Thomas & Friends in 2018

[thomasgleek444]

As to add to this, I would like to see in the large scale the following
starting with the more realistic options such as
-Edward
-Henrietta for toby
-and more other cars

and then the things that will most likely never happen, but im still hoping that one day they do and those would be the bigger engines
-Gordon
-And Henry

though i know everyone says they would need bigger turns.....so what, a lot of model trains call for bigger turns, just do it ^^"

[douglas]

@thomasgleek

Bachmann will never make any engine with more than 8 wheels (not including tenders obviously). They would be prohibitively expensive both produce and purchase, and as you noted they would require wider-radius curves that fans and parents will not want to buy for their children just to make the engines run without buckling and derailing.

[Chaz]

This hasn't been brought up on here but it's interesting to note that the face used on the illustration of the large scale spiteful brake van resembles a late-model era troublesome truck face with one of the large scale models for the narrow gauge episodes.  Hopefully if Bachmann announces one in HO this year we get the face that was actually used in his episode.

[TerencetheTractor525]

Wow! Good observation Chaz. I find it amazing that Bachmann chose that particular late-model era face of all faces. I also concur with you on that if Bachmann does announce the spiteful brake van in HO, it should have the original face that was actually used in the episode. Nothing will beat that hilarious drowsy expression that the spiteful brake van had in the episode.

In addition, I wonder what livery the HO spiteful brake van would be as I do think that it would be rather peculiar if Bachmann used the same cream livery that was used for the original HO brake van. I personally would love to see it in a mix of grey and brown, as that is the livery the spiteful brake van was in the television series.

[JD417]

This could be applied for both scales (If we get the HO one this year):
If worse comes to worse and Bachmann end up using the wrong face, it's no big deal as there is the 3D one on the Trainz model. (I dunno if that is available to buy right now though) and then you'd be able to pop off the Bachmann one and then put that on another truck. So we'd basically get another troublesome truck and another character at the same time really.

[Plow_Bender]

Something I recently noticed (which is sad considering it's been almost a year since it was announced) is that the Spiteful Brakevan is actually missing the 13 and the 20T along the bottom that the previous Brakevan had.  It kind of leads me to wonder if this is the livery we can expect for the model to be in and if the face Chaz recently showed is the one Bachmann plans to put on the model.  I'll be honest, if the Spiteful Brakevan does infact come with his proper face, I'll defiantly be getting him to go along with my other Brakevan, but if he ends up with the one on the sample image, I think I'll invest my money into a piece of Bachmann Big Haulers rolling stock instead.

-Rusty

[Cheeky_ULP]

Bachmann used that face for the Spiteful Brake van because the original Spiteful Brake van face is probably no longer among HiT/Mattels assets for Thomas & Friends. As a result, Bachmann would have just looked at Troublesome Truck faces that would fit the bill, probably not even thinking to check the Thomas Wikia.

[thomasgleek444]

@thomasgleek

Bachmann will never make any engine with more than 8 wheels (not including tenders obviously). They would be prohibitively expensive both produce and purchase, and as you noted they would require wider-radius curves that fans and parents will not want to buy for their children just to make the engines run without buckling and derailing.

But then why would they bother programming three bigger engines sounds into their DCC soundboard? (Gordon Henry and Spencer)

[Chaz]

This could be applied for both scales (If we get the HO one this year):
If worse comes to worse and Bachmann end up using the wrong face, it's no big deal as there is the 3D one on the Trainz model. (I dunno if that is available to buy right now though) and then you'd be able to pop off the Bachmann one and then put that on another truck. So we'd basically get another troublesome truck and another character at the same time really.

That's one way to look at it.  If they do the same for HO then I wouldn't complain too much, especially when the face on Shapeways is also available too.

Either way, like troublesome truck 5, it's interesting how Bachmann still refers to faces from the model era for their troublesome trucks, or spiteful brake van in this case. Even though I was never a fan of the large scale troublesome truck faces from the show, it's a nice touch and miles better than the CG troublesome truck faces.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I'm gonna guess it's because the CGI Troublesome Trucks have a less varied facial expression range. Their smiling face doesn't look very different from their angry and shocked faces, which could risk making the trucks look less unique, and thus less of an incentive to buy them.

