Sneak Peek of Narrow Gauge Carriages

[TerencetheTractor525]

I am still fairly confident that the narrow gauge carriages will be released by the end of the year. Let's remember that the HO Spiteful Brake Van did not arrive at the Bachmann Warehouse until the middle of December last year. Thus, considering that we are still in the beginning of the month, I could see the narrow gauge carriages arriving somewhere between the middle and end of the month as well.

[TTL]

Well let's hope it at least gets here before the new year.

[Falcon the 2nd]

I am still fairly confident that the narrow gauge carriages will be released by the end of the year. Let's remember that the HO Spiteful Brake Van did not arrive at the Bachmann Warehouse until the middle of December last year. Thus, considering that we are still in the beginning of the month, I could see the narrow gauge carriages arriving somewhere between the middle and end of the month as well.

Those are both fair points. We'll just have to wait through the rest of the month and see whether they end up surfacing.

[TTL]

Well we can only hope really.

[mulfred-100]

These will be out very soon  just seen someone post a photo on Facebook. I'm not going to share it on here as it's not mine to share but he's just bought the coaches. Still getting information on where these are available but bare with me

[TTL]

WAIT WHAT. Was it in a model railway group?
EDIT: Just saw them

[TTL]

Whoop, and now they're officially available straight from Bachmann on their shop.

[trains4life]

Anyone else having trouble ordering more than one of the Narrow Gauge Blue Carriages? Every time I try to buy two it says Warning Quantity has been adjusted to what is in stock. Narrow Gauge Blue Carriage (HOn30 Scale) and the quantity goes down to one.

[Chaz]

Well here they are, the blue and red narrow gauge coaches have finally arrived, as usual here are pictures and in-depth thoughts behind these products so let's jump right into it!


As many of you may know, the 2018 announcements left a lot to be desired with mediocre re-colors of rolling stock as well as the addition of grumpy diesel. The only things I found myself genuinely excited for were these coaches as well as the spiteful brake van which was discussed last year.

Out of all the pieces of rolling stock Bachmann has ever produced, the narrow gauge coaches seem to have taken the longest to release production wise, question is was it worth it?


Absolutely.  These coaches not only met my expectations but as usual for the rest of the narrow gauge products (besides Rusty and the Peco stock), they exceeded my expectations. I can't get over the fact that Bachmann put in so much time and effort into making these happen, let alone making two individual toolings for each coach, something I wish Bachmann should have done a long time ago when making pairs of coaches, namely Annie and Clarabel.


The blue coach is reminiscent of that used in the model series. It's painted in a beautiful bright blue and cream livery and based off of the Talyllyn coach #4.  The detail on this is extraordinary right down to the wood boarding on the doors and the door handles, it feels like Bachmann really did go the full mile when taking the measurements at Talyllyn.  


The red coach on the other hand, while it's intention is to match the red coaches used in the CGI series, it has a spot on livery application of a real Talyllyn coach.  It especially helps that it doesn't have those awful thin proportions of those of the CG render.  This one is definitely a winner for both Thomas fans as well as non-Thomas modelers who wish to add RTR Talyllyn coaches.  The red coach tooling is based on the same as the Talyllyn coach #1-2.


The fact that Bachmann really didn't have to go the full mile by making individual toolings for each coach, but did so anyway, shows how seriously that Bachmann is taking this range. I originally thought that these were going to be the same tooling and Bachmann was just going to milk that one tooling with the different colors being the only difference.  I'm glad to have been proven wrong on that one!


Now, how do they perform on the layout? Just like the slate wagons, the coaches are equipped with metal wheels which allows for a much better performance compared to the Peco stock which makes them run a lot more smoothly when pulled or pushed and a lot less likely to derail on switches.  Personally I think the coaches look great behind both Skarloey and Rheneas in particular and I think they will look great behind the upcoming Peter Sam model too.


So overall what are my final thoughts? Honestly, the Narrow gauge coaches are both my favorite pieces of rolling stock Bachmann has produced in the Thomas range... ever.  Everything that has been done with these coaches has been done perfectly, and they exceeded my expectations in more ways than one. Frankly, I would recommend these coaches to really just about anybody who models OO9, Thomas or not.  These coaches were worth the wait, the price wasn't that unreasonable and I feel all the extra effort and detail will more than pay off on Bachmann's end.


Thank you Bachmann for pulling off another amazing set of beautiful models for the narrow gauge range!  As always I am looking forward to Daisy and Peter Sam and sharing my thoughts on them when they arrive and I am curious to know everyone else's thoughts on these coaches as well when they get them.  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a good winter break if they are out already, it's still one more week for me, (I'm pretty sure more excited for the break than my students are ) and that nothing but good things come our way in the 2020 announcements.


Speaking of, I know I sound like a broken record by continually bringing this up, but despite my high praise for the coaches, both of these passenger trains do seem a little incomplete like something is missing at the back of both trains.  I wonder what that could be... 🤔

[sean1994rail]

Great review, Chaz. the Narrow Gauge Coaches look great.

[TTL]

Aye, still not sure if I'll be picking up more immediately after I get the 3 I need, as I need to either wait for the Meridian Models kits of Coach 3 and Brakevan 5 to go back into production or find alternate kits for these 2 to complete the original SR coach rake. Hoping they announce that they'll announce a brakevan based on TR's No.6 "ex-Corris" brakevan, it is the brakevan seen in the show though with added ticket windows on both sides. Kinda hope they do 2 variants, one with the windows and one w/o. Mainly cause the latter will help greatly with modeling Cora ;P

[TerencetheTractor525]

Great job on the review, Chaz! It really is a pleasure to read, as always 🙂. Cannot wait to get the coaches too!

[mulfred-100]

Great review Chaz just to echo what you have said I think this is probably my personal favourite rolling stock as well and leaves me looking forward to any future rolling stock that comes our way in the narrow gauge line.

[JLK2707]

Wow!:)