Bachmann Thomas & Friends in 2021

[Chaz]

That's honestly a very good point now that I think of it. We may be making conclusions a little too early with just one listing and multiple may be necessary to determine the profitable nature of a character in a particular scale, similar to my post on the Tomix Henry

I forgot to comment on that post earlier, my bad.  I think there's a clear market out there for Henry in N scale based on those and many eBay sales (similar to the numerous high sales of the Hornby Stepney on ebay as well).  Especially when a lot of people have gone out of their way to reuse the Henry motor and chassis to make Gordon, who was also promised to us by Tomix making it clear that there is very much a market for both of them.  The only other factor besides pricing being a potential issue for those two also comes down to how much Bachmann can do during the pandemic, which is why Toby seems to be the safest option if they choose to include another new engine tooling while still working on James.

[jbray]

I forgot to comment on that post earlier, my bad.  I think there's a clear market out there for Henry in N scale based on those and many eBay sales (similar to the numerous high sales of the Hornby Stepney on ebay as well).  Especially when a lot of people have gone out of their way to reuse the Henry motor and chassis to make Gordon, who was also promised to us by Tomix making it clear that there is very much a market for both of them.  The only other factor besides pricing being a potential issue for those two also comes down to how much Bachmann can do during the pandemic, which is why Toby seems to be the safest option if they choose to include another new engine tooling while still working on James.

Using characters from the first three seasons/series plus Emily is most likely the safest bet for any plan. There's no doubt that Thomas, Percy, and James are the givens in any production line and we've seen that in practice again and again from different manufacturers at different gauges/scales. From there, I'm not sure there's a single road map other than to consider practicality, production cost, and a guess at demand.

An example would be the value of Gordon in N scale/009 versus G/large scale. In large scale, a body at 1:22.5 scale with 1:32 chassis would be complicated at his size for the standard smallest curve radii. What may be practical for a James or Thomas model who struggle with these curves even with a missing middle flange, would be even more difficult from an engineering perspective with Gordon. It stands that Gordon is a popular character, probably the most popular large locomotive (given that he has not been removed from the series while Henry and Edward have been seen as the least damaging removals). If his production in N Scale/009 has reduced production challenges and reaches a larger market in N/009 than G/Large, Bachmann could look at him as THE premium model of the product line, while they keep Emily the premium model of Large scale despite desire (meaning demand may not be equal to interest).

There are two forces at work here: N Scale/009 is less popular than HO, BUT, the trend in the market is smaller scales given the lower cost barrier and space requirements. Because of this, we may never see the N scale line become as robust as HO but may come close (HO being more popular) and we may be seeing the limits of the HO line (Hornby pulling out of the Thomas line). In this sense, Henry seems like a future probability in N scale given his status as a former regular/current player but Murdoch seems improbable being a former player/currently missing.

Personally, I wonder if this move to N scale is a way for Bachmann to recapitalize on their best selling HO and Large scale items for a new market while they see diminishing returns in large scale consumers and filling out the back bench for HO. With that mindset and with COVID, I don't know that I expect many or even any new characters in 2021 in HO/HOn3 and Large scale other than those previously announced: Daisy, Peter Sam, Diesel. Maybe they might announce the next production goals for 2022 release.

[TTL]

I'm sorry I just need to address this, N scale is not remotely 009, just needed to get that out cause the 2 are very different, one is N scale one and the other is narrow gauge. And I have to object on any semblance that the NG range isn't as popular as the normal HO(Really OO but that's been said many times anyway) range, cause the NG range is damn near constantly sold out with the exception of the reused Peco stock cause it's the same tooling you can get for like 1/3 the price without the SR lettering and livery. And as for the normal range reaching its limits? No? Hornby gave up the UK license cause they weren't making money, and it's kinda obvious why they weren't cause all the engines bar a couple were made using now decades old tooling and most of them were still tender drive until the end, that coupled with the fact they being sold at around the same price as many of their new tooled counterparts. Henry for instance, why get Henry when a brand new Black 5 is about the same price? AT least in terms of more experienced modelers. And the fact Hornby was in a really bad financial state.
As for their announcements for 2021, I expect some sort of new N scale release, new engine ideally, a smaller one of course so likely Toby or Diesel(hopefully), LS who knows, main range probably rolling stock recolors or a new Mainline tooling being introduced at the most, maybe a new engine but I don't expect it, NG? Harder to pin point, if Peter Sam is far enough along then we may see the likes of Sir Handel being announced and probably more new rolling stock.

