Whilst I believe Bachmann Oliver would have moulded handrails as opposed to...non-moulded handrails (or is seperately moulded a better term?) we must be careful about what we say, as Chaz put it not all that long ago, and in better words than I can think of:
Technically, there is nothing wrong with talking about other ranges on the forum, but there are boundaries such as not comparing the two ranges or saying one range or model is better than the other. This is generally not allowed here since this is an official Bachmann Trains forum and representatives from other ranges cannot speak for themselves here. Same can also be said for putting down either range or calling Hornby something along the lines of "H company" or "red box company".
Whilst I don't think we have any kind of huge issues here yet, I believe that caution
should be taken as to what we say on this kind of topic. But again, I don't think we have any issues here
yet.
Anywayyy moving...slightly more on topic here, here are some more of my...semi-educated guesses about this year's range. I think I'll just put out some thoughts here for HO and G scale, as these ranges I'm the least sure of what to expect next (please note these are just my opinions, and are not indicative of everyone else's).
HO Gauge:All I really see is at best maybe a freight wagon of some kind, as Oliver and Toad are already delayed to this year anyway, I guess they could maybe throw in an engine like Paxton but I'm not entirely sure of what to expect, if much at all.
G Gauge:Since Winston has also been pushed back, at best all I see is another wagon being added to the range, but all I think we'll really get is Winston and nothing else.
...And the range I am probably still the most excited for...
Narrow Gauge:I expect Rheneas as the next engine, and as a lot of people (myself included) have gone over why Rheneas will probably come next in the line, I won't dawdle too long on this point here.
If there's one thing I expect more than anything else in the range however, it's a humble brakevan of course.
Preferably the brown one, as it has been seen in both model, and CGI form, considering the stock that's currently on Bachmann's range, the brown Brakevan seems the most likely, being the only colour of Brakevan seen in the CGI and model series (see below), and it is also perfectly tailored to Bachmann's existing Narrow Gauge rolling stock, having been used so extensively on freight trains all throughout the show's runtime, and having even been used along side the Green and White Coaches in earlier seasons (see "A Bad Day For Sir Handel"), however of all the coaches, I consider those the least likely to appear in Bachmann's range, or at least, the ones that if they were released, would probably be released last, but more on that later. Anyway, tangent over, here are images of the Model era and CGI era Brown Brakevans:
Or alternatively perhaps we'd get the Blue Brakevan and the Red Brakevan from the classic series to fit with colours/colors of the Blue Box Van and Red Box Van respectively.
Anyway, whilst I'd like to see some coaches in next year's range, I don't think the Slate Trucks would be entirely out of place, the ones from the classic series in particular being
very iconic. Having been so extensively used throughout the entire model era of Thomas and Friends, plus they look more unique than the current Open Wagon in the Narrow Gauge line I'd say, as Open Wagons like that did appear in standard gauge, but the Slate Trucks were always unique to the Narrow Gauge Railway. So it's not hard to see why they have a fair chance of being produced along side the brown Brakevan.
As a side note; I doubt we'd see them with faces, as the last time I recall seeing the slate trucks fitted with faces was all the way back in season 5, so maybe they'd look somewhat like their season 5 counterparts below (just with no faces)...
Maybe with/without slate loads...I mean, I am just one person, but I think that could be something
and also if I'm wrong here feel free to correct me, but aren't the slate trucks seen throughout the classic series a little overscaled next to their basis?
But if I had to be honest for what I wanted to see most next year, I would have the Brown Brakevan above on my "wishlist" but I'd also have another kind of Brakevan on there...and some matching coaches of course, so without further ado, I present to you...
Duke pulling Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima, and Beatrice...oh wait...these are the TV Series Blue and White Coaches...
