The Everything Thomas Topic

[TerencetheTractor525]

Hey everyone! Hard to believe it is already that time again, but the next TrainWorld Thomas Tuesday Livestream is today at 6PM ET. Hope that everyone can tune in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BxKHu0u5qE

[TrainFan97]

The stream covered all the Thomas products announced in the recent brochure, and showed the Mr. Jolly and Brendam Bay vans in their packaging, as well as the Talyllyn HOn30 Scale model in the three different liveries. No N Scale Emily update just yet.

[Kemptown Branch]

Hey everyone, I finished up modifying my N Scale Thomas to look like the Series 1 model, so here are some pictures!









I'm really pleased with how he turned out, and I'm excited to work on the other engines in the future as well. Hopefully Bachmann can eventually do Edward and Henry so I can do the full Season 1 cast (of engines, at least)!

[TrainFan97]

Just recently, Bachmann teased the unpainted sample of HO Scale Rebecca, which will be shown in the next stream. Within a few weeks, Doug Blaine will show us Rebecca in the unpainted stage. It's taking a long time to show N Scale Emily fully painted. If that were to be shown, Bachmann would tease that too.

[JLK2707]

Nice! I hope she just looks cool!

[DucktheGWREngine08]

Hopfully we also see an uodate on Sir Handek as I'm currently waiting on him right now.

[N Scale Sudrian]

I was back-reading this thread somedays back to see if there was any interesting history to learn here (This was not the case unfortunately, it is very dull in how similar it is to today's conversations, ha ha) and found this discussion of a 2019 news article about 'Thomas' licensing in preparation for the 75th anniversary somewhat interesting:

Later in 2020, model railroad manufacturers Bachmann will work with the brand on a two-year licensing deal to bring the world of Thomas to life. The traditional electric trains will encompass the adventure and discovery of Thomas & Friends, to provide fans of the brand, railway enthusiasts and collectors with a realistic re-creation of the adventures on the Island of Sodor.

This alone does not mean much. It's just this article including the regular contract re-negotiations between Bachmann and Mattel for the 'Thomas' license among all the other licensing deals. That said, I find the timing of this contract lines up oddly well with certain recent moves Bachmann has made with their 'Thomas' range.

Assuming this two-year contract renewal that went into effect mid-2020 was good for exactly two years, the next extension of the license would go into effect in mid-2022. I suppose the contract would have likely been signed for well ahead of time, such as how the 2020 contract was signed in 2019, but the NMRA 2022 announcements and possibly the 2022 Catalog announcements were likely influenced by the terms of the new contract.

I say this specifically because on Facebook, Bachmann mentioned that the reason their N Scale 'Toad' didn't utilize Graham Farish's existing GWR Brake Van design was because "the dimensions didn't match up". This is interesting, since the dimensions of an existing GWR tool didn't stop them from making the HO Scale 'Toad' use the Bachmann Branchline (ex-Mainline) GWR Brake Van tool. The current Graham Farish GWR Brake Van is more or less a scaled down version of that ex-Mainline tool to begin with, if I remember correctly... So it is somewhat odd that the licensor would agree to that tooling economy the first time but not the second. I believe that the stricter standards regarding Toad's appearance are the results of terms being re-negotiated at some point between then and now. It makes me wonder why they allowed Beau to reuse Bachmann's existing 'American' 4-4-0 tool, but I suppose that may have been a specially-arranged exception to these new guidelines, and it may not have been worth arranging such a thing for Toad when they were perfectly capable of just making the new van tool...

Also worth bringing up is Stepney. He is officially denounced as of the NMRA 2022 announcements, despite the good Mr. Doug Blaine seeming rather coy about a potential future model of Stepney whenever he was brought up in conversation. I think it would be very odd for him to act that way on these streams if he *knew* he was ultimately going to end up having to deliver disappointing news to the fans. But knowing now that there was a new contract implemented around the same time as these instances, I think it is possible that the terms used in the contract that went into effect in mid-2022 may have put a stop to any plans for non-3D animated 'Thomas & Friends' characters to be made for the Bachmann 'Thomas' line.

