N Scale Bachmann Thomas

[Chaz]

Well, as much as I prefer the Awdry characters the N scale Emily won me over.  I love how she turned out fully painted. Between her open windows and tender frames, this is a very steep improvement over the HO model.  I'm very curious to see how the model will run.  I'm looking forward to picking her up, as well as her coaches.  Might be replacing the face though.

As for Henrietta having a face, honestly I don't really mind.  It's kind of a win-win on both ends if you ask me.  It's a welcome addition to those who wanted it, and for those who weren't for it can remove it with a hobby knife if they want.  Either way, I'm grateful they still bothered with Henrietta at all in N scale, which can be more than said for large scale...

Either way, things are really looking great for the N scale range.  Hopefully we will see some exciting additions for that line this year like Henry, a brake van and some wagon repaints like the coal wagon with load in particular.

[JLK2707]

Sounds just so cool!

[Chaz]

Nice seeing the official images of the N scale Emily's coaches as well as getting another look at N scale Emily and the Henrietta samples earlier. 

[N Scale Sudrian]

Needless to say, the annual catalog's offerings for N Scale 'Thomas' are very disappointing... I don't entirely understand why we couldn't have gotten some Open Wagon or Tank Car recolors for N Scale instead of the Narrow Gauge Slate Wagon recolors in HO... The HO Narrow Gauge line is already plagued with a backlog of wagons in the development pipeline, meanwhile the N Scale line is fully up-to-date in terms of wagon releases.

It feels like Bachmann have misplaced their priorities... That said I think it is a good idea for them to not bother with any new tooling in the catalog this year... And, I don't doubt NMRA will yield better developments, given track record of the past few years... But the lack of updates in this catalog seems to me like a major hit to the forward momentum built up by the last two years of announcements.

[Chaz]

A high resolution photo of the N scale Gordon has been posted at Walthers:



Always a good sign that the release date is getting closer and closer!

[TrainFan97]

Walthers has the official image of N Scale Gordon, and the next Trainworld Stream is bound to show him in the package. He's set to arrive in stock within the next few months.

But, N Scale Henry still isn't on the cards yet. I understand the announcements were a bare minimum because of so many other products Bachmann has been behind on, but I'm hoping that this year for sure, Henry will be announced for the NMRA. They unfortunately haven't even started on Diesel yet, but they did make progress on the Express Coaches, so that Gordon can have his proper rolling stock as soon as possible. It shouldn't take too long to get the 3D design ready for Diesel, considering they just have to scale down his HO Scale tooling.

Long before the NMRA, Gordon will be out there, and Emily will be available by the end of the year if nothing goes wrong, so this NMRA could finally be the time to announce N Scale Henry, then the 2025 catalog would need to have N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James for the 80th Anniversary. Maybe even Edward at a stretch, so as to complete the original Steam Team in N Scale. Great choices for Diesel repaints would be Sidney, 'Arry and Bert. The former has yet to be made in any scale, while the latter two are discontinued in HO Scale, and there's a demand for them to come back. Maybe we'll get 'Arry and Bert in N Scale, but Henry is the #1 priority for the next engine.

Sorry if I keep sounding like a broken record.