Bachmann Thomas & Friends in 2020

[Cheeky_ULP]

Rodimus, that's the same photo I was already alluding to in the quote. I'm referring to a Tomix Thomas specifically. I get the intent, but I was hoping for something with more visual clarity, which we'll have to wait a bit on.

[Angelob6660]

I might have a problem this year with Bachmann Thomas buying.

If I get HO Thomas equipment I would happy to LBSC Thomas, Daisy, Peter Sam and the brake van ticket carriages in narrow gauge.

I'll wait for black James since I never saw that episode of Busy Bee James.

[Rodimus Supreme]

Rodimus, that's the same photo I was already alluding to in the quote. I'm referring to a Tomix Thomas specifically. I get the intent, but I was hoping for something with more visual clarity, which we'll have to wait a bit on.

I know it's already been seen, but we already know it's smaller. Here's a Tomix Thomas next to 3 other British N gauge locomotives:

https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/15419-new-n-gauge-thomas-and-friends-by-bachmann-us/

You can fairly well infer the difference between the two from these pictures.

[Cheeky_ULP]

You can, but that still doesn't negate me wishing for "visual clarity" for curiosity sake, does it? We've already done this same guess work  and analysis several times in other threads.

[Chaz]

Checking out the pages in the catalog I noticed that the Celebration Thomas is discontinued.  This isn't surprising really since I don't recall too many people anxious for this model to come out and it was peg warmer.  No different than how the Busy Bee James will be if I'm totally frank.  I'm sure the LBSC Thomas will be a hit once it's out and maybe next year or sometime in the future we can still get a black James.  If the tooling is there and there's enough demand for it, no reason for Bachmann to not consider it for their next engine recolor.


Also has anyone noticed the price on the large scale Diesel?  It's considerably cheaper than the large scale Thomas, Percy, and Toby models.  Engines that have considerably less detail than Diesel and are cheaper than Diesel in HO too.  I really hope that Bachmann doesn't have the details like the ladders molded to the body and an inaccurate chassis like Lionel or Hornby's Diesel models as a result of the cheaper price.  Either way, definitely something to think about now that he's back in production after getting cancelled a few years ago.

[sean1994rail]

Checking out the pages in the catalog I noticed that the Celebration Thomas is discontinued.  This isn't surprising really since I don't recall too many people anxious for this model to come out and it was peg warmer.  No different than how the Busy Bee James will be if I'm totally frank.  I'm sure the LBSC Thomas will be a hit once it's out and maybe next year or sometime in the future we can still get a black James.  If the tooling is there and there's enough demand for it, no reason for Bachmann to not consider it for their next engine recolor.


Also has anyone noticed the price on the large scale Diesel?  It's considerably cheaper than the large scale Thomas, Percy, and Toby models.  Engines that have considerably less detail than Diesel and are cheaper than Diesel in HO too.  I really hope that Bachmann doesn't have the details like the ladders molded to the body and an inaccurate chassis like Lionel or Hornby's Diesel models as a result of the cheaper price.  Either way, definitely something to think about now that he's back in production after getting cancelled a few years ago.

Also, I noticed the HO ice cream wagon and blue open wagon Aren't on the 2020 catalog, along with surprisingly, Maithwaite Station, Black Loch Folly, Knapford Station and Tidmouth Sheds, although the tidmouth sheds shed add on is on the 2020 catalog. However, a lot of model stores still have both tidmouth sheds and Knapford station up for order or pre order, one of the stores have an estimated restock date for the tidmouth sheds for April 2020.

[GordonPacific04]

Maithwaite station and the black loch folly got discontinued. I'm kind of mad now.

[TrainFan97]

Now that we got Red Rosie last year, and we're getting LBSC Thomas this year, the two most-popular recolors left are Sidney and Black James. Maybe we can start a debate on which recolor should be next. It's possible both may come for 2021.

Sidney - It's been a few good years without getting another Class 08 in HO Scale. He still hasn't been announced yet, but if Bachmann makes Sidney, people are concerned about his face. Like Paxton, Sidney would also need a painted border around his face to hide the eye mechanism. Paxton's eyes looked off to some people because Bachmann had to get his face to work with Diesel's eye mechanism, otherwise, they'd have to severely change the internals of the model. They'll have to do the same for Sidney, but I didn't think what they did to Paxton was a dealbreaker. I'm just hoping we do get Sidney eventually. Merchandise of him is rare.

