OFFICIAL 2018 ANNOUNCEMENTS

[BassTbone]

Honestly guys, I know we are a tad disappointed, but be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you. 

Let's be honest.  The narrow gauge line is aimed at us, the Thomas fans. I agree that maybe they are on a budget this year and we are lucky we got the NG coaches. 

Not pointing fingers at anyone!

Remember 2014?  Arry and Bert still hadn't come out, we got the red coaches and that was about it.  We also had the resin buildings too.  We were pretty disappointed in no new engine that year also.  Not saying Bachmann is going to fulfill your every wish next year, but the next year we got Oliver and Skarloey.  I am pretty sure Skarloey was in development for a while before the announced it.  It takes 2+ years to make anything in the model train world.  Bachmann UK is JUST getting in the Baldwin's it announced in 2014. 

The announced a Quarry Hunslet and I don't think it will come out before 2020.  Maybe they have stuff in development, but they didn't feel to announce it because of the complaints they get of something taking 2 years to make.     

[TrainFan97]

I really think the Large Scale range is down for the count. In other words, it's showing signs of death.

The truth is, Bachmann's hardly to blame for Grumpy Diesel getting announced, as Mattel decides what Bachmann adds to the range. It's really frustrating that it's the ONLY engine announced for this year, which means another whole year of vouching for Daisy. The only things that got announced that people actually ASKED for were the Express Coaches return, HO Spiteful Brakevan, and Narrow Gauge coaches. As for the tankers, nobody asked for those. I did previously ask for a water tanker, and it's one of the only predictions I got right.

The 2014 announcements were also underwhelming, as that was another year where no engine was announced, but then the 2015 announcements gave us Oliver, Toad, and the Narrow Gauge range. Mattel better let Bachmann redeem themselves in 2019.

If Nia gets announced for 2019, there will be an even worse backlash, as she's a character nobody likes. 2019 better be good. I really don't want the HO range to die, like Large Scale.

[TerencetheTractor525]

While pondering again, I came to realize that the one big plus with this year's overall announcements is that all of the products will most likely be released by the end of 2018 because they are all repaints of old toolings (with the exception of the narrow gauge carriages since they would utilize two new toolings, and the possibly HO Spiteful Brake Van due to the face plate). This is yet another reason why we should all remain sanguine for next year.

Additionally, does anyone know if Mr. Blaine showcased or will be showcasing new products at the Toy Fair? I'm sure that we all want to see a clear shot of the Large Scale Spiteful Brake Van after all  .

[Angelob6660]

For the narrow gauge coaches I would like the lite blue version. If the blue paint is like the box van I think it would okay. Depends on how bachmann wants to paint them.

I like the bright red with the yellow stripe. Instead of the dark reddish brown from the cgi series. (That was said before to tall).

[TrainFan97]

I think from now on, Bachmann will try to only announce products that will come the year they're announced. Next time an engine gets announced, you may see a prototype image in the catalog. Most likely to avoid what happened with Oliver and Rheneas, when they took a ridiculously long time to release.

Theoretically, Daisy COULD be in development, but Bachmann felt it was too early to announce her, so that way, when she eventually does get announced, she will be closer to release.

Another example is that if Sidney gets announced, you may see his prototype in the 20XX catalog, and he'll get released that summer.

In the 2015 catalog, there was a prototype of Celebration Thomas, which was in development since 2014, and it managed to get released in late 2015 for the 70th anniversary.

The good thing about this year's announcements is that everything sounds like they should get released by the end of the year. If everything is released before January of 2019, then so many possibilities will be open. Maybe Grumpy Diesel's final model will have black siderods. They'll most likely stay silver though.

[Epiclafiteau]

Could it be possible Bachmann pushed out Grumpy Diesel because Daisy or some other engine wasn't finished/is taking longer to make and they wanted to announce at least one HO engine? As said by others I too also think it's a bit lazy and I won't be buying the whole engine again for one face. For the faceplates, other engines like Thomas, Percy, James, etc could have benefited way more to have newer faces first. Diesel's, albeit not being grumpy, had a perfectly fine face (though grumpy would've been nice back in 2011) so I wouldn't expect him to be the first to have a change. As for the tankers, just more recoloring old toolings so nothing too major but it's nice to have some more variety I guess. Having the Spiteful Brake Van in HO to replace the old one (which was suspiciously removed from the catalog) will be a very nice change so I'm assuming we may get a normal variant soon. As for the Narrow Gauge and Large Scale stuff, I don't collect them [yet?] so I don't have any full opinion on them, though just from talking to others I can see how they're upset with there still not being an Edward yet.