[jbray]

I'm sorry I just need to address this, N scale is not remotely 009, just needed to get that out cause the 2 are very different, one is N scale one and the other is narrow gauge. And I have to object on any semblance that the NG range isn't as popular as the normal HO(Really OO but that's been said many times anyway) range, cause the NG range is damn near constantly sold out with the exception of the reused Peco stock cause it's the same tooling you can get for like 1/3 the price without the SR lettering and livery.

That's my total ignorance and I've gone back and added strikethroughs. While trying to be inclusive of the UK, I went and made myself look like a moron. I appreciate the correction!

And as for the normal range reaching its limits? No? Hornby gave up the UK license cause they weren't making money, and it's kinda obvious why they weren't cause all the engines bar a couple were made using now decades old tooling and most of them were still tender drive until the end, that coupled with the fact they being sold at around the same price as many of their new tooled counterparts. Henry for instance, why get Henry when a brand new Black 5 is about the same price? AT least in terms of more experienced modelers. And the fact Hornby was in a really bad financial state.

Your last point here undermines your former and gets back to my point in the original post: If the Thomas line was making them money, they would not dump it. Because they had exclusive access to the UK market, they could have chosen to go back and update the tooling, but instead they dropped the line. That absolutely reads as them feeling that Thomas was not a lucrative enough product line to support. They could have altered many other facets of their business instead but chose to end the line.

Now, does competition with imported Bachmann models factor into that? Probably. It's hard to know how much market share was lost. This still gets back to my second point, which is that completionists are not a viable market. If Bachmann decides that having access to the UK increases the viability of introducing minor characters then all the better, but the majority of people are not buying the full range in any of the scales unless they have cash to burn. <- I'm excepting the narrow gauge range because of how specialized and limited it is. I never intended to come across as saying it was at risk and never felt that way. I chose with my post to talk about getting into minor characters from the model series in HO scale.

As for their announcements for 2021, I expect some sort of new N scale release, new engine ideally, a smaller one of course so likely Toby or Diesel(hopefully), LS who knows, main range probably rolling stock recolors or a new Mainline tooling being introduced at the most, maybe a new engine but I don't expect it, NG? Harder to pin point, if Peter Sam is far enough along then we may see the likes of Sir Handel being announced and probably more new rolling stock.

Agreed.

[TerencetheTractor525]

On a separate note, the auction for the Hornby Murdoch model just ended a few minutes. The final price is nearly 3,000 USD, plus shipping :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-Hornby-THOMAS-THE-TANK-AND-FRIENDS-R9684-MURDOCH-Locomotive-DCC-Ready/264904270320?hash=item3dad8661f0:g:nD0AAOSwZbhfjHTf

Talk about demand interest...

A sample size of one is not indicative of demand. Given that model railroading has an expense barrier, this seems like it is more indicative of a tiny subset of enthusiasts with enough money to spend whatever they like to complete their roster. 'Arry and Bert prove that when you get down to the level that only completionists are buying the product, it is no longer viable for the manufacturer to produce. Do you really think that Hornby would pull out of the Thomas market if it was making them money hand over fist? They weren't even making unique tooling for their locomotives and it wasn't enough money for them to continue.

At the end of the day, this is a case study of which we need multiple case studies to indicate larger demand.

It is fair to state that one sample size is not indicative of demand. I stand corrected there. However, at this point, with over twenty engines to choose from in the HO line, I do believe that every engine Bachmann considers for the future should be based on requests from older fans, as we are the ones who are interested in purchasing every engine.

