With them specifically advertising an exclusive 20-ton brakevan in the new 80th set, it makes me think Bradford and the brown van from N scale are an inevitability (maybe one of the others from CGI as well but not as confident in them.)

I could very well see those being part of the NMRA lineup this year but also could see them waiting a little bit until after this announcement. Like how TT#7 didn't immediately come after the 12-ton van announcement. Don't really have any other thoughts yet for predictions, most of what I said pre catalog still holds true, but this was interesting enough felt I should make a post about it.


Something really out of left field they could do is a Samson and Bradford dual announcement at NMRA. but I don't think they will. I'm almost certain Whiff is next, but they could surprise me.

While I'm still very much a fan of the announcements revealed today, I'll admit that most of my personal wishlist and predictions haven't changed all that much, apart from the obvious additions of Troublesome Truck #7 and the large scale LBSC Thomas now being out of the way. If anything, it highlights how much more anticipation I have for seeing some of the previous suggestions during future announcement dates, particularly Edward and the coal wagon with load in N scale.

I got a few predictions right this year

Troublsome truck 7
HO set
Scrap wagon N scale
N scale LBSC Thomas
N scale Black James

I was thinking about putting LBSC Thomas for large scale in my predictions but I went against it .

Overall I did sorta have doubts they were going to do a coal load tooling given the backlog for n scale
But 5 products is not bad

My wishlist/predictions hasn't changed really either. I'd still love a Stephen to go with the blue open carriage, I still think the 4 plank wagons in NG would be an incredibly popular seller and edition to the range. I still feel like well end up with a Bradford in N scale/possibly HO. One thing i will add which i don't really see happening however given today's announcements and current catalogue I think it's worth mentioning. A reintroduction of the original Sodor Mail car. Given we now have a CGI milk tanker and the current Tidmouth Milk Tanker is still available (for now) if that proves to be financially successful, I see no reason why a reintroduction of the OG Sodor Mail car wouldn't be a successful announcement too. It's classic series rolling stock, it's one of those sort after pieces now in the fandom. We have the Tar tanker back, so It's not entirely impossible. As said previous posts they can market the CGI as they do now as Mail car red and the OG as Sodor Mail car. Anyway just an idea.
The only other idea I have is a van or truck in memory of Britt (if that's possible) maybe a van with the Britt Allcroft logo written on the side in a limited run, could even maybe have some of the funds donated to a charity Britt was a supporter of?

I had a feeling HO Scale wasn't going to get a new tooling. Especially since they're prioritizing getting Stanley out there and fixing Salty, while making little progress on Sidney and Mainland Diesel. But if they do announce a new tooling this NMRA, it would most likely be Whiff or Samson. Considering the 80th Anniversary set is getting the LMS 20-Ton Brake Van, that's the tooling for Bradford right there, so I can definitely see them announcing Samson as the next new tooling for HO Scale. If we do get Whiff, they would need to announce a Waste Wagon with a new trash load.

The NMRA should for sure announce Luke for Narrow Gauge, and I had a feeling he wasn't going to be in the catalog since they still need to get Sir Handel out there. Thankfully, the gondolas now have painted samples, which means they're not far off, either. All that's left are the Gunpowder Wagons, and those should be in progress. It may be another year or two before Duncan gets reconsidered. For rolling stock, Narrow Gauge still needs a tan brake van and box van, which both would use an existing tooling and can be easily done.

I did guess right that N Scale would get LBSC Thomas and Origin James. It's about time we got non-troublesome variants of the open wagon, and they were the red one, and Sodor Scrap. I'm hoping we can still get the logoless green Coal Wagon w/ Load. It better be the logoless one... I had a feeling Edward wasn't going to be announced just yet because Bachmann is still catching up on Diesel, Paxton and Henry. They only recently managed to get Gordon and Emily out there. Now that it's been another year, progress has to have been done on Diesel and Paxton. I'm still hoping that the NMRA would for sure announce Edward, then we can finally have all eight members of the original Steam Team in N Scale. As for other rolling stock, I'd still like to see the BR Brake Van and Gray 12-Ton Van. Red Coaches are also very much possible.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on January 25, 2025, 12:37:07 PMWith them specifically advertising an exclusive 20-ton brakevan in the new 80th set, it makes me think Bradford and the brown van from N scale are an inevitability.

Quote from: TrainFan97 on January 25, 2025, 04:22:01 PMConsidering the 80th Anniversary set is getting the LMS 20-Ton Brake Van, that's the tooling for Bradford right there, so I can definitely see them announcing Samson as the next new tooling for HO Scale.

