Bachmann Thomas & Friends in 2021

[Falcon the 2nd]

Laying down my guesses on what we may see through the year.

HO Scale:

• Tar Tanker reintroduction
• Red Express Coaches reintroduction

In terms of a new engine, it's a very fickle subject to undertake. Even for smaller engines like Stepney and Ryan, a new tooling would be too expensive all-around to undertake in 2021. Taking into account there's a lot that Bachmann has had to handle as a whole over the past year and that Daisy & Origins James still need to be handled, Bachmann is best off giving themselves a break from a new engine this year and sticking with reintroductions of past rolling stock.

Narrow Gauge:

• Sir Handel
• Green Carriage

N Scale:

• Toby
• Milk Tanker
• Ventilated Van (could reuse Graham Farish tooling)
• Brake Van (could reuse Graham Farish tooling)

Large Scale:
With Diesel still in production, I'm not expecting a whole lot from this category, but I'll still list what I hope to see in the future.

• Bill & Ben
• Red Coach
• Red Brake Coach

Other options I'm open to seeing:

• Narrow Gauge Brown Brake Van
• N Scale SC Ruffey

[plas man]

I model both N and HO (not Thomas) my local shop (in UK) has a Thomas set (HO) in stock and its very tempting so when they open on Tuesday ......

happy modeling guy's for 2021

[TerencetheTractor525]

Happy New Year everyone! There is no doubt that 2020 was a hectic year for us, but I am optimistic for 2021 nonetheless. With that stated, it is hard to believe that we are only one month away from seeing what will be announced for this year. I agree that this year's batch will mostly consist of recolors. However, here's hoping that the announced products will still be exciting additions. My current predictions:

HO Scale
Stepney, Chocolate Covered Percy, or Jack Frost Percy (with moving eyes)
Red Express Coach
Red Express Brake Coach

Narrow Gauge
Brake Van- Brown

N Scale
Toby
S.C.Ruffey
Tidmouth Milk Tanker
Spiteful Brake Van (utilizing Graham Farish Tooling)

Large Scale
Paxton (with moving eyes)
Troublesome Van

There are many other rolling stock recolors for HO that have been previously mentioned that I would love to see such as the Circus Train and Toby's Museum Coach, but stating all of them in one list would be excessive.

[Zekeism]

If we got repaints, I would love to see scrapped Oliver and Toad.

[FfarquharStudios]

Happy New Year Everyone I Hope Everyone Has A Wonderful 2021
Because Of The Pandemic Im Not Sure What Bachmann Plans Will Be So Instead I'll List A Wish List Of What I Would Like To See In BachMann 2021

HO Scale > Stepney
                 Re-Release Of Salty

Also Since The Magic Railroad Made 20 Years Last Year It Would Be Cool
To See "Splatter & Dodge" Especially Since They Already Have The Tooling
For It And Alot Of People Would Buy Them

Narrow Gauge > Sir Handel or Duncan
                         Red Coaches
                         The Refreshment Lady Stand Coach

[clrp5150]

I don't know if they will make Stepney. On one hand, it would be extremely pleasing to the fans, given how much the Hornby one sells for on eBay. However, they probably wouldn't be able to get permission from Mattel, because of how much they seem to want to erase the history of the series, just like schools want to erase the US Civil War. On the other hand, it was a big surprise when they reintroduced Duck into the series, and we got a Bachmann model of him right before then, and I'm very glad they did it then because it would be weird to see him in his CGI form instead of model series. I remember someone else saying this somewhere else, but I just want to state it again. Also, they have their hands full at the moment, just having released 2 new versions of James, LBSC Thomas, and the upcoming Daisy, so if we were to see him, it would probably be in a couple years.

I'm pretty split on them rereleasing Salty. I already have one in pretty good condition, so if I ever decided to sell him, I could make quite a bit of money. On the other hand, if mine breaks, it would be pretty hard to get a new one.

I'm 100% sure they won't make Splatter and Dodge for a couple reasons.
1) T&TMRR came out 21 years ago now so there would be no significance whatsoever for them making them
2) IMO they would sell terribly. T&TMRR marks their only appearance to date, making them very insignificant. Also, they don't have much of a personality, making them non-fan favorites, so they wouldn't make much money.
3) Their design is actually somewhat different to the other Class 08s (no handrails) so Bachmann would just need to make minor adjustments to them, but still, it would be a waste of money.

