Quote from: Mulfred on April 10, 2026, 01:50:14 PMSomething I've been thinking about alot is vans within the range. Unfortunately at the moment in N scale and Large scale we have the 12 ton van however in HO theres both 12 ton van and the GWR vent van but there's an ever growing number of van variations being ticked off year after year and this leads to N and Large having one tooling for a van and their HO counterpart being a different one. But that doesn't need to be the case. We can still have a GWR vent van in N scale and maybe even Large (although N in my reason for this post.

Alot of goods trains in the show have multiple vans making up a train. See here the Mr Jolly's chocolate factory train where theres both 12 ton vans and GWR vans. Which leads me to my point. What if Bachmann introduced the GWR van into N Scale as a new tooling that they can add onto consists. I know some may say "its just rehashing old vans. Why introduced whats already in the range" but its not, its doing exactly what we do with things like Road numbers or having variations of different coloured wagons like for example the high sided wagons in NG line or Gondolas or even the gunpowder wagons.

I'm a bit late to the party on this, but here are my thoughts. While I think it would be cool to see the GWR Vent Van tooling in the range eventually, I feel like there are other types of goods stock that should be prioritized first, such as the Mail Vans, Flatbeds, and maybe even a new tooling for the Tankers before adding a 2nd Van variant, just so the range doesn't get immediately cluttered with vans. The other wagons would also provide more variety in a train than the GWR Vent Van. However, I do think this or the Salt Van would be a good option for a 2nd type of van later on, once the other types of wagons are made.

Bachmann posted higher quality images of the N Scale Diesel sample to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/100064815337741/posts/1404963855007446/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

He's looking really good so far! I can't wait to see how the painted sample and Henry look!

Is anyone else getting an error message when trying to view the 2026 Catalog online? When I try to open the link to it, it just says "404 Not Found. The requested URL was not found on this server."

EDIT: It has been fixed now.

Hey everyone, I filmed a review of Sir Handel that I uploaded on YouTube. Here's a link to it:

Overall, I think Sir Handel is an excellent model, and I'm really glad he was finally able to be released! He has a great amount of detail and runs extremely well. I'm excited to see where the Narrow Gauge range can go from here!

Quote from: GordonPacific04 on October 05, 2025, 04:51:18 PM

Quote from: Kemptown Branch on October 05, 2025, 03:20:20 PMHey, does anyone know if the figures from the Railway Personnel packs can fit inside of the Narrow Gauge Engines' cabs? Thanks!

Unfortunately not, I've tried. All the HO Thomas figures are slightly overscaled.

Thanks!

Hey, does anyone know if the figures from the Railway Personnel packs can fit inside of the Narrow Gauge Engines' cabs? Thanks!

Quote from: GordonPacific04 on August 12, 2025, 07:31:45 PMI'm a bit bummed that he'll be using Gordon's chassis, as the siderods are too thick.

Bachmann did make new siderods for Stanley despite reusing Thomas' chassis, so maybe they'll be able to do the same for Flying Scotsman.

I'll second this, as I think it's a great idea! I grew up near the UTA Trax, so I'd definitely buy some if they were made.

Hey everyone, it looks like Hannah has been added to the web store, although she isn't in stock yet.

https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=265_1126_1128&products_id=9278

Hey guys, I was able to pick up Emily recently, and she's an excellent model! The quality of the paint and lining is really high, being consistent across the entire model. I think she captures the look and shape of her CGI model extremely well, too!



She doesn't have some of the extra detailing seen in the later CGI seasons, but that's because she (and the other engines in the range) is based on the CGI orthographics that Nitrogen Studios created when they made Hero of the Rails.


Something I also want to mention is that Emily doesn't feel fragile. Even though the railings on her tender are see-through, they feel solid, and it doesn't feel like they could be broken by accident. Her model overall also feels really good, and all of the component pieces fit together extremely well.


As far as performance goes, she runs really smoothly and quietly in both directions. She is pretty fast compared to other engines, but mine can still be controlled to a nice, slow speed. She can also pull a decently sized train, which is nice!


If you guys would like to see my thoughts more in-depth, I made a video for her, which you can see here:
https://youtu.be/TmOZ17oEazY?si=nmkQZP3NYqNJXZuG

Overall, I think she's a great addition to the range, and she definitely makes me excited for the future of the range as well!

Quote from: RailsByRick on November 03, 2024, 07:35:25 AMI know we all want an N Scale Edward. Recently I've been thinking over the logistics of how exactly Bachmann would be able to tackle a model with such a short wheelbase in N scale.

The N Scale Thomas engines released so far have small motors that still take up most of the length of the model, and as such, have the front axle be the driven axle. Of course, Edward's driving wheels are very close together, and reside towards his cab. This means the usual approach of having an axle in the front be connected to the motor is out of the question.

Could Bachmann flip the motor around and re-wire it appropriately so that the worm drive is facing the cab? Another issue with this is potentially making the front too heavy, when in reality, you want most of the weight over the driving wheels.

I'm not sure how they'll approach it, but I certainly hope Bachmann doesn't just skip on Edward entirely, and I hope they'll do his model justice.

I've also thought about this a little bit. One thing I think they could do is similar they did with Peter Sam, Sir Handel, and the larger scale versions of Emily, and have his rear pony truck wheel geared as well as his drive wheel, effectively making him driven like a 2-6-0. Edward's body length in the show is very close to Thomas, so I don't think that Edward's front bogie wheel would need to articulate to get around curves in N Scale, compared to the larger scales. That would also make it so that Edward would have more wheels to pick up electricity.

If they did need to, they could still have Edward's front wheel articulate or just move a little more to each side; they "split up" the front bogie on the OO9 Baldwin, and it wasn't really noticeable when going around curves.

Quote from: thomasj219 on June 08, 2024, 08:49:20 AMAwesome! But wouldn't it have to be a slight gloss to match the paint work of the coaches?

You could also apply a clear gloss coat to the roof to make it match, or a clear matte coat to the coach bodies to match the roof paint. Although, I think that you could probably find a gloss version of white paint. I'd also recommend putting a coat of primer on the roofs to help the white paint stick better.

Photo credit goes to James Drury.

Here's a link to a Facebook post with more pictures of Gordon and Emily:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/753298574781796/permalink/6768483689929891/?mibextid=Nif5oz

It also confirms that Henrietta will have a face!

Hey guys, Toad is in stock on Bachmann's webstore now, which means he should be with other retailers soon as well!

https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8746