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.
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.