That said, since this contract is seemingly renewed regularly, it is entirely possible a future revision could reverse this stance. I don't foresee that happening any time soon given how many viable characters there are left from the 3D animated show (Nia, Hiro, Whiff, Charlie, Sidney, etc.) compared to how few truly viable options for new tools there are from the Model animated show (Lady, BoCo, Stepney). I suppose they are likely to want the ability to use Smudger and Proteus relatively soon as filler releases for the HOn30 line, as well as make Duke and Freddie into viable future options... It would make Arthur, Murdoch, and Class 40 into possible limited releases in the same vein as Beau by re-using the appropriate Bachmann Branchline tooling for each... But overall I don't think there is very much reason for Bachmann or Mattel to change this stance besides die-hard old-heads like us wanting to see the old characters instead of new ones, and we're only one part of the market for these trains.

(Also, tangentially, I don't think Mattel is playing a hand in who's introduced to Bachmann's 'Thomas' lines besides setting the guidelines of the contract. If Mattel was "forcing" Bachmann to make certain characters, we'd have gotten Nia instead of Stanley announced this year, or more likely we would have seen Nia at NMRA 2022 and Rebecca at NMRA 2023. I think Bachmann is fully in control of which locos they're choosing to give the green light under their current direction... which puts the NMRA 2022 new tool pick into a new light. If they were willing to green light a big tender engine, and picked Rebecca over Hiro despite how much longer-lived and internationally-popular Hiro is, it could be that Hiro is simply not possible for Bachmann to make happen right now for some reason, be it budgeting or logistical. If that is the case... ouch.)

That said, Mattel has made exceptions for their "no Model-animated-only characters" stance in the past... S.C.Ruffey and Jeremy the Jet made appearances every so often in their toys for the 3D animated era. Bulstrode made several appearances as well, he even made his way into the new 2D animated show! They're also seemingly fine with Bachmann using whatever is currently in their lineup, such as the Spiteful Brakevan. They also don't mind Bachmann using Model-animated-only colors for existing tools, such as Busy Bee James or Toby's Museum Coaches, or the upcoming Gunpowder Wagons including a D.Fusit livery despite the 3D animated gunpowder wagon not carrying that livery, or the upcoming Funfair Vans. Those last two are noteworthy, since they were announced well after the current contract would have been signed and implemented, so that means things like them are viable to happen again...

I don't know if I have an ultimate point to all of this rambling, besides just pointing out observations that can be made from between this old article and the things that have happened since its publication. I suppose Bachmann is justified in their current choices in what to make models of right now, contract stipulations or not, but it would be nice to get some of the Model animated characters alongside the 3D animated ones. Maybe we'll get lucky and the 2D animated show will make BoCo and Stepney as background filler character models, and that will be a loop-hole Bachmann can use to greenlight Model versions of them in HO, ha ha ha!

[TrainFan97]

So tonight's big reveal was HO Scale Rebecca in the unpainted stage. The first new-tooled tender engine for HO Scale since Donald and Douglas. Quite a big reveal. Still no update on Sir Handel, or N Scale Emily. We can hope N Scale Emily gets revealed fully painted by the end of the year. It's also possible that HO Scale Rebecca will be fully painted by the end of the year, but not guaranteed.

[Awesometrain77]

Assuming this two-year contract renewal that went into effect mid-2020 was good for exactly two years, the next extension of the license would go into effect in mid-2022. I suppose the contract would have likely been signed for well ahead of time, such as how the 2020 contract was signed in 2019, but the NMRA 2022 announcements and possibly the 2022 Catalog announcements were likely influenced by the terms of the new contract.

I say this specifically because on Facebook, Bachmann mentioned that the reason their N Scale 'Toad' didn't utilize Graham Farish's existing GWR Brake Van design was because "the dimensions didn't match up". This is interesting, since the dimensions of an existing GWR tool didn't stop them from making the HO Scale 'Toad' use the Bachmann Branchline (ex-Mainline) GWR Brake Van tool. The current Graham Farish GWR Brake Van is more or less a scaled down version of that ex-Mainline tool to begin with, if I remember correctly... So it is somewhat odd that the licensor would agree to that tooling economy the first time but not the second. I believe that the stricter standards regarding Toad's appearance are the results of terms being re-negotiated at some point between then and now. It makes me wonder why they allowed Beau to reuse Bachmann's existing 'American' 4-4-0 tool, but I suppose that may have been a specially-arranged exception to these new guidelines, and it may not have been worth arranging such a thing for Toad when they were perfectly capable of just making the new van tool...