Hey, just a heads up for everyone, but the tooling for the 20 ton brake van in the HO set is a different type of van compared to the one that the N Scale version is based on.


The 20 ton brake van in the set is based on this old tooling Bachmann have, which is the same body as the Spiteful Brake Van with a different chassis:


And this is the type of brake van that the N Scale Brake Van and Bradford are based on, which is a tooling that Graham Farish have done:


Brake vans in the UK were commonly rated near 20 or 25 tons, so that specific thing wouldn't necessarily mean that the brake vans would be the same.

Oh, we were wrong. The brake van in the set is NOT the one for Bradford. It's the same body as the Spiteful Brake Van, but on a shorter chassis. Right now, only N Scale has the right tooling for Bradford.

Anyway, here's my updated list for the NMRA, which won't be until July. By then, more products should be getting out there, with even more samples shown of other previously announced products.

HO Scale:
Whiff
Waste Wagon
Open Carriage - Red (great for Christmas)
12-Ton Van - Brown
Chocolate Syrup Tanker
Toffee Tanker

Narrow Gauge:
Luke
Brake Van - Tan
Box Van - Tan
Brake Van - Gray
Box Van - Gray

N Scale:
Edward
Coal Wagon w/ Load
Red Coach
Red Brake Coach
12-Ton Van - Gray
BR Brake Van

Large Scale:
Origin James

It would be nice if HO Scale could get red coaches with white roofs. That would make them look like they did in the classic series. N Scale should also get its first Christmas set in the Thomas range.

Just as well for everyone's info, NMRA is in July this year. So we'll get the mid-year announcements roughly in the middle of the month. Show runs from the 14th to the 19th so the catalog should drop either on the 18th or 19th. I think that's the Friday and Saturday

Mine as well also catalog my predictions because I don't see much changing while I'm here as well.

HO Scale:
Whiff
Waste Wagon
20-ton LMS Brake vans, most likely Bradford and brown. To clarify I didn't mean to imply the model was the same as the set, I knew that. But I figured them advertising it as an exclusive 20 ton van means more MAY be on the way. Realize I worded it weirdly initially that was my bad.

Narrow Gauge:
Luke
Rolling stock I'm of 2 minds. If the gunpowder wagons are not done, then I think they'll do some of the brown and grey van and brake vans from the cgi series. If they are done I think they'll announce some of the rolling stock from BMM they can reuse for the normal TR line. My bet would be the open coaches if that were the case, but there are truly infinite options. Van 5 would also be a good shout.

N Scale:

Edward
One of the green wagons with coal loads
Milk tanker
Tar tanker maybe?

G Scale:
Honestly very possibly nothing, but if anything I'd expect some 12 ton vans.
If I'm feeling greedy maybe Henrietta, but I wouldn't expect it personally. I want it though. She absolutely needs to happen at some point.

Feel like these are pretty safe predictions, could potentially add more as we get more news of samples through the pipeline but I'm not really sure what else they'd do admittedly even if the pipeline does get cleared. Maybe another road vehicle but that's dependent on Bulgy.

It's really cool how the Sodor China Clay wagon is RWS-inspired. Never thought I'd see the day where Bachmann started to pull directly from the pages the RWS. This could open the door for them to finally re-announce their cancelled Rickety and Fred Pelhay from several years ago.

Quote from: RailsByRick on January 25, 2025, 11:24:35 PMIt's really cool how the Sodor China Clay wagon is RWS-inspired. Never thought I'd see the day where Bachmann started to pull directly from the pages the RWS. This could open the door for them to finally re-announce their cancelled Rickety and Fred Pelhay from several years ago.

And if they are making sets and rolling stock based on the Railway Series Books, maybe they could also repaint 58807 Donald and 58808 Douglas into Blue Donald and Blue Douglas. A lot of modelers already make Blue Donald and Douglas themselves, sometimes repainting Bachmann models, so it might be a smart idea for Bachmann to cash in on this opportunity.

If they did make Blue Donald and Blue Douglas, I would personally buy multiples of those items each. In part so I can juggles some of the bits around for fun. Like having versions of Blue Donald and Douglas shells over Black Donald and Douglas wheels.

Here's hoping.

Hopefully this will lead to the stupid CGI only mandate getting removed!;)

I might get LBSC Thomas in large scale, along with a toffee tanker wagon, and a chocolate syrup tanker wagon. I might also just get the spiteful brake van too!

