While looking back at yesterday's announcement, I must state again that I firmly believe that Bachmann's priorities should have been set differently for this year, even with the pandemic at stake. After all, let's remember that yesterday's announcement showed that Bachmann was able to announce re-toolings for other non-Thomas lines such as the USRA 0-6-0 in HO Scale, so I do not see the pandemic as an excuse. In my opinion, an HO Stepney or at least some popular recolored rolling stock for the Thomas line should have been announced instead for this year, with announcements such as the HO USRA 0-6-0 saved next year when Thomas' diamond anniversary has passed. Of course, I understand that a popular new tooling such as Stepney would take years to be released. Most of us are already used to that. We know that Bachmann takes their time to perfect the models. I am just shocked that during Thomas' 75th Anniversary, their attention was not on the Thomas line as much as it could have been.

As for products that were already announced, I can honestly understand why the Large Scale Diesel was in the works before Daisy and Peter Sam, even though he was announced after them. Firstly, let's remember that the large scale Thomas line has received the short end of the stick since 2015, with the announcement of Winston. Others would even argue that it was 2013, when Toby was announced, so it is only fair the large scale gets the spotlight for once. Secondly, Diesel was already made in HO Scale. Thus, all Bachmann needed to do was scale up the model to G Scale, whereas Daisy and Peter Sam are getting constructed entirely from scratch, since there is no physical model to use as a reference. I could only imagine that CGI references make the construction of the models even more challenging nowadays. Therefore, to be fair, I can understand why Bachmann diverted more attention to the Large Scale Diesel when it comes to working on previously announced products.

Going back to the priority of announcements, all Bachmann would have had to do for this year was make a pinned post for the this forum, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram along the lines of "While this year is Thomas' 75th Anniversary, and our Thomas products do very well for us in terms of sales, we will be devoting extra attention to the Thomas lines just for this year. Stay tuned for more exciting announcements for our other lines in the future." And in response to delayed announcements, "Due to the uncertainties of COVID-19, it may take longer for newly announced models to be revealed." Both are statements that could have easily been copied and pasted to avoid extra headaches too. Hence, stronger communication from Bachmann could certainly help to lessen the amount of tension that has accumulated in the past day.

I understand that Bachmann is company of many scales, but this year was Thomas' 75th Anniversary. The fact that only one thing got announced for this month for the Thomas line, that being a repaint of a character that should have been announced in February instead of its Busy Bee counterpart, frankly feels like a slap in the face. If it were 2021, 2022, or 2023, seeing one thing announced in July would have been completely fine to me.

I mean, they announced all this other stuff for the other scales, and they could not even announce additional popular rolling stock that utilizes existing toolings such as the red express coaches or explosives van to celebrate the anniversary. Here's hoping that February 2021 will be much better for the Thomas line, even though it is after the 75th Anniversary.

With the pandemic at stake, it is certainly is not surprising that Daisy and Peter Sam have been delayed. Yet, I still hope that Stepney will be announced tomorrow, given that it is the 75th Anniversary, and would be something extra special to celebrate, as an overwhelmingly popular classic engine. Even if takes multiple years for the final model to be revealed, I know that the final result will be worth the wait. It always is, and I am certain that many other loyal Bachmann Thomas customers feel the same way.

I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow .

Stunning! I, too, was worried the model would not include separately fitted side rods due to his low RRP, but it is great to see that is no longer a concern.

Nice to see Black James joining the line. Yet, I have a feeling that this is just a "warm-up" to tomorrow's show.

In other words, I think that we will be seeing some more announcements that are even more exciting than this .

While I just uploaded a new update video on the narrow gauge extension of my Sodor layout to YouTube yesterday, I wanted to share the link to the video through the forum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pzwzArTY9o

Hope you enjoy, and make sure to check out Mulfred100's update video as well :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gYOsdYZKkg

Let's remember a few things before we jump to conclusions on Bachmann making Nia and Rebecca.

1. Neither engine has received good reception throughout social media, which consists of the older Thomas fans, and are the ones who purchase all of Bachmann's engines.
2. The new toolings for Nia and Rebecca would be incredibly expensive to make. Rebecca is a long tender engine, and Nia, while a tank engine, consists of a complex side rod configuration.

Thus, the poor reception for the engines, and the high cost to make them would lead to poor sales, much like what happened to Bachmann's Chuggington line.

Furthermore, the Thomas television series is going on hiatus. Heck, the show doesn't even air on PBS Kids anymore, which is where most children watched the show. With that considered, it should be much more likely for model era products to be made (Stepney and BoCo in particular). They would sell better, and their toolings would not be as expensive to make than the CGI engines.

All in all, let's hope that Stepney can be announced before any of these CGI engines are  . Thomas fans would be much happier altogether, and Bachmann would be better off with strong sales.