It really says a lot when the last time we got an large engine with a complex side rod configuration was in 2006 (Spencer). That's why I brought up Murdoch, as Hiro (who has made more appearances) does not seem like a realistic option (as there is unfortunately no Bachmann UK basis for him), and it would be much too expensive to make one entirely from scratch these days.

Additionally, I am trying to speak out for fans who unfortunately missed out on purchasing a Hornby Murdoch, just as I was with Stepney. For years, fans have asked me through YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter where I purchased my Murdoch & Stepney models, and if I will ever sell them. When stating no, I feel sorry for them.

With the Thomas television series going through a major revamp, the new CGI characters are going to be considered as outdated characters in due time too. Daisy will not be out until 2021, after all, which means that the next HO engine with a new tooling will not be out before 2022 at the earliest; we will be well into the new revamp at that point.

With all of this stated, I do agree that the announcements for next February will most likely consist of existing toolings, due to the ongoing pandemic. In a perfect world, an HO Stepney would be announced, but the only new tooling that I really expect is an N Scale Toby. Hopefully, we will see some nice new HO rolling stock announced at the very least.

[TTL]

On a separate note, the auction for the Hornby Murdoch model just ended a few minutes. The final price is nearly 3,000 USD, plus shipping :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-Hornby-THOMAS-THE-TANK-AND-FRIENDS-R9684-MURDOCH-Locomotive-DCC-Ready/264904270320?hash=item3dad8661f0:g:nD0AAOSwZbhfjHTf

Talk about demand interest...

A sample size of one is not indicative of demand. Given that model railroading has an expense barrier, this seems like it is more indicative of a tiny subset of enthusiasts with enough money to spend whatever they like to complete their roster. 'Arry and Bert prove that when you get down to the level that only completionists are buying the product, it is no longer viable for the manufacturer to produce. Do you really think that Hornby would pull out of the Thomas market if it was making them money hand over fist? They weren't even making unique tooling for their locomotives and it wasn't enough money for them to continue.

At the end of the day, this is a case study of which we need multiple case studies to indicate larger demand.

It is fair to state that one sample size is not indicative of demand. I stand corrected there. However, at this point, with over twenty engines to choose from in the HO line, I do believe that every engine Bachmann considers for the future should be based on requests from older fans, as we are the ones who are interested in purchasing every engine.

It really says a lot when the last time we got an large engine with a complex side rod configuration was in 2006 (Spencer). That's why I brought up Murdoch, as Hiro (who has made more appearances) does not seem like a realistic option (as there is unfortunately no Bachmann UK basis for him), and it would be much too expensive to make one entirely from scratch these days.

Additionally, I am trying to speak out for fans who unfortunately missed out on purchasing a Hornby Murdoch, just as I was with Stepney. For years, fans have asked me through YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter where I purchased my Murdoch & Stepney models, and if I will ever sell them. When stating no, I feel sorry for them.

With the Thomas television series going through a major revamp, the new CGI characters are going to be considered as outdated characters in due time too. Daisy will not be out until 2021, after all, which means that the next HO engine with a new tooling will not be out before 2022 at the earliest; we will be well into the new revamp at that point.

With all of this stated, I do agree that the announcements for next February will most likely consist of existing toolings, due to the ongoing pandemic. In a perfect world, an HO Stepney would be announced, but the only new tooling that I really expect is an N Scale Toby. Hopefully, we will see some nice new HO rolling stock announced at the very least.

Thing is I doubt Bachmann would even go down the route Hornby used? Which is reusing existing tooling? And it's more a equal part fan demand and what will kids/their parents actually buy, bit of an exception to the NG range of course, and in part the character's presence. It's why Stepney is a very very unlikely to happen model truth be told, cause after Daisy was announced somehow the connection was made that fan demand was the major factor, and of course its A major factor but wouldn't say its the main. Cause like Daisy was not only brought back into the series, she got a lot of attention and episodes to her, so she also was hitting the presence aspect, which in turn is an influence on the kids who want Bachmann models.

