2019 Official Announcements

[steakandcake]

Does anyone know when the 2019 catalog will be released? I'm excited to see prototypes for the new HO items.

[Titanic5972]

Does anyone know when the 2019 catalog will be released? I'm excited to see prototypes for the new HO items.

That was literally asked 2 post ago. Read the forum before asking questions as you may find the same question may already have been answered

[mulfred-100]

Does anyone know when the 2019 catalog will be released? I'm excited to see prototypes for the new HO items.

That was literally asked 2 post ago. Read the forum before asking questions as you may find the same question may already have been answered

Well to be fair the post before said last year it was on Monday after announcements and this was asked later on Monday. Cut the guy some slack. I think we are all eager to see the catalogue.

[steakandcake]

Does anyone know when the 2019 catalog will be released? I'm excited to see prototypes for the new HO items.

That was literally asked 2 post ago. Read the forum before asking questions as you may find the same question may already have been answered

Sorry. Must not have seen the last posts.

[Kemptown Branch]

It seems that Bachmann has been updating their site. There are still no pictures of the Narrow Gauge coaches. A lot of the HO locomotives have jumped up in price by about $10 each. The rolling stock has jumped up in price by about $3 each. The Large Scale prices haven't changed. I also cannot find anything on the store about the N scale Thomas range or any 2019 announcements for the regular Bachmann lines (other than the Transcontinental Train Set). So far it doesn't seem like anything has been discontinued. The catalog still isn't up, either.

[Chaz]

The set itself looks pretty incomplete compared to the previous two sets and the design looks like something Mattel clearly came up with.  However, I have an even bigger issue I would like to address... Why are we getting a new Christmas set but not a new starter set for the N scale range?  A new N scale set would have sold much better than a new Christmas set and would make a lot more sense.  It does make me wish that Bachmann considered changing their priorities to giving a starter set to the N scale range instead of another new Christmas set in HO.

Oh yeah, and compared to the last set, this new set, despite having fewer pieces of rolling stock, is four dollars more on retail than the previous set. 

[Kemptown Branch]

I agree about the Christmas set. It just doesn't look like it's up to the standards of the previous Christmas sets. Making an N scale starter set would have been a much better choice. I just wonder if there's going to be anything about the N scale range (other than having something like the "HO models shown for illustrative purposes") in the catalog. I would almost prefer those 2d illustrations over the HO models because we would at least get some basis of what the product will actually be like, sort of like how the McColl's Cattle Wagon clearly used the Branchline tooling, even though it was just an illustration.

[TrainFan97]

I really hope we do eventually get the Explosives Van in HO Scale. I'd also like to see the Toffee and Chocolate Syrup Tankers get made in HO Scale someday. The HO Explosives Van is especially long overdue.

[Toad139]

I really hope we do eventually get the Explosives Van in HO Scale. I'd also like to see the Toffee and Chocolate Syrup Tankers get made in HO Scale someday. The HO Explosives Van is especially long overdue.

Me too, I really like the explosions van, but I'm tired of the GWR van tooling. I would love to see them bring the G scale design to HO. They used to make the LNER vans as part of the Mainline range, so they already have the tooling.

[Streak]

I really hope we do eventually get the Explosives Van in HO Scale. I'd also like to see the Toffee and Chocolate Syrup Tankers get made in HO Scale someday. The HO Explosives Van is especially long overdue.

Me too. I absolutely love the Toffee Tanker and I really hope they make that in HO Scale along with the Chocolate Syrup Tanker and Explosives Van.

As for the Christmas set... eh. I mean it's cool they brought back the conflat (kinda) but I think it would've been much better if they had used the flatbed with a Christmas Tree load to call back to Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

[steakandcake]

I really hope we do eventually get the Explosives Van in HO Scale. I'd also like to see the Toffee and Chocolate Syrup Tankers get made in HO Scale someday. The HO Explosives Van is especially long overdue.

