Beau Appreciation Thread

[Red Tender 5]

RT if you love Beau!!

I just watched Thomas Tuesday April 2023 and saw the painted sample for Beau. Great looking model, naturally, as Bachmann has had many years to perfect the 4-4-0. It would have been nice if the headlamp was a little bit higher up as it kind of obscures his face a little bit more than the CGI version, but that's not such a huge problem.

I am curious about the coupler conversion on the tender. It sounded like Bachmann did not modify any existing tooling, so how does the british-style coupling attach? Does it screw onto the existing draft gear? I hope this is the case, since I run all my rolling stock with kadees and replacing it with a lid would be extremely convenient.

I was kind of lukewarm about getting Beau but after seeing the sample, I may have to get him.

[JLK2707]

Same here!

[Armada Starscream]

If they are doing Beau because they already have the 4-4-0 engine tooling, maybe Bachmann would be willing to consider doing similar with turning some of their Bachmann UK Model toolings into Bachmann Thomas items. I believe Bachmann UK already have them for Arthur's class (LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T), Murdoch's class (BR Standard Class 9F), and Derek's class (British Rail Class 17) already, and there might be more I am not aware of. Considering these characters are quite popular in their own right, there would definitely be a market for them. It would be a great way to get products out on to the market without having to invest too much in designing new toolings, as the basis already exist as a starting point, and could also be a valid argument for lifting the CGI restriction.

[TrainFan97]

If the CGI mandate could get lifted, Bachmann could use the UK toolings to make Arthur, Murdoch, Derek and Class 40. Just like how they used the American 4-4-0 tooling to make Beau.

If they use the existing tooling to make Mighty Mac, they wouldn't have buffers, but then again, neither does the model of Beau. This would be better than investing in new toolings specifically for them.