Black James - This year, we're getting a James recolor alright, but not one we really expected. Busy Bee James may be a cool livery, but it wasn't really as popular of a paint scheme as James in his black livery from The Adventure Begins. I'm pretty sure someone at Mattel thought Busy Bee James would be more marketable, but if there's popular demand, Bachmann eventually will make Black James in HO Scale. The one from The Adventure Begins. It's a shame it's not coming this year to go with LBSC Thomas, and we're getting a James livery from Season 10 instead, but if we want Black James, we'll need to be more vocal about it, and maybe, just maybe, we can get him in 2021. Busy Bee James was the very definition of a wild card, like Rosie was when she was first announced.

I've mentioned other recolors like Silver Spencer, Blue Bill and Ben, and Green Salty, but those can be saved for later. The two top priorities for recolors would be Sidney and Black James. As for Green Salty, the standard Salty is still discontinued. Like I said about Splatter and Dodge, they're too obscure.

[Chaz]

I don't think any other engine recolor in HO should take priority over Black James at this point and Sidney is no exception.  That and I don't think Sidney would sell very well since he doesn't seem anywhere near as popular as Paxton and a lot more people expressed an interest in a Black James making it seem like a much more popular seller than Sidney too so I don't see the need for a "debate" over it.

[TrainFan97]

Fair point, Chaz.

Black James is arguably the more popular choice for a recolor than Sidney. The "debate" part was just a thought, but we don't need one, since there's no contest.

Even though Sidney has been having regular appearances and speaking roles lately, he just doesn't have the popularity that Paxton had. I guess I was wrong about him being a top priority. It's Black James who's the top priority for an HO recolor.

[Griffin (TheBlueSnowplow)]

https://twitter.com/bachmanntrains/status/1227250326421561345?s=20

Bachmann, whoever is in charge of your twitter account deserves a raise xD

[steakandcake]

Imagine getting roasted by the Bachmann twitter account lol

[TrainFan97]

I think I may be the only one who actually wanted Bachmann to make Sidney. I'm just surprised that he hasn't been announced already since it's been 3 years since Paxton first got announced. I just didn't realize how unpopular of a character Sidney actually is compared to Paxton. That could explain why Paxton has considerably more merchandise than Sidney. Very few people on this forum actually bring up Sidney. Even if he does get made eventually, he'll most likely not sell any better than 'Arry, Bert, Celebration Thomas, or even the upcoming Busy Bee James. The former three were discontinued just five years after they released.

Maybe I should just stop asking for Sidney altogether. Even though Bachmann has his tooling, he's just not as popular of a character as Paxton, and I need to accept it. For those who want Sidney, a 3D-printed face would be nice, but I'm not a modeler, since I don't have a steady hand. It was silly of me to think Sidney was a top priority like Black James, who much more people have asked for. It's not even comparable. When Bachmann announced Busy Bee James, the demand for Black James has spiked.

The demand for Stepney also spiked when Daisy first got announced, though he had been requested for years prior. It's definitely understandable why Stepney, or any other new tooling wasn't announced yet for HO Scale, since Daisy is still on the backburner. We still have no image or price of Daisy yet, or images of anything else announced at last year's NMRA.

I do like the look of Green Salty, but it wouldn't really make sense for Bachmann to make Green Salty while the standard Salty remains discontinued. It took YEARS of popular demand to finally convince Bachmann to bring back the express coaches.

[Cheeky_ULP]

Prior to Paxtons reveal, I wouldn't have minded an OO Sidney at -some- point. However, after understanding better the issues with the Diesel tooling, I think I'd be happier off if they leave Sidney alone. To this day, I still consider Paxtons oversized face quite a sight for sore eyes, which is a hard pill to swallow considering he's one of my favorite characters in the CG era of Thomas.

Course, they already went through with Paxton anyway, despite the problems with the face; might as well do Sidney when they need a quick and easy freebie. I don't see them going back to modify the Diesel tooling to be accommodating of Sidney anytime ever, much less re-doing the tooling for a better Paxton face, specially when there'd be little cost-benefit to doing so.

[TrainCollector]

When I was at York I suggested to the Bachmann Representatives they make a limited edition James Goes Buzz Buzz. I think that's where the idea for busy bee James came from. I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna get busy bee James. I can't wait until it gets released.