would just use that as their "new" engine announcement in 2022 (as much of a copout as that sounds).  If they go down that route, then I think a shoe-in for the next HO engine tooling the following year would be Porter to go along with Salty similar to why Ryan was picked to go with Daisy.

That and I feel as far as CG era engines go, Porter would make the most sense since he's been used regularly in the CGI series after his introduction and thus would make him all the more iconic making him have decent sales like Ryan.  That and admittedly I don't see Samson being nearly as popular or well received as Ryan or Porter if I'm being totally honest.

It's really nice seeing everyone agree that Sir Handel should be the next narrow gauge engine picked next.  Here's hoping he finds his way in the 2022 announcements, since I feel his announcement is long overdue. 

Quote from: Kemptown Branch on July 18, 2021, 05:27:23 PM
With that, I have a question for you guys. If you knew for certain that Duncan would match his CGI render if he were made, would you prefer him over Luke, or would that be a deal breaker on a Duncan model?

I feel that from a logical standpoint, Duncan would make a lot more sense than Luke since Bachmann's proven to already have a good track record of giving classic characters priority over newer ones, similar to how Oliver was announced before newer engines like Ryan and Rosie.  So on that same level I think it's almost a given that Sir Handel and Duncan would both be announced before Luke or any of the other newer narrow gauge engine characters get considered. 

But to answer your question more directly, as much as I like Duncan more as a character, his CG render would be a deal-breaker for me, as I'm sure is the case for many others.  While I personally wouldn't be as interested in Luke, I could see him selling better than Duncan since his design looks a lot more appealing for OO9 modelers and Thomas fans and I'd find myself purchasing a model of Luke sooner than a model of Duncan in his CG render. 

I've been sitting on this idea a lot lately, and instead of making a thread for every Toy Fair/NMRA show, I figured it would be better to kill two birds with one stone to just make one thread where fans can share their thoughts or ideas for future product announcements in just one thread.  And similar to the Everything Thomas topic, once the thread would be removed due to excess responses someone can start a new one and go from there, kind of like the old days. 

Anyway, everyone knows the drill by this point so I'm just going to do a share my list from earlier with a couple of changes after the NMRA announcements last week and everyone else can join in and discuss:

HO:
More DCC and Sound engines - honestly, I hope that the Thomas and Percy models take off and more characters get the upgrade.  The rest of the first 7, Emily and Spencer already have sounds for large scale, so expanding DCC and sound with these engines should be a safe way to go if tooling costs are becoming too expensive (especially looking at Ryan's).  However, if Bachmann wants to wait and see how the Thomas and Percy models do first then that's completely understandable.  I do think adding DCC and sound to the models is a great way to help Thomas fans get into DCC and might bring something new to the table with Thomas modeling too since it's rarely talked about, but that's just my opinion.  If not maybe a similar module to the one we got in large scale would be welcome as well. 

Normally I'd mention Stepney as the new engine tooling announcement but I have a feeling with Daisy taking a while to get out and Ryan still in production, I could see HO taking a breather for new engine announcements.   

James' express coaches:



For the next set of rolling stock in HO I think it would be wise if Bachmann brought their red express coaches back.  Similar to the reintroduction of Gordon's express coaches, the red express coaches would also need an updated paint job.  In addition, if Bachmann wants to label them as a new products, then I'm going to vouch for them to be called James' express coach and James' express brake coach since they were not only the names Hornby called them but it may also help these coaches be more marketable.  James was often seen pulling these in both the model and CGI series too.  

Narrow gauge:
Sir Handel:


New open wagon:


I already talked about both of these here, if you want reasons why all I'm for these:

https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php?PHPSESSID=6q44ums4sruu237ldmnv0p9oc0&topic=37564.msg276101#msg276101

The only new thing I'll say about Sir Handel is that he is really the only new engine tooling I could see happening next year depending on how production is going with Peter Sam.  Either way, the narrow gauge range is long overdue for a new engine tooling announcement, and here's hoping that Sir Handel will be picked next.  Even if he was the only announcement in narrow gauge next year with no rolling stock included (including the new wagons I suggested), it would still make a lot of people very, very happy. 

N scale:
Again, kind of like HO/OO I can see Bachmann taking a breather from giving the N scale range a new engine.  That, and I feel the N scale range really needs to focus a lot more on rolling stock before even considering a new engine since S.C. Ruffey was the only piece of N scale rolling stock that was announced this year.  I did a post on N scale rolling stock stock earlier, so feel free to take a look at that as well:

https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php?PHPSESSID=6q44ums4sruu237ldmnv0p9oc0&topic=37564.msg276401#msg276401

Here's hoping we can see some of these find their way into the range next year. 


For large scale, it's really hard to say and I don't collect the range so I'll keep it brief.  They've been going for recolors as of late in addition to new toolings that offer recolor options.  I don't collect the range but my moneys on LBSC Thomas and Origin James models for the next engine announcements.  The red coaches got announced this year at the NMRA and we are getting some wagon recolors too, so I can see large scale taking a break from rolling stock announcements next year too.