[Chaz]

Sitting back on this for a few days now, there are a few points I did want to mention.

The first thing I want to put out there, and I think it goes without saying, but Bachmann will not be using toolings from their UK range to make engines in the future.  If they really did go down this route, Duck and Diesel would have been announced a lot sooner.  To add, it would be difficult for Bachmann to incorporate the moving eye mechanism in these models which has always been Bachmann's main gimmick with their HO/OO and large scale ranges.  While a new tooling would be more expensive to produce, if it captures the character in a way that met Mattel's standards (or even Hit's standards back in the day), chances are they would sell a lot better.  Hornby's Thomas range did not do well not only for this reason but the pricing for their models made them too expensive for what they were.  Unfortunately Bachmann's pricing haven't been all that much better due to Mattel's ridiculous price increases over the years, but that's a topic for another day (most likely when we get a look at the 2021 catalog in a couple of months).  

The other thing I want to talk about is Murdoch.  While I completely understand that there's nostalgia for the character as well as his eBay sales being a moot point, I think it goes without saying but Murdoch is very unlikely to happen at this time.  Even around the time he was introduced and rarely used in the Hit model era, he was always shot down when he would be brought up on the forum back in the day because of his size and pricing and I really don't see why it should be any different back then.  Especially when requests for Duck, Donald, Douglas and Diesel were basically never-ending at the time too.  Plus if people back then would think a Bachmann Murdoch would have been too large and expensive back then, I can only imagine how crazy expensive a Murdoch model would be now with how Mattel's been handling the brand.  And with how much of a push there is for Stepney, bringing up Murdoch at this point doesn't make a whole lot of sense either when there's a more affordable character on the market that a lot more fans would like to see over Murdoch.

Stepney has also been a popular request too because of his Hornby sales being consistently going up, however the difference between him and Murdoch is that Stepney fits the budget Bachmann has much better than Murdoch because he's a tank engine with a nice color contrast for the range.  Other than Stepney, I think it's best to hold off on other non-CGI characters at this point (including BoCo), until Bachmann follows through with all the Stepney requests first.  Especially with the "reboot" on the horizon, I think if they announce Stepney then it would be a better time to bring up characters from the model or even CGI era who would most likely be absent from the reboot.

Using characters from the first three seasons/series plus Emily is most likely the safest bet for any plan. There's no doubt that Thomas, Percy, and James are the givens in any production line and we've seen that in practice again and again from different manufacturers at different gauges/scales. From there, I'm not sure there's a single road map other than to consider practicality, production cost, and a guess at demand.

Bachmann typically responds or uses requests from Facebook/Twitter as well as the forums to figure out what they should consider for the future.  From there they would usually run back-and-fourth with communicating with Mattel (who would allow Bachmann to hold the license for the scales they manufacture models for) as well as the production team in China while determining the tooling cost and Mattel's approval for said engine/rolling stock to be considered for the future.  I also agree with you as well that the N scale range does have a lot of potential to very gradually add more engines and rolling stock in the future.  Although it's tough to say what the future is like, especially in these trying times, I think it's safe to say that once Thomas, Percy, and James are released and more characters are introduced, we will likely see this range become very popular.  

Speaking of N scale, I had a dream the other night that Bachmann announced Hiro... in N scale, not in HO.  Basically making him the equivalent of the large scale Winston by being exclusive to N scale.  The funny thing about that is N scale is especially popular in Japan and making a model of the character who is a huge icon over there would basically have Bachmann sitting on a gold mine.

[Falcon the 2nd]

The first thing I want to put out there, and I think it goes without saying, but Bachmann will not be using toolings from their UK range to make engines in the future.  If they really did go down this route, Duck and Diesel would have been announced a lot sooner.  To add, it would be difficult for Bachmann to incorporate the moving eye mechanism in these models which has always been Bachmann's main gimmick with their HO/OO and large scale ranges.  While a new tooling would be more expensive to produce, if it captures the character in a way that met Mattel's standards (or even Hit's standards back in the day), chances are they would sell a lot better.  Hornby's Thomas range did not do well not only for this reason but the pricing for their models made them too expensive for what they were.