Also worth bringing up is Stepney. He is officially denounced as of the NMRA 2022 announcements, despite the good Mr. Doug Blaine seeming rather coy about a potential future model of Stepney whenever he was brought up in conversation. I think it would be very odd for him to act that way on these streams if he *knew* he was ultimately going to end up having to deliver disappointing news to the fans. But knowing now that there was a new contract implemented around the same time as these instances, I think it is possible that the terms used in the contract that went into effect in mid-2022 may have put a stop to any plans for non-3D animated 'Thomas & Friends' characters to be made for the Bachmann 'Thomas' line.

That said, since this contract is seemingly renewed regularly, it is entirely possible a future revision could reverse this stance. I don't foresee that happening any time soon given how many viable characters there are left from the 3D animated show (Nia, Hiro, Whiff, Charlie, Sidney, etc.) compared to how few truly viable options for new tools there are from the Model animated show (Lady, BoCo, Stepney). I suppose they are likely to want the ability to use Smudger and Proteus relatively soon as filler releases for the HOn30 line, as well as make Duke and Freddie into viable future options... It would make Arthur, Murdoch, and Class 40 into possible limited releases in the same vein as Beau by re-using the appropriate Bachmann Branchline tooling for each... But overall I don't think there is very much reason for Bachmann or Mattel to change this stance besides die-hard old-heads like us wanting to see the old characters instead of new ones, and we're only one part of the market for these trains.

(Also, tangentially, I don't think Mattel is playing a hand in who's introduced to Bachmann's 'Thomas' lines besides setting the guidelines of the contract. If Mattel was "forcing" Bachmann to make certain characters, we'd have gotten Nia instead of Stanley announced this year, or more likely we would have seen Nia at NMRA 2022 and Rebecca at NMRA 2023. I think Bachmann is fully in control of which locos they're choosing to give the green light under their current direction... which puts the NMRA 2022 new tool pick into a new light. If they were willing to green light a big tender engine, and picked Rebecca over Hiro despite how much longer-lived and internationally-popular Hiro is, it could be that Hiro is simply not possible for Bachmann to make happen right now for some reason, be it budgeting or logistical. If that is the case... ouch.)

That said, Mattel has made exceptions for their "no Model-animated-only characters" stance in the past... S.C.Ruffey and Jeremy the Jet made appearances every so often in their toys for the 3D animated era. Bulstrode made several appearances as well, he even made his way into the new 2D animated show! They're also seemingly fine with Bachmann using whatever is currently in their lineup, such as the Spiteful Brakevan. They also don't mind Bachmann using Model-animated-only colors for existing tools, such as Busy Bee James or Toby's Museum Coaches, or the upcoming Gunpowder Wagons including a D.Fusit livery despite the 3D animated gunpowder wagon not carrying that livery, or the upcoming Funfair Vans. Those last two are noteworthy, since they were announced well after the current contract would have been signed and implemented, so that means things like them are viable to happen again...

I don't know if I have an ultimate point to all of this rambling, besides just pointing out observations that can be made from between this old article and the things that have happened since its publication. I suppose Bachmann is justified in their current choices in what to make models of right now, contract stipulations or not, but it would be nice to get some of the Model animated characters alongside the 3D animated ones. Maybe we'll get lucky and the 2D animated show will make BoCo and Stepney as background filler character models, and that will be a loop-hole Bachmann can use to greenlight Model versions of them in HO, ha ha ha!
[/quote]

I was back-reading this thread somedays back to see if there was any interesting history to learn here (This was not the case unfortunately, it is very dull in how similar it is to today's conversations, ha ha) and found this discussion of a 2019 news article about 'Thomas' licensing in preparation for the 75th anniversary somewhat interesting:

Later in 2020, model railroad manufacturers Bachmann will work with the brand on a two-year licensing deal to bring the world of Thomas to life. The traditional electric trains will encompass the adventure and discovery of Thomas & Friends, to provide fans of the brand, railway enthusiasts and collectors with a realistic re-creation of the adventures on the Island of Sodor.

This alone does not mean much. It's just this article including the regular contract re-negotiations between Bachmann and Mattel for the 'Thomas' license among all the other licensing deals. That said, I find the timing of this contract lines up oddly well with certain recent moves Bachmann has made with their 'Thomas' range.

Assuming this two-year contract renewal that went into effect mid-2020 was good for exactly two years, the next extension of the license would go into effect in mid-2022. I suppose the contract would have likely been signed for well ahead of time, such as how the 2020 contract was signed in 2019, but the NMRA 2022 announcements and possibly the 2022 Catalog announcements were likely influenced by the terms of the new contract.