[thomasj219]

Ok.  Let's get something straight, Daisy is NOT in  development.  What people on this for me to realize is that Thomas is basically a side thing for Bachmann.  And in times where prices of manufacturing are rough for them Thomas is always going to suffer.  I get people get excited and want new models but some of the posts on here makes me question peoples sanity.  People truly will believe whatever they want to believe.  Just give it time, a new engine will come the range is definitely not dead  as it still makes them a lot of money.  Though, just not as much as I think a lot of you think it does.

Basically the end point is we have to realize  Thomas isn't the only thing Bachmann has to deal with, and adjust our expectations accordingly.  Big world big adventures may have something to do with this, you never know.

[TrainshockeylifE]

Ok.  Let's get something straight, Daisy is NOT in  development.  What people on this for me to realize is that Thomas is basically a side thing for Bachmann.  And in times where prices of manufacturing are rough for them Thomas is always going to suffer.  I get people get excited and want new models but some of the posts on here makes me question peoples sanity.  People truly will believe whatever they want to believe.  Just give it time, a new engine will come the range is definitely not dead  as it still makes them a lot of money.  Though, just not as much as I think a lot of you think it does.

Basically the end point is we have to realize  Thomas isn't the only thing Bachmann has to deal with, and adjust our expectations accordingly.  Big world big adventures may have something to do with this, you never know.

. My apologies but I know a guy that knows the insides of what Bachmann does and he said that Bachmann already knows what they're making, a year before they announce it so that they are ready to sell within that year, and the Thomas and friends range is very successful so it is not a side job.

[TrainFan97]

For Narrow Gauge, Bachmann may announce Peter Sam next year. Even if he was announced this year, he still could've been released in Fall 2019 either way. Rusty should definitely be available this fall. I'm very confident we'll get Peter Sam next year.

For HO Scale, I have no idea what to expect for next year. I'd just keep posting the exact same predictions like I did last year, and when the announcements actually came, it didn't go much as expected. Maybe I should stop raising my hopes on a certain character, so I wouldn't be as likely to get disappointed. Daisy may or may not get announced anytime soon. I should just shut up about her already. The HO range is definitely not dying, since it is still successful, but I can't say the same about Large Scale.

BoCo may never happen. Especially since we have no idea if he's ever going to return to the show. Season 21 ended up being eight episodes short.

[Captain Crutch]

Im going to try to keep this positive.

I'm excited to get Gordon's Express coaches. I have Gordon who had to pull the red coaches, it doesn't look right, I was thinking about getting Bachmann Branchline coaches but now I don't have to.
Also, it'd be silly to change the tooling of the coaches, because the Jam Filled twitter account revealed they'd be fixing the coach models so they'd better resemble the coaches from the model series, instead of the skinny ones that require two models due to being so small, so they can get good interior shots. Point being, there's no point in changing the mold, if it'll go right back soon. Plus it saves money. So I'm pretty sure it'll just be a re-release of the old ones, maybe with an updated paint scheme. I wonder how many I'll get?

Also very excited for the NG Coaches, I don't have a very steady hand so painting the shapeways models would be very difficult for me.

As for Grumpy Deisel, I'm suprised they did this instead of and updated Thomas or Percy. Those two are flagship models for the range and people always have to modify them to get them to look right. We definitely need new faces for them. But it's nice to see official alternate faces, I'll still probably get the shapeways faces for certain characters, but who knows, maybe we'll get a cheeky Thomas or something in the future.

I'm also excited to see the Spiteful Brakevan come over to HO. It seemed odd to have such a simple piece make it into large scale but not HO.

We know bachmann looks at the forum, as they've mentioned it before in a video where they showed off Rheneas and Rosie. So Daisy will probably be brought up in their talks with Mattel at some point. Who knows, maybe they can rig up the eye mechanism so that it follows the tracks as she turns a corner, through the movement of the bogies. Only time will tell. But those are my thoughts on the matter.

[Chaz]

If we are going to assume every time Bachmann has minimal announcements that there are bigger plans for next year, then it's just going to make us even more disappointed with what's to come.  Last year's announcements were pretty minimal too despite new engines being added into the range, and if we went with that same assumption we would be even more disappointed with what we got this year.

Literally everything that got announced in HO and large scale in the last three years have been nothing but recolors, with the exception of Rosie.  The large scale Diesel got cancelled despite being the first engine in the range in four years since Toby got announced.  Honestly the fact that Diesel, a character with a really simple design with recolor alternatives following it got cancelled, that is extremely worrying.