That's something I was thinking about as well but was hesitant to mention until now. It seems most people have bought Bachmann's Thomas models for being as close to the TV series models as you can possibly get on a reasonable buying budget. The physical accuracy of the engines is a huge part of the line's identity and I'm not sure if it would be worth tapering with now, in the midst of financially difficult times and after so many years of the line succeeding with mainly accurate models.

Speaking of N scale, I had a dream the other night that Bachmann announced Hiro... in N scale, not in HO.  Basically making him the equivalent of the large scale Winston by being exclusive to N scale.  The funny thing about that is N scale is especially popular in Japan and making a model of the character who is a huge icon over there would basically have Bachmann sitting on a gold mine.

The popularity of N Scale in Japan actually didn't don on me at first, but now I'm thinking that may be the most appropriate scale to make Hiro in if he were considered anytime. I'm unsure how the side rods would be handled going by the sizes of Thomas & Percy's, but besides that, it may be less a general burden to make him in a smaller scale. By then, every major scale would have at least one CGI character (Winston for G, Paxton for HO and Hiro for N) except for Narrow Gauge if that's considered separate from HO.

[HO scale Den-liner]

Speaking of N scale, I had a dream the other night that Bachmann announced Hiro... in N scale, not in HO.  Basically making him the equivalent of the large scale Winston by being exclusive to N scale.  The funny thing about that is N scale is especially popular in Japan and making a model of the character who is a huge icon over there would basically have Bachmann sitting on a gold mine.

The popularity of N Scale in Japan actually didn't don on me at first, but now I'm thinking that may be the most appropriate scale to make Hiro in if he were considered anytime. I'm unsure how the side rods would be handled going by the sizes of Thomas & Percy's, but besides that, it may be less a general burden to make him in a smaller scale. By then, every major scale would have at least one CGI character (Winston for G, Paxton for HO and Hiro for N) except for Narrow Gauge if that's considered separate from HO.

But wouldn't having certain CGI characters exclusive to one of the three ranges being alienating? Winston I can understand but not paxton or a potential hiro.

[Falcon the 2nd]

Speaking of N scale, I had a dream the other night that Bachmann announced Hiro... in N scale, not in HO.  Basically making him the equivalent of the large scale Winston by being exclusive to N scale.  The funny thing about that is N scale is especially popular in Japan and making a model of the character who is a huge icon over there would basically have Bachmann sitting on a gold mine.

The popularity of N Scale in Japan actually didn't don on me at first, but now I'm thinking that may be the most appropriate scale to make Hiro in if he were considered anytime. I'm unsure how the side rods would be handled going by the sizes of Thomas & Percy's, but besides that, it may be less a general burden to make him in a smaller scale. By then, every major scale would have at least one CGI character (Winston for G, Paxton for HO and Hiro for N) except for Narrow Gauge if that's considered separate from HO.

But wouldn't having certain CGI characters exclusive to one of the three ranges being alienating? Winston I can understand but not paxton or a potential hiro.

I never said that every GGI character should be exclusive to one scale. I was just pointing out a potential consistency across scales, being that they would have at least one unique character each.

Though I should say that it'd be smart to make certain characters in one line if it works in favor of their complexities:

• Paxton's the easiest of the bunch to make across all scales. Maybe he wouldn't come as soon as other desired characters in Large or N Scale, but he'd still be a viable option after Diesel.
• Winston feels much too small for N Scale and even HO Scale, so Large Scale works best in his favor.
• Though Hiro COULD be made in HO Scale, it wouldn't happen for a long time since his basis would call for high expenses from Bachmann and it wouldn't be any better in Large Scale. N Scale seems to work best in his favor since it's a popular scale in his home country and it's likely less expensive to produce engines for. Some side rod simplification may be called for, but otherwise, I can see him working.

Can't account for any other CGI characters besides them, but you get the idea.

