Bachmann Thomas & Friends in 2019

[TrainFan97]

Here's my predictions:

HO Scale:
Sidney, Daisy (if we're lucky), or Norman (long shot)
Troublesome Truck #6 (tanker)
Explosives Van
Oil Drum Wagon (re-release and repaint of the Paint Drum Wagon)
Red Express Coaches re-release

Narrow Gauge:
Peter Sam
Tipper Wagon
Brake Van (blue and red)

[TerencetheTractor525]

Here is my wish list:

HO Scale
Daisy
Troublesome Truck #6 (Tanker or Ice Cream Wagon Tooling)
Flat Car (2-3 with different loads)

Narrow Gauge
Peter Sam
Brake Van (Red, Blue, & Brown)

Resin Buildings
Narrow Gauge Double Engine Shed


Neptune Refreshments


Castle Ruins (Season 7)


Ffarquhar Station


Other Possibilities
Signal Box Gantry


Shunting Yard Shed (the shed that Bill & Ben are in)


Rheneas Station


Narrow Gauge Watermill


Additionally, I will make a few detailed posts on Daisy, HO Rolling Stock (Specifically Troublesome Truck #6), and the resin buildings at some point down the road. Chaz will be making detailed posts on Peter Sam, the narrow gauge brake vans, and resin buildings as well! Make sure to look out for those  .

[Cheeky_ULP]

There's quite the humor in the 2018 announcements being so lackluster that people have almost immediately flocked to making 2019 wishlists, in hopes of a better year next year.

I pretty much agree with Daisy being the next HO engine, and Sir Handel, Peter Sam or Duncan being the next OO9 engine.

I'll make a post later on going into greater detail of my current hopes, but I do wanna think on rolling stock options for a bit.

[Chaz]

Might as well get one of my promised suggestions done early too, might wait before I throw in the other two I promised a little later.  I do agree though that considering this year's announcements it's best to get thoughts out sooner rather than later.

Well, after a rather disappointing lineup of announcements, I figured now I should get started sharing one of my in-depth thoughts I brought up earlier in the 2018 announcement thread, starting off with range that seems to be doing the best out of three (narrow gauge) starting off by talking about the next big rolling stock demand - brake vans.


So why should Bachmann look into making brake vans for the narrow gauge range? Well for starters, brake vans are pretty much one of the most iconic pieces of rolling stock in the series. In the narrow gauge line in particular, brake vans are use for both freight as well as passenger trains thus encouraging fans to buy plenty of them.  As well as the fact that there is currently no ready-to-run brake van in OO9 making these have all the more desirable for OO9 modelers.





To add, brake vans also come in different liveries on the show, just like coaches.  It would be a matter of just making three of them in one line-up, which would be blue, red, and brown to go with the respective coaches and vans as well as wagons to go with the brown brake van.





However, if they wanted to go with something that resembled what is seen on Talyllyn they could always go with the other one that's used in the CGI series as well.  Even though they just have the red one in CGI, it really shouldn't stop Bachmann from making a blue one to go with the recently announced blue coach.  Especially since a blue one with that tooling was also in the Railway Series.


Regardless of tooling, either of these would be fairly simple to do and would go great along both passenger stock as well as freight stock. If Bachmann also included these alongside their coaches, fans probably would've been a lot happier with this year's announcements rather than just getting coaches alone.  That doesn't mean that it's too late to start.


Overall, I feel like that brake vans are pretty much the next essential addition for narrow gauge rolling stock in the Thomas range. Whether they make one or three in different liveries, they are guaranteed to be popular sellers like the slate wagons and like how the coaches will as well. As long as it has the right accuracy from the show or in real life, the sales will be there for narrow gauge brake vans making it a real win-win for both fans as well as Bachmann as a whole.

So now that's over, here are some questions I have openly for fans:

• Would you buy narrow gauge brake vans?
• Which of the brake van toolings I mentioned earlier would you like to see Bachmann make?
• Should they make only one livery or should they make a lineup of them in different liveries?

Leave your thoughts below, and next time I will talk about Peter Sam and then explain why the resin buildings should make a comeback.

[AJW98Productions]

I've vouched for Brakevans in the past, and since Chaz has outlined how much of a great option they'd be here, I don't think I'll go into a long post about them, I will say that I prefer the designs of them when they weren't based off the RWS tooling, but I still wouldn't mind it too much if they went the RWS route. I do like both designs, and there'd always be Shapeways if they chose the RWS route. Next year I could see the Brown Brakevan (for freight, and the CGI Red Coaches) being released, along with the Blue Brakevan. I'd save the Red Brakevan for 2020, as to me, having 3 Brakevans released in one year just sounds a little like overkill, but that might just be me.

