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I would love to see this happening, and the reasoning that the designs are already done is not wrong!  Would be fairly easy to just jump in and start making again without a lot of re-designing!

I also have a couple ideas for new road names/numbers that would work with the existing design (although maybe with minor cosmetic changes such as a different interchangeable Radley & Hunter smokestack):  

Mount Emily Shay No. 1 (oil burner)
Cass Scenic Railroad Shay No. 3 (oil burner)
Mower Lumber Co. Shay No. 5 (same locomotive as original Bachmann prototype; but road name not previously offered)
Mower Lumber Co./Cass, Greenbrier Cheat & Bald Knob Scenic RR/Cass Scenic RR Shay No. 1 (unique Chinese Red and Forest Green Paint Scheme; any one of these would be great!)
Mower Lumber Co. Shay No. 6
Premar Coal Co. Shay No. 6
Leetonia Railway Shay No. 1
Meadow River Lumber Co. Shay No. 2
Western Maryland Railway Shay No. 4

While some of these were Class 70-3, their appearance was similar enough to Bachmann Prototype Cass No. 5 that the models would be marketable.  

I would like to see the improvements on the UK models also be used for the US models, like the black chassis for Annie and Clarabel, and the thicker and black lamp rods and hooks.

The MOP and me - Part 1

MOP is an acronym for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, although I didn’t know that till much later on.  At one time that railroad was known as such throughout the railroad industry.   

We had two railroads in New Iberia in the early 1950’s when I was very young, the mainline Texas & New Orleans and the branchline Missouri Pacific.  The T&NO arrived first in New Iberia in the 1880’s under an earlier name, Morgan’s Louisiana and Texas I believe, and it occupied center stage with the depot very close to the middle of town, only a couple of blocks.  The MP arrived over 20 years later in 1909 as the early company titled the New Iberia and Northern, and being late to the party was forced to occupy less desirable locations and circuitous routes since the T&NO already had all the good places. 

The MP in south Louisiana had a complex history compared to the T&NO.  Simplifying to an extreme, the NI&N, unlike the ML&T, appeared to be largely a locally funded 50-mile short line venture in collaboration with a network of then-Frisco-controlled lines in Louisiana and Texas that was part of a grand scheme by railroad mogul B.F. Yoakum to create a new Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico trunk line.  The Rock Island and the Frisco were his major players.

To make a very long story very short, Yoakum overextended and was forced to sell off the Frisco Louisiana and some of the Texas properties in bankruptcy proceedings. Control of these lines was then assumed by an interim independent organization known as the Gulf Coast Lines; the MP acquired the GCL in 1925. As a youngster I often heard the MP in New Iberia referred to as the “Frisco” by older people, which always mystified me until many years later when I read the histories of the MP in Louisiana and Texas.  The definitive detailed history of the New Iberia and Northern itself is deeply buried in local archives and has yet to be written.

The Missouri Pacific itself completely dieselized in April of 1955.  I believe the New Iberia branch was steam powered at least through most of 1954 because I have several very clear memories of steam engines around town.  It definitely was still all steam in 1952.  The T&NO ran steam engines until late 1956, two years later, and will be the subject of another story.

I wish I’d been only 5 years older to fully take in the pageant of the passing of steam engines from the scene.  I was born into a world of completely steam-operated railroads, and those engines disappeared much too quickly….  but not so soon that I do have a good number of mental snapshots of them.

To be continued.

I would like to see some more non rail characters, I would like to see Trevor to go with Edward, George to go with Sir Handel and finally Bulgy to go with Duck & Oliver.

Could a resin Bulstode work?

Sorta brings that little ditch alive !  Looks great.

Ken

Details always needed to solve issues.

Does it derail at the points? Or at the frog, where the rails cross? Do random cars derail, or just one particular car? Is the route set straight when it derails? or curved? Which specific type of switch is causing you trouble? And is it different in size from the others you are using?

I couldn't agree more with you Chaz. It's pretty obvious that the Narrow Gauge range is aimed more primarily at the older fans and those that make up the general 009 market. Even the the age rating is on the packaging is higher then that on the 00/HO models. I really, REALLY hope that Duke is at the very least considered by Bachmann. Like I said, I firmly believe a model of Granpuff would sell like hot cakes and like you said, narrow gauge engine choices are getting more and more limited. Here's to hoping more classic characters like Duke and Stepney are given more of a chance to be released going forward 

Out of curiosity, if you could choose a character of your choice to be made, who would you all choose and why? 

When backing over one turnout train derails. All other turnouts no issue. 

I tried to access the U S Coast and Geodetic Survey maps around the Board Tree Tunnel but getting in was just too convoluted.