Don't take everything I say as fact - this is all just some insight I have on the limitations that can apply to character manufacturing. It's important to proceed product ideas with caution, especially in this financially troubling day and age.

[MrNormalDraws]

So the webstore updated the new wagons (I'm planning to buy them once they're released) and saw that Troublesome Truck had a red text instead of the image, which I'm kinda wondering if they're revamping or not.

[AJW98Productions]

I recently realised how long it'd been since I posted in a topic, let alone logged in or read anything. Very briefly, I had an initial write-up on my thoughts on this years announcements written up. A rather long and in depth one, and I did tell Chaz that I would get it posted. Needless to say, that didn't happen, work and university have kept me mostly away from the hobby this year, but now that I'm slowly returning, I figured I should drop by and give my proverbial "two cents" about what I hope is yet to come.

Daisy, and Peter Sam are both in progress without photos having yet been released, plus Covid-19 has been delaying production in factories. Large Scale Diesel is still in progress too. So I'm not expecting much for next year. However, I'm happy to list off a few things I could think of that I think are feasible, followed by what I think we can maybe expect in the next few years, sort of like what I've seen a few others do in this thread. Then I'd like to summarise what I'd like to see the most, out of the suggested items from both lists. Let's kick things off with 2021!

HO Gauge:
Recolours. I expect with production delays, now will be the time for Bachmann to make some announcements that are easier to create, and don't require new tooling. I expect we'll see the explosives van (hopefully reusing the single vent van tooling), along with the toffee and chocolate syrup tankers.

I don't really foresee the return of the Red Express Coaches just yet, but I do think that they would be nice to see next year. If we do see the return of these express coaches though, I wouldn't expect to see either of the tankers come out, and the explosives van would also be questionable too. Maybe the tar tanker will be reintroduced? But given how frequently requested it is, and how easy it must be to produce, I can only assume that perhaps the licence holder doesn't want Bachmann to.

OO9 Gauge:
I'm not going to summarise why I don't expect much for every single one of these. Long story short, the brown brakevan has easily been the most fan-requested item, so at most, I'd expect this. And again, it's a recolour. Sir Handel is the next engine I expect, but not for next year's February announcements. Maybe we could expect another freight wagon of some kind. I particularly like the idea of narrow gauge troublesome trucks that I think was first suggested by Mulfred, and a lot of others have seemingly picked up on in a very positive way. I don't think it's super likely, as it'll still need a completely brand new tooling, and a face to be produced for it, but there clearly is demand for such an item within Bachmann's range.

N Gauge:
This one, I think is the trickiest. Given that the range is still new, I'd suggest that it may need the most investment to help it take off. I'd definitely say that Toby is possible as an announcement for February, or the mid-year announcements, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't. Toby, at least, is a simplistic tooling, and a reusable chassis later down the line for Mavis. Given all the production delays that are going to occur because of the global pandemic, I think Toby is the most likely engine to be announced.

As for rolling stock - again, if there is the resources available for it - I would suggest S.C.Ruffey as a reasonable candidate, and/or a regular wagon recolour. Like the red or blue open wagons that exist in the HO scale range. Also, the milk tanker seems a bit like low-hanging fruit too. If they are to announce Toby, and have the resources available, we might be able to expect Henrietta too - which would also open up the possibility for a Hannah recolour down the line, so to speak.

G Gauge/Large Scale:
Given this range's...generally lacklustre announcements, and the fact that Diesel is still in the pipeline. I can't be sure of exactly what to expect. However, there seems to be some indication of what we can expect, from an apparent leak...

Large Scale:
Paxton (He was listed on Bachmann UK's website with a similar product number to LS Diesel, however it was removed after I had made a topic about it here, which was also removed so to me Paxton is pretty much confirmed for 2021).

If Shadow Monk is onto the right trail, then it's likely we'll see Paxton announced, since Diesel seems to be coming along nicely.