I trust that Chaz's post about Peter Sam will be better than anything I could produce, as Peter Sam is also my next choice of engine, but I'll say why I personally would like to see him, in a brief summation:

It's no secret that Bachmann have struck gold with this range, I've already seen a few people talk of Talyllyn and Dogloch conversions with Skarloey and Rheneas respectively, and I've already seen a number of Talyllyn conversions (I've yet to see Dogloch ones though). Why do I bring this up? Well most of us are aware that Peter Sam has one of the best renders in the enitre CGI series, and his render is astonishingly accurate to his real life basis, Edward Thomas. Which provides us with the model we desire, and Talyllyn modelers with an RTR Edward Thomas - with a little conversion work.

Now lets add in some stuff I've pretty mush said word-for-word in a post last year: Peter Sam's usage throughout the entire series has been fairly consistent since his introduction, his personality has changed little even during the HiT era, he's also had a lot of lead roles, through the model era, and right into the CGI series, which is important to bear in mind.

Duncan may have a better overall usage in the CGI series currently, but lets not beat around the bush here...Duncan's render is one of the worst currently in the show. Peter Sam's render resembles his basis far more than Duncan's does, which gives Peter Sam a broader appeal to OO9 modelers, and Thomas and Friends modelers alike. Some Thomas modelers may even buy a second model, just so that they can modify one model so they have one Peter Sam with his original funnel, before he got the Giesel variant (which, lets be honest, the RTR model we would get, would have the Giesel design). Also, I don't really see Mattel approving a model of Duncan that doesn't resemble the CGI design for him, but I could be wrong there (I sincerely hope I am), as a model of Duncan that matches his basis more closely will make fans and OO9 modelers in general, far happier than the alternative.

Also quickly, I'd like to say that whilst Sir Handel has a great render too, his usage in the show has been less consistent since the introduction of the CGI series, and his basis is currently undergoing overhaul, so that makes this less likely too. (Though Duncan and Peter Sam are two of my favourite engines so maybe I just have a bias for them).

I think an engine and two Brakevans is enough to expect/put on my wishlist for next year, if however, they do squeeze an extra piece of rolling stock in, I could see it being a "tipper wagon" like we see in Blue Mountain Quarry. I personally would rather see the First Class Red Coaches of the Classic Season (for convenience sake I hereby dub them the "First Class Coaches"), but I feel like two years in a row that only includes Brakevans and Coaches as far as stock goes may seem a bit dull for some fans. Especially since freight trains can often be made more varied and interesting than passenger trains, to they probably appeal more to a younger demographic that way. In any case, I know I personally want the First Class Coaches, but I suspect that if they do get made, the earliest we'll see them is 2020, and I'm okay with that, as I think business-wise, that's the better choice, ultimately. Hopefully the Red Coaches of this year have tooling that's to scale with the Talyllyn Railway Coaches 1-2 (or coach 3), that way the tooling will already exist if Bachmann proceeds to make these coaches in 2020, as TerrenceTheTractor525 has already suggested.

As for HO Scale? Logically speaking the next engine should be Daisy, that's what's in the greatest demand from us fans, and most of us will be ecstatic with her arrival. I'd personally love to see both Harwick Branchline engines made in HO Gauge, over the coming years. I expect we may say Sidney next year, though I can't say I'd be that thrilled with another class 08 shunter recolour. If Bachmann does make a new tooling though, and sticks to their thing with smaller engines, I just hope we see Ryan, not Stanley or Charlie.

I think I'll ponder HO rolling stock a little more before I post my thoughts, much like Sparks. Though I do think TerrenceTheTractor525's suggestion for TT#6 is a good one. I also like the idea of a brown van that uses the Mail Car's tooling...but this will require more thought - I consider these options more of a "what I want", as opposed to "what is likely".