Quote from: Armada Starscream on January 26, 2025, 12:10:14 AM

Quote from: RailsByRick on January 25, 2025, 11:24:35 PMIt's really cool how the Sodor China Clay wagon is RWS-inspired. Never thought I'd see the day where Bachmann started to pull directly from the pages the RWS. This could open the door for them to finally re-announce their cancelled Rickety and Fred Pelhay from several years ago.

And if they are making sets and rolling stock based on the Railway Series Books, maybe they could also repaint 58807 Donald and 58808 Douglas into Blue Donald and Blue Douglas. A lot of modelers already make Blue Donald and Douglas themselves, sometimes repainting Bachmann models, so it might be a smart idea for Bachmann to cash in on this opportunity.

If they did make Blue Donald and Blue Douglas, I would personally buy multiples of those items each. In part so I can juggles some of the bits around for fun. Like having versions of Blue Donald and Douglas shells over Black Donald and Douglas wheels.

Here's hoping.

I'm sick of saying this but it's NOT GONNA HAPPEN. The 80th anniversary set is just that. An anniversary piece. Just because that's being released doesn't mean all of a sudden RWS styled engines are gonna be made or repaints of existing tooling (which is vastly different to their RWS and real life counterparts) if any engines in the current range were to get RWS engines it'll probably be the Skarloey gang. As I've said before there's better versions available that people use for customs. Plus given the hate online for doing a simple set, can you imagine the RWS purists outrage when Bachmann uses an existing tooling missing added details that's in the RWS. It's not worth it for a few sales. As for Rolling stock, yes Rolling stock is cheaper and easier to produce if it doesn't sell well it ends up discontinued so doing Rolling stock is alot less risky then recolouring an engine and selling that. Don't read into this set being released as it opening up a world of RWS models and definitely don't read into it as any evidence the CGI mandate will be dropped. We're in the 80th anniversary year so anniversary stuff is expected.

Building off what Mulfred said, Thomas and his trucks illustrations are the main thing people think of when they think railway series. Mattel is also sending these illustrations out as part of their style guide. This does not mean more RWS stuff is coming. Although the brakevan is interesting since itis based on a separate illustration, it's likely just because it was a better fit for this set and they saw it in research. If we were to get any other RWS tribute stuff, it'd have been in this catalog. Maybe for a future anniversary but that's way off I'd say and again, I don't think it's likely. Blue scots and RWS Skarloey guys have never been handed out in the merch style guides, so I don't think they'd be something either on Bachmann's radar or something they'd be allowed to make.

The clay wagons likewise are based on the TWR toy with some cues taken from the illustrations. They're again not really comparable to the recolors mentioned here. Maybe in another 5 years but I wouldn't expect it.

TLDR: These are either stuff Mattel is specifically handing out as part of their legacy style guide or comes from previous existing merch. It is not an indication of anything to do with the model mandate, or more RWS things to come. At best though maybe we could see the uncanceling of Fred Pelhay? That'd technically align with the precedent set by the clay wagon. Idk if they'd do it though, but it's at least a possibility worth mentioning

I can definitely see Whiff being the next new tooling for HO Scale, and he will most likely get announced this NMRA once Stanley is out there. To go with Whiff, they'll also need to make a Waste Wagon with a new trash bag load, which would be the perfect rolling stock for him. As for another rolling stock piece, a Red Open Carriage would look good for Christmas, and it would use an existing tooling. Another idea I haven't mentioned is a Brown 12-Ton Van; another logoless van which would look accurate to the show. They still haven't brought the Chocolate Syrup and Toffee Tankers to HO Scale, and it's about time they do, or even a CGI Fuel Tanker.

Once Bachmann gets Sir Handel out there later on, they can announce Luke to be the next Narrow Gauge engine this NMRA. They still need to make tan and gray brake vans and box vans, which can easily be made from existing toolings. Maybe after Luke, Bachmann can finally uncancel Duncan.

It shouldn't be too much longer before we finally see samples of N Scale Diesel and Paxton, as well as the N Scale Express Coaches. Now that Gordon and Emily are out there, they can focus fully on the two diesels. Once they're far enough along, Bachmann can then make steady progress on Henry. Because this is still the 80th Anniversary, Edward for sure has to be announced this NMRA. We need him to complete the original Steam Team in N Scale. There's lots of needed rolling stock for N Scale, like Red Coaches, Coal Wagon w/ Load, BR Brake Van, Gray 12-Ton Van, and the Milk Tanker.