I feel like just because a character appears in CGI, it shouldn't mean they get automatic priority over characters who haven't. Fernando is a prime example of a character Bachmann -could- make, but it begs the question of who the market is. He doesn't have any sort of cult following within the fandom like Paxton, Sidney, or the Mainland Diesel did, which is a common trend among characters introduced in the BWBA era; the era as a whole largely failed to make a cultural impact on Thomas fans both young and old.

Adding to that, Fernando would be "alone" in terms of merchandise; if a Thomas fan hasn't made their own custom Raul or Gabriela, there wouldn't be much incentive to purchase a Fernando, which just goes back to the previous point; not a lot of people made customs of BWBA era characters because they didn't have the same charm as the CGI characters before them.

To put it simple; if Bachmann made Fernando, I think they would be fishing for a market that doesn't exist, and that would be a waste of their time, resources, and money.

On the other hand, Splatter and Dodge I am very confident would fly off the shelves. If a Thomas fan knows who Diesel 10 is and buys the Bachmann model of him, they 100% know who Splatter and Dodge are, and will consequently want to purchase them as well. Splatter and Dodge are the perfect upsells to Diesel 10.

I would not be surprised if Bachmann announced Fernando, but I can see him being the weakest seller of the Class 08s. He didn't leave much of an impression on the fandom, compared to the Mainland Diesel, whose disgruntled attitude proved to be entertaining to where people wanted to see more of him and his co-workers. I think Splatter and Dodge would sell like hotcakes, and would be the perfect compliment pieces to Diesel 10.

I agree with Bertie; I forgot all about his Bachmann model. Updating his face and headlights would be a big glow-up.




I was talking about this with some friends, and they mentioned an idea I think has been brought up here before, but would still be a good idea: A second shot at Arry & Bert. I feel the biggest reason Arry and Bert sold poorly was because their faces were too identical, giving little incentive for people to buy both models. If people aren't buying both twins, then they probably aren't buying just one twin, either.



Trackmaster is a good example of what the difference is. Each one has their own expression, making them more fun to pair together. Even Lionel gave them unique faces!

In terms of what faces they would have, it's hard to say. Arry and Bert did not have very many speaking roles in the CGI era, so we don't see them do expressions that would make for "fun" unique faces on a model.




Meanwhile, their smug and grim expressions in the model era are much more bold and distinctive:



And there's a lot to choose from, too:




But I can see why Bachmann would want to stick with CGI faces if they want to keep things consistent with the current direction of the range. Either way, I think this would be something very economical for Bachmann to think about if they consider rereleasing Arry and Bert. After all, Grumpy Diesel was very popular!

I definitely agree that anything after James and Paxton would be considered overkill. Gordon and Henry are inaccurate in their own ways, but they're not the bread winners and "face of the brand" that Thomas, Percy and James are. Maybe later down the road in 5 years or so, if the Thomas, Percy, and hopefully James retoolings are a success and a lot of popular characters have been addressed already, then Gordon and Henry might be a more reasonable topic.

This has me thinking too: if this new Thomas and Percy are being designed with their DCC Sound variants in mind, then it's possible we could see a DCC Sound James on the horizon too.

I would have no qualms with Thomas and Percy being updated and replaced in all of these sets, to be honest. If anything, I might just have to double or even triple dip on the Christmas and DCC sets! I would also welcome an updated LBSC Thomas. My wallet aches thinking about it.


If Bachmann wanted to go the extra mile, they could introduce unique expressions in sets, like Hornby did for the Great Discovery set.

I imagine they already deducted that the extra articulation to make the claw open and close would raise the cost of manufacturing to a price higher than they wish for the product to be. I wouldn't be surprised if the price is already going to be somewhere in the Rebecca and Flying Scotsman range as it is.

Would it be too soon to hope that Paxton's face tooling gets revised now that they found a way to change the eye mech for Sidney? Paxton feels like the one outlier now in terms of the Class 08s in the range.

I was a teenager when I was posting on the Bachmann Forum and suggesting that Bachmann update Thomas, Percy and James to look more accurate. 17 years later, it looks like that wish has finally come true.



So far, a lot of curiosities have come up.

1. Will these new toolings be designed to be DCC Ready? There is a DCC Thomas and Percy, so it makes sense that the new tooling would be designed with that in mind.
2. Will there be front couplers? It seems like yes would be the obvious answer. A very long and overdue update.
3. Will the new tooling be compatible with the snow plough?
4. Is the chassis entirely new? The descriptions specify the bodies will be updated, but not the chassis. I can only imagine Thomas will at least get Stanley's side rods, and it would be great if Percy's valve gear gets updated to be more accurate.

Hopefully we will get these answers in due time. This is a very exciting day.

