What Happened to the Normal Wagons?

[james p]

Ok, I know I can't be the only one feeling this way, but the new wagons are just a little too gimmicky for me. Don't get me wrong, I think stuff like the GW cattle wagon, ventilated van, and even the newer salt wagon are pretty good, and troublesome truck #5 is the best one since the original 2, but the new 1-planks and open wagons are really a let-down for me.



I think a lot of times the extra designs take away from the model. For instance, I think the new log car is great, but the cartoonish writing down the side is really distracting. The salt wagon is fine, but why does it need to have all that writing on the side? What was wrong with the original plain yellow one that actually looked really close to the show? The express coaches, red coaches, and even the new museum coaches are all great pieces because they look really close to the show, and don't go overboard with the details. Even when I was a little kid, I always preferred the plain freight cars (like the original cattle wagon, the well wagon, the RF container wagon, etc) to the cheesier ones (Raspberry tanker, ice cream van, the cream tanker, etc). Less is more!

Anyway, I'd love to hear some more opinions on this. It's been bugging me for a while that there really isn't anymore "plain" rolling stock that actually resembles what's in the show (at least when Thomas was still "Thomas"...). Maybe you disagree and think I'm a contrarian idiot, or maybe you've been thinking the same thing. Either way, let me know with a reply.

[Toad139]

This is something I have been thinking about recently as well. I initially didn't mind these types of wagons when they were first introduced around 2015/2016. They added more variety to the range and Bachmann had made a lot of the rolling stock seen in the show at that point.  However, with the cream tanker and blue open wagon being discontinued recently, it makes me afraid that these kinds of wagons will take over the range in the future. A lot of them are gimmicky and don't have the same charm of the simple wagons because they don't look as though they belong on the show. But I guess charm doesn't matter when compared to sales, and if old wagons aren't selling, Bachmann is going to discontinue them. With all that being said, I don't completely hate these wagons, and there are quite a few I really like. I just don't enjoy seeing older products being replaced by new ones that look worse because Bachmann feels they need a gimmick to sell them. I am just glad Bachmann is making the Museum Coaches, it shows they are still willing to look to the show for new products. Hopefully we can get more rolling stock based directly on TVS in the future.

[Angelob6660]

The original salt van was yellow only in the Salty train set. I saw a single release on eBay about 3 years ago. But I don't know if it was really release outside the train set. I would have gotten it but I wasn't go paid $80.

I also missed out on the original mail car, cattle car, and tar, oil tank wagon.

The updated log car and plank wagons looks nice with the grey and dark grey hinges. The name on the flatcar i'm not into but it makes sense.

[Rodimus Supreme]

Mattel. That's what happened.

[clrp5150]

Mining wagon - Pretty good except for that stupid CGI logo
New coal wagon - It's fine
Scrap wagon - Hornby made one years ago and I'm surprised it's taken Bachmann this long to make it. I like it
Plank wagons - The crates are stupid and just jack up the price but the wagons themselves are pretty good
Diesel tanker - just plain stupid, I don't even think there were any in the show
Water tanker - I'm surprised it took the Thomas people this long to think of a water tanker, especially after frickin' raspberry syrup of all things. I'll probably get a couple because they can be useful i guess
Log flatbed - The words on the bottom don't bother me and there were way more log flatbeds than paint pot ones, so I actually prefer this one to the old one
GWR Cattle wagon - Livery is more accurate to the classic series ones, and I don't really mind the GWR logo
Ice cream wagon - Expected, but still weird
Live lobster thing - Never appeared in the show, ugly color scheme, and stupid concept. By far the worst of the recolors. I would've rather had a utility van that we sometimes see in the Flying Kipper
GWR van - I like that it's GWR but I don't like the bright orange color scheme
Sodor fruit and vegetable company van - I don't like the weird company name but I do like the realistic color scheme
Sodor salt wagon - Good color scheme as well, but the random words on the side ruin it for me
Spiteful brake van - I find it interesting that it's a hybrid of the TVS version and the RWS version, and I really like the face too.

[Armada Starscream]

I remember seeing somewhere that the GWR Cattle Wagon was based on a cattle wagon in an illustration of the Railway Series that looked the same. Sadly, I don't remember what image it is.

The Museum Coaches appear to be following this recolor trend as well, the difference is that they have an actual basis in the show.

Given the reveal of the Museum Coaches, I am REALLY hoping that Bachmann will make Gordon's Special Coaches from series 10, both Composite and Brake, from the molds of their Express Composite and Brake Coaches, the ones with the corridors.

They could also recolor Henrietta into Hannah if they wanted. I wouldn't mind that, as Hannah could go with my models of Toby, Henrietta, custom Elsie, and Victoria on Toby's Vintage Train.

[james p]

The original salt van was yellow only in the Salty train set. I saw a single release on eBay about 3 years ago. But I don't know if it was really release outside the train set. I would have gotten it but I wasn't go paid $80.

I also missed out on the original mail car, cattle car, and tar, oil tank wagon.

The updated log car and plank wagons looks nice with the grey and dark grey hinges. The name on the flatcar i'm not into but it makes sense.

It actually was released outside of the Salty set, along with the "M wagon" (6 ton wagon), but both were discontinued individually well before the Salty set was released. I don't remember specifically, but the 6 ton, RF container (the short flat car the new crate cars are based on), and the red express composite and brake coach were discontinued individually in 2010. A lot more stuff was dropped in 2011, probably including the original salt wagon. However, both the 6 ton and the salt wagon were included in the salty set until it was discontinued, which is really weird and probably why they discontinued it, because they were losing money making 2 pieces of rolling stock with unique toolings at the time, specifically for a set that didn't sell that well to begin with (although I really liked the Salty Set, I could just never find it for a decent price).