The only reason why I'm more hopeful for narrow gauge is the fact that that range has been adding new toolings each year after Skarloey's announcement.  They're not using Peco toolings for the coaches, after how the sales on those previous stock bombed compared to Skarloey it would be daft for Bachmann to repeat that mistake again, especially when they got measurements on the engines and rolling stock at Talyllyn.  Plus, the CGI narrow gauge coach and the blue coach both use Talyllyn's #4 coach tooling so more likely than not that's what the new coaches will be based on and they will sell really well due to the high demand.

This is why I have more hope for narrow gauge and why I'm not sold on the future of HO and large scale, (especially large scale).  If HO had to absolutely stick to just recolors may I suggest these two to be considered next year:





Mattel still makes toys with the LBSC Thomas too so I'm sure they would be on board with these being made and they would have had a much more positive response than "Grumpy Diesel".  Honestly, I'd buy these over Sidney any day.

[TrainFan97]

Do you think the HO range is slowly going to suffer what Large Scale is suffering now? The fact that the HO range has been getting almost nothing but recolors in recent years definitely sounds like a worrying sign.

I'm not surprised the Large Scale range is showing signs of death, but why the HO range also? The HO range has been considerably more successful, and it's been around for 16 years. We haven't gotten a single piece of rolling stock with a new tooling in such a long time for neither HO nor Large Scales. I'm starting to be concerned about the HO range also. Rosie shouldn't be the last engine with a new tooling. The HO range seems like it has an uncertain future.

Like you said, the Narrow Gauge range has a much brighter future. It's the only range that's actually getting new rolling stock toolings. If we get Peter Sam, and Sir Haydn is still in overhaul preventing us from getting Sir Handel, we could get Luke, or Duncan.

[Chaz]

At this point, I think HO's future is looking less brighter after 2015.  At least when they announced an engine no one cared about that year, Celebration Thomas, Bachmann announced Oliver and Toad alongside this announcement.  That to me was a smart move and it makes me wish Bachmann did something similar in HO this year with "Grumpy Diesel".

I think HO could pull off a new tooling engine wise but it's hard to say if it would be a solid choice.  Part of me is worried that Nia may find her way into the range next, especially with all the new merchandise she has been getting... At least Rebecca is a tender engine and would be a lot more expensive to produce so at least there's that going against Rebecca too.  Either way, I sincerely hope Bachmann finds a way to avoid these two if at all possible since there is literally nothing going for either of these two in terms of sales.  Even Charlie would be a more acceptable addition than those two.

Either way, I think when it comes to narrow gauge that Peter Sam and brake vans should take priority before anything else next year.  Then I would bet on Duncan and some more rolling stock in future years.  Whenever the overhaul is finished, I'm hoping it will be a matter of time before they can get measurements of Sir Haydn so they can eventually make Sir Handel.

[TerencetheTractor525]

In regards to the narrow gauge carriages, just out of curiosity, is it confirmed that the CGI carriages used #4's tooling? Or, is it just an assumption? I'm aware that the Thomas Wikia states that they appear to be based off of #4. However, is it actually a fact? To me, they look more like Talyllyn Carriage #1 due to how close the windows are to the roofs.



I overwhelmingly hope that it is the tooling to Carriage #1 because in the long run, it makes much more sense to make the carriages using two different toolings. I mean, think of this. If Bachmann makes two different toolings, then the UK narrow gauge range could market Talyllyn Carriages #1-4 next year or the year after that. Plus, the tooling to Talyllyn Carriages #1-3 would be much more marketable than #4 since it is used for three carriages whereas the tooling to #4 is only used for, well, Carriage #4.









In fact, I could see the Bachmann UK range selling the four carriages in a four-pack, since something very similar to this happened to slate wagons as we all saw  . I can say right now that would be an extremely wise marketing move. The only problem is that Carriage #3 is actually one foot shorter than Carriages #1 and #2 in real life. However, that difference is so small to the point where it would not be noticeable to the eye, especially in 009 Gauge.

http://www.talyllyn.co.uk/details/original-carriages

Lastly, let's all remember that these carriages were the ONLY products with new toolings announced for 2018. Therefore, if the CGI red carriages are in fact based off of Carriage #1 or a random tooling (I wouldn't be surprised considering how poor the proportions are), then it would only make sense from an economic point of view for Bachmann to make the carriages using two different toolings (the red carriages based off of Carriages #1-3 and the blue carriages based off of Carriage #4 which is shown in one of my posts in the previous page of this thread). It would make us fans very content as well  .

[Angelob6660]

I not really going to worry about Nia and Rebecca going to be made. The future movie doesn't get released in the fall.

I'm going to try to get diesel this year. I don't want his siderods black. Just be lucky his side rods were silver instead of red.