Outside of that, I'd expect some kind of wagon recolour. I think if we are to see a new tooling, we can maybe expect Henrietta to appear on the announcements - goes perfectly with Toby, and can be recoloured for Hannah later down the line too. Though I'd say that it's just as, if not more likely that we could see the Red Coaches (composite and brake). I sincerely hope, and also don't think (given they seem to be seeing diminishing returns, to my knowledge) that we won't see a regular old recolour of an already existing item in the catalogue.

Resin Buildings:
I think these are a stretch, and if they do get announced, we probably wouldn't see them until the end of the year, maybe even 2021, but I do sincerely hope we see more back in the range at some point. If we do see a batch of them announced, I think I agree with the suggestions by TerrenceTheTractor525, suggested below:

Ffarquhar Station
Retaining Wall
Narrow Gauge Double Engine Shed
Neptune Refreshments
Hopefully, we will see one more batch of new buildings down the line .

Though I'd maybe switch out Neptune's Refreshments for another building, not sure what, though the Season 4 Castle Ruins proved popular a few years ago when the conversation came up, so we could maybe expect those, if we are to get any resin buildings. Alternatively, Toby's Shed would also be a suitable replacement.

Wrapping Up:
I don't expect much for next year, and if we are to see announcements, I expect the larger ones to come in the mid-year ones. Especially given the outstanding items from last year's announcements. If we do get some new announcements - outside of recolours - I think we'd most of them to be arriving in 2022, maybe one or two by the end of 2021.

I know I haven't addressed Sir Handel in much detail, or Stepney, but my reasons for desiring to see those two made, mirror most other people's desires - such as Chaz and Terrence's. I don't really see Bachmann in a rush to announce those two, with them already behind on a few other large announcements as it is. And with Covid production delays, I really wouldn't see those two being ready until the end of 2022, maybe even 2023 - especially Sir Handel, given the length of time Rheneas, Rusty, and Peter Sam have all taken. Stepney may be more likely for the end of 2021, or end of 2022.

I would really like to see in future, Stepney, along with the original 6 Narrow Gauge engines finished off. I'd love to see the red express coaches reintroduced for those who missed them the first time. The rolling stock suggestions in this thread for the Narrow Gauge range have also been absolutely on point. I'd be especially keen to see the Narrow Gauge coal wagons, D-Fusit van, Brown Brakevan, and Green open coach. Basically, almost all of what has been suggested...

The resin buildings kind of feel like wishful thinking to me at this point, but who knows, maybe a couple could at least be seen at the NMRA mid year announcements. If not, then I hope we could see something akin to the range listed, for the 2022 announcements. I don't expect any new engine for Large Scale, except maybe Paxton because of the leak Shadow Monk mentioned. But outside of that, any hopes for Edward, Mavis, or any other engine, would likely have to wait until 2022. Even though I don't collect that particular range, I would just like to mention that I really do hope we can see Edward and Mavis released for it. Hopefully even Bill and Ben down the line somewhere. Though I think Duck's wheelbase may be a bit prohibitive for us to see him join the line up, unfortunately.

And to briefly touch on the idea of further recolours in the HO range (and possibly LS range one day too), I find myself agreeing with the suggestions put forth by Terrence, I'd be interested to see all those, especially Toby's museum coach, and I'd most likely consider picking up some of the trucks too, if they had model era faces, like Chaz suggested. Somewhat related, if we are to see more troublesome trucks in future, I do hope Bachmann and the licence holder will take heed of the negative feedback to the most recent troublesome truck announcement, and hopefully produce ones more closely based off the model era, but any time before the BWBA era would really be okay with most of us, I feel. Even though model era would be preferred.

I realise I must sound like a broken record here, but I'm trying not to get myself too amped up for next year's announcements, especially when so many of this year's still sit unfulfilled. But there's a quick summary of what I expect for next year's announcements, which is different to what I hope for next year's announcements - I hope I made that distinction clear enough - combined with a bit of what I expect, but also a bit of what I hope, we can see in future.

Regardless, to anyone out there who may be reading this, if you've taken the time to read this all, thank you very much if you have, but even if you've just skimmed this, I thank you very much for the time you've taken to read what you could manage of this long post. Stay safe out there everybody, the pandemic isn't over yet, I hope you're all doing well.
~Alex

[ms_1209]

So, I am new to this forum.

