I suppose I should get my predictions in before it's too late.

HO Scale:
As much as I would like to see Stepney, it doesn't seem like we are going to get more new toolings for HO scale at this point in time. Maybe if the brand gets taken over by someone other than Mattel, I could see that changing, but Mattel currently doesn't seem to care that Bachmann is supposed to be more realistic than Trackmaster or Wood (I'm looking at the Sodor Mining Co. Wagon and Live Lobsters Wagons specifically). With that said, I will post what I think will happen next year.

-LBSC Thomas
-Black James

I am going to say now that Mattel should stop pushing the pointless wagon recolors from Bachmann. They just don't fit the theme of the range well and those resources could be used in other areas instead. There are also currently 42 pieces of rolling stock in the range, 11 of which are recolors from the toy lines that we just never really needed. People probably aren't even going to collect all of them anyways, especially since there are still quite a few wagons that have actually been in the show. If we absolutely have to have a wagon recolor next year, I suggest a Celebration Coach, keeping with the 75th Anniversary theme and maybe being a Red Coach recolor with banners or something on the side with a 75th Anniversary logo. Then the recolors can stop there. We don't need almost a third of the rolling stock being stuff from the toy lines that don't fit with the appearance of the range or what the range is supposed to be.

Narrow Gauge:
I know that the rolling stock recolors aren't that expensive for bachmann to produce, but without the added cost of those announcements, maybe they would be just enough for them to squeeze in two new engines rather than one next year, especially since the range is so popular. Also, this year there have been a few limited edition items released in Bachmann's normal range, which are no doubt going to be popular since they are tied to the Golden Spike. Maybe these items will be enough to subsidize Bachmann's normal ranges next year, leaving more funds for the Thomas range (yes, I know this is wishful thinking). With that said, here are my thoughts.

-Peter Sam
-Sir Handel

Narrow gauge modelers have been asking for both of these engines almost equally because of all of the different real engines they could be turned into. Done correctly (which is almost no effort other than rivets for both), they will both be extremely accurate to their bases, and they will have even more appeal to modelers than Skarloey and Rheneas. These two could easily be freelance industrial locomotives, visitors to other lines, the Corris Railway could easily be modeled for the first time. They also have several variations within the Thomas universe as well, which some people will probably model.

-Brake Vans (Red, Blue, and Brown)

I think that brake vans could also possibly happen in 2020, however that entirely depends on when the Blue and Red Carriages get released, and if Bachmann can do this many new toolings for the Thomas range this year. Although, even if they can't do brake vans this year, they could probably do them in 2021, and there are alternatives in the meantime. Elsbridge Productions has made 3D printed ones, and Peco have 3 different types of brake vans on the way, so we could get some place holders until Bachmann can announce some.

N Scale:
Bachmann themselves confirmed that the new range will not be out before 2020 in their TCA Spring video. I think that they may produce a starter set with Thomas, Annie and Clarabel, but I wouldn't be surprised if this range is otherwise left untouched for this year.

Large Scale:
I feel like the Large Scale modelers deserve something nice, since they haven't gotten anything for a long time. Maybe a new engine is possible next year, since nothing was announced