Future suggestions/predictions thread

[Chaz]

I'm a bit late (the school year just ended, been busy until then), but thanks everyone for your strong feedback on my earlier post on starter set ideas!  It's clear that the set that is most likely going to happen from my post will be a starter set for Gordon in N scale.  Here's hoping that will happen once Gordon gets released and some express coaches are announced too.  It would be nice if Bachmann can at least re-consider re-introducing the large scale Thomas starter set too, but if pricing is a factor then I guess beggars can't be choosers.  Though the points that were shared about why a set for Skarloey and a DCC Thomas might not happen are totally valid, and I agree with the feedback that was shared regarding why, especially with the high price tag on the upcoming DCC Thomas model.

I like the idea of James potentially getting a new set in HO if for some reason they can't re-introduce the Percy set.  It's really just a good diversity move to allow other engines besides just Thomas to get a set like how the N scale range is doing.  Though as N Scale Sudrian mentioned earlier, the reason for the additional characters getting starter sets in N scale could be that Bachmann isn't planning to keep them around for long term, which again is a fair point since the HO sets for other characters didn't stick around for too long either.  I also forgot to bring up a Christmas set in N scale, but I'm confident that they will add one soon since Christmas train sets have always been very popular from Bachmann.

Finally, it's nice seeing confirmation on more Thomas announcements for the NMRA, although it's not surprising given the track record over recent years.  I'm still under the impression that this year is still a "catch-up" year for Bachmann since they're releasing lots of previously announced products that have been in production for a long time, in addition to starting on new ones that were announced last year.  Hopefully we get an update on Sir Handel soon, even though I'm a little concerned he still has no RRP or is available for pre-order at Trainworld and yet Rebecca (who was announced after Sir Handel) does...  Either way, hopefully Bachmann can surprise us again at the NMRA this year.  Even if they don't announce much like earlier this year, that's honestly fine by me.  As long as we at least get an N scale Henry announcement this summer, in addition to some more rolling stock announcements in HO and N scale, I'll be a happy camper.

[TrainFan97]

As long as N Scale Henry gets announced, I'll be good. Given that steady progress has been made on Gordon and Emily, who will soon be shown fully painted, it's time to announce another N Scale engine. A big green tender engine that can recycle Gordon's chassis minus trailing wheels.

[JLK2707]

Does anybody here think that a bachmann N scale old shape Henry would just be a cool suggestion?

[Armada Starscream]

I think old shape Henry in ANY scale would be nice!

I have a suggestion for how Bachmann could release new Bachmann Thomas Characters going forward. Given that the fans want a lot of classic and model series characters and Bachmann seems hesitant to do anything other than CGI characters at this point, maybe a meeting halfway point could be that they develop Model Series characters and CGI Series Characters side-by-side. For example, when they announce new Thomas Characters, they could announce a CGI series character, like Nia and Sonny, alongside a Model series character, like BoCo, Derek, and Arthur.

That way, they can appeal to the longtime fans and current stipulations at the same time. Plus, it would be a great way for newer fans who are only familiar with the CGI characters to see and be introduced to these older Model characters for the first time.

I am not sure if this will actually play out, but it is a suggestion.

[TrainFan97]

I've been seeing this suggestion turn up for a very long time now. "Old Shape" Henry may never happen, as that form of Henry was only in Season 1, and wasn't even in The Adventure Begins. Plus, that would require changing the tooling, which Bachmann can't really do. What even is the appeal of old shape Henry anyway? Is it because of being a form of Henry exclusively seen in Season 1?

[Chaz]

Bringing this old post up since we're talking about old shape Henry (again...) only this time in N scale (which is even less likely) but the same logic still applies here too.

Edit: I know some of the things referenced like Paxton and Daisy are outdated since Bachmann's already made both of them and Stepney was ruled out earlier, but again the logic in the old post is referring to why old shape Henry won't ever work for Bachmann.

The problem I see with Henry's old shape isn't so much the tooling or design of the model, it's the major lack of appeal.  It wasn't even used for a full season of the show and the current design of Henry is far more iconic.  The sales are not there for the model either, from both younger and older fans.  Parents who would buy models for their kids wouldn't even know the difference between the two Henry's, nor would they really care.  Henry's old shape might win over some of the older fans, but it probably won't do anywhere near as much justice as one of the remaining classics like Stepney or Daisy.  Even Paxton would have better sales than Henry's old shape, and he would take a lot less effort on Bachmann's part to make, and would probably be cheaper too.  At the end of the day, Bachmann would much rather invest in making a character they haven't produced yet as the sales for them would be a lot more promising than one of their existing characters with a tooling change.  Even if they were to do a "limited edition" run of Henry's old shape, the amount of money and time that would go into production won't make up for the limited sales that would go for the model. 

It's not going to happen.