It is hard to believe that we are less than one week away from the new product announcement! With that considered, I wanted to post one final list of what I hope, and expect to see announced next week as well.

HO Scale
Stepney (with moving eyes)
Ventilated Van- Explosives (single vent van tooling that was used for the HO Ice Cream Wagon)
Tar Tanker
Red Express Coach
Red Express Brake Coach

Narrow Gauge
Brake Van- Brown

Large Scale
Red Coach
Red Brake Coach

or

Troublesome Van

Chaz summed up any further thoughts that I have at the moment. Thus, anything else that I state would be redundant.

Here's hoping that Bachmann will surprise us once more with a great new product announcement next week, given that it is Thomas' 75th Anniversary  .

Glad to see the layout pics on here! They really look brilliant, and I look forward to seeing how the layout continues to progress, especially the Bluebell Valley. This is another reason why I hope that Bachmann will announce Stepney. It seems that Duck is currently serving as a placeholder for him .

Last night, I found this gem by TopKazFatt that is unfortunately no longer on YouTube, and I thought that it would be nice to share it here on the forum, while Daisy is getting made by Bachmann.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2007228

It is amazing that back in 2008, most of us could only dream of having a high quality Daisy model in HO. Yet, with the Bachmann model announced, it is finally becoming a reality.

Here's hoping that the same can happen next month with an announcement of Stepney too .

With the mid-year announcements coming soon, I thought that it would be fun to bring back this thread again.

While looking through the Bachmann website, I must state that it is extremely interesting that Daisy's biography is based on the original episodes from the model series, and not the CGI era: https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=756_772_774&products_id=7196&zenid=hgsasbtuqjcb06jhpqkm2a6fp3

Personally, I specifically love that the biography states that Daisy was built to work on Thomas' Branch Line after "Thomas came to breakfast" .



Thus, this makes me wonder if there is a possibility that the Bachmann Daisy could be based on her model series design, with a bigger face as one notable difference: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Daisy/Behind_the_Scenes

Furthermore, with the Thomas television series now going on hiatus after Season 24, the chances of Bachmann basing their models on the model series instead of the CGI series seems much more likely.

Overall, as someone who has always preferred the model series designs over the designs from CGI series, I would be ecstatic if the Bachmann Daisy could be based on the design from the model series. And just for fun, here are some links to memorable episodes with Daisy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZGoYwxLFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCjg3MNHgnc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UVYmMF1cgY

While it has recently occurred to me that the 3D printed narrow gauge brake vans from Shapeways are not the same height as Bachmann's narrow gauge red and blue carriages, I am now even more interested to see how Bachmann's narrow gauge red and blue brake vans will turn out in terms of toolings.

As shown in the earlier post above, while I would still prefer for Bachmann to use the proportions of the television series model for the brake vans, Bachmann Thomas fans seem to be evenly split on this topic across social media.





Thus, one suggestion would be to base one of the brake vans on one of the real-life basis such as Talyllyn Guard's Van #5, and base the other one the television series model. If this were to be possible, I would like to see the red brake van based on the real-life basis, and the blue brake van based on the television series model.

All in all, as long as at least one of the narrow gauge brake vans is based on the proportions of the television series model, (preferably the blue one), I will definitely be purchasing it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9YGDYnSuedk

Just uploaded the eighth episode of my series to YouTube. Hope everyone enjoys!

Thank you very much for the feedback guys! I really do appreciate it. These positive responses are making me more hopeful that Stepney will be announced soon, maybe even this July if we are lucky. Overall, with all our hard work regarding why Stepney truly is the best candidate for a new HO Thomas engine, let's hope that the licencor can agree to this. Not only would Stepney's announcement make us Thomas fans ecstatic, but it would also help Bachmann with strong sales. Thank you very much again, and I look forward to seeing more thoughts .

Considering that Chaz promptly posted his detailed thoughts on the Black James and Narrow Gauge Sir Handel, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to share my thoughts on the locomotive that I greatly believe should enter the HO Thomas Line next: Stepney the Bluebell Engine!



So, why should Stepney, an engine who has not been present in recent episodes of the television series, plus seem like a generic 0-6-0 tank engine at first glance be introduced next instead of engines such as Nia, Rebecca, Phillip, Stanley, or even Ryan?



Firstly, the demand for him is definitely worth noting. Stepney has constantly been the most popular new engine suggestion by a landslide, not only through the Bachmann Forum, but through other branches of social media as well. Specifically, through the forum, threads such as the Stepney or Ryan Thread, as well as the Bachmann Thomas in 2019 and 2020 Threads have shown Stepney's popularity to a great extent, while multiple Bachmann Forum users have even stated how much they would love to see Stepney made in the signature section of their personal accounts. Through platforms such as Twitter, multiple polls have been conducted on ranking Bachmann's next engine too, and Stepney has constantly been at the top.



