Future suggestions/predictions thread

[TrainFan97]

With the Talyllyn variants arriving in stock, soon will be the time for Bachmann to announce Dolgoch, using Rheneas' tooling.

If not the 2025 catalog, then the NMRA for sure should announce N Scale Edward. We desperately need more N Scale rolling stock announcements, like non-troublesome 7-plank wagons, as well as Milk and Tar Tankers, a gray logoless van, and a BR Brake Van, which can also be used for the Spiteful Brake Van. The LMS Brake Van we're getting would be the tooling for Bradford.

[Mulfred100]

Upon watching @Terencethetractor525 (Christian's) stream he brought up some great points regarding the resin buildings and it actually gave me an idea oh how in the future Bachmann could potentially save themselves money while producing the buildings. This mostly involves the stations. If Bachmann made a generic platform pack and sold it separately then Bachmann would benefit quite a bit I think. Similar to how Bachmann Scenecraft and Skaledale do their platforms and was previously done by Hornby in there Thomas line to a degree.
In having a platform pack that's universal this gives Bachmann the free reign to produce different buildings into the range and not having as high a price point for the individual station with platform as they just need to make the building itself. Plus this gives customers the chance also have a platform consistency for their entire layout for either adapting their own buildings or for future releases in the range.
For example if Bachmann made a platform say between 50-55cm long which is split into two sections and sold it separately. Then they did a station building say Ffarquhar. Having the platform separately makes it easier to make and cheaper to buy. Then the next year they could do Wellsworth or Dryaw or what because they already have that universal platform on the market so whatever they made station building wise there's that platform ready. Plus it'll have an added benefit of people not only buying multiple units of the same product but it'll give modellers that ability to model however they want. If you want a two platform station you, if you want a bay platform you can, if you want to make a model series Ffarquhar you can, of you prefer the CGI version you can. Honestly having that platform sold separately allows the modeller to go wild with their layout and gives them that flexibility. The only drawback I had with Maithwaite was there wasn't a matching platform I could easily use to create the season 6 onwards version of the set with two platforms at each side, and like I say it helps keep costs down for Bachmann and gives them the opportunity to make whatever building they want. They could even introduce platform extension pack with a smaller piece without ramps to make a longer platform. It's just an idea I had it's probably not very good but I figured I'd try to get the idea out there. Christian made some great points about the retaining walls too so give his stream a watch if you can or haven't already.

[Awesometrain77]

100 percent agree also we are on page 50 wow . But a platform would give a good place for figures to stand on . I would also like to see retaining walls . And a station sign pack containing all the signs for the stations .

[[email protected]]

Releasing a platform pack is a great idea. Maybe the platforms could use the same tooling as the ones that came with the Knapford Station kit, but retool it so that they won't have the poles for the pillars.

[JLK2707]

I think that the motive for Maithwaite not having a separate platform is because it was just based upon the Season 5 model.

[Awesometrain77]

Okay so we are prob gonna see some varients in 2025 here is a list of varients I could see happening
Pink Thomas
Gold Thomas
Streamlined Thomas
Bare metal Thomas
Turbo Thomas
Pink James
Percy's chcolate crunch
Green salty
Blue Bill
Blue Ben
Emily with 12
Silver Spencer
Scrap Oliver

Which ones would you like to see

[DustyMarie53!]

I have some thoughts from Christian's stream that I wanted to share here regarding two product suggestions.

Firstly, I was the one who mentioned Norman in the stream chat, and he actually said something interesting I had never considered. When I was considering Norman, I was always considering the fact he could be reused for Dennis. However, Christian made the point people may but two Norman's to make Dennis out of the gate. Something I'd never really thought of before, and it's true. That could easily boost his sales. I was already pretty big on Norman being sooner rather than later, but that just gave me more justification for him.

On to the resin buildings. On New Model Monday they actually discussed the resin buildings potentially coming back. Their response was very much "Not in the cards right now, but we wouldn't be opposed to it and may look into it."  I loved Christian's suggestions regarding the resin line. I think bringing the signal box back is a must. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the signal box was the first one removed from the catalog, which at least to me suggests it sold out from the final resin batch first. (Typically it would mean the opposite, but IIRC the resin line had stopped production all together and remaining items in the catalog were left over stock). It's definitely very popular. Maithwaite is also a good choice, however, I much prefer the method Mulfred suggested for selling the stations. That's how Hornby used to do it and I think it would boost sales across the line. Say if Ffarquhar got announced, selling the platform separate from the main building would allow consumers to buy the second platform that is seen in the CGI Series. Let people build it how they want it rather than only offering it as the building and a single platform. The retaining wall Christian mentioned is also a very smart pick.

