Quote from: Yard Master on January 09, 2025, 01:51:55 PMHi all,

The Lighthouse has been discontinued, but the other items have not been. Yellow Rheneas and the Narrow Gauge Open Wagon are still in stock here at Bachmann; the Sodor Diesel Co. Tanker will be restocked later this year.

Got an official reply wow

How would I revive the scenery range

Now this is something I thought of and you would focus on making everything versatile and could work on many different layouts for different parts of the island of Sodor

So first off I would bring back
The round water tower
Brendam warehouse
Signal box

And introduce the following new items
Resin retaining walls pack
Sodor station platform pack
Sodor station sign pack
Glass station canopy 

 

Okay so here are my discontinuation predictions I really don't wanna see most of these gone but I am pretty sure the following products have a good chance of not being in the catalog
Sodor diesel co tanker
Blinking light house
Peco tooling ng open wagon
Yellow rheneas

Now I don't wanna see the scenery discontinued but I do think it may happen this year
We still have the sheds which I am glad were brought back

For new cattle wagons I could see them doing a
Mccoll farm cattle van
Circus cattle van
Pink cattle van

Now usually with the expection of last year we get one wagon family expanded or introduced for HO .

The wagon family could be either cattle vans or maybe ulility vans

Both types are in the range but have few products using there toolings it could be either one I doubt it would be both

Diesel 10 would be a great idea for 2025 for a number of reasons and I think he would be very appropriate and I do know that he would sell very very well regardless of the price .

If you throw in some engine varients.
Gordon's special express coaches Trevor
Well wagon and m wagon rerelease
And a Troublsome van I think you have the perfect HO scale lineup for 2025
 
Catalogue
Special Thomas variant
Emily with 12
Green salty
Gordon's special express coaches
Troublesome truck #7
Trevor

NMRA
Diesel 10
Cattle vans
Well wagon
M wagon

As for large scale I don't think Rosie or Mavis could  happen
I feel like Mavis would be a flop idk why people keep suggesting her she is sorta irrelevant. Edward is my pick but he could also be a flop but he is much well better known than Mavis and would probably be a better seller due to his bright blue color which would appeal to garden model railroaders compared to Mavis . A pink Rosie and a red one could appeal to garden model railroaders but I think Edward is more popular .

Narrow gauge I think it needs to be a catch up year if not I think we should see troublesome slate wagons or brown vans but over all I think we'll be a catch-up year
For n scale everything has already been said.

As 2025 is only a few days away here are my catalog predictions on what we could see announced I have previously went over what I would like to see be announced, but there is a difference

N scale 
LBSC thomas
Black James
7 plank wagons
Gordon express set


HO
Pink undercoat Thomas
Emily with 12
Green salty 
Well wagon
Troublesome van
Gordon's Special express composite coach
Gordon's Special express brake  coach
Trevor

Beyond making Fernando and a coffee wagon they could also reuse their 4-6-0 balwins for Marcia and Marcio as well as Raul .

Idk if that could happen I doubt they would make anything beyond that for Brazil stuff but considering how easy could be to get a ton of characters from Brazil done I think those 5 could happen . I don t think Gabriela could happen as she is not popular enough to warrant a complete new tooling the only reason why Raul could happen is if they make Marcia and Marcio and Fernando as Raul could fit in with them and is more popular then other Brazil characters as he appears in the great race

I am not saying that it should happen but it would be easy to do . Since Mike and Rex could share the same chasis and only 1 tender design .
 

I doubt they would make a Z scale line but it could be somewhat easy to make everything .

As for narrow gauge even if the mandate is lifted idk if they would even find it worth while to make certain characters
Freddie , Luke , Victor , Duncan , Millie and Duke would require a TVS design tooling
 
Mighty Mac Smudger and Protues could be easy repaints

I do think Duncan Victor Luke and Millie have a higher chance then duke or Freddie but knowing why Duncan was cancelled idk if any could happen .

Narrow gauge has a rolling stock back log but I do think we could get brown vans and troublesome slate wagons
For some new tooled rolling stock 4 plank wooden wagons seem likley .
green wagon
Black wagon
Green with rusty frames
Tan wagon
Pink wagon


 

Bachmann has done barley anything with o scale so Williams Thomas line is not the most likely thing however I do think it could happen at one point since they did Wilson and Brewster in o scale years ago for the very short lived Chuggington line

I think large scale is pretty much done I do think Edward and the tramway coaches could happen but Aside from that I just see repaints in the lines future maybe Sidney , troublesome cattle vans , etc

O scale won't be as pricy as large scale and could expand to the point where we could get a O scale Gordon

As for Z scale I think it would be easy all they would have to do is make a 0-8-0 chasis that would work for all three of them . Mike and Rex could reuse the same exact chasis design and Bert just lack the front and back wheels . They also reuse tenders so there is that will only one chasis to design that would only need to be modded for Bert

So for HOz
2-8-2 chasis
3 engine shells
1 tender
3 rolling stock

S scale is not popular at all and we already technicaly have a s scale Thomas range diapet

Was gonna make a thread about this but it already exists
I do really think Sidney has been long overdue and I am glad to see him get made .
Calling the mainline diesel the mainland diesel and not Uli as one is named in the show is a shock

As for them in other scales I doubt the mainland diesel will be in large scale as it's not too popular to warrant a large scale release despite the ease of it being made.   
As for other class 08s they could do Fernando some time soon and maybe  a coffee bean troublesome truck  as seen in BWBA to along with him .