In terms of various brands of Thomas merchandise, Stepney has done very well with sales. For instance, when the Take-n-Play model was released in 2014, Stepney's model constantly sold out. In addition, Hornby made an HO/OO scale model of Stepney, which was first discontinued in 2010, but re-released in 2012 for a limited time due to popularity. It really is a shame that the Hornby model is now discontinued, as there has been and still is great demand for him, and the model is incredibly hard to come across for a decent price nowadays.



As someone who was lucky enough to purchase a Hornby Stepney many years ago, two questions that I have been asked numerous times from many Thomas fans are: Where can I find a Hornby Stepney? Do you ever plan on selling your Hornby Stepney? While replying, I always feel guilty for stating that I do not plan on selling my Stepney model, and that eBay is really the only place to find one these days. This just goes to show that a character does not need to be in current CGI episodes to be a popular request. It is crystal clear that fans want an HO Stepney.



Even so, considering that Stepney still may seem like a generic 0-6-0 tank engine, one may then ask: what makes Stepney so popular? For starters, he is one of the last engines introduced in the classic model series that has not been made by Bachmann, plus is an Awdry character. In addition, when looking at past sales, classic engines such as Duck have done very well. It would be no different with Stepney as well as the upcoming Daisy model for the same reason.



Moreover, fans see Stepney as a natural addition to the line, as he would go wonderfully with engines such as Duck, rolling stock such as the red branchline coaches, and most notably, Rusty, since he is the one who saved Stepney from scrap in a fan-favorite episode of all time: Rusty to the Rescue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MbpwBfrrxY. Stepney even goes wonderfully with the newer engines in the line: Rosie and Paxton, since Stepney played a part in an episode with Rosie: Rosie's Carnival Special https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYgTOayoJd8, and Paxton could be utilized as one of the scrap diesels seen in the background of Rusty to the Rescue.



Other episodes that can explain Stepney's popularity are Thomas and Stepney: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-yHoSMEf2M, and Stepney Gets Lost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPGQtz1lvZU. Also, it is interesting to note that Stepney is the only engine mentioned in the classic song, Little Engines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wesCEBy1TE, that Bachmann has not made yet.



In real-life, let's remember that Stepney is even a symbol of railway heritage (The Bluebell Railway), and his real life basis is also called "Stepney". With the Bachmann Thomas line now entering the UK, a Bachmann Stepney could be sold at the Bluebell Railway Giftshop. This would, without a doubt, introduce more people to the Bachmann Thomas line, as well as give children who are already interested in Thomas a gateway to real-world locomotives. In fact, one Thomas fan made an extraordinary documentary on the history of Stepney, which once again, shows how popular of an engine he really is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGmpr52R2FY



As far as Stepney's design is concerned, a new tooling would be needed, but since Stepney is an 0-6-0 tank engine, his small new tooling is something that Bachmann could definitely work with. His goldenrod color scheme is also something worth noting, as there is currently no engine with the same livery, something that the licensor should certainly be on board with. In addition, one specific thing to note is that Stepney's red side rods should actually be plastic, and not metal, which would definitely help Bachmann, considering that many of Bachmann's most recent models such as Rosie and the narrow gauge engines have plastic bits for the side rods to save money.



Finally, some fans refer to Stepney as a ticking clock because the longer that Bachmann waits to announce Stepney, the higher the chance that Mattel will bring back Stepney to the television series. Hence, Bachmann would have to base Stepney on his CGI design. Although there have been some good CGI renders such as Daisy, other CGI renders such as Oliver missed the mark by a long shot. Thus, Stepney may suffer from the same fate if he returns in CGI. Therefore, what would be most ideal for Stepney is what happened with Duck. Bachmann announced him in 2012, right before his CGI render was revealed. Therefore, Bachmann Duck was based on the classic model series design, which fans were ecstatic about. And, just like Duck, Stepney's model era face is extremely nostalgic and has a unique charm of its own that I hope to see on the Bachmann model over any sort of CGI face.



Overall, I have zero doubt that Stepney is the best candidate for Bachmann to announce next as far as new toolings are concerned. To add, because it is the 75th Anniversary, I think that Stepney, a classic engine that has not been in the current show for a while, should take priority over any other new tooling in any scale of the Thomas line including a Narrow Gauge Sir Handel.



I truly hope that someone from Bachmann can pass this message along, as seeing Stepney announced would not only make fans extremely happy, but would greatly help Bachmann with very strong sales.

Now, for some questions:
Would you buy a Bachmann Stepney?
How popular do you think that a Bachmann Stepney would be?
After reading this, is there any other HO engine you could see as a better suggestion than Stepney and why?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this long post. I look forward to seeing everyone's thoughts, and with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, I hope that everyone is well and stays safe.