For British model trains that ship to the US, your best bets are Rails of Sheffield and Hattons.

Re-using Bachmann UK toolings is entirely missing the point of what set Bachmann Thomas apart from Hornby Thomas. It's just not worth all the hoops and hurdles Bachmann would have to go through when they could make a more accurate model with a new tooling from the ground up. It would be inconsistent with the rest of the brand. If a 9F or 2MT is too complicated tooling wise for the Thomas range, Bachmann has plenty of characters to pick from that are in high demand but would be less-demanding tooling wise, such as Stepney or BoCo.

Y'all are getting way too worked up and aggressive towards a new member; they didn't do anything malicious or spiteful.

Hi there Sligh12; welcome to the Thomas & Friends section of the Bachmann Forum. As shown earlier, the Bachmann Forum has a general list of rules, code of conduct. Forums are a little different from places like Facebook and Twitter, where the discussion is more organized.

You can make a new topic for any questions you have about the Bachmann Thomas brand. Usually, you can find a general-purpose topic relating to the subject matter you want to quiz about. Posting your question in there can also be helpful, but if you have a specific question that needs answering, a new topic might be better to make. Gravedigging is also discouraged on forums, as the discussions have taken place several years ago, and thus the users involved are more than likely no longer present. For new questions, it's generally a better idea to open up a new topic.

They used the photo of the African tanker because at the time it was literally the first photo of the troublesome tankers you'd see on the Wiki. I doubt they even realized what the source was.

Rodimus, nobody but you has been flipping their lid over the most mundane of things. Please just stop and take a breather. You've been doing this a lot lately.

Quote from: Rodimus Supreme on July 18, 2020, 06:37:22 PM

Quote from: TrainMan2001 on July 17, 2020, 01:48:53 PM

Quote from: Rodimus Supreme on July 17, 2020, 01:27:52 PM

Quote from: TrainFan97 on July 16, 2020, 08:25:09 PM
The blurred photo was indeed Black James (called Origin James) and if the wheels aren't painted, they'd better be painted on the final model.

What are you talking about? The wheels are painted.

The wheels aren't painted, they're chemically blackened. Although that is accurate to the CGI series, I think people would believe painted wheels would look better aesthetically.

They don't look different. And how do you know they're chemically blackened? So you work for Bachmann?

Please, please, and I mean please, take a chill pill.

It seems a bit misguided for the Bachmann Twitter page to hype up the announcements, only to tease (in a very obvious manner) their only announcement prior to the event. It led many users to believe that there was still more to be seen during the announcements themselves, which is why so many people are frustrated now. I feel as though any update from the pieces of rolling stock such as Troublesome Truck 6, the flatbeds with crates, or something from the N Scale range would've alleviated this issue.

That said, this was also a live-streamed event with multiple vendors participating, so in hindsight it's not a shocker that every vendor, Bachmann included, basically had to bee-line it through their announcements and keep it short and simple. Either way, I think Thomas fans were hoping for something just a -bit- more. Hopefully we'll get just that in later months. COVID-19 is making things unpredictable, which has to be considered.

Though I will say that it was nice to see the G Scale Diesel in advance, and I always enjoy seeing prototypes in development in such a regard. I'm a little surprised neither Daisy or Peter Sam are far enough in development to have the same kind of preview, but hopefully that'll change soon.

If they're going to spend a lot of money on a tooling for a big tender engine in the Thomas range again, the only engine that deserves that honor is Hiro.

You were given literal facts, and shown an image of the literal prop from the TV show, and that's the only argument you can come up with? Please stop talking. Nobodys going to explain stuff to you twice if you just cover your ears and go "lalala I'm right you're wrong" when things are explained to you in detail.

I'll provide a slight counter-argument to that: The Bachmann Diesel tooling is made to NRMA standards; now, with that in mind, Diesels body is only a couple of millimeters smaller than the PECO Lynton and Barnstaple On30 kit many people use to recreate the van.

This is where it gets interesting; as cited from http://thomastankmerch.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-guide-to-rolling-stock.html, the Lynton and Barnstaple wagons are actually 16mm, and meant to run on O gauge track. When they were used in Thomas, they were re-gauged to run on Gauge 1 track. This is why the Lynton and Barnstaple wagons in the show "scale" fairly close to the Gauge 1 rolling stock.

For a good visual, take this into perspective:

This is one issue I've had with the PECO kit; it's way too large compared to other OO scale rolling stock. Either way, point is if Bachmann wanted to make an accurate set of Lynton and Barnstaple rolling stock, complying to NRMA standards isn't a problem. The Lynton and Barnstaple wagons tend to hang only a few millimeters further than other OO scale rolling stock in the range, and going by engines like Diesel, Bill, and Ben, isn't a problem apparently.

Now the challenge there is Bachmann feeling this is a wagon worth designing a whole new tooling for. Theoretically, the 4 wheel wagons and the 4 wheel van could all use the same chassis tooling, with only the upper body being different. The 8 ton trucks (the long ones) could also have their body be one mold. Then, their bogie trucks would be the same tooling used on the mail cars and flatbeds:

This is how it was done in the show; the bogie design in question is actually a Tenmille Lynton and Barnstaple bogie that the crew used for many pieces of rolling stock in the earlier seasons. Point is, Bachmann would only need to design a truck body that fits on the bogie tooling they already have.

Good information right up there. Gonna echo that statement; Bachmann only calls their Thomas range HO for marketing purposes in the USA, as that's the more recognized scale here. The range itself is definitely OO scale technically though, in terms of how all the engines are scaled. To add, the majority of the rolling stock is ex-Mainline toolings, which is British OO.

Quote from: Zekeism on May 11, 2020, 05:53:24 AM

Quote from: Cheeky_ULP on May 10, 2020, 11:42:38 PM
They need to redo Thomas, Percy James, Gordon and Henrys toolings before even considering Spencer.

While Thomas, Percy and James need better faces, what's wrong with Henry & Gordon?

Main issue with Henry is his tender is too short. If one wanted to get nitpicky, there's a lot of proportion inaccuracies to the TVS models, since Henry and Gordon used different references at the time.

They need to redo Thomas, Percy James, Gordon and Henrys toolings before even considering Spencer.

Quote from: TrainFan97 on February 23, 2020, 11:53:52 PM
So far, there's been no sign of Daisy, Peter Sam, or any other product announced at last year's NMRA. They must not be ready to be shown yet, especially since none of them even have prices yet. We may not see them until later this year. Possibly this summer, we should get images of at least some of the products announced at last year's NMRA, especially the rolling stock. Don't know about Daisy or Peter Sam.

Bachmann might as well list LBSC Thomas and Busy Bee James to their web store, as well as the Narrow Gauge Brake Vans, N Scale James and the tankers, and Large Scale Diesel.

Daisy and Peter Sam are probably being held back by issues in China. The Coronavirus has been causing manufacturing issues across multiple industries, and I doubt model trains are going to be an exception. Thomas & James are probably getting by easier since their toolings already exist.

Quote from: Rodimus Supreme on February 24, 2020, 01:03:21 PM
So why didn't Bachmann post a thread for the new announcements this year? I know that magazine revealed them already, but Bachmann always posts a thread for all the new announcements.

Probably because the fans beat them to it for once...

If Bachmann plans on making a big engine in the foreseeable future, Hiro deserves the spot way more than Rebecca.

To keep it simple, I can't see her being confidently forced by Mattel when BWBA is failing to keep the brand afloat...