Well I already have the varnish from an experimental weathering project I did a while ago, I just need to find the time. considering the fact that I'll be on spring break this week, I might do it while I have some time on my hands! 

Haha that was good!     if only I had, what I call, the "modelers hat trick".....space, money and time.

at least we know the first item for 2017.....

wow....it's amazing what a simple coat of matte varnish can do! great work! I might try this with my stuff now.

Quite honestly, I would get Hiro if Bachmann made him. He would be a big seller not only in UK and US, but also in Japan too. He's a relatively big character in Japan ever since he was introduced. He might wind up being a top seller for Bachmann. Next year I could possibly see him or Rosie, along with Paxton being produced.

Well the characters are based off of real life counter parts ( i.e Thomas is an E2, Skarloey is based off of Talyllyn). Maybe Bachmann might take it into consideration to consult Skarloey's basis because he and the rest of the NG engines (excluding Duncan) have been produced in scale for the show. They went and measured the Talyllyn railway engines to make the characters look more accurate to their counter parts.

There isn't a really clear way of briefly putting this so bear with me... 
Say you had a HO/00 driver figure at the footplate of your Bachmann Thomas. You then took him out and put him at the footplate of Bachmann Skarloey. He would fit in to scale with him because they are perfectly compatible. HO/00 scale track would be to scale with regular SG and the N scale track would be to scale with NG in the real world
here's a link to better understand gauges. it explains it pretty well, too! (starts at 3:22 if you want to skip ahead) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zj0zuoeRhM
Shame we never had Model World in the US... but anyway in the video he puts a narrow gauge engine next to the O gauge loco. for comparison sake just think Thomas is the O scale loco and Skarloey is the NG loco next to it.
pictures would make this easier but I'm not good with putting pictures on here. I feel like I just made it more confusing. 

Skarloey and the rolling stock will be available either by the end of 2015 or sometime in 2016. They will be to scale with the HO/00 line but will run on N scale track. Think of them as being what On30 (Narrow Gauge) is to O scale (Standard Gauge).

I can see Bachman releasing Paxton but I'm not sure about dual gauge track. there are manufacturers that produce dual gauge track. modeltrainstuff.com sells it.

I'd be fine with just a two road engine shed/goods shed instead of 3 different things like last year.

if Bachmann were to make our NG friends, I can see them maybe starting out with Skarloey, a coach (most likely red) or a slate wagon, and a guards van [brown or to match the coaches (red or blue)]. Sold as N or N/009 (like HO/00) scale. Start out with a simple set like Skarloey's Passenger Service or Skarloey's Slate Delivery. then slowly add on in the years. I'd be fine with Bachmann coming out with an Engine, a piece of rolling stock, and a building or off rail character for the HO/00 line and doing the same with the N/009 line. there isn't much rolling stock to the NG railway (4 different types of coaches, BMQ trucks, slate trucks, guards van and maybe Millie's open top carriage) not like SG rolling stock. They don't even need to produce new NG track, just include N scale track in the sets. Maybe if they're feeling more adventurous make a HO/N crossing so SG and NG can interact with each other, but that's an even bigger dream. 

well technically the PlayTape isn't manufactured by them. it's manufactured by a different company. Bachmann most likely has a deal with the other company that allows them to put their name on it to sell under the Thomas line.

this looks interesting. might come in handy while I redesign the layout. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thomas--friends-track-playtape-300022083.html

EDIT: darn it, therailwayinspector! you beat me to it! what are the odds of us posting that at the same time

ah yes. high schools is ending for me as well. have had some plans to do some serious modeling this summer!

the Christmas coach (90087) is a repainted version of (97003 & 4). Bachmann Big Haulers line is to 1:22:5 scale, but with Emily being out of the world of Thomas and Friends (were everything is modified slightly), Emily may come up a bit shy of proper scale.