Out of my Excitement for the announcement of The Flying Scotsman in HO scale, I'm Starting this topic thread!



First Impressions, wow. This was an announcement that came completely out of left field. It was always a possibility that's been thrown around, but no one's ever thought twice about it. That said, as an A1 pacific fan (and an unapologetic Flying Scotsman fanboy), I'm over the moon about the announcement!

I know some people aren't crazy about the CGI render, which is fair. I, on the other hand, actually really like it. It's a cool fictional hybrid design that compliments Gordon well in my opinion. I don't mind the 6 wheel tenders, and I like the smoke deflectors.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time we have seen this render of Scotsman. It looks similar to the reference pictures we see sometimes, (like for Sir Handel), However the face is smaller than the smokebox here so it is entirely possible that this is new or altered. So it looks like he'll have all of his CGI features, including the Smoke Deflectors, the Banjo dome, and the LNER style headcode lamps, which I'm super excited about.

Another topic of contention which I'm sure will be thrown around is if he'll reuse the Gordon/Henry Chassis, considering they did something similar with Stanley. Scotsman's wheels are bigger, so I could see it going either way. I'll be honest, the thicker siderods never bothered me too much, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't Like to see a new Chassis. A new chassis would satisfy most fans and considering the quality on the newer mechanisms, it would be much appreciated.

Those are just my initial thoughts, once again, I'm so excited for this!

Yeah looking on the Wikia, it seems like this is either new art or art thats not been shown before.
I wonder if his Smoke Deflectors will be separately fitted or even movable. That would be cool if they could pull that off. Also nice to see we'll have a new Lamp moulding too hopefully.
I'm fine with them reusing Gordon's chassis and fine with either 6 or 8 wheel tender variations. I'm guessing it'll be easy to modify into an 8 wheel tender, just swapping the tender for Spencer's tender chassis, repaint the wheels.
I'm also guessing there will be a way to switch between running 1 tender and 2 depending on your own personal taste.
Overall I'm very much looking forward too seeing how he is made and looking forward to getting him on my new layout in my new home when he eventually comes out. Thank you Bachmann.

I made a slight prediction to this in the Everything Thomas thread before it met its size limit, but I brushed it off under the assumption that Bachmann wouldn't do Flying Scotsman before Hiro. It seems I was wrong though. I'm really not sure how to feel about this, as I feel like Hiro is one of the most popular engines in the CGI era, and yet he keeps getting shafted for other engines.

The unexpected announcement for HO Scale was Flying Scotsman. He's the second new tender engine for HO Scale after Rebecca. Many were expecting Hiro. I think they chose Flying Scotsman over Hiro because they could recycle Gordon's chassis for Flying Scotsman. Just like how they recycled Thomas' chassis for Stanley. That would be the more cost-effective way to produce him. If he does sell well (even though we know his price won't be pretty) maybe they'll be more likely to make Hiro, since now we're getting another new tender engine. Two tenders no less.

The other announcement was the reintroduction of the Knapford Station accessory.

At some point, Flying Scotsman could be made in N Scale as well; easily recycling Gordon's chassis. They might do N Scale Spencer before him. The reason there wasn't a new N Scale announcement was because the backlog for it was too high, and they desperately need to catch up. They should for sure have exciting new N Scale announcements for the 2026 catalog. Hopefully Edward.

Flying Scottsman
Bachmann is truely the best .
I was not expecting this guy at all.
Tbh I could see this guy coming sooner rather then later as we have Stanley out and Sidney and the mainland diesel are repaints .
He is an Awdry character which is good to see .

I wonder if Gordon or Spencer's parts will be reused for him .
The tender for Spencer could be reused with a 6 wheels instead of 8 .

Knapford is cool as well . Glad they brought it back with updated details. I understand why it's only one canopy this time . But overall great to see it back .

These 2 products are super cool and I can't wait to see them released

Quote from: TrainFan97 on July 19, 2025, 01:59:21 PMAt some point, Flying Scotsman could be made in N Scale as well; easily recycling Gordon's chassis. They might do N Scale Spencer before him. The reason there wasn't a new N Scale announcement was because the backlog for it was too high, and they desperately need to catch up. They should for sure have exciting new N Scale announcements for the 2026 catalog. Hopefully Edward.

I think Edward is the only tender engine I can see coming in N scale anytime soon. After Edward, I would personally prefer to see them introduce Duck before tackling another large locomotive in N, like Flying Scotsman or Spencer.

Speaking of Flying Scotsman, I've warmed up to the announcement in the last few hours, and I'm considering getting him. The response and reception on social media have been huge, with my Facebook post sharing the announcement receiving over 130 likes and reactions. I could see him being announced for the UK line a few years after his release, considering both the character's and the real locomotive's popularity over there. Daisy had her announcement in the UK line two years after her release here, so I wouldn't rule it out.

