Quote from: Yard Master on June 23, 2025, 11:50:26 AMHi all,

For the mid-year NMRA announcements, we will only be making a Thomas & Friends announcement in HO scale this year. We hope you will still look forward to it.

If I might ask for clarification, when you say A announcement do you mean only a single one? Or is this a general there will only be announcements in HO?

Either way I agree with Mulfred, there is a lot currently in the pipeline and as discussed on a few New Model Monday streams the tariffs as well as well with a rep a friend met in person the other week, the tariffs stalled production pretty heavily. So keeping it small to help catchup and hopefully come back swinging in 2026 is the smart call in my opinion.

I'm not entirely surprised that they're not adding anything new in the other scales, considering how behind Bachmann is on several projects. That, and the state of current events hasn't been helpful either, particularly with the tariffs. I would have liked to see at least some more rolling stock in N scale, like the coal wagon with load and a BR 20-ton brake van, but I'm sure more N scale announcements will come next year, (hopefully with Edward too).

With that in mind, and HO only getting announcements this summer, I think HO is overdue for a new engine tooling announcement. If we do get one, I agree with the general consensus that Whiff is probably the safest bet, since he seems like a natural addition after Stanley and would likely be one of the more affordable options. Apart from Whiff and some more rolling stock repaints like a green China Clay wagon and Gordon's special coaches, I think that's as good as it's going to get this summer.

Disappointed. But given the circumstances, I can understand how the tariffs and other global events affected the production of these models. Was hoping that other scales would have a chance to shine, particularly n-scale. Hopefully 2026 makes up for this year's dismal announcements.

N-scale Edward's announcement gets postponed, again...

Hello,

I have noticed that there is a bit of a divide into whether a potential Gordon's Special Coach and Gordon's Special Brake Coach should be a recolor of the Gordon's Express Coaches or the Spencer Special Coaches. Some, including myself, would prefer them to recolor the Express Coaches and Brake Coaches, so that they have the corridors on the front and back, and can seamlessly fit in with the already existing Express Coaches, as well as being able to have a potential Gordon's Special Brake Coach. Others prefer them to recolor the Spencer Special Coaches, because they do not have the corridor and would appear more screen accurate.

I have just thought of a way to appeal to both sides of the argument, and I wanted to suggest it:

Recolor all 3 Coach Models into Gordon's Special Coaches.

That way, they would appeal to both sides. If people want screen accuracy, they could buy the Spencer Coach recolor. If people want them to fit in, they could buy the Express Coaches recolor. And if people can't decide, they could potentially buy both! It would give Bachmann 3 new products that just need to be recolored, not just one or two. Maybe the ones made out of the Spencer coaches can be 'Gordon's Special Coach' and the ones based on both Express Coaches be 'Gordon's Special Express Coach' and 'Gordon's Special Express Brake Coach.'

I suspect this is not going to happen and may not be a viable idea, but I just wanted to put the idea on the table rather than keep it to myself, see if anyone wants to do anything with it. It is ultimately up to Bachmann if they want to use the idea or not.

Thank you for your time.

Quote from: Yard Master on June 23, 2025, 11:50:26 AMHi all,

Harold is out of stock at Bachmann but is not discontinued. We are working on scheduling a new production run.

For the mid-year NMRA announcements, we will only be making a Thomas & Friends announcement in HO scale this year. We hope you will still look forward to it.

Wow so this happened . To be honest when predicting Edward I was not sure about this .
However does this mean that there will be only new item or it will only be HO scale stuff .
I am sure they will go with whiff if it's only one new product . As Stanley is done so a new tool is needed to keep the ball rolling .

Well Stanley, Sir Handel, High Side wagons, the Gondola's and Open Carriage are all done and are just waiting for packaging. I forgot what's taking Salty so long again... but other than that it makes total sense why there's only new HO at NMRA this year, There's a huge backlog right now.

Would the chocolate syrup tanker and taffy tanker in HO Scale, along with maybe Whiff, or maybe just Scruff or Diesel 10 be a good idea?