Moving onto Resin Buldings:
Well if we're to go off that strawpoll I created months back (link here: http://www.strawpoll.me/14346400) the Narrow Gauge engine shed currently sits at 25% of the vote, and is it any wonder, really? These sheds have been around since seasons 4 & 5, they're iconic to us as fans, and would provide easy storage for two little engines. This was honestly my favourite pick of the resin opetions in my own poll. I don't feel I have to argue this one too hard...I feel like the appeal is relatively obvious, correct me if I'm wrong though.
My personal favourite design of this shed is still this one: http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Duncan_Gets_Spooked/Gallery?file=DuncanGetsSpooked40.png
Someone can probably make a better case for them but I can, however I can put forward a better argument at a later date if need be, I can't have this post getting too long, can I?

Other favourite ideas of mine also include the Ruined Castle (as seen in the Classic Seasons and CGI Era) on the Castle Causeway (surprisingly, this got no votes), and Ffarquhar Station (As Per Classic Seasons) (sharing 18% of the vote, also my second favourite idea). With the 4-track Signal Gantry and the Shunting Yard Shed as the next runners-up.

As for Large Scale? I have no idea what to expect, I don't have any intentions of collecting the range, but its clear to me that the engines in the most demand are Diesel, Edward, Mavis, Bill and Ben - in terms of engines with small enough wheelbases to be made - personally I think any of them are a good choice - hopefully Diesel isn't actually canceled and there was just an error in the catalogue printing - though I somehow doubt that unfortunately. As for LS Rolling Stock? The Red Branchline Coaches are easily the best rolling stock choice. Plow Bender made a great post about them on page 16 of the 2018 predictions, it can be found here: http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,33422.240.html
Honestly, just read his post there, it sums up my thoughts too. However...if we're to get a bit more outlandish, I think that range would benefit from a Mail Car...but that may be pushing things a tad, I understand.

Sorry about my section on potential resin lineups and large scale being pitifully short, I didn't want this post to be too long.

~Alex

[TerencetheTractor525]

Wow! That was fast! Great work Chaz! It is always a pleasure reading through your in-depth posts.



As for the questions, I would certainly purchase the narrow gauge brake vans, but only if they are based off of the original television series models as shown above.



Moreover, I certainly agree that the brake van should be made in multiple color schemes (red, blue, and brown). Hopefully, Bachmann would go with the lighter shade of blue for the blue brake van (and upcoming blue carriage) as shown above.



In fact, Bachmann could make a fourth brake van in the grey color scheme that was seen in the late model series. That's four brake vans with one tooling! Can't go wrong with that!

[DrNickRiviera995]

Thanks for posting so much thought guys!

Firstly, agree on the brake vans for the NG line.  Preferably the tooling from the model series like most have said.  And yes, I would certainly buy them in all colors, red, blue, brown and grey too.

So for me top wants:

Narrow Guage:

Peter Sam, Sir Handel, Duncan
Brake Vans in multiple colors
Tippers

HO:

Diesel 10 (don't care that everyone says he can't be made, will list it anyway, so Bachmann knows there's demand and can try to figure out a way to make it work.)
Den
Dart
Daisy

HO Rolling Stock:

Flat cars w/ various loads, (lumber, oil drums etc)

And then some buildings/structures for HO/NG.  Too many to really list, but there was a lot of great stuff in the earlier posts.

Not into large scale, so can't really say much there.

[TrainFan97]

As for Large Scale, I'd say it's time Bachmann pulls the plug on that range within the next few years. I've already stated multiple times that the future of that range is bleak. The fact that Large Scale Diesel is cancelled is proof of this. Any hope of getting Edward, Mavis, or Henrietta is done.

Especially when Bachmann pulls the plug on Large Scale Thomas, I'd say it's best for them to acquire the license for N Scale Standard Gauge to start fresh. None of Bachmann's competitors have the license for N Scale, and Tomix barely counts, as they are a Japanese range. Maybe we'll eventually get Standard Gauge N Scale if the demand is high enough. It would be a fresh start, and we'd actually get Thomas and Percy in their CGI designs. They might get metal constructions to add weight. They'd be too small to have moving eyes, but that's okay. Bachmann might do an O Scale range as soon as Lionel surrenders their license.

The future of the HO range is uncertain, especially with all the recolors we keep getting, despite the range being considerably more successful than Large Scale. We'll still keep the demand for Daisy going.

[DrNickRiviera995]

N Gauge isn't a bad though honestly for the main roster.  As long as the do metal bodies like they did with the Narrow Guage engines.  It would open up possibilities of doing larger layouts in smaller spaces and including so many more features a lot of us would love if space weren't a big issue.

[TrainFan97]

With enough popular demand, Bachmann should eventually acquire the N Scale license for Standard Gauge engines.