Quote from: Chaz on July 19, 2025, 02:45:32 PM

Quote from: TrainFan97 on July 19, 2025, 01:59:21 PMAt some point, Flying Scotsman could be made in N Scale as well; easily recycling Gordon's chassis. They might do N Scale Spencer before him. The reason there wasn't a new N Scale announcement was because the backlog for it was too high, and they desperately need to catch up. They should for sure have exciting new N Scale announcements for the 2026 catalog. Hopefully Edward.

I think Edward is the only tender engine I can see coming in N scale anytime soon. After Edward, I would personally prefer to see them introduce Duck before tackling another large locomotive in N, like Flying Scotsman or Spencer.

Speaking of Flying Scotsman, I've warmed up to the announcement in the last few hours, and I'm considering getting him. The response and reception on social media have been huge, with my Facebook post sharing the announcement receiving over 130 likes and reactions. I could see him being announced for the UK line a few years after his release, considering both the character's and the real locomotive's popularity over there. Daisy had her announcement in the UK line two years after her release here, so I wouldn't rule it out.

I do agree that Duck should come to N Scale after Edward before anymore large tender engines for quite a while. N Scale should also get engines like Oliver, as well as Donald and Douglas before anymore larger tender engines like Spencer and Flying Scotsman.

Anyway, Flying Scotsman is already a better-received announcement than Rebecca was, considering that fact that he's an Awdry character. He was meant to have a much larger role in the Season 3 episode 'Tender Engines' but his physical model was never finished, and only the tenders were ever made, due to budget constraints. It wasn't until The Great Race when he finally did make a full appearance in the TV Series.

Cool stuff. Have there ever been any cases where items were released or shipped earlier or later than expected?

I wasn't expecting they would make Scotsman as I think some of the staff said that they only gonna make another tender engine depending on how Rebecca sells (and the fact this is a two tender engine), but I guess the sales on her may've convinced Bachmann.

Looking at the date, I think makes sense as 2026 would mark the 10th anniversary of the Great Race which is where Scostman was introduced. I'm thinking they may reused Spencer's chassis as the Behind the Scenes page says that was what the animators used for Scotsman. So at least that can be less time consuming. I wonder if the smoke deflectors would be static or movable based on what happened in the special.

Quote from: MrNormalDraws on July 19, 2025, 10:53:35 PMI wasn't expecting they would make Scotsman as I think some of the staff said that they only gonna make another tender engine depending on how Rebecca sells (and the fact this is a two tender engine), but I guess the sales on her may've convinced Bachmann.

Looking at the date, I think makes sense as 2026 would mark the 10th anniversary of the Great Race which is where Scostman was introduced. I'm thinking they may reused Spencer's chassis as the Behind the Scenes page says that was what the animators used for Scotsman. So at least that can be less time consuming. I wonder if the smoke deflectors would be static or movable based on what happened in the special.

Had this at the back of my mind, and yeah using Spencer's chassis makes the most sense. I'm sure it won't be the exact same but I would definitely prefer that over Gordon's. We'll have to wait and see about the quality of Stanley's mechanism considering he uses Thomas', interested to see how that will turn out.  Bachmann Spencer is one of the few models I don't own, so if anyone's able to take a closer look at his chasis and mechanism to get a better idea. Looking on the parts store, obviously the moving eye mech definitely won't fit but I could see the wheels working out with a reworked rear trailing wheel. 

In regards to the smoke deflectors, would love it if they could somehow slide or change position, but I'm not sure how likely that is. In the render shown, it does look like they're forward slightly. If they had to choose, I would vote for them to be slid forward like the basis and during the engine race in The Great Race.

Comparing the render shown in the announcements, and then seeing the OG CGI version in this clip, wouldn't it make sense for them to use the render used CGI era? I mean it would make sense that seeing that as Gordon's brother, in terms of his face and boiler should be at least similar in size since they've been going for the CGI renders going from Diesel/Arry and Bert onwards.

I wouldn't be surprised if they used Spencer's wheels for him given that his wheels do look a bit bigger than Gordon's (looking at their Bachmann promo photos, and comparing them to the Flying Scotsman's CGI model, it would make sense if they went to use Spencer's seeing that probably to avoid using Gordon's chunky side rods he's got)...

This more than makes up for the lack of the 80th Anniversary set that got canceled due to the unexpected setbacks from earlier this year. I'm glad this is the surprise that we're genuinely excited for!

So, I'm a bit confused about Scotsman's render. We've never seen this photo before, and he clearly has a smaller face. Does anyone have any info on this seemingly updated CGI model? Personally, I prefer the larger face. I think it might've overlapped the diameter of the smokebox in the show, but if the face was made to be the same diameter as the smokebox for the HO model, I'd be happy.

Regardless, the mystery of the new render intrigues me.

Question is when Flying Scotsman comes out, will the Hornby Flying Scotsman (Thomas version) prices go up or down lol.

The price of the Hornby one will probably just go up harrison05.

I was at the NMRA Convention on Saturday and asked some questions.

First, there is no plan to make him DCC-ready unless Bachmann UK picks up the model.

Second, He will be more based on the CGI model than the real Locomotive.

Third, there is no confirmation on how the second tender will connect.