I say this specifically because on Facebook, Bachmann mentioned that the reason their N Scale 'Toad' didn't utilize Graham Farish's existing GWR Brake Van design was because "the dimensions didn't match up". This is interesting, since the dimensions of an existing GWR tool didn't stop them from making the HO Scale 'Toad' use the Bachmann Branchline (ex-Mainline) GWR Brake Van tool. The current Graham Farish GWR Brake Van is more or less a scaled down version of that ex-Mainline tool to begin with, if I remember correctly... So it is somewhat odd that the licensor would agree to that tooling economy the first time but not the second. I believe that the stricter standards regarding Toad's appearance are the results of terms being re-negotiated at some point between then and now. It makes me wonder why they allowed Beau to reuse Bachmann's existing 'American' 4-4-0 tool, but I suppose that may have been a specially-arranged exception to these new guidelines, and it may not have been worth arranging such a thing for Toad when they were perfectly capable of just making the new van tool...

Also worth bringing up is Stepney. He is officially denounced as of the NMRA 2022 announcements, despite the good Mr. Doug Blaine seeming rather coy about a potential future model of Stepney whenever he was brought up in conversation. I think it would be very odd for him to act that way on these streams if he *knew* he was ultimately going to end up having to deliver disappointing news to the fans. But knowing now that there was a new contract implemented around the same time as these instances, I think it is possible that the terms used in the contract that went into effect in mid-2022 may have put a stop to any plans for non-3D animated 'Thomas & Friends' characters to be made for the Bachmann 'Thomas' line.

That said, since this contract is seemingly renewed regularly, it is entirely possible a future revision could reverse this stance. I don't foresee that happening any time soon given how many viable characters there are left from the 3D animated show (Nia, Hiro, Whiff, Charlie, Sidney, etc.) compared to how few truly viable options for new tools there are from the Model animated show (Lady, BoCo, Stepney). I suppose they are likely to want the ability to use Smudger and Proteus relatively soon as filler releases for the HOn30 line, as well as make Duke and Freddie into viable future options... It would make Arthur, Murdoch, and Class 40 into possible limited releases in the same vein as Beau by re-using the appropriate Bachmann Branchline tooling for each... But overall I don't think there is very much reason for Bachmann or Mattel to change this stance besides die-hard old-heads like us wanting to see the old characters instead of new ones, and we're only one part of the market for these trains.

(Also, tangentially, I don't think Mattel is playing a hand in who's introduced to Bachmann's 'Thomas' lines besides setting the guidelines of the contract. If Mattel was "forcing" Bachmann to make certain characters, we'd have gotten Nia instead of Stanley announced this year, or more likely we would have seen Nia at NMRA 2022 and Rebecca at NMRA 2023. I think Bachmann is fully in control of which locos they're choosing to give the green light under their current direction... which puts the NMRA 2022 new tool pick into a new light. If they were willing to green light a big tender engine, and picked Rebecca over Hiro despite how much longer-lived and internationally-popular Hiro is, it could be that Hiro is simply not possible for Bachmann to make happen right now for some reason, be it budgeting or logistical. If that is the case... ouch.)

That said, Mattel has made exceptions for their "no Model-animated-only characters" stance in the past... S.C.Ruffey and Jeremy the Jet made appearances every so often in their toys for the 3D animated era. Bulstrode made several appearances as well, he even made his way into the new 2D animated show! They're also seemingly fine with Bachmann using whatever is currently in their lineup, such as the Spiteful Brakevan. They also don't mind Bachmann using Model-animated-only colors for existing tools, such as Busy Bee James or Toby's Museum Coaches, or the upcoming Gunpowder Wagons including a D.Fusit livery despite the 3D animated gunpowder wagon not carrying that livery, or the upcoming Funfair Vans. Those last two are noteworthy, since they were announced well after the current contract would have been signed and implemented, so that means things like them are viable to happen again...

I don't know if I have an ultimate point to all of this rambling, besides just pointing out observations that can be made from between this old article and the things that have happened since its publication. I suppose Bachmann is justified in their current choices in what to make models of right now, contract stipulations or not, but it would be nice to get some of the Model animated characters alongside the 3D animated ones. Maybe we'll get lucky and the 2D animated show will make BoCo and Stepney as background filler character models, and that will be a loop-hole Bachmann can use to greenlight Model versions of them in HO, ha ha ha!

