iHobby Show

[Rickenbacker 325]

Hey guys! Just a little update on things in the Thomas world. But before that... Coming in 2013 HO scale Chuggington Locomotives, Rolling Stock, and Accessories. I don't watch that show but I just thought i would mention it. Anyway...  I just got back from my day at the iHobby show in Cleveland and it was very wonderful. I meet so many friendly people working for Bachmann and even other companies. One man that i really started talking to was Douglas Blaine. He is the Vice President of Marketing. He was awesome to talk to about current and newer Thomas items.

Some new things i saw were Emily, S. C. Ruffy, The new Thomas Christmas Set, as well as the Break Van in G gauge. They are very amazing to see. The break van has a completely new look! It has white buffers, nice gray paint work, and get this...... It says N W on the sides of it!! It looks great. Emily and S. C. Ruffy look fairly the same as the HO models. I also found out that Emily has the same powered wheels as the HO version, The big drive wheel and the one right before it.

I looked and asked about Duck. There was not a model of him there but i did get some news about him. They are working hard to get him just right and he should be arriving December to early 2013.

Release Dates:

G gauge
Emily  October
S. C. Ruffy  November
Break Van   November
Christmas set   I think it said December but don't quote me on that

HO Gauge
Duck   December to early 2013.
Ice Cream Van    Out now

We did talk about some other things about some new engines and ideas for them as well as some things to improve on. Another thing I asked was how they decided to make the faces for each engine. That was cool to find out. One engine in particular that we talked about was HO James and how it could be improved. I don't want to say to much more beyond that unless I have permission to say so.


All in all I had a great time and i can't wait for whats to come!!

[donaldthescottishtwin]

Sounded like a good show, it would be a nice surprise of Duck appeared on the Christmas market. The Break van sounds interesting, and the HO James sound as if they are in talks about updating him. Could you post the pictures you took?

[Rickenbacker 325]

Yes, i'm uploading them on my computer right now. Hopefully they came out ok.

[thomasj219]

BACHMANN is making Chuggington?

[Anthony P2]

Hey guys! Just a little update on things in the Thomas world. But before that... Coming in 2013 HO scale Chuggington Locomotives, Rolling Stock, and Accessories. I don't watch that show but I just thought i would mention it. Anyway...

O_o a sign the world is coming to an end! would have never thought bachmann would make the competition to Thomas.

[Shawn]

Bachmann made underground Ernie (even worse than chuggington!) I didn't know there was a market for HO chuggington.  I may get one as a test!

[panniertankboy8751]

Chu- CHUGGINGTON?!?!?

Really, even after their downright self destruction that was Underground Ernie?

[Cheeky_ULP]

Please tell me Chuggington is some kind of prank just to get this thread attention or something. If it is I'd be so much happier. I wouldn't even be mad, but don't scare us like that.

I can only see this going like, maybe the main character and a set? If this is true, no wonder the HO range has been so dry rolling stock wise.  

I do hope the part about James being redone is true though, that's been on a lot of wish lists. 

[Rickenbacker 325]

Nope, all of this is 100% true. They had concept drawings on a TV screen. When I get home i will scan the brochure and post it.
Edit: Nothing with James is set in stone. I only pointed it out to him for improvements.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Well they're at least considering.

Bachmann doing Chuggington, but in return doing revisions of Thomas, Percy and James and other things in the range needing revisions would be an alright trade off.

[Chaz]

I met with Doug Blaine about 8 months ago when he was in town with the Bach-man at World's Greatest Hobby on tour, very nice man!  So is the Bach-man, did you talk to him as well?

I'm very anxious to see the large scale brake van, you'll have to keep us posted on the video.

Fingers crossed on the James update!  It's also understandable about why you want to keep things secret with what they told you earlier too.  If we really do get revisions, plus some rolling stock like the red coaches and Trevor for next year I'll be perfectly fine with that.  Plus with the Duck model most likely coming out in 2013 it's just more of a reason to look forward to next year.

Glad to see you had fun at the ihobby show!

[Rickenbacker 325]

I saw them all today. The NW on the brake van are in white and have lettering on the bottom like the ventilated van has. I also notice that both this year and last time I saw the new and old Thomas layout they have, Henry will always be causing trouble and not stay on the track.

[Shawn]

I am so surprised that bachmann is making chuggington.  A couple of questions...

Do they have moving eyes?  And do they use uk style or American style couplings?

[Rickenbacker 325]

Hi Shawn, I didn't really talk about that with them. The pictures on the TV didn't really show it. I would guess the engines would have moving eyes but im not 100% sure.

[PasqualeCS96]

HO Chuggington, seriously? This would never suit his grace, plus there are plenty of things that could still be done in the Thomas range: Oliver, Toad, Red Coaches, Trevor, Arry and Bert, perhaps more face having rolling stock.