On a more serious note though, I'd say that of all the Narrow Gauge Coaches, not only are these (in my opinion) the most iconic, but also just my personal favourites really, so I'm probably
heavily biased but nevertheless I feel they do have a lot of potential, being so extensively used throughout Season 4. I mean, I'm fairly sure almost every single Narrow Gauge Engine from the model era has pulled them at some point (with the only possible "Model Era" exceptions I can think of being Smudger and Bertram, both of whom were both only seen in one episode and never again).
Also given if Rheneas does come out next year, then we'll have a set of Blue and White Coaches and a Blue Brakevan, which in my opinion are the coaches which suit Skarloey and Rheneas best, as the colour contrast really does look quite nice with them.
They've been there right from the start, and have seen events such as Peter Sam leaving behind the refreshment lady, the events of Gallant Old Engine (a character defining moment for Rheneas and an episode that gave Duncan some character developement too), they also saw the events of "You Can't Win", they were there when Duncan needed to stop on the middle of a lake to gain steam and were also there when Duncan stalled on a Viaduct...and that's all in the space of just a few episodes of one season.
Also, whilst my point about them being Agnes, Ruth, Lucy, Jemima, and Beatrice was merely my attempt at humour, the simple fact of the matter is that these coaches do bear a
strong resemblance to the coaches of the Railway Series. Which is part of what I think think helps them stay in the hearts and minds of long term fans, and fans of both the Railway Series and TV Series (like myself).
I can even see the Railway Series modelers in the community applying "1" and "3", along with "SR" decals to show which compartments represent first class, and which compartments represent third class and to of course show that the coaches are property of the Skarloey Railway.
To me at least (and maybe this is wishful thinking on my part) but if these coaches were released into the range, I see them being
very popular.
...The
only downside I can think of is that they were last seen in season 10, so I do worry a little about their appeal to younger fans. Even the Green and White Coaches, along with the Red and Yellow Coaches, whilst far less iconic did last appear in the slightly more recent Season 12, which is still a while ago now, so it does sow the seeds of doubt in my mind as to whether or not they could appear.
(To my knowledge, this is a deleted shot of all these classic coaches next to each other in "A Bad Day For Sir Handel")
Now, people may bring in the arguement of characters like S.C.Ruffey, and how he has not been seen since season 3 or 4 I think (?) but he was no more than a repaint and a new face mould for Bachmann, so an easy profit, but with these Narrow Gauge Coaches, each coach (Blue and White, Red and Yellow, Green and White) would be an entirely new tooling, and yes I did list the the Red and Yellow and Blue and White Coaches as different toolings, as they aren't actually identical, the photo above shows some minute differences between them, for example, it can't be seen in the above picture but, the Blue and White Coaches have more clearly visible...paneling...for lack of a better word, but, however, what is visible is that the body pieces of the Blue and White Coaches do not curve inwards just near the chassis like they do on the Red and Yellow coaches.
They even have entirely different basis', which can be seen on TTTEWikia:
http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Skarloey_Railway_CoachesSo that would mean my other most likely candidate for Coaches is the fan dubbed "Talyllyn Coaches"...
Whilst certainly not my personal favourites, I can see why Bachmann could release them, as they are (so far) the only coaches to have appeared on the Narrow Gauge Railway in CGI. Personally I think they look overscaled (and as for representations of the Talyllyn Railway's coaches, they are overscaled), but also the paint work to me just doesn't look as nice as the coaches from the model era. But I realise Bachmann must try their best to cater to all demographics, not just those with the exact same mindset as me. So realistically I'll probably be happy with whatever coaches Bachmann may introduce into the Narrow Gauge range.
But who knows? Maybe we'll get thrown a massive curve ball with something like the D.Fusit Gunpowder Wagon appearing (I mean it's unlikely, but you never know)...
So there's just a few of my thoughts on potential releases for
next -I mean this year. Anyway, maybe I'm entirely wrong, it's impossible to know exactly what Bachmann will release next after all, "beggers can't be choosers" after all.
Anyway, until next time,
~Alex
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