I have a bit of an out their suggestion for the resin line that's been in my brain since that livestream, and once again will be curious on everyone's thoughts once again. I don't think it should necessarily be in the immediate relaunch; I think the ones Christian suggested are the perfect candidates, but I still wanted to throw it a bone.

Toby's Shed


Now, a pretty iconic location in its own right. It's where one of the most popular characters lives, and has been in the series for many years. However. I wanted to suggest a wider appeal reason in favor of it.

In CGI they actually made the same asset for Toby's shed twice. There were some differences, but they are miniscule. This is actually the same way for the Iron Twins and Diesel if anyone was curious, they are actually completely different remade assets, not modified from Diesel. (Paxton and Sidney may be the same way but I'm not as sure on that front)

The second Toby's shed is used at McColl's farm .


Now, some differences for it exist as shown in this image. But you could still plop Toby's shed as is down on a layout and still use it as this farm shed. If they wanted to go for complete accuracy customer could mod it themselves, or Bachmann could include accessories but that may be a harder sell. In the model series these buildings are the exact same however, so it'd really come down to the preference of the modeler. The building is also reused for a few other things in the model series, Elizabeth's shed comes to immediate mind. There may be other examples as well I'm forgetting.  My ultimate point is this shed could have multiple uses. And therefore, could have wider appeal. Fans may either buy multiples to plop permanently on layouts, or even if they buy only one it could be used for a variety of set building purposes. I think it would prove a popular destination, especially if they specifically marketed it as Toby's shed because that association may help it even further.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Haven't been able to catch up on the stream yet but I'm very surprised Toby's Shed hasn't emerged in the range yet. I could easily see it passing for a plastic building too, since resin is off the table. It's dual use, combined with the Farmer McColl figures coming out makes it seem like a very good future building choice.

[Mulfred100]

Yeah once they do a platform they open up so much more possibilities with what they could do and what us modellers could make.
Toby's shed and the barn are both great ideas too.
Another possibility would be to introduce a small wooden platform like this. https://www.bachmann.co.uk/product/wooden-platforms-%28x2%29/42-0010
Bachmann scenecraft used to make this in OO along with the ramps so it wouldn't be hard to obtain the tooling for it. Then you could have a little hault to put Farmer McColl or Trotter on with their sheep or pigs, ready to be taken to market.
In fact with Toby's shed, the barn, a little wooden platform and the ability to get the corrugated hut that was in the range you'd have a pretty decent farm set up.

[Awesometrain77]

I do like the idea of Toby's shed/barn. I do think that ffaquhar is a great station to make given how it appears in the classic intro from season 1-7 and is used for the outro credits from seasons 19-21 . Not to mention ffaquar is the area of Sodor the rev.w.Awrdy modeled . Ffarquhar could be reused for the Wellworth station .On the topic of that since we have both of the Harwick  engines why not reuse mathwaitte for harwick.

I do think if they do buildings again they need to have a large appeal appearing

retaining walls , sir tophamhatt office / MC bunn , intro bridge , Henry's tunnel portal , knapford church , crovens gate , watermill ,double engine shed ,Neptune refreshments ,and Mrs.Kinley  cottage  could really be cool to have.

For the kinley cottage they will only use that as the name and it just will be some background cottage that they actually have references for but painted in the colors of Mrs.Kinley  cottage.

[TrainFan97]

With a LOT of new releases coming up very shortly, including some between late December and early 2025, much of the backlog is already going to be cleared up. Maybe we will get some good announcements in the 2025 catalog.

The next newly-tooled engine for HO Scale will most likely be Whiff. Gold Thomas can be the special 80th Anniversary HO Scale repaint, along with a possible Silver Percy and Bronze Diesel, which could most likely be saved for the NMRA. The N Scale 80th Anniversary repaints can be LBSC Thomas and Origin James. With N Scale Diesel/Paxton and Henry not even having samples shown yet, it may be too early to announce Edward, but the NMRA for sure should announce N Scale Edward. Bachmann needs to announce Edward at some point in the near future in order to complete the original Steam Team in N Scale. They can then move onto making Duck, Oliver, Donald, Douglas, or even Daisy in N Scale.

If Flying Scotsman ever does get made in HO Scale, they may have to make his second tender sold separately. He would 100% be a new tooling since Gordon's chassis is disproportionate in HO Scale. Though he could easily recycle Gordon's chassis in N Scale. Same for Spencer if he was to get made in N Scale at some point. For the next tender engine in HO Scale, everyone wants Hiro. It may be a while before he gets announced, depending on how well Rebecca sells.

To make up for Duncan's cancellation, Bachmann should announce Luke for the HOn30 Scale range. It's possible for the 2025 catalog. Hopefully for the January stream at the earliest, we'll then be shown Sir Handel's painted sample, with his image being in the catalog. Not a Thomas product, but since Talyllyn is finally in stock, Bachmann should soon announce Dolgoch, using Rheneas' tooling.