As there are finalizing the catalogue here are last-minute suggestions
M truck - the tooling is in the range and this item goes for a lot on eBay bringing it back would be amazing

CCT vans- I have suggested these in the past and I think these would be really nice considering the live lobster van has been discontinued Maybe they could properly reproduce the inspiration from the show and introduce a brown and blue version .
Trevor - since bulgy and sth car have happened. I think Trevor is long overdue. He would be really nice to see.
Spencer's brake coach - his composite coach is based on the model series design so I do think that his brake coach would also have to be based on the model series designed to match it which is actually fine because Bachman has the tool for the coach kit they used that being the collet brake coach

Troublesome truck 7 I do hope this has a classic face and is a LNER 12 ton van

Lei he could also use the LNER van tooling

Works unit coach and breakdown train -again super popular and very much suggested

I do think the pump trolley or skiff could be be cool to see

As for locomotives, which I doubt they will announce in the catalog
Diesel 10 is my 100% absolute most wanted mdoel however Harvey hiro and whiff would be close run ups diesel 10 is the ultimate villain. The characters introduction is 25 years old in 2025. not only would he be a great character to introduce for the 80th anniversary but it would also celebrate an anniversary for his I am more than certain that he would sell well regardless of the price is a very popular character, not just amongst older fan but amongst kids as well .
Hiro is a fan favorite character, a large, tender engine who even appeared in the reboot. He would definitely sell well and considering how big Thomas is in Japan that they literally have to get the range imported into Japan. Imagine how well he could sell there
Regardless, that is my list some varients  that I would also like to
see
Scrap Oliver and toad
These paint variance appeared in a very classic episode. That is a favorite for a ton of fans  myself included.

So it seems Thomas will be gone from the New York toy fair for good Mattel stopped after COVID . I remember New York toy fair 2020 which was the last one where we found out about LBSC Thomas and Busy bee James and the motorized rebrand of the trackmaster range .
I except to see painted sir Handel some time in Jan .
Glad to finally get an update on salty.

They have been testing out the waters for not just welsh NG stuff but HOn30 in general mainly for America the wording at the very end of the live stream makes me think Tallynn was more of a test for HOn30 as a whole for Bachmann I definitely could see them do more Welsh designs but also American stuff and this become a part of their huge offerings of scales I could see them doing a American design  before we get something like sir Hayden. I do think the Baldwin 2-6-2 is likely to be the next HOn30 product for them .

Salty is being worked on very glad to get an update on him . I hope he gets released by the end of next year 

So I just saw the Rebecca video from Bachmann they released today and Salty is heavily featured in the video . Pulling the brand new LNER 12 ton van gray . Good news for salty however, this is the older model so idk how to feel about this . Hopefully we see salty come back to the line next year .

Peter Sam would need heavy mods but it's worth it as not only can they make Edward Thomas but also other tatoo  class locomotives they will need more mods but there were a class of locomotives used by narrow gauge railways all over not just the UK but the world and they were not even all narrow gauge but also standard gauge .

As for a new tool TR locomotive I would really like to see Douglas as Duncan has been cancelled also if there were to a TR  Thomas character Duncan could be that as Douglas and Duncan don't look alike .also Duncan had a whole event on the TR called Duncan days . But idk if this could happen but it would be super cool .

Anyway I doubt either will happen next year .

But what I do think could happen next year is a new engine for the HO range now as they are likely still waiting to see how Rebecca does Ik they can't do Diesel 10 or Hiro . Nia is the character who replaced Edward at tidmoth sheds so Idk if that would be an ideal choice for the anniversary year . Harvey despite having the attachment is not impossible so maybe him but the most likely canadate is whiff
Here is how the rest of the decade could play out in terms on characters
2025 whiff
2026 Nia
2027 Hiro
2028 Iron arry and Bert catch up year
2029 Havery
2030 Diesel 10
Now without getting too ahead of myself I like this list and I feel this could happen but who knows   

A line that is a matter of if is the large scale line now there are some popular characters they have yet to make in the line that could warrant a tooling .
Edward is a main character thus is well known and could happen
Rosie is a female engine that could sell pretty well
Finally is Duck who is super popular with fans
As for rolling stock

12 ton circus vans and the Christmas reef van I could see being good sellers
And as someone who has seen large scale railways I do feel the blue open coach could be a very good seller
For other tankers bringing back the milk and oil tanker would be nice . And a pink 7 plank wagon that is seen all around in the CGI series .
Hannah and Henrietta could also be nice to go with Toby .

I doubt Mavis is popular enough to be in large scale honestly I feel like people just keep suggesting her because she is an Awdry character but tbh she would not sell well enough. Maybe 10 years ago you could argue she was more relevant then duck or Rosie much the show and merch forgot about her compare that to duck and roise who appeared till the very end .

For sir Handel being as sir Hayden there is a lot of ideas for that being 
Sir Hayden in TR green
Sir Hayden in TR red
Corris railway #10

Also side note if making Duncan out of plastic would keep the price down they should do that .