N Scale Bachmann Thomas

[Chaz]

Well, as much as I prefer the Awdry characters the N scale Emily won me over.  I love how she turned out fully painted. Between her open windows and tender frames, this is a very steep improvement over the HO model.  I'm very curious to see how the model will run.  I'm looking forward to picking her up, as well as her coaches.  Might be replacing the face though.

As for Henrietta having a face, honestly I don't really mind.  It's kind of a win-win on both ends if you ask me.  It's a welcome addition to those who wanted it, and for those who weren't for it can remove it with a hobby knife if they want.  Either way, I'm grateful they still bothered with Henrietta at all in N scale, which can be more than said for large scale...

Either way, things are really looking great for the N scale range.  Hopefully we will see some exciting additions for that line this year like Henry, a brake van and some wagon repaints like the coal wagon with load in particular.

[JLK2707]

Sounds just so cool!

[Chaz]

Nice seeing the official images of the N scale Emily's coaches as well as getting another look at N scale Emily and the Henrietta samples earlier. 

[N Scale Sudrian]

Needless to say, the annual catalog's offerings for N Scale 'Thomas' are very disappointing... I don't entirely understand why we couldn't have gotten some Open Wagon or Tank Car recolors for N Scale instead of the Narrow Gauge Slate Wagon recolors in HO... The HO Narrow Gauge line is already plagued with a backlog of wagons in the development pipeline, meanwhile the N Scale line is fully up-to-date in terms of wagon releases.

It feels like Bachmann have misplaced their priorities... That said I think it is a good idea for them to not bother with any new tooling in the catalog this year... And, I don't doubt NMRA will yield better developments, given track record of the past few years... But the lack of updates in this catalog seems to me like a major hit to the forward momentum built up by the last two years of announcements.

[Chaz]

A high resolution photo of the N scale Gordon has been posted at Walthers:



Always a good sign that the release date is getting closer and closer!

[TrainFan97]

Walthers has the official image of N Scale Gordon, and the next Trainworld Stream is bound to show him in the package. He's set to arrive in stock within the next few months.

But, N Scale Henry still isn't on the cards yet. I understand the announcements were a bare minimum because of so many other products Bachmann has been behind on, but I'm hoping that this year for sure, Henry will be announced for the NMRA. They unfortunately haven't even started on Diesel yet, but they did make progress on the Express Coaches, so that Gordon can have his proper rolling stock as soon as possible. It shouldn't take too long to get the 3D design ready for Diesel, considering they just have to scale down his HO Scale tooling.

Long before the NMRA, Gordon will be out there, and Emily will be available by the end of the year if nothing goes wrong, so this NMRA could finally be the time to announce N Scale Henry, then the 2025 catalog would need to have N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James for the 80th Anniversary. Maybe even Edward at a stretch, so as to complete the original Steam Team in N Scale. Great choices for Diesel repaints would be Sidney, 'Arry and Bert. The former has yet to be made in any scale, while the latter two are discontinued in HO Scale, and there's a demand for them to come back. Maybe we'll get 'Arry and Bert in N Scale, but Henry is the #1 priority for the next engine.

Sorry if I keep sounding like a broken record.

[N Scale Sudrian]

Just saw on Facebook that Henrietta's painted sample came in... She looks exquisite! Her detailing is excellent and the Fall ETA is good to hear...

Now, with the exception of the Diesel 0-6-0s and Express Coaches, all of the currently undelivered project for N Scale 'Thomas' have a decorated sample and are seemingly expected to come out within the year... You love to see it...

[Awesometrain77]

NMRA announced us
Henry - was pretty expected to be honest, but glad to see him
Brakevan - Was shocked not to see the Spikeful brakevan and this before . Especially since this is not in any scale yet
Hannah - Yet another N scale first she looks nice Seems like she went into production with Henrietta .
Roundhouse - Clearly based off of the HO scale Tooling Which is a repaint of tidmoth sheds . We probably will see tidmoth sheds in the future

As for the future of N scale . Edward is definitely someone I would like to see you soon . I also think some variants could happen . As for rollingstock Maybe some Xpress coach variations That we have not seen in HO. And maybe some wagons As we already Have three troublesome trucks The tooling is in the range We just need some without faces . branch line coaches is something we could wait abut later for .

Anyway here is my idea for 2025 N scale

Catalogue 2025
LBSC Thomas
Edward
Red express coach Composite
Red express coach brake
Gordon special express coach Composite
Gordon special express  coach brake
Gordon express set

NMRA 2025
Sodor scrap co wagon
Sodor mining coal wagon with coal laod
Blue mining coal wagon with coal load
Red wagon with clay load
Green open wagon

[RailsByRick]

I've been enjoying the N Scale line as of late, and I've had some thoughts for some new, cost-effective items that Bachmann could consider. All of these suggestions use toolings/partial toolings that Bachmann has already produced.

Thomas/Thomas Chassis

-LBSC Thomas: a simple Thomas repaint, and one that I'm hoping will be announced for the 80th Anniversary.