[Armada Starscream]

I'm not sure if this is a suggestion that Bachmann would consider, especially since they seem to be opposed to making model series exclusive characters at the moment, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

With the recent release of Beau, it's clear that the main reason this relatively obscure character was made since there was already a preexisting tooling. All they had to do was give it a repaint and slap on a face, and it was clearly quick and cost efficient to make. So, my line of thought is that this could be applied to other obscure characters from the show. For example, bachmann europe has an Ivatt 3mt listed, which I feel most closely resembles the prop used for Arthur. All bachmann would have to do is give it a repaint and a face, and you have Arthur. This could be applied to other preexisting toolings as well for other characters. They could even offer them as limited editions to boost early sales.

I'm not sure if this is something anyone on here would be interested in, but I personally think that it is the best way to get the characters that us older fans would most appreciate.

I would like to bring this to the forefront again quick. It was recently revealed by Richard Awdry that a character Christopher Awdry attempted to introduce in the Railway Series books, Barry the Rescue Engine, was going to be an LMS Ivatt Class 2MT, just like Arthur. Arthur has already got a good amount of fans, and given this reveal, I have a sneaking suspicion that Arthur is going to become at least a bit more popular among Thomas Fans, making fan stories that hybridize Arthur and Barry's backstories, and also including modelers who might want to make custom Barry's. Given that Bachmann Europe already has a similar tooling, as mentioned here, this would be a great opportunity to capitalize on this and modify the tooling to make a Bachmann Arthur.

In addition, Arthur has a rather sweet production backstory. Apparently, Arthur was originally going to be called Clarence, but a magazine ran a competition to name him instead. Someone named Luke Sharp won the contest, and he named Arthur after his late grandfather Arthur Sharp. I find it is so sweet that Arthur was named after a competition winner Luke Sharp's late grandfather.

Here is Arthurs Thomas Wiki Pages:


Main Article: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Arthur

Image Gallery:https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Arthur/Gallery

Behind the Scenes Article: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Arthur/Behind_the_Scenes

Merchandise Article: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Arthur/Merchandise

And the Article about Barry: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Barry

[Chaz]

I know that Mattel won't approve Arthur being made due to the CGI mandate, but I'll admit I've always had a very soft spot for Arthur.  Easily my favorite non-Awdry character by miles.  Even in the earlier years of the forum during the late model era, Arthur was a top request and several members had him on his wishlist (myself included).  Over time though, as Arthur became less relevant his requests slowly died down as more Awdry characters were being produced like Bill and Ben and Donald and Douglas, thus making the demand for characters like Duck, Diesel and Oliver practically skyrocketed even higher than ever while lesser known model era character requests like Arthur and even Molly died down.  Though, this really wasn't a bad thing at all.  If anything, I'm really glad Bachmann stuck with the characters who had a much bigger following and legacy as the demand for them was higher than Arthur, even back then.  But it still would have been fun if Arthur found his way in the range too, I would still have it in my collection today if that were the case.

So while the odds are not in his favor, it really is great knowing there's still a fan-following for Arthur all these years later.  If we somehow got lucky with Bachmann taking the same approach with Beau by making a model of Arthur with the Bachmann Europe 2MT tooling, I would buy the model day one. 

Jay, (DecadesofSun), brought his custom model of Arthur to my apartment once before and it was a lot of fun seeing Arthur on the layout.  Might not be a bad idea for another future custom I'd like to look into for myself in the future...

[Armada Starscream]

I had made a suggestion on how to handle the CGI mandate a few weeks ago. Maybe they could reveal or release a CGI series character and a Model Series Character together at the same time? Like have Nia or Sonny be revealed as the CGI character, and Arthur as the Model Series character, especially considering Bachmann Europe already has the 2MT tooling available now. This way, they can appease the CGI mandate and appeal to the older fans at the same time. It could also be used for Bachmann to take the lead and introduce newer fans to older classic characters.

I don't know if this will happen, but I at lease wanted to get the suggestion out there, and at least put it on the table.

[N Scale Sudrian]

Personally I see Murdoch as a more likely "exception" they could make than Arthur, since his previous model from Hornby is notoriously sought after, and his appearance is much closer to the scale 9F than Arthur is to a scale Ivatt Prairie... although given the fair number of realistically-likely "CGI" characters they could make in HO/OO (remind me to post my predictive short-list on the topic someday), I think we're far more likely to see them bring "model-only" characters to the Narrow Gauge range far sooner. Smudger is an obvious choice, but also Proteus would be an easy way to reuse the upcoming Sir Handel tool. According to the fan wiki, he apparently does show up in a "CGI" themed podcast, so perhaps he can make the cut?

I think if they were ever to do a "model-only" locomotive before running out of viable "CGI" locomotives, it would probably be for the sake of an anniversary year, such as the upcoming 80th in 2025. But that is only if Bachmann and/or the licensor decide to re-evaluate their policy on what characters to greenlight. It makes sense to prioritize the characters who were in the modern version of the legacy series, but surely one or two older engines interspersed among the new crowd wouldn't hurt?