I feel like Sir Handel will be the next HoN30 character they make, but we'll likely have to wait until Peter Sam is released. I'm not looking forward to Duncan, because as much as I love his character and would want a model of him, his CGI render looks hideous and if they do make him I would probably not get him (I haven't gotten any of the other Skarloey Railway products yet, but I'm planning to get some within the next year or two). The Red Coaches have already been made, albeit in their CGI form, so I'm pretty sure they won't make pre-CGI versions. The refreshment stand lady coach was in about 5 episodes and I wouldn't expect them to make it until the make other one-off coaches such as Toby's Museum Coach, which will probably not happen in the next 5 years.

Scrap repaints of Oliver and Toad would be nice but not likely, and I don't have the normal versions of either characters yet so I would probably hold off on getting those editions for quite a while. Even so, I wouldn't expect them to sell very well.

I wouldn't be surprised at Chocolate Covered or Jack Frost Percy at this point because of Busy Bee James. Maybe Bee James could be a test to see if random recolors of engines like that will sell very well, but if I were Bachmann I probably would have gone with pre-Crewe or Blue Henry first.

New Red Express Coaches would be great and would probably sell very well, and if they did get rereleased, I would get them ASAP. I can't think of any reason for Bachmann to not do that.

I would probably expect them to make either more or less NG rolling stock than just a brown brake van, but it's possible.

In normal N scale, I would expect 1 or 2 of the following: Henry, Gordon, Toby, Emily and Diesel. As for rolling stock, I would expect a Tidmouth Milk Tanker, Scruffey, and maybe a couple other items, such as some open wagons or more tankers.

In Large Scale I don't know if they would do Paxton or not. They just released him in HO scale like 2 years ago, and to my knowledge, he hasn't been selling the best. However, it would be pretty easy to just recolor Diesel's moulding and make a new face like they did in HO. Mavis is also possible, and although I don't collect G scale Edward would be nice to see, but they completely missed out on the timing and now it's impossible due to his recent absence in the show. Henry and Gordon will probably not get made either, Gordon due to being too big and Henry for the same reasons as both Edward and Gordon.

I would be very happy with a tar tanker reintroduction, and again, I can't think of any reason for Bachmann not to do it.

Green carriages would be fun for the NG line, but I really don't know if they would make them or not.

Normal N scale Ventilated and Brake Vans would be possible, but no likely IMO. The normal Brake Van is discontinued in both Ho and G scales, so they might not do it at all and make the Spiteful Brake Van or Toad instead. I also have this gut feeling that the Ventilated Van will be discontinued in HO pretty soon, especially since they still haven't updated the picture of it in the catalog or released in G scale.

Bill & Ben in G scale wouldn't be too terribly hard for them, and if they made them they would probably also do Duck for the same reasons. I'm kinda surprised they haven't made the Red Coaches or Troublesome Trucks 3 and 4 yet, and I would expect them to make them pretty soon.


Man, I spent a lot of time on that. Happy belated New Years!

[Falcon the 2nd]

I'm 100% sure they won't make Splatter and Dodge for a couple reasons.
1) T&TMRR came out 21 years ago now so there would be no significance whatsoever for them making them
2) IMO they would sell terribly. T&TMRR marks their only appearance to date, making them very insignificant. Also, they don't have much of a personality, making them non-fan favorites, so they wouldn't make much money.
3) Their design is actually somewhat different to the other Class 08s (no handrails) so Bachmann would just need to make minor adjustments to them, but still, it would be a waste of money.

I agree on that notion. I like Magic Railroad as much as the next guy, but even I think it would be a bad idea for Bachmann to make anything from that since it wouldn't pay off for the long run. The mentioned duo never appeared again at all after the movie and the last time Bachmann made a diesel duo (Arry & Bert) didn't end well, so there isn't much of a reason to make them in the first place.

[TrainFan97]

We're just over a month away from the Toy Fair. Good chance this year's announcements will be underwhelming. Origin James was supposed to get released in December, but must have been delayed likely due to COVID. Will HO Scale Daisy, HOn30 Scale Peter Sam, N Scale James, and Large Scale Diesel (fully painted) finally get revealed this Toy Fair? Only time will tell. Anyway, here are my predictions and hopes:

HO Scale:
Stepney (unlikely, but will be amazing if he's announced)
Sidney
Ventilated Van - Explosives
Toffee Tanker
Chocolate Syrup Tanker
Red Express Coach
Red Express Brake Coach
Oil Tanker Troublesome Truck #6 - Sodor (unlikely, but after how this truck was received, a Sodor version should happen in the near future)

HOn30 Scale/Narrow Gauge:
Sir Handel
Green Carriage
Brake Van - Brown

N Scale:
Toby
Henrietta
Milk Tanker
S.C. Ruffey
Ventilated Van
Brake Van

Large Scale:
Bill
Ben
Paxton (more likely than previous two)
Red Coach
Red Brake Coach

May get updated again close to the time the announcements do get posted. I wouldn't expect an N Scale Christmas Thomas set until more rolling stock options are available there.

