https://twitter.com/trainworld/status/1722723396969017647?s=46&t=P-yyOHfS2jVlFTUMzHYGLg

With Trainworld posting Sir Handel up for preorder, I figured now was as good of a time to make a new thread exclusive to Sir Handel where fans can discuss updates on this highly anticipated model.

Anyone else excited to finally preorder Sir Handel?

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.

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.

It looks like that the moderators have recently deleted the old everything Thomas thread, probably due to the fact that the thread was exceeding over 200 pages and taking up a lot of space as a result.  I figured I would start up a new thread for everyone, feel free to continue to carry-on any previous discussions you had on the older thread or anything Thomas related in this thread as per usual. 

Just for fun, I wanted to start a new thread where we can post pictures of our collection(s) of our models.  Figured I would start by showing my collection of all my HO standard gauge engines:







I'll post a photo of narrow gauge once I finish my Duncan model and whenever Rusty is out.  In the meantime, feel free to post/share pictures of your collection here.   

While focusing on a project I've been working on for the last five months or so, I figured that I would start a new thread on here for narrow gauge: (009, HOe, HOn30, HO 2 1/2, all the same thing) only this would consist of projects/layouts as well as further discussion of where Bachmann's narrow gauge range will potentially go from here, similar to the Large Scale Thomas thread posted by Large Scale Champion.  

Ever since this range started, the sales for Skarloey went above and beyond the roof, selling out in less than a month in Bachmann warehouses.  It's pretty clear that this range will not be slowing down anytime soon and Rheneas will be no different with sales.  I am sure the range will continue to grow from there with other characters in future years such as Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty, and Duncan just to name a few.  

Now, I have something I would like to share with everyone, which is my 009 mining railroad that I have been doing over at my model railroad club.  It is far from over as there is a lot more work that needs to be done.  I hope you will enjoy the pictures that I am about to provide and that everyone will stick around for when I post updates.



This is what the mountain started as at first, a rather... basic design that was hardly touched.  The bottom you could see an HOn3 line that never even got finished or had track laid,  whereas the top was a dual gauge (HO and HOn3) track that hasn't been used compared to our main HO lines.  It was pretty lifeless, and visitors at our shows always kept asking why we have never used it.  The original plan was to just stick with HOn3 at the bottom and dual gauge on top, like the original, while redoing the mountain.  However last year, after convincing a few other members (due to Skarloey's announcement) we are doing a track in the middle of the mountain for 009 making it possible to run Skarloey and other 009 models in the club.

Now here are some photos showing the mountain as of recent:



We have already started work on the mine.  Each of the different tunnels you see within the mine are empty mine shafts. These will contain some stationary track and wagons in each shaft, while locomotives can travel alongside the main track.



There is a siding in the mine where we plan on leaving some mining cars with some decoration such as gold or jewelry.  We may even create a scene involving mineworkers in there too.  



Out in the open you can see that there's a second section of track that we plan on adding in the future, this will be used for loading and unloading different loads during our club operation nights.



This will be the other tunnel on the layout that the engines will be coming out of after traveling through the mine.  We also get a nice view of the waterfall from here as a bonus.  



We also have a staging yard.  This is where we will be setting our trains, prior to our shows as well as where we will start our clubs operations.  The staging yard leads directly to the mine.



As an added bonus for you guys, here are pictures from our Easter show.  We decided to wire the tracks temporarily so we can run Skarloey in our show to show visitors and our loyal fans a sneak peek of what was to come.  



The responses were amazing, I was amazed when parents told me that they were familiar with the Skarloey characters and even mentioned that they read the RWS (they called them the "old stories") involving the Skarloey engines.  Another kid even mentioned Duke of all characters when he was talking about narrow gauge, speaks for itself really.  


Even though I am still working on my own HO layout, this is a pretty good alternative for now for my own 009 set up as I am in charge of this specific project in my club.  We still have a long way to go, but in the end we all know it will be worth it. Feel free to leave feedback, otherwise I would love to see other 009 projects/layouts that people have been planning on here. This will also be a place where we can talk about future products for the Skarloey range, so if anyone has ideas or suggestions for this they would like to share they are more than welcome to do so.

Happy modeling!

Dear Bachmann staff,
Recently I sent my Bachmann Edward model to the service department (along with another model, a 4-6-0 from the Spectrum range).  The 4-6-0 was not running properly, and the Edward motor had burned out.  I mailed the models to Bachmann customer service telling them what happened and threw in a 25 dollar fee for Edward since I have had the model for over a year.
I got the box with the models a few weeks ago and while looking at the models upon opening them from the box again such as the 4-6-0 missing one of the bolts holding the handrail.  This didn't bother me as much, but when I opened up the Edward model, there were scratches on the model as he was not in the box I placed him in while mailing him out.  
This resulted to a scratch in the buffers, the black body covering the motor (where the smokebox is) and the face, which is especially the most noticeable out of them all.  

I love supporting Bachmann and buying the products but having this issue with the models I had only recently shipped to the service department and got back before is honestly very disappointing.  Is there any way customer service can please look into fixing both of these models without me having to pay the extra 25 dollar charge?  

Thanks in advance.