Tbh I know that won't happen but yeah I there are def some changes I don't think the no model series should not apply  anymore since it's also out dated let's just hope we get no all engines go stuff

[JLK2707]

Yeah. Provided Mattel just permanently forget the no-model series character rule for good.

[JLK2707]

Can a Bachmann Gordon easily be modified to an RWS old shape Henry? I ask this because I would just love to do this for myself.

[N Scale Sudrian]

I've been rather busy with work and life during the past few months so I haven't been able to check in on things outside of the usual Thomas Tuesday, and finally getting my hands on N Scale Toad (who is excellent, and I am very happy with, but haven't enough specific thoughts toward that I find it worth posting about on its own.) I'm not surprised nobody has commented on the Rebecca sample from October, but I was rather impressed with by the detailing present on it. Very nice to see such high fidelity detailing and construction on an HO Thomas model. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the HO models of most other 'main characters' in Thomas. If there were ever retooled versions of Thomas and the other mainstays made to the same high standard set by recent models like Ryan and Rebecca, that would probably be the only thing that would ever tempt me to try out HO again, ha ha.

[Chaz]

A bit of a different post, but tonight I want to take a look at the three vent vans that were released this year, including the explosives van, Brendam Bay Shipping, and Mr. Jolly's chocolate factory van.  I won't go into the toolings themselves since they are repaints of the double vent van, but moreso the liveries and the decals that were selected for these. 


Let's start things off with a literal "bang" with the explosives van.  I remember when the large scale range first introduced some really nice box van repaints one year, and only some of them made it in HO the following year, with the explosives van being the odd one out.  Despite that, several fans really wanted to see this out in HO for so many years and now that it's here I must admit that it's pretty cool seeing that finally addressed in the flesh.  The paintjob and the decals selected look pretty good, and while it's not accurate to what was used on the show, it works pretty well for fans who want to recreate episodes involving the fireworks vans used during the Hit model era.


The second one I want to talk about is the Brendam Bay Shipping van.  I'll be honest, I didn't think much of this one when it was announced with the Mr. Jolly's Chocolate Factory van, but I appreciate how like the explosives van, the dark navy blue livery works really well with the rest of the Sodor-themed rolling stock currently in the range.  I also like how the decal matches that of the Trackmaster toys quite well too.  I know in the past I've gone on rants about Bachmann using liveries/decals not used on the show, but I feel like this one blends nicely with the rest of the rolling stock and might make for a nice additional flying kipper van for fans who want to recreate this episode with their Bachmann Thomas models.


Lastly, the Chocolate Factory van.  This one has to be my favorite, solely for the nostalgia towards the model era.  Like the museum coaches, it's nice seeing Bachmann still producing rolling stock that was used exclusively from the model era.  The livery looks great as well, but for some reason the decal looks a little more cartoony than what was used on the show.  Not sure if there was some more recent merch/promo that Mattel had Bachmann use as a reference.  Either way, I say Bachmann has a winner with this one.  I know in general, Bachmann's been leaning more towards CGI  as of late, especially with engines, but it's always special seeing Bachmann still acknowledging the series' past every now and again, however subtle it might be. 


Overall, I really like these vent vans, and it's nice seeing some recolors that fit the Sodor universe quite nicely.  However, I'm even happier knowing that we will be finally getting a new single vent van tooling in HO with some exclusive liveries in HO.  It's nice seeing the HO line get this special treatment in the rolling stock department.  If for some reason they choose to stick with the single vent van toolings in HO going forward and not the double vent van toolings, I'm not even mad.  These make for a nice finale to the double vent van toolings we've had for a while now and I'm looking forward to seeing more creative choices with these new vans going forward, and (hopefully) one of these will be a new troublesome truck!


Thanks Bachmann for bringing in these vent van repaints into the range Bachmann, in addition to another great year in 2023.  I'm looking forward to seeing more updates and what new announcements 2024 has to offer.  Hopefully 2024 will be the year of N scale Henry.

[JacobSK]

Awesome review, Chaz! I'll admit, I was skeptical of these at first, but they all turned out quite nicely. Out of the three, I like the Brendam Bay van the best and am now tempted to pick one up.

[JLK2707]

I am just going to get some of these for myself!;)