[Mulfred100]

One non rail character (kinda) I've been thinking about lately is Skiff. I think Bachmann could really do alot with him in the range, he's a fairly beloved character from the CGI era who appeared along with Ryan in Sodor's Legend of the Lost Tresure and appeared fairly consistently through season 20 and even showed up in BWBA era. He has even appeared in All Engines Go which I know, but surely that only can help his chances of Mattel greenlighting a model. He's definitely a unique character being a rail boat which Bachmann can utilise making his chassis detachable maybe like Terence and his snow plow or even if its fixed on he'll still look amazing. There's a pretty big core group of characters he's associated with in the show who mostly all have models in the range already, Thomas, Ryan, Duck, Oliver, Daisy, Sir Topham. Thus giving us modellers plenty of opportunity to showcase him with those characters on out layouts. The only two issues which I'm sure Bachmann would find a way around is his Chassis and sail (either being detachable like plarail or fixed as per Take n play)
What's your thoughts around Skiff? Could he work?

[Zekeism]

Talking about off rail characters, I'm very surprised they haven't made Trevor, popular model character, made it into CGI, good friendship with Edward.

[Chaz]

Sir Topham Hatt's car being announced earlier does lead to the possibility of more non-rail characters being introduced.  Trevor would be one I would be the one I would like to see the most with Bulgy being a very close second since these are both well established classic characters who are in the CGI series.  That being said, I wouldn't mind Skiff being introduced next either as not only would he go along really nicely with the recently released Ryan and Daisy but also because he adds to the non-rail vehicle diversity as a boat character.  It would be interesting to see if he would just be a boat or if Bachmann would go the full mile and add a set of wheels for him to ride around on.  Either of these would be welcome, but for now I think it makes sense to see how Sir Topham Hatt's car sells first before adding more vehicles after that.

Murdoch I wouldn't mind seeing either if he was introduced similarly to how Arthur would, admittedly I like Arthur a lot more than Murdoch but Murdoch undeniably has a much bigger sales market going for him than Arthur does going for the insane prices he goes for on eBay so the sales for Murdoch would be there, no doubt.  Either way, like Arthur, Murdoch I'm not so confident with either, again due to the CGI mandate, but would still be a fun addition.

As for the narrow gauge engine repaints, as I said in my earlier post on Yellow Rheneas, Bachmann doing repaints of the narrow gauge engines prematurely really hit the sales on Yellow Rheneas pretty hard, already having him on discount at Trainworld... Smudger might have sold a little better than Yellow Rheneas, but I think it makes a lot more sense for Mattel to allow Bachmann to ignore the CGI mandate for the narrow gauge range since there's only so many narrow gauge engines left in the show, and an even smaller number left in CGI.  This is is where I personally feel Mattel would be more likely to overlook the CGI mandate, not with HO/OO but with their narrow gauge line.  Though, instead of doing repaints like Smudger or Proteus, they could go the full mile with making a new tooling in the form of Duke. In my opinion, Duke I think would make more sense (despite being a new tooling), because he's the only narrow gauge tender engine (besides Bertram, who would only be a Duke repaint) and with that also adds more diversity for the narrow gauge lineup and Duke has just as big of a following as the six narrow gauge characters who appeared in the CGI series.


Anytime I post my custom Duke model on social media, people go crazy and always ask about it and several other fans went ahead and made their own Duke models too.  Plus Duke is an easy 0-4-0 locomotive with a tender so he wouldn't be that much more expensive than one of the current narrow gauge engine offerings.  Since the OO9 crowd is usually an older audience who grew up with the books and the earlier television series, I think it's in Bachmann's best interest to do Duke after Duncan (and maybe Luke), before doing more OO9 repaints like Smudger Proteus or even Bertram. 

[TrainFan97]

Just like what they did with Beau, Bachmann can also use existing toolings to make Arthur and Murdoch. Both of which would be from their UK line. Although they wouldn't have eye mechanisms, that would not be a dealbreaker. Beau was the first engine in the Thomas line to use an existing tooling that's not from the Thomas line. Arthur and Murdoch would be great choices that would do the same.

[TerencetheTractor525]

Just to add to the Arthur & Murdoch discussion, if Beau was anything to go by as an exclusive repaint of the 4-4-0, it would incredible to see exclusive Bachmann Arthur & Murdoch models, using the UK toolings. Indeed, they would be expensive, but if people are paying over $2,000 for the Hornby Murdoch in recent years and the Bachmann Rebecca is retailing for $300, the price of these would surely be justified, as limited run models or not.

Murdoch:
https://www.bachmann.co.uk/product/category/152/br-standard-9f-with-br1f-tender-92184-br-black-%28late-crest%29/32-859b

Arthur:
https://www.bachmann.co.uk/product/lms-ivatt-2mt-tank-1205-lms-black-%28revised%29/31-442

As we know, Mattel prefers CGI. Yet, as an older fan, I can't deny that I have a deeper connection with characters such as Arthur and Murdoch than most newer CGI characters. Even as limited run models, these would be incredible and surely do outstanding, based on what we've seen from every Hornby Murdoch bid auction on eBay once again.



Maybe one of these days .