-Mavis: This one has been suggested before, but would only require a newly tooled shell to go over the Thomas/Toby chassis.

-Stanley: Maybe not right now, but depending on how well he sells in HO Scale, this would be another simple partial tooling for the shell to go onto the Thomas chassis.

James

-Origins James: This would be another simple repaint, and would complement a potential LBSC Thomas. My only request is that the running board is the proper shade of gray, and Bachmann, please do not add the printed lamp on the tender. It looks very cheap and tacky.

12 Ton Van

-Gray Van: See HO version for reference. A generic gray van with no lettering would be great to build up long goods trains as seen in the CGI series.

-Fun Fair Vans: Maybe not a high priority at the moment, but these would be a fun addition.

Tank Wagon

-TAR Tanker: The HO Scale version is being reintroduced with updated CGI inspired graphics. I'm sure this would be a huge hit in N scale as well.

-Milk Tanker: I'm honestly surprised this wasn't one of the first tankers released.

Gordon's Chassis

-Spencer: One of the best aspects of N Scale not having moving eyes is how versatile a single chassis tooling can be. This one may need some tweaking to work for Spencer, but I'm sure it could be done.

N Scale Roundhouse

-Tidmouth Sheds: This one is a no-brainer. I'm sure it'll be announced before too long.

Let me know your thoughts! This line is fantastic and I want to see it continue to grow.

[JLK2707]

I would just love to see an N Scale Edward.

[Chaz]

N scale Emily has been posted on Bachmann's webstore!



Really excited for her and Gordon coming soon.

[RailsByRick]

I know we all want an N Scale Edward. Recently I've been thinking over the logistics of how exactly Bachmann would be able to tackle a model with such a short wheelbase in N scale.

The N Scale Thomas engines released so far have small motors that still take up most of the length of the model, and as such, have the front axle be the driven axle. Of course, Edward's driving wheels are very close together, and reside towards his cab. This means the usual approach of having an axle in the front be connected to the motor is out of the question.

Could Bachmann flip the motor around and re-wire it appropriately so that the worm drive is facing the cab? Another issue with this is potentially making the front too heavy, when in reality, you want most of the weight over the driving wheels.

I'm not sure how they'll approach it, but I certainly hope Bachmann doesn't just skip on Edward entirely, and I hope they'll do his model justice.

[Kemptown Branch]

I know we all want an N Scale Edward. Recently I've been thinking over the logistics of how exactly Bachmann would be able to tackle a model with such a short wheelbase in N scale.

The N Scale Thomas engines released so far have small motors that still take up most of the length of the model, and as such, have the front axle be the driven axle. Of course, Edward's driving wheels are very close together, and reside towards his cab. This means the usual approach of having an axle in the front be connected to the motor is out of the question.

Could Bachmann flip the motor around and re-wire it appropriately so that the worm drive is facing the cab? Another issue with this is potentially making the front too heavy, when in reality, you want most of the weight over the driving wheels.

I'm not sure how they'll approach it, but I certainly hope Bachmann doesn't just skip on Edward entirely, and I hope they'll do his model justice.

I've also thought about this a little bit. One thing I think they could do is similar they did with Peter Sam, Sir Handel, and the larger scale versions of Emily, and have his rear pony truck wheel geared as well as his drive wheel, effectively making him driven like a 2-6-0. Edward's body length in the show is very close to Thomas, so I don't think that Edward's front bogie wheel would need to articulate to get around curves in N Scale, compared to the larger scales. That would also make it so that Edward would have more wheels to pick up electricity.

If they did need to, they could still have Edward's front wheel articulate or just move a little more to each side; they "split up" the front bogie on the OO9 Baldwin, and it wasn't really noticeable when going around curves.

[DustyMarie53!]

Emily's train set was shown off on New Model Monday this week. No release date was given, however it was shown off alongside the G scale Thomas set which has a q1-q2 2025 release date, so that is likely shared. Not really much to say other then was cool to see it in packaging

[Kemptown Branch]

Hey guys, I was able to pick up Emily recently, and she's an excellent model! The quality of the paint and lining is really high, being consistent across the entire model. I think she captures the look and shape of her CGI model extremely well, too!



She doesn't have some of the extra detailing seen in the later CGI seasons, but that's because she (and the other engines in the range) is based on the CGI orthographics that Nitrogen Studios created when they made Hero of the Rails.


Something I also want to mention is that Emily doesn't feel fragile. Even though the railings on her tender are see-through, they feel solid, and it doesn't feel like they could be broken by accident. Her model overall also feels really good, and all of the component pieces fit together extremely well.


As far as performance goes, she runs really smoothly and quietly in both directions. She is pretty fast compared to other engines, but mine can still be controlled to a nice, slow speed. She can also pull a decently sized train, which is nice!


If you guys would like to see my thoughts more in-depth, I made a video for her, which you can see here:
https://youtu.be/TmOZ17oEazY?si=nmkQZP3NYqNJXZuG

Overall, I think she's a great addition to the range, and she definitely makes me excited for the future of the range as well!