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Messages - Kemptown Branch

#1
Hey everyone, over the past couple of days, and after the new announcements, I've been thinking about what should be next for the N Scale range in 2025. Before laying out my thoughts for these, I wanted to say that I think my suggestions for 2025 could happen in either announcement group, so I won't specify which products would go to which announcement.


Obviously, everyone is suggesting that Edward be next for the line, and there's absolutely no reason to argue against that. Simply put, there are so many reasons why he should be next that it would be extremely surprising if anyone else got announced first:
- He's the final engine from both the Series 1 cast and the Steam Team that needs to be made. So many people were upset that Tomix failed to do this, so Bachmann finally fixing that will be good. It might even make people more willing to collect the range.
- It's the 80th anniversary year, and Edward is the one who started it all.
- He's one of Bachmann's most popular characters. Even with all of the other characters from the last 16 years, so many people still say he's one of Bachmann's best ever models.
With all of that, Edward should be Bachmann's top priority for the next N Scale product, period (even over other rolling stock recolors).
It's only a matter of time before Gordon, Henrietta, Emily and her coaches are released, so I don't think they would have any affect on a potential announcement, and beyond that there aren't many toolings that we haven't seen (fully painted or otherwise). Even despite that, I don't think the unseen toolings would make it so Edward couldn't be announced, since there's only 5-ish:
- Diesel and Paxton (1 tooling)
- Express Coach
- Express Brake Coach (Body only)
- Henry (Probably body only)
- 20 Ton Brake Van (likely using an existing tooling)

TL;DR - Edward should have almost nothing stopping him from being the next N Scale product announced.

Rolling Stock Suggestions for 2025:
Every engine announcement so far has had at least one piece of rolling stock to be announced, and so I think it'll be extremely likely that we'll see some with Edward. I'm going to suggest a few recolors that I think will be crucial to the line's future success.  So far, all of the goods/freight stock in the line are either characters or kind of gimmicky products with logos. I think that the N Gauge range is severely lacking in standard, non-logo stock that could be used for general goods trains. I know that people have suggested just doing 3 open wagon recolors, but I think a little more variety should be done instead. Using the 3 wagon toolings already in the line, I'll suggest 4 products:


1. Green Open Wagon w/ Coal Load
Starting with the Open Wagon recolors, I suggest the green open wagon with the coal load. This has always been extremely popular in the HO line, even surviving alongside the mining wagon and Sodor coal wagon. It appeared pretty regularly in the model series, and it's also one of the main colors of the standard open wagons in CGI, alongside the red versions.


2. Red Open Wagon (maybe w/ China Clay Load)
Since this is the standard open wagon that appeared in the CGI Series, it should also be one of the first recolors to be announced. The only reason I didn't mention it first is this: the new HO China Clay wagon appears to be the Red Open Wagon with the the coal load recolored as China Clay. If that is true, maybe the model could be made with the load to get an easy second use out of the coal load tooling.


3. Gray 12 Ton Van
Like the red open wagon being the most common standard open wagon in the CGI Series, this is it for the vans. Bachmann have the tooling ready, and it would be nice to have a non-logo version of the tooling available. It appeared in the show all the time between series 17-24, and the HO version recently announced appears to have a pretty positive reception so far. I'm sure it would do well in N Scale.


4. Milk Tanker
This tanker has been in the show since the beginning, and has always been popular in the other merchandise ranges. It was also one of very few tankers to survive the CGI switchover, and only it and the oil tanker appeared during the Brenner Era. It's also still in the HO range, and it's the only piece of freight stock to make it to the UK range that we don't have in N Scale yet. It also adds a nice color variety to the tankers.

I think these four wagons should have the priority to be announced in the same year as Edward, because it gives more for the engines to pull, and since most of them don't have logos, they'd be perfect for general goods trains. I also don't think it would be too many at once, either, because the other ranges have had 4 or more wagons of different types announced at once.

I thought about adding what I think could happen for the range in 2026 and beyond, but this is a long post already. I might make a separate post about my thoughts for that later, though.

What do you guys think about my suggestions? I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.
#2
Thomas & Friends / Re: The Everything Thomas Topic
August 10, 2024, 01:20:34 PM
I think these announcements are pretty good, even if the majority of them are recolors.
It's good that they finally got Sydney out of the way, and the other diesel is a nice surprise addition, too! I also think the new rolling stock recolors are excellent picks as well!

The N Scale announcements are probably the highlight for me! I'm glad we're finally getting Henry, and I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually really like the Brake Van that they chose! It appeared a lot in the Brenner era of the show, and it has a pretty nice livery, too. It's also nice that the N Scale range is forming it's own identity from HO and Large Scale witg the rolling stock choices as well. I'm not super excited about Hannah, but at least they're getting her out of the way pretty quickly.

I'll probably make a post over the next week or so about where I think the range could go from here.
#3
Quote from: Awesometrain77 on August 07, 2024, 05:46:46 PMBill and Ben def should happen before Donald and Douglas .

