I really think that we could see a continuation of the individual releases of the circus train and Christmas wagons. I really think Nia could be a big announcement this year. I would love for Murdoch and stepney to be announced in the future(but Mattel would have to ease up first). Flying Scotsman is one of the most famous engines in the world and a very wanted character in the franchise. They could even do a seperate sale for the water tender. As for other rolling stock, I think the could start adding to the troublesome lineup and do the slate wagons from Thomas' train journey beyond sodor. Rickety and Fred pelhay were supposed to be released years ago but canceled. I think they could add to a troublesome train as well. Hannah would be great as well since she's being released in n scale. Bradford and Bruno would be nice too.

I think with the 80th anniversary and Mattel focusing on "Classic Thomas" I think the CGI mandate could get eased and we could get a Model character announcement maybe even this year lets wait and see.

Weird last-minute prediction. Now that we have Lionel 80th anniversary product and know Mattel has sent that style guide that's also on some tshirts on amazon out pretty much immediately, I am once again looking at the New Minis Diesel 10 and Charlie. I don't think they would be based on those minis to be clear, but the fact they were specifically updated and are being pushed makes me wonder if maybe Charlie may happen this year. Flynn is also in Minis this year so he could potentially be the next plastic vehicle. Normally there isn't cross synergy with Bachmann itself but with Lionel specifically using the same style guide mattel is sending out makes me curious if this could be different. Not as confident in this as my previous post but I figured it wouldn't hurt if nothing else to throw it out there

This gives me hope for model series products

Now that we know the DCC Thomas and Percy use the same sound files as g scale, this opens the door for the rest of 2-7, Emily, and Spencer to become DCC in the future. I would fully expect to see them announced over the coming years. Could be cool if they announced one or two of the Three Railway Engines for DCC this year. I could see them waiting until these are out to announce anymore but I do think they will be on the horizon.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on January 07, 2025, 08:11:52 PMNow that we know the DCC Thomas and Percy use the same sound files as g scale, this opens the door for the rest of 2-7, Emily, and Spencer to become DCC in the future. I would fully expect to see them announced over the coming years. Could be cool if they announced one or two of the Three Railway Engines for DCC this year. I could see them waiting until these are out to announce anymore but I do think they will be on the horizon.

I would love it if the range expands their DCC options beyond Thomas and Percy. I've been meaning to upgrade some of my engines to have DCC at some point since my club runs DCC and I am literally one of three or four members that runs analog because of the Thomas models.  So having options available for the rest of the original steam team and Spencer would help a lot long term so I can run more Thomas models for guests during our shows.

Sir Handel looks great too. Can't wait to see how he looks once they finish the final details.  Didn't think it was possible to be even more excited for Sir Handel, but here we are. 

We knew from the start that the DCC Sound-Fitted Thomas and Percy models weren't going to be retools. I guess the reason why they can't just retool Thomas and Percy is because it would take away the resources that would otherwise be used for another engine that requires a new tooling, like Norman or Whiff. Percy especially needs it since he's one of the worst models in HO Scale. The only real issues with Thomas are his face, and the lack of a front coupler.