[Mulfred100]

Just seen this on my news feed earlier. The Toy Fair 2021 has indeed been cancelled. I'm guessing any new products will now be in the 2021 catalogue and possibly trainworld might do another live stream showing new products
https://comicbook.com/irl/amp/news/toy-fair-new-york-2021-cancelled/?__twitter_impression=true

[JLK2707]

I just hope that the tar tanker wagon will be brought back to HO scale as troublesome truck #7. Also cp5150, why is Mattel just so desperate to erase the history of Thomas and friends from season 1-24? Also, what do you think of the season 25 reboot? Will you be watching any episodes or do they sound just too corny for your enjoyment?

[clrp5150]

I totally forgot about Sidney. He's a possibility, but not likely, as Arry and Bert were discontinued quite early and I'm betting on Paxton getting discontinued in the next 3 years or so.

Mattel just wants to delete the model series. I don't know why, however.

As for your question, I will likely watch the first episode and decide if I want to watch the rest, just like I did with BWBA.

[Chaz]

Just seen this on my news feed earlier. The Toy Fair 2021 has indeed been cancelled. I'm guessing any new products will now be in the 2021 catalogue and possibly trainworld might do another live stream showing new products
https://comicbook.com/irl/amp/news/toy-fair-new-york-2021-cancelled/?__twitter_impression=true

Most likely the case.  The catalog always comes out roughly around the time of Toy Fair, so I imagine we will probably know the announcements this year around late February.  Any earlier than that would either be if InsideTrack decides to post announcement threads again (which he didn't last year understandably since the catalog was "leaked" on Twitter), or if we get a Trainworld stream showcasing the new announcements then. 

Hopefully it's the latter since those are a more fun way to learn about the new announcements since we would more likely get pictures/illustrations of the newly announced products in the stream in addition to potential photo updates for previously released products.

[JLK2707]

Hey cp5051, does Mattel want to delete the history of both the model and CGI series?

[RailwayRoundhouse]

Here's my predictions for the 2021 announcements:

HO Scale:
Another Engine Varient (Chocolate Crunch Percy, Tar Covered James, etc)
Reintroduced Red Express Coaches
Troublesome Truck 7

Narrow Gauge:
Brown Brakevan

N Scale:
Scruffy
Tidmouth Milk Tanker

Large Scale:
Paxton

That's really it from me. Unfortunately with the ongoing problem that is the coronavirus, I find it unlikely that there will be any new toolings like Stepney or Sir Handel. Fingers crossed that those two engines are made in the future. Despite some not particularly liking the Busy Bee James model, I feel the different engine varients can really sell well if done right. There's many that can be done such as a Silver Spencer or a Dirty Percy or even a Old Shape Henry one day. I also hope we get an update on Daisy and Peter Sam sooner rather then later. It would be great to see some pictures of them, even if they aren't painted yet.

[liljakejake250]

I don't really dabble in N or G Scale stuff, and I don't plan on getting any narrow gauge stuff until after more stuff comes out for it, so I'll skip those and go straight to the HO. For me, Stepney would definitely be cool! However, I'm most interested in the classic series engines that would be seen working on the island everyday as part of the main branchlines: Ffarquhar, Brendam, and Little Western. So, again, while some of the other classic series characters, such as Arthur, Harvey, Murdoch etc., would be cool, I'm not really chomping at the bit for those as much. Although, Murdoch would be insanely cool!!! Anyway, I'm just looking for them to fill out the rest of the main classic series characters, after which the afore mentioned would definitely be of great interest to me.

Locos:

BoCo, my #1 hope FOR ME

As for rolling stock, I think some more variety in van toolings would be great, so not just repaints of the ventilated van, but more like fish vans or others seen in the yard or in goods trains like the Flying Kipper. Also, I'd love for them to bring the well wagon back, and maybe begin a line of loads for the rolling stock sold separately, like oil drums, stacks of lumber, pipe loads, and other stuff like that as seen in the series. I know some of these are available elsewhere, but its just a thought. The Old Branchline Coaches as seen in Edward and Gordon would be nice, although I highly doubt that one. And as I have seen many others say, the red express coaches would be very nice as well. Also, the china clay wagons from the classic series would be very nice as well!