Hypothetically, if the N Scale range does expand that far, I'd say it might be easier for Bachmann to do Donald and Douglas before Bill and Ben. Assuming we get Edward, Henry, and Duck before they start doing other secondary characters, Donald and Douglas would be able to share a chassis with Duck. Also, it might be hard to get Bill and Ben to run well in such a small scale. Although they aren't much smaller than Percy, their wheelbases are quite a bit shorter, so they might be more prone to stalling over dirty track and points.
#4
Thomas & Friends / Re: Painting The Red Coaches
June 08, 2024, 09:29:31 PM
Quote from: thomasj219 on June 08, 2024, 08:49:20 AMAwesome! But wouldn't it have to be a slight gloss to match the paint work of the coaches?

You could also apply a clear gloss coat to the roof to make it match, or a clear matte coat to the coach bodies to match the roof paint. Although, I think that you could probably find a gloss version of white paint. I'd also recommend putting a coat of primer on the roofs to help the white paint stick better.
#5
Thomas & Friends / Re: The Everything Thomas Topic
March 21, 2024, 08:21:35 PM
Hey everyone, while doing a bit of research on the Skarloey Railway stations and rolling stock, I found something kind of cool.

When Bachmann announced their slate wagon recolors, I figured that they were probably based on slate wagons from the toy lines (like how most HO stock is nowadays), but it turns out they do actually exist in the show! Here are a couple of pictures showing the Tan Slate Wagon and the Brown Slate Wagon:




Though I couldn't find a red one, there are red slate wagons seen in the Blue Mountain Quarry, although they are based on Dinorwic slate wagons, rather than Talyllyn ones.



One thing I am hoping is that they'll be able to make the Brown Slate Wagon a little bit lighter. In the picture of the Brown one from the show, the brown is dark compared to other wagons, but is still light enough for the ironwork to be seen. However, the Brown Slate Wagon in the catalog is so dark it almost appears to be a single color. It should be a mid-brown rather than dark brown. The slate wagons in the catalog appear to be photoshopped, so they should be able to fix it for the official release.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share, because I think it's cool that these recolors were indeed seen in the show!
#6
TrainWorld announced that the February Thomas Tuesday will be next week, since there was a scheduling conflict for today. They didn't have a picture ad like they usually do, but they said it will come in the next couple of days. I think we'll probably know the new announcements by next Tuesday!
#7
Thomas & Friends / Re: The Everything Thomas Topic
February 06, 2024, 06:08:26 PM


Looks like Rebecca's painted sample will be seen very soon!
#8
When they used to do the text lists, the items were usually announced between the 9th and 17th of February, depending on what day the Friday was. It was only around 2021 that they started revealing the announcements at the end of January. Either way, I think we'll probably see the new announcements on Friday the 9th or Friday the 16th at worst, so we don't have too long to wait now.
#9
Thomas & Friends / Re: N Scale Bachmann Thomas
January 27, 2024, 05:29:31 PM






Photo credit goes to James Drury.
#10
Thomas & Friends / Re: N Scale Bachmann Thomas
January 27, 2024, 04:30:20 PM
Here's a link to a Facebook post with more pictures of Gordon and Emily:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/753298574781796/permalink/6768483689929891/?mibextid=Nif5oz

It also confirms that Henrietta will have a face!
#11
Well, Bachmann have responded to enquiries about the catalog. Looks like we won't know all of the announcements until February. I don't think they would put the Thomas announcements in the video tomorrow, because they haven't for the last few years.

#12


Actually, we might still be able to see the new Thomas Announcements tomorrow if anyone's going to the show. Or maybe they'll put the catalog online at the same time?
#13
I hope they'll be tomorrow if they don't drop at some point tonight, but I think last year, the video came out on January 28th, then we had to wait until February 3rd to see the Thomas Announcements. Either way, we should see them within the next couple of weeks!
#14
Nice to see everyone posting their last-minute predictions!

As far as HO goes, I'm not really sure what to expect next. We've got at least 2 new tooling projects for engines, rolling stock, and roadway vehicles already announced. Arry and Bert getting rereleased is an interesting suggestion, and I'm sure that Sidney would also be viable, although hopefully they'll be able to design an eye mechanism around the face, rather than the other way around. A rereleased Ice Cream Van is also something I could see them doing. Also, given the fact that Bachmann seem to be pretty quick with making the 12 ton van tooling (based on how quickly they got both the Large and N scale versions out), I could see them adding another rolling stock project. I agree with everyone else that the Works Unit Coach could be a good addition.

As for Narrow Gauge, I'm not really expecting any new tooling projects getting announced, considering there are 2 engines and 3 rolling stock projects in development. However, I could see them announcing Brown variants of the new Box and Brake Van toolings, since they would be relatively simple projects.

Quote from: TrainFan97 on January 10, 2024, 11:08:58 PMIt's been almost a year since Emily's unpainted prototype was shown, and she still hasn't been shown fully painted. What's with the delay on her?

In the last Thomas Tuesday stream, Doug said (near the end) that Emily's painted sample might be able to be shown in February, although he said it could end up being later than that.

