Bachmann Thomas & Friends July 2020 NMRA Predictions

[TrainFan97]

One month from now, we shall have the mid-year announcements.

Still waiting for the N Scale line to launch, which can happen anytime now. Might happen next month, or earlier than that, but I could be wrong.

Still no images of Daisy, Peter Sam, Troublesome Truck #6, or the 1-Plank Wagons just yet, but they're bound to be revealed soon.

I noticed that Busy Bee James is listed on the webstore, but LBSC Thomas isn't yet.

[FfarquharStudios]

As a Fan Of The Series Since The Golden Age Of Thomas & Friends Bachmann I Would Really Love It If You Guys Please Bring Us


HO Scale ~ BoCo
N Scale ~ SirHandel
HO Scale ~ Stepney


BoCo Has Not Made An Appearance In The Series Since Season 5 Which Was Over 20 Years Ago
BoCo Is Actually A Fan Favorite By Many & I Too Am A Huge BoCo Fan He Is My Favorite Diesel Engine Please Bachmann It Would Be A Huge Honor If You Can Create BoCo For Us In HO Scale And As For The Other Engines Mentioned Please No CGI Render Faces Please Keep It Nostalgic Use The Gauge 1 Models from the 1990's Faces Thank You God Bless

[TrainshockeylifE]

Well guys we've got a month until the new announcements in July.

I can't wait to see what will be announced, released or revealed. My predictions are as follows:

Ho Engines: Stepney or Stanley

Ho rolling stock: L&B open Wagons or Van

Narrow Gauge Engines: Sir handle

Narrow Gauge Rolling Stock: Green Coach

Large Scale: no engines and chances are slim we get any large scale this summer as they're still working on Diesel

[sean1994rail]

My predictions for July announcements:

HO/OO
Stepney or Reintroudced Salty
Explosives Van
Toffee Tanker
Chocolate Syrup Tanker
Reintroduced Tidmouth Sheds (with motorised turntable)

HOn30/OO9
Narrow Gauge Sir Handel
Narrow Gauge Brake Van - Brown
Narrow Gauge Green Coach

N
Tidmouth Milk Tanker
S.C. Ruffey

[Mulfred100]

So back by popular demand. Hope everyone is well. My thoughts for these announcements are as follows.

Stepney or Ryan
These are definitely the front runners for the next "new tooling engine." Both are very popular choices, Ryan obviously a great character that people will buy to put along side Daisy and probably one of the most popular CGI engines besides Paxton. Stepney again is a highly demanded engine. Great to pair up with Rusty or any of the classic series characters. With it being the 75th anniversary year it would be fitting to introduce a classic character so I'd go with Stepney but I'll be happy with either.

Sir Handel
Again a highly popular and in demand character. Personally I'd love Duncan next but I do see the demand for this character and understand given the render of Duncan and Sir Handel how Sir Handel is clearly the front runner so as much as I do love Duncan and would love to get him on my layout I am throwing my vote in for Sir Handel too. Great to pair with Peter Sam.

Black James
Given the fact LBSC Thomas was announced in February it seems only fitting Black James is too. However if this was a 2021 announcement I wouldn't be disappointed. If its there I'll buy it but I'm not itching to get my hands on him.

Rolling Stock
Its pretty enebitable that we will get some new rolling stock with old/existing tooling. The red express coaches are probably the top of the list for everyone along with maybe a recoloured tanker (toffee or chocolate tanker please if you are doing it) or vent van or something.

Non rail
Now heres where I get to think Abit more outside the box. Non rail characters haven't been around for a number of years now but I do feel like its time to introduce one now. My main pick would be Bulgy as he is proving very popular since his return and right now is even more relevant then most of the returning characters in the show (i.e. Daisy, Duck, Oliver, ect) right now so marketing wise its a solid move for both older fans and younger ones. However I have another two suggestions. The first is STH's car. Pretty basic design, could sell it by itself or on a flat bed truck. Everyone knows what it is and it could be something that even non Thomas collectors buy given its a classic car. Last suggestion for this part is Horrid Lorries. You are getting three characters for the one tooling here. They are classic characters and have made it into loads of other merchandise ranges (Ertl, take along, wooden railway, trackmaster ect). Add in removable loads and then you can remarket them every few years with different loads similar to the Christmas delivery set. Thomas fans will lap them up. Truthfully depending on what loads you give them and if you did all 3 I'd buy them in a heartbeat and a couple extra to make standard lorries for the background of my layout. Again Its another chance to maybe sell them on a flat bed similar to how Ertl marketed Lorry 1 on the flat bed and lorry 2 & 3 by on their own.