But what I want to say is, I know that you already have some releases planned for next year.

It would be nice to see more releases in the future like 2022 and so on. I recently looked on some Fandom wiki page, and thought that more engines were in the process of being made. But it turns out it was false information and not actually confirmed.

Those HO scale engines were:
For standard gauge:
Boco,
Derek,
Stepney

For Narrow Gauge:
Sir Handel
Duncan
Duke
Smudger

I wondered if it was true. But I realized you can't always trust a fandom page. But those list of engines for the future would be interesting to see. I understand that you can only do so much at a time.

I'm not sure if anyone else had suggested these for layer down the line. Maybe 2024 and so on.

All for HO and N scale:
Standard gauge engines:
Arthur,
Murdoch,
D261,
Harvey,
Fergus,
Molly,
Neville,
Dennis,
Whiff,
Billy,
Hank,
Flora,
Stanley

Narrow gauge engines:
Fearless Freddie,
Mighty Mac,
Bertram,

Miniature gauge engines:
Mike,
Rex,
Bert,

Standard gauge rolling stock:
Tan coaches,
Old coaches,
More troublesome trucks,
Breakdown crane,
Sodor unit coach,
Rocky

Narrow gauge rolling stock:
Red coaches with faces,
Blue coaches with faces,
White and green coaches with faces,
Flatbeds,
Narrow gauge breakdown crane,

Road vehicles:
Elizabeth,
Trevor,
Bulgy,
George,
Caroline,
Thumper,
Butch,
Madge,
Jack,
Alfie,

Air vehicles:
Tiger Moth,

Water vehicles:
Bulstrode

Cranes:
Colin

And overall, these are just suggestions. There's a lot of possibilities for the future. Really hoping some of these could be made.

[Angelob6660]

My wishlist for future content.

Second release of James' coaches
Troublesome Truck 7 being a ventilation van
Recolor Mail van in brown
Recolor tank car in silver (far fetched)

Narrow Gauge

Flatcar
Truck
Recolor Brake van in brown
Recolor Ventilation Van in brown

Sir Handle or Duncan for 2022

[Chaz]

2020... what a crazy year it's been.  The 2021 announcements should be interesting as we are not only still in a pandemic but we are still waiting on lots of previous engine announcements from 2019/2020.  I was debating on posting a new updated list, but my thoughts are mostly the same as earlier with some minor changes.

2020 was the first year with no new HO rolling stock announcements, and troublesome truck #6 is still not out yet.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the only announcements we got mostly consisted of rolling stock since Daisy and the Origin James are not out yet.  Looking back at Terence's post I really like the idea of Thomas and James' trucks getting announced if they came with new faces from the model era, or even Toby's museum coaches since it's one of the few pieces of non-classic rolling stock that doesn't look too wacky or over the top.  Hopefully a new engine will be announced either later this year or 2022.  Stepney is on top of the list for many (myself included), and it's unlikely that will change anytime soon.

Narrow gauge is a little hard to tell since both Peter Sam and the brake vans haven't received any updates yet.  I'm still very hopeful for Sir Handel though since there seems to be a really clear demand for him and he would be the best candidate after Peter Sam.

N Scale is probably the only range I really have the most hope for since James is the only thing not out yet.  I could definitely see some more rolling stock announcements for that range too, maybe even another new engine.  Toby seems to be the most likely based on Bachmann's track record with other ranges.  I can also see them introducing a Christmas set for the N scale range, but there isn't a lot of rolling stock options to choose from right now aside from redecorating Annie and Clarabel and making a snowplow for the N scale Thomas?  A little bit of a long shot but I would really like to see Thomas' snowplow made in N scale too.

As for large scale, Paxton seems to be the most likely choice for this year.  I do hope that range does get some more decent rolling stock though.  Maybe Henrietta or the red coaches?

Either way I'm curious to know if anyone else's thoughts have changed as we are getting closer to Toy Fair.