Quote from: Len on April 13, 2019, 10:17:52 PM
With the screw that goes up through the bottom of the smoke box removed, pull the top of the steps out to the side to disengage the pins holding them to the smoke box. With the ladders free, the entire pilot assembly should slide straight out to the front of the loco. You may have to seperate the shell and underframe slightly. Reverse to install the new pilot.

Len

Len actually did tell him how to do everything to remove the pilot.

To post pictures, you can click on the image icon in the BBC Tags area on post reply. Mine shows it under italics. You could also just type the image tags out. The link to the picture on photobucket or other sites goes in between the two tags.


[ img ]https://postimg.cc/mt03kYDp[ /img ] It will look like this.

Without the spaces it becomes a picture.

Wow, Rusty is really small. Even the slate wagons look kind of big next to him. That does make him slightly more accurate to Midlander (in size, at least), so no complaints from my end.

It's the British term for 'boxcar'.

I've been looking back through the old threads and catalogs recently, and there are a few things I noticed in regards to how quickly Bachmann has been able to get new ranges out. When the Large Scale range was announced in 2009, there were no pictures for the models, but they had painted samples of at least Thomas by July. They were also able to release the entire range by December 2009. For the Narrow Gauge range in 2015, there were again no pictures for Skarloey (a.k.a. the only model Bachmann were making themselves at the time). By the NMRA train show 2015, they had an engineering sample on display (August 28, 2015 - Thanks Chaz for providing the record). The official picture was uploaded to the site on December 9, 2015 (thanks Cheeky_ULP for the record) with Skarloey coming into stock the same day. Another thing I have noticed with the large scale range is that all engines, with the exception of James, have been released within the year they were announced. I believe one thing that could possibly have to do with this (in the case of Emily and Toby, at least) is that they were able to just scale up the HO models and make the small changes for details to stand out better. It seems like they can release things fairly quickly when they only need to be resized. I think the reason James took longer was because he had several differences compared to the HO model. Another thing that I noticed is that the models seem to take the longest when it is being completely designed for a first release. Examples of this are Oliver, Rheneas, Rosie, Duck, Donald, Douglas, and Rusty. I know that we are in different economic times, but do you guys think it would be possible for the N Scale range to have at least a couple of engineering samples on display at the NMRA Train Show in July?

Not to mention, everyone who actually wanted those models would have them by now. Plus, without having to make those old models, there is more room for Bachmann to focus on models people will actually want, like Duck, Oliver, and the narrow gauge line.

So what exactly would you guys suggest to do to get rid of older locomotives you don't have a use for?

Quote from: TrainshockeylifE on February 22, 2019, 07:27:55 PM
If any of you guys noticed, they took the Narrow gauge coaches off the website....

They're actually still on it, you just have to go through the HO Scale section to find them rather than the Thomas & Friends section.

I am slightly disappointed that there are no pictures of the N scale stuff, but it makes sense because their still determining the sizes. It's probably why there aren't any prices either.

The regular large scale Thomas is back in the range as well. I hope they are able to release the N scale stuff this year though. That would be really cool.

Quote from: Streak on February 21, 2019, 04:29:06 PM


What characters do you guys think Bachmann may be unable to make in N Scale?

I think that Philip, Scruff, Bash and Dash are too small to be made.

On a completely different note, I got an Update email from the Bachmann Sales team about the scaling of the N Scale models. Considering that I never asked them again about the sizing and they gave me an update anyways, I feel like that just shows how good Bachmann's Service is. This is what it said:

Dear ___________,

Sorry, we replied too quickly. The exact scale of this line has not been determined yet.

Best regards,

The Sales Team

Bachmann Industries, Inc.

Read into this what you will. It almost makes me wonder if they will do completely new toolings for everything or not.

I agree about the Christmas set. It just doesn't look like it's up to the standards of the previous Christmas sets. Making an N scale starter set would have been a much better choice. I just wonder if there's going to be anything about the N scale range (other than having something like the "HO models shown for illustrative purposes") in the catalog. I would almost prefer those 2d illustrations over the HO models because we would at least get some basis of what the product will actually be like, sort of like how the McColl's Cattle Wagon clearly used the Branchline tooling, even though it was just an illustration.

It seems that Bachmann has been updating their site. There are still no pictures of the Narrow Gauge coaches. A lot of the HO locomotives have jumped up in price by about $10 each. The rolling stock has jumped up in price by about $3 each. The Large Scale prices haven't changed. I also cannot find anything on the store about the N scale Thomas range or any 2019 announcements for the regular Bachmann lines (other than the Transcontinental Train Set). So far it doesn't seem like anything has been discontinued. The catalog still isn't up, either.

Quote from: TrainFan97 on February 19, 2019, 09:08:59 PM
It will take at least several years for Bachmann to make all the main characters in N Scale.

At this point, the only thing I'm worried about is that Mattel is going to throw a curveball and cancel the series. Please note that there are no rumors of this that I have heard. I feel like that would be the worst thing they could do right now. The current show seems to be popular enough to keep everything around for at least a few more years, even though I personally don't like it. I just hope everything lasts long enough for Bachmann to do a decent amount of characters in N scale. One question I do have, though: If the show did end suddenly, would Bachmann have to quit selling their Thomas lines or would they be able to keep the rights and still make new products?

I contacted Bachmann about what the N scale range will be scaled like.
This is my email copy and pasted (except my real name, obviously):
To Whom It May Concern,
What scale will the new N Scale Thomas & Friends range be made in? Will they be made in 1:160, like the other U.S. N scale products, or will they be scaled to 1:148, such as those made by Graham Farish by Bachmann? Thank you.
Sincerely,
___________

This is what they sent back (My name is omitted again):
Dear ___________,



Thank you for your interest in Bachmann Trains products. They will be made in 1:160.



Best regards,



The Sales Team

Bachmann Industries, Inc.


Cheeky_ULP, I am sorry for arguing with you so much about the scaling, and it seems that we are both wrong.

If anyone wants to, they can send a more specific email asking about the Tomix size, which is approximately 1:120 scale, otherwise known as TT scale, with N scale wheels on the wagons. I doubt they would answer differently though.