[JD417]

Chaz asked me what I thought privately, and I thought it was relevant enough to throw in here

What I think will be announced?

HO
-Sidney or Stanley
-Explosives Van
-Spiteful Breakvan

HOn30
-Duncan
-a new Flatbed tooling (Could come in a cheap two pack like the Peco ones) or an Open Wagon which can be recoloured 2+ times (my money's on the open wagon )
-Breakvan (Brown (CGI))

LS
-Red Coach
-Red Brake Coach
-Paxton

What I genuinely hope to be announced?

HO
-Daisy
-Express Coaches reintroduction (Hopefully not a new tooling based on the CGI ones, but a tooling that’s more accurate)
-Spiteful Breakvan
-Troublesome Truck #6 (Could care less what face and what tooling, and it's probably going to be an odd colour anyway so I'm not that picky)

HOn30
-Sir Handel or Peter Sam
-Red or Blue or Green Coach
-Breakvan (Red, Blue and Brown) Granted all they need to do is make one, and you could paint it yourself. So one's enough to be fair.

LS
-Red Coach
-Red Brake Coach
-Henrietta
-Edward (If Edward honestly doesn’t come out this year, the final moments before he’s cut from the main cast, his chances from this point onward don’t seem good at all then)

[Cheeky_ULP]

At this point, Sidney is the engine everyone expects, but nobody wants.

[Chaz]

Well, in response to Jessie's post, as well as Griffin asking me earlier what I thought I figured I would have another go at sharing my thoughts as well:

Starting off with what I think will happen:

HO:
No engine/Sidney, Charlie or Stanley - Paxton is still delayed, so I'm fairly skeptical on if they will do any engines this year.  Sidney seems like a safe bet but if they do a new engine then my money would be on a new tank engine like Stanley or even Charlie.  Ryan also seems possible too.
Spiteful brake van
1-2 other recolors - Bachmann's rolling stock announcements have been a lot more random in recent years with designs and ideas coming from Mattel.  Not expecting much different from there.

Narrow gauge:
Peter Sam and/or Duncan - if Bachmann continues to stick with the characters they got measurements from then my money is on one of these two.  Personally I'd prefer Peter Sam but if they do Duncan next then they need to stick with the measurements from Talyllyn on this one.
Tippers or coaches - went in depth on both of these earlier, preference obviously goes to coaches.  But if they do tippers I'm just gonna wait for Bachmann UK to release them the following year after they are out in a three pack and weathered, just because like the slate wagons, I wouldn't put it past Bachmann to do something like that again.
Red brake van - my bet is they will stick with the red brake van since it is used for both passenger and freight on Talyllyn.  Plus it was once used in BMQ in full CGI so I think that's the way they will go.



Resin buildings:
Farquhar station
Narrow gauge sheds
The Watermill
Toby's shed

Large scale:
Arry and Bert - These two are a waste but I feel like they're only inevitable in large scale.  Paxton would be a lot more fun, but since it's a 2 for 1 deal with Diesel's tooling available, I feel like these two are guaranteed to be next.
Or:
James, Toby, Diesel, and Emily with DCC and sound - instead of new engines and rolling stock I figured another alternative they could pull off would be focusing on adding DCC and sound to the rest of their engines and save new engines and rolling stock for future years.

And just like Jesse, here is what I would rather see:

HO:
Daisy
Spiteful brake van
Judy and Jerome
Works unit coach - not picky on which livery they would go with

Narrow gauge:
Sir Handel and Peter Sam
Coaches (Talyllyn based)
Brake van (Talyllyn based)

Large scale:
Edward or Mavis
Henrietta
Red coaches

[TerencetheTractor525]

Great thoughts, but what about the resin buildings? We did put a lot of effort into thinking about them after all.

[Metal]

Personally, I was thinking Bachmann should consider bringing these back.

But instead of paint drums, they use iron girders

Or Steel Pipes

A prominent piece of rolling stock, I'd happily welcome back.

Thoughts???