I think it would be wiser to wait until the pamphlet is officially posted by Bachmann, in case the posted pamphlet is an elaborate fake.

Quote from: Awesometrain77 on July 13, 2026, 03:58:39 PMSo there are going to be announcements and we are gonna see them coming

So likely not whiff Hiro or Arry and Bert .

Tbh I see it being something crazy like Philip or Stafford  .

Or maybe they will do Nia who I think a lot have forget was an option .

I'd love to see diesel 10 but I don't know . Maybe Havery . We are seeing them coming so who knows .

The wording is interesting because most Bachmann Thomas fans have probably made every reasonable deduction for a product Bachmann could make at least once or twice. I'm getting the impression that whatever they plan to announce might be something fairly outside the box.

The CGI era has a lot of weird inconsistencies with paintjobs. It's funny how the Bachmann models highlighted them three times, too; first Toad only having letters and numbers on one side, then Paxton having a black buffer beam, and now this.

Very happy to see Bachmann picked a "disgruntled" face for the Mainland Diesel. The disgruntled diesel from Journey Beyond Sodor is the most iconic of the Mainland bunch, no doubt because of his banter with James, and when Journey Beyond Sodor came out it was regarded as one of the funniest moments in the movie. I've already seen several people who would've otherwise had no interest in him suddenly want him now simply because it's such a unique and amusing face to use for a model. Bachmann made the right call with him.

I think with Bachmann embracing the Bachmann UK vent van for recent products including Troublesome Truck #7, it would be refreshing to see the range switch over to the Bachmann UK 7-plank wagon tooling for newer wagons going forward. These are a bit shorter than the ex-Mainline toolings that Bachmann currently uses, and as a result look more accurate to how 7-plank wagons look in all eras of the TV series.



To add, it would be a good segway to introduce some CGI style Troublesome Trucks. The CGI era has lots of wacky and silly faces for them that would stand out from the current selection of trucks. There's also lots of new potential load possibilities that could be given to the trucks.



I personally think something like this would give the trucks in the range a breath of fresh air.

I think it would help to re-upload the images to somewhere like Imgur; linking to the Wiki doesn't always work. Most of the images here don't load on my end.

One of the biggest challenges with the resin buildings is that the majority of them tend to be one-time purchases, and I'm not sure how much they cost to manufacture compared to plastic buildings, but I imagine it's more expensive. I love the resin buildings though from both Bachmann and Hornby's ranges. I sold my Maithwaite some time ago since it's a station I'm not as married to, but I still hold on to the Dryaw set I collected. I think Bachmann really gave up on the resin buildings too early; I think if Ffarquhar had been introduced, it would've been their hottest seller in that range.

I do wonder why too Bachmann hasn't gone back to making bigger Thomas buildings but in plastic "kits" like Tidmouth Sheds. That might've made the Brendam Warehouse cheaper to manufacture and sell. While I would prefer resin buildings, I can understand why they'd go for plastic if it's cheaper in the future. Either way, I very much agree that the lack of buildings in the ever-growing range is becoming very noticeable. The Skarloey range especially could use some building attention.

I agree with the boxes too; Hornby and Thomas Wooden Railway both did a great job at having detailed, photogenic boxes that really caught shoppers attention and would make them want a product. I think the reason the Bachmann boxes are the way they are currently is because minimalism is the trend among advertising. Less things in the photos means less distractions for a shoppers eye, and no confusion on what is being sold within the box. I'm not a fan of the mindset, but that seems to be the reasoning. I'd love to see Bachmann do some nice display photos on the boxes for their products. Maybe on the back or side?

Gotta agree with the tender lining still; it was such a glaring error in the show and the fandom was not fond of it. Him having normal square tender lining would make the model look so much nicer and consistent with well... Every other appearance he's ever had. It's an even 50/50 chance if Bachmann does or doesn't do it though, I feel.

Quote from: RailsByRick on January 25, 2026, 04:15:27 PMVery disappointed to hear that Knapford has been cancelled. It's becoming a very bad habit of Bachmann's to announce a highly anticipated item only to cancel it a few months later.

Bachmann, please stop announcing new items unless you are 100% certain they'll be arriving to market. It is very tiring to constantly get our hopes up and then get let down shortly after. You are damaging your customers' faith.

Considering the amount of products Bachmann has cancelled in the Thomas range's entire 20+ year history can be counted with one's fingers, combined with all the outstandingly high quality products they've been outputting lately such as Ryan, Daisy, Stanley and Sir Handel, I think they're doing pretty decent in terms of customer satisfaction. Bachmann is a business, and sometimes things just don't line up the way they hope they would for a product. Things have been especially volatile in terms of manufacturing and exporting this decade so far. A lot of it is simply beyond Bachmann's control.