Thomas & Friends in 2014

[Chaz]

I'm finding them producing a dining car to be unlikely, but I have to admit I think that if anything could potentially make a comeback anytime soon would be Gordon's express coaches. 

Well guys this is it, 2014.  I feel somewhat optimistic for this year, given that last year didn't feel like such a strong year for Bachmann.  While the announcements themselves generally received mixed to negative responses, most of the newly announced products did not make it to the shelves or have photos taken which is disappointing on its own too.  That being said, manufacturing and production for new products for the Thomas line I imagine can be more and more challenging as the years go by.  The fact that Bachmann is managing to work on a variety of products as it is, plus new ones for this years announcements really shows that they're trying, which is certainly better than not making any new additions at all.

When all is said and done, this is a year we have been waiting for.  With the announcements being a month and a half away we can only hope for the best.

[DinoNTrains]

Well said Chaz

[seanrail]

We will see what bachmann has to offer for Thomas in 2014 at the New York toy fair on February 16th to 19th or when their web store re-opens after their inventory today.

[Chaz]

They'll be announced around the time of the Toy Fair, or at least when the 2014 catalog is viewable online.

[PasqualeCS96]

I'm heading up to the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour tomorrow in my neck of the woods so maybe I'll see something interesting Thomas related...

[Rickenbacker 325]

I'm heading up to the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour tomorrow in my neck of the woods so maybe I'll see something interesting Thomas related...

I was there today. The only new things were the rolling stock for the G gauge line. They didn't even have the new toby on display. I was surprised that all of the big companies had small layouts. Bachmann had 3 layouts. The Thomas and Friends layout wasn't there but there was a wall of Thomas/Chuggington.No date for Arry and Bert just yet or for any new Thomas stuff yet.

[PasqualeCS96]

I'm heading up to the World's Greatest Hobby on Tour tomorrow in my neck of the woods so maybe I'll see something interesting Thomas related...

I was there today. The only new things were the rolling stock for the G gauge line. They didn't even have the new toby on display. I was surprised that all of the big companies had small layouts. Bachmann had 3 layouts. The Thomas and Friends layout wasn't there but there was a wall of Thomas/Chuggington.No date for Arry and Bert just yet or for any new Thomas stuff yet.

I know, I was actually surprised the Thomas layout wasn't there. However seeing the Chuggington models in person was interesting.

[seanrail]

We will see what bachmann has to offer for Thomas in 2014 at the New York toy fair on February 16th to 19th or when their web store re-opens after their inventory today.

online shop reopened, but no model images of Arry, Bert, Jeremy, Sound Fitted Thomas or Troublesome Truck #4. This is absolutely scandalous. You would think that Arry and Bert would have model image ready by now since they are being reprinted from diesel and it also should not take long for them to choose a wagon tooling for TT #4.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I think we should at least acknowledge and appreciate that the Large Scale Toby was announced AND released in less than a year, especially with the quality it is.

I have a feeling we'll be seeing most HO stuff pretty soon anyway. It's usually about this long before we see announced wagons popping up.

[therailwayinspector]

Whilst I agree that updates would be nice; Bachmann is a big company with a lot going on and it's not always possible for someone to keep tabs on one thing.
That said, even a little word saying 'oh, it's a salt wagon with a CGI face' (for example) would be appreciated after this long I feel.... Just builds up the hype a little more I think.


So, 2014. Final predictions?

Oliver and Toad.

At a push; the red coaches.

[PaulGWR]

Oliver,
Toad
Red coaches
Flat car with different loads

[DinoNTrains]

HO:
Oliver
Toad

LS:
Edward

[Calebtrain]

HO
Oliver
Toad

LS
Edward

(Yes I realize that's what Dino said, but I fully agree.)

[PasqualeCS96]

For HO:





A LS Edward and perhaps Henrietta to go along with Toby seems possible to me.

[Zorran202]

Oliver, Toad, Red Coaches, and at least a road vehicle like Trevor for the HO range. After all, if anything, this year could be like when Donald, Douglas, and Diesel were released in the same year, even when some of them were announced earlier... Hopefully, this might be the case with Arry and Bert, hoooooopefuuuuuuullyyyyy.....

For Large Scale, I'd hope for either Edward, Mavis, or Salty to be released (considering we'd need some diesels to appear sooner or later...), then hopefully Henrietta to accompany Toby, some closed vans like the vent/salt vans, since all we see now are open wagons and tankers.