Resin Buildings
I really understand how hard these are to make and how expensive they can be but the resin line really was a beautiful set of models. Even if its just one building/Station/shed a year and maybe an accessory to go along side like coal bunkers or retaining walls. My main wish would be Ffarquhar Station or the Skarloey sheds. But I think any addition to this line will be greatly appreciated.

I hope everyone is well and safe. I'm looking forward to these announcements.

[MeganekkoFury1126]

It's been awhile since I crawled out of my dark burrow to discuss on this forum, but I might as well drop my thoughts on future announcements:

I pretty much agree with everyone who's asked for Stepney, so I think I'd be beating a dead horse here. All I'll say is there is clearly a demand for him, since the Hornby model is almost impossible to acquire, especially at a modest price. Ryan would be next, even though I already have a custom model of him, but I know a lot of people really love him (myself included) and would be a perfect companion piece for Daisy when she's released. Same thing with Sir Handel after how well received Peter Sam was.

And I'd be all in for Large Scale Edward.

Rolling stock wise, the only ones I'd consider being made that would be essential (aside from maybe stuff like the Slip Coaches and the ballast hoppers) that haven't are these two designs:

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Long Trucks that you see carrying trees in Henry's Forest and pipes with a tarp over them in various S2 shots.


AND...

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Fish Vans that you see in everything from A Close Shave to Fish.

[Rodimus Supreme]

It's been awhile since I crawled out of my dark burrow to discuss on this forum, but I might as well drop my thoughts on future announcements:

I pretty much agree with everyone who's asked for Stepney, so I think I'd be beating a dead horse here. All I'll say is there is clearly a demand for him, since the Hornby model is almost impossible to acquire, especially at a modest price. Ryan would be next, even though I already have a custom model of him, but I know a lot of people really love him (myself included) and would be a perfect companion piece for Daisy when she's released. Same thing with Sir Handel after how well received Peter Sam was.

And I'd be all in for Large Scale Edward.

Rolling stock wise, the only ones I'd consider being made that would be essential (aside from maybe stuff like the Slip Coaches and the ballast hoppers) that haven't are these two designs:

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Long Trucks that you see carrying trees in Henry's Forest and pipes with a tarp over them in various S2 shots.


AND...

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Fish Vans that you see in everything from A Close Shave to Fish.

the Lyndon and Barnstaple vans were narrow gauge vans, but narrow gauge for (I'd assume) G Scale. The vans themselves are actually too tall for standard gauge, based on NMRA standards. It'd be like using the Bachmann Thomas and Friends narrow gauge box vans we have now with the Bachmann Thomas and Friends N Scale line. Actually making them the scale they are in the show wouldn't be allowed by the NMRA. You'd be better off finding some kits of the vans and make them yourself.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I'll provide a slight counter-argument to that: The Bachmann Diesel tooling is made to NRMA standards; now, with that in mind, Diesels body is only a couple of millimeters smaller than the PECO Lynton and Barnstaple On30 kit many people use to recreate the van.

This is where it gets interesting; as cited from http://thomastankmerch.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-guide-to-rolling-stock.html, the Lynton and Barnstaple wagons are actually 16mm, and meant to run on O gauge track. When they were used in Thomas, they were re-gauged to run on Gauge 1 track. This is why the Lynton and Barnstaple wagons in the show "scale" fairly close to the Gauge 1 rolling stock.