Honestly. WHY haven't we gotten an explosives van in HO? It's just the ice cream van repainted! And we all know how much Bachmann loves their repaints, so they wouldn't even have to make a new mold! (And if they do make the explosives van in HO, I really hope they don't use the Ventilated Van Model, as they've already used it for the GWR and Vegetable Vans.)

[mulfred-100]

The Christmas set just looks so incomplete. I agree that this is most likely mattels pulling the strings. There was a charm to the original Christmas set with the candy cane tanker and festive coach. Then the second with the festive van. But this just doesn't scream buy like the others did. The only thing I've really wanted out of these sets is thomas with his plow but the other sets had something I could see the appeal of. Choosing this over an N Scale starter set really baffles me. To be honest I'm  not sure why Bachmann has updated this set as the one we had was perfectly fine. The tankers look really nice. I do wish they made the HO water tanker in those colours rather then the darker blue with white writing. That looks so much better in large scale.

[TrainshockeylifE]

The new catalog is up and red Rosie looks pretty good and the rolling stock is cool too.

[Chaz]

All right, the 2019 catalog is up, so as per usual, here are further thoughts.

I think it's safe to say that because Rusty and the narrow gauge coaches were held up from the last year or so, Bachmann probably just wanted to focus on getting those two things released before making more narrow gauge products. Another possibility though, is that they also could be focusing on giving the new n scale range a lot more time by investing in new tooling's to match what is similar with the large scale models. Either way, while I am still pretty disappointed that there is nothing new for Narrow gauge this year, I can at least understand why and I am a lot more hopeful for the future of that range as well as the new N scale range.

Speaking of, I think the real highlight here is the new n scale range. It is going to open the doors to more people allowing them to get into the hobby of collecting n scale trains.  It does seem odd that there is no starter set for either Thomas and Percy, but maybe we will get lucky next year.  Either way, if the range proves to be successful I can see them some more characters, which would be a lot more than large scale's current offering.  

I think it is safe to say that the HO range hit the final nail in the coffin in terms of new toolings.  They haven't announced one for quite a few years now, and clearly that's telling me that the ship has sailed for HO.  Sad, but honestly not unexpected.  The same is especially true for large scale, but I think that's a given.  At least the range is still active and in the catalog which automatically debunks that Facebook/Twitter rumor about the whole range getting discontinued.

The only new addition in HO that I thought was a smart move was the return of the flat car with a log load.  The rest of the HO rolling stock announcements I don't really care for.  Our buddies at Mattel had to throw in more colorful wagons for us huh?  

Red Rosie is an obvious improvement over the older model with the updated livery and the additional lamp.  Doesn't mean I would be interested in the model since I never cared for the character, but I think it's the clear choice for which model people should pick if they want a model of her.

Oh and Arry and Bert are discontinued.  Not in the least bit surprised since they were some of the least popular models Bachmann released.  I can see the normal Diesel and lavender Rosie getting the boot next.  

Overall, really my biggest issues with this year's announcements aren't so much what they announced it this year (apart from the new Christmas set) but more along the lines of what didn't get announced to this year.  It just feels very incomplete for reasons I mentioned in earlier posts.  

While you could argue that this year's announcements are worse than last year's in regards to how much got announced, I think there are some diamonds in the rough this year like last year's choices so I really can't say I'm that disappointed.  All the same, I still plan on remaining fairly optimistic for the new N scale range and narrow gauge but probably not expect anything extravagant quite yet.  I don't think I can expect anything exciting for HO and large scale for the time being, but maybe in 2020 we will be in for a pleasant surprise.  Until then, I better get around to finishing my Duncan and N scale Gordon projects because regardless of whatever happens next year, we are basically guaranteed a very, very long period of waiting ahead of us.

[Kemptown Branch]

The regular large scale Thomas is back in the range as well. I hope they are able to release the N scale stuff this year though. That would be really cool.