They won't have moving eyes, but they should definitely have metal bodies to give them some added weight.

[Chaz]

Thanks for the positive response to the narrow gauge brake vans!   I honestly forgot about the gray livery sense I was never a fan of the late-model era episodes and therefore did not pay that much attention to that particular area.  Definitely a good possibility if they wanted to go for a fourth one.

Definitely interesting to see the responses to the particular Tulane, I agree that the first tooling I mentioned earlier would make a lot more sense because of its relatively simple design.  It's admittedly my personal preference as well but I wouldn't mind as much if they went with the second tooling.  At least the first one has a lot more of a simple design and a lot more recolor possibilities than the first one.

I also agree with Alex that Peter Sam definitely has the most pontential out of the three narrow gauge engines left.  Although I would be more than happy with Sir Handel too if it means waiting until the overhaul is completed and Bachmann can get accurate measurements then I would argue Sir Handel would be worth the wait, even if he were to be the last narrow gauge engine made out of the original six.

[BassTbone]

Well, might as well have a go at this.

Next year:
HOn30

Peter Sam


Why Peter Sam?  He is a popular narrow gauge engine.  He's one of the few engines that frequently visits the Talyllyn on a regular basis and he's got that special funnel.  His 0-4-2 configuration makes a good candidate for excellent pick-up (like Skarloey) and he's one of the few engines that receives merchandise whenever the narrow gauge are brought in. He's the top of my list honestly.  

Brake Vans

Easy tool to make if using the NG coach chassis.  Great to compliment the end of trains.



For those who are saying the large scale line is doomed, think of this: Maybe Diesel's outside motion was too complicated/breakable?  Thomas and his crew in LS are durable it seems.  Maybe the costs of manufacturing became too much for them to think it was worth it.   Plus, I don't see the point of Farmer McColl having a wagon if there is a GWR one already in the line.  

After thinking on it, seems like Bachmann wanted to finish what they started instead of having so many products in development.  

[TerencetheTractor525]

You're welcome Chaz! I'm always happy to share my thoughts, and am glad to see many people on the same page regarding the narrow gauge brake vans.

On another note, by no means do I mean to come across as beating a dead horse, but while observing the posts in the 2017 & 2018 threads, I found a few posts that stuck out to me.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,31790.150.html

When scrolling down to Chaz & Spark's posts, it seems that it was thought that the red CGI carriages were based off carriage #1-3, and carriage #4 for the blue carriages. Therefore, I think that you guys were correct, and what the Thomas Wikia currently states in the trivia section of the Talyllyn Railway Coaches, or red CGI carriages (appearing to be based off carriage #4) is false.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,33422.30.html

At the very end of this page, TrainFan97 posted a comment regarding Diesel's face, which was the only comment regarding Diesel's face in the whole entire thread. Now of course, the intention of this post is not to put shame on TrainFan97. It is to notice that this was posted in early April, only a month an a half after the 2017 Announcements were posted. Therefore, I will certainly post my detailed thoughts on Daisy, Troublesome Truck #6, and resin buildings as soon as I can  .

[Cheeky_ULP]

The CGI narrow gauge coaches seem to be based in color off of the Talyllyn Coaches, but proportion wise, they're not quite accurate to the No. 4s on the Talyllyn (too tall). Model series wise, the blue coaches were No. 4s (which have flat sides) and the red coaches were No. 3s (which have curved sides).

Honestly, it's hard to mess up their design when 7mm blueprints are accessible online:


No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all purchasable on their website:
http://www.talyllynrailwayshop.co.uk/ourshop/prod_3652253-Talyllyn-Coach-No4-7mm-Scale-Drawing-250-including-postage.html
http://www.talyllynrailwayshop.co.uk/ourshop/prod_2440473-Talyllyn-Coach-No3-7mm-Scale-Drawing-250-including-postage.html
http://www.talyllynrailwayshop.co.uk/ourshop/prod_2440379-Talyllyn-Coach-1-2-7mm-250-inc-postage.html

Only way this could go wrong is if they use the CGI Thomas & Friends reference photos provided by Mattel, rather than following Talyllyn design plans (which besides color scheme, they didn't do for Skarloey and Rheneas, and didn't at all with the slate wagons).

Another thing to consider is these coaches may be something Bachmann UK is making, and like the slate wagons, it just happens that the Thomas version will come out first.

[TrainFan97]

Did I predict Grumpy Diesel nearly a year before he was officially announced?