Quote from: harrison05 on June 24, 2025, 10:12:24 PMWell Stanley, Sir Handel, High Side wagons, the Gondola's and Open Carriage are all done and are just waiting for packaging. I forgot what's taking Salty so long again... but other than that it makes total sense why there's only new HO at NMRA this year, There's a huge backlog right now.

Small correction the open carriage is not completed yet. It still has to get a painted sample (assuming the unpainted one they are showing off in a few days is even the final final unpainted sample) so that's still a while off. I also don't believe we've seen completed versions of the gondolas with the chassis yet but I admittedly don't remember so I might be mistaken.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on June 25, 2025, 12:47:26 PM

Quote from: harrison05 on June 24, 2025, 10:12:24 PMWell Stanley, Sir Handel, High Side wagons, the Gondola's and Open Carriage are all done and are just waiting for packaging. I forgot what's taking Salty so long again... but other than that it makes total sense why there's only new HO at NMRA this year, There's a huge backlog right now.

Small correction the open carriage is not completed yet. It still has to get a painted sample (assuming the unpainted one they are showing off in a few days is even the final final unpainted sample) so that's still a while off. I also don't believe we've seen completed versions of the gondolas with the chassis yet but I admittedly don't remember so I might be mistaken.

Ah ok thanks for clearing that up, I didn't know how far the open carriage was in production. As for the gondolas I could have sworn there were pics showed off on Bachmann's facebook again I could be wrong.

It's probably a good thing that it's only the HO scale line that's being announced given that there's a backlog of other characters/rolling stock of the HO, N, and even Large Scale that's yet to be released (as well as the tariff situation that's making everything price-wise uncertain at the moment)W

With the news from the Yardmaster as well as the NMRA getting closer, here's a more...realistic wishlist from me:

Whiff: I'd like to think many are in agreement that Whiff should be the next new engine tooling. He's one of last characters who appeared in both the model and CGI series, and he even appeared in AEG. His tooling can also be used for kitbashes into Aerolyte, as no RTR version exists. A win-win

If Whiff cannot happen, then 'Arry and Bert reissue. The eBay prices kinda speak for themselves, and I've said what I've had to say about them. Yes, I know we're getting Sidney and the Mainland Diesel, so maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to flood the market with Class 08s again.

I don't know what rolling stock I can think of to make recolors out of. I think -- much like the NMRA in 2020 -- we may only be getting one announcement. I'd rather an engine, and I personally want Whiff.

We may be getting a few announcements.

Saw the live: understandable that the 80th Anniversary Set got canceled due to the unpredictable tariff situation and the timing to no telling if they'd be able to release it on time, so no exclusive rolling stock from that set, although I hope they at least make a brake van based on that version though, because that would be an interesting basis like the N scale line to catch up on in that sense.

The Classic Logo trucks however look pretty decent as well as the unpainted sample of the open coach looks amazing! The latter rolling stock will certainly have the same, if not similar "NEM-lock" coupling like Toad (HO Scale), so that's interesting and a good from a design asthetic.

Since the brakevan is already designed, I think it would be smart if it was released as a separate sale item. I know we all love having more normal brakevans and this one already has a lot of work done for it. Would be a good way to get one of these cancelled items still out there despite the ongoing situation.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on June 24, 2025, 10:52:46 AM

Quote from: Yard Master on June 23, 2025, 11:50:26 AMHi all,

For the mid-year NMRA announcements, we will only be making a Thomas & Friends announcement in HO scale this year. We hope you will still look forward to it.

If I might ask for clarification, when you say A announcement do you mean only a single one? Or is this a general there will only be announcements in HO?

Apologies for the double post but I'd like to once again ask for clarification if possible. Matt Stern said on the stream last night there would be multiple product announcements in...wow less than 3 weeks already. Year has gone by fast. So I wanted to ask if this statement changed, or was Matt Stern mistaken. If you can't answer that's alright, as I said we'll find out soon enough, but I'd like to know which is more accurate to keep expectations in check for myself.