For a good visual, take this into perspective:

This is one issue I've had with the PECO kit; it's way too large compared to other OO scale rolling stock. Either way, point is if Bachmann wanted to make an accurate set of Lynton and Barnstaple rolling stock, complying to NRMA standards isn't a problem. The Lynton and Barnstaple wagons tend to hang only a few millimeters further than other OO scale rolling stock in the range, and going by engines like Diesel, Bill, and Ben, isn't a problem apparently.

Now the challenge there is Bachmann feeling this is a wagon worth designing a whole new tooling for. Theoretically, the 4 wheel wagons and the 4 wheel van could all use the same chassis tooling, with only the upper body being different. The 8 ton trucks (the long ones) could also have their body be one mold. Then, their bogie trucks would be the same tooling used on the mail cars and flatbeds:

This is how it was done in the show; the bogie design in question is actually a Tenmille Lynton and Barnstaple bogie that the crew used for many pieces of rolling stock in the earlier seasons. Point is, Bachmann would only need to design a truck body that fits on the bogie tooling they already have.

[Kemptown Branch]

The funny thing is, Bachmann James is even larger compared to his Model Series counterpart when comparing him to Henry and Gordon. In the show, the bottom of his face appears to start where the bottom of the bigger engines' faces do, and goes to a little over halfway above their boilers. The Bachmann model is very close to CGI scaling, where the top of James' face is almost level with he top of Gordon and Henry's. If you compare Bachmann remakes of Thomas' Christmas Party with the original, you will see this (the same also applies to Edward and Percy). I think these errors came about due to Thomas receiving larger wheels in Magic Railroad, when in the original series, he had shared a wheel size with Edward and James. You can also compare James with the picture Cheeky_ULP posted by putting a 7 plank wagon behind his tender. See how the tender's rear matches the height of the wagon? His tender is a few mm higher than it on the Bachmann version (another error Edward shares).
To repeat what Cheeky_ULP said, the van shouldn't be too tall, because, if anything, the Bachmann James is.

[Rodimus Supreme]

You people don't seem to understand how any of this works. I don't care how big Diesel is, his measurements don't mean anything for a van. And that van, taken from narrow gauge proportions and scaled up to the model series scale, is taller than every other type of van, and it's too tall according to the NMRA. Facts are facts.

[Cheeky_ULP]

You were given literal facts, and shown an image of the literal prop from the TV show, and that's the only argument you can come up with? Please stop talking. Nobodys going to explain stuff to you twice if you just cover your ears and go "lalala I'm right you're wrong" when things are explained to you in detail.

[Kemptown Branch]

You people don't seem to understand how any of this works. I don't care how big Diesel is, his measurements don't mean anything for a van. And that van, taken from narrow gauge proportions and scaled up to the model series scale, is taller than every other type of van, and it's too tall according to the NMRA. Facts are facts.

By that logic, James and Edward would also be to tall for NMRA standards, but they were able to be done.

[Large Scale Champion]

Please let us have a miracle and get another Large Scale loco!
Diesel is a welcome addition but nearly 7 locos in 12+ years...
Please Bachmann!!!!

[BGM Reviews]

I can't believe we're getting so close to the announcements!

I'm hoping for:
HO Scale
Stepney
Resin Ffarquhar

Narrow Gauge
Sir Handel
D.Fusit Gunpowder

[Kemptown Branch]

Even though it may technically be too late to post at this point, here's my hopes/predictions for the Announcements.

HO Scale:
-Like everyone else, Stepney, for all of the reasons everyone else stated.

-I'd also like to agree with Cheeky-ULP about seeing the Lynton & Barnstaple vans make it into the range. They could make a normal brown one, one with a face like A Close Shave, and one with graffiti on it like in the Series 4 episode with Duck and Henry. It would be great because it's something different and new!

Narrow Gauge:
-Sir Handel

N Scale:
-Maybe a Milk Tanker, or
-a Percy set? Both?

Large Scale:
-Thomas - LBSC 70
-Red Coaches (these would be great sellers!) I've seen a few people do Stroudley conversions of the HO Scale ones to run with British locomotive's, and I think the same would apply here!