Next, for N and Large Scale, I'll write somewhat more detailed predictions, outlining what I could see them doing for 2024 and 2025. I'll write a list first, then explain my thinking.

N Gauge
2024 Winter Announcements:
- Henry
- Red Open Wagon
- Green Open Wagon w/ Coal Load
- Grey 12 Ton Van

2024 Summer Announcements:
- Edward (maybe)
- Milk Tank (New Tooling)
- Tar Tank (Also the new tooling)

2025 Winter Announcements:
- Edward (if not announced in 2024)
- LBSC Thomas (80th Anniversary)
- 12 Ton Van (Christmas Wreath and Mr. Jolly's Chocolate)
- Cream Tanker & Rasberry Syrup Tanker

2025 Summer Announcements:
- Origins James
- Red Coaches or Red Express Coaches
- Brake Van


For the N gauge 2024 Winter Announcements, I fully expect that Henry will be the next new engine. Based on how the range has been released thus far, I think Bachmann might have somewhat of a pattern that they're following. First, they released Thomas, Percy and James, as is normal for every merchandise line. Then, since James was still in development at the time, I think they chose Toby before Emily to have a simpler project for their 4th engine announcement, which helped them catch up after the pandemic. I think they chose Emily next because she is fairly popular in both HO and Large Scale, and she was the first female engine for the range. Afterwards, they went heavy with their announcement of Gordon, showing their commitment to this range, and to diversify it from their large scale offerings. Since they've still been working on these two, they announced Diesel and Paxton as new engine projects that are simple, and diversifies the range by bringing in diesels. Of course, Gordon and Emily still aren't out yet, but I think they could still announce Henry this month because he'll also be a relatively simple project for Bachmann; they only need to make a new bodyshell and tender for the Gordon chassis. As far as rolling stock goes, I'm genuinely suprised we've gone 5 years without any recolor announcements for freight stock, so I think Bachmann will change that with Henry's release; since he does pull freight. I think that doing the Red and Green Open Wagons makes sense, as they seem to be the most popular two 7-plank recolors. I also think that the Grey 12 Ton Van would make a great recolor as well, being a non-gimmicky version of the vans that got released this year. I think Bachmann doing recolors here would give them a chance to work on Henrietta and the Express Coaches without much distraction.

For the 2024 Summer Announcements, I could potentially see them announcing Edward, assuming Gordon's out and they can make good progress on Diesel and Paxton. Since they announced Duncan without showing a Sir Handel prototype, I'm not worried about if we haven't had much news on Henry  by this time. However, I did also put Edward in the 2025 list if they do choose to focus on just Henry and the Diesels instead. I could also see them doing a new Tank Wagon tooling, since they never touched the ex-Graham Farish tooling again after the first tanker announcement. A new tooling would also match the rest of the range better. Since the Milk and Tar Tanks are also very popular in the other scales, I believe they would be the first variants with the new tooling.

For the 2025 Winter Announcements, if they have chosen not to announce Edward before, now would be the perfect time. It would be the 80th Anniversary of the Railway Series, and since Edward was the first to get a story, it would be a nice way to celebrate that. I also think that Bachmann would announce LBSC Thomas as the first recolored character, since he would pair nicely with Edward, and he's a good anniversary project. I think they would choose more recolors of existing stock to produce as easy projects, since they'd likely still be working on the new tankers. I could see them bringing the Christmas 12 Ton Van (as the first piece of Christmas stock ) and Mr. Jolly's Chocolate Van into the range (especially since the latter is already proving popular). I could also see them potentially announcing more variants of the new Tanker tooling, to whet our appetites even more. I think they would go with the Cream and Raspberry Syrup Tankers, as they've been made in the other scales.

Finally, for the 2025 Summer Announcements, I think they'd probably go smaller again, and I could see them producing Origins James, since he would also be a nice Anniversary gesture. I could also see them producing either the Red Branchline Coaches or Red Express Coaches, depending on if they're ready to take on a new coach tooling project on or not.

Large Scale
2024 Winter:
- Edward

Even if nothing else is announced, I think the Large Scalers deserve to get a new engine tooling after not having much produced the last few years. Edward would likely have no problems getting around Bachmann's tight track radii, and he's also a popular character.

2024 Summer:
- Grey 12 Ton Van
- 12 Ton Circus Vans (Red & Blue)

I would be surprised if these van variants don't get announced at some point.

2025:
- LBSC Thomas
- Origins James

These would both make nice anniversary announcements, similar to N Scale.

Overall, that's my thoughts on what Bachmann might do for these upcoming announcements and beyond. Sorry I didn't go in depth on HO and Narrow Gauge, but I'm honestly not sure where Bachmann might go next with them (since there simultaneously seems to be a lot of options and few options, based on factors you guys have talked about before). I know this was a long post with a lot to read, but I'd be happy to hear your thoughts!
#15
Thomas & Friends / Re: N Scale Bachmann Thomas
October 20, 2023, 07:41:14 AM
Hey guys, Toad is in stock on Bachmann's webstore now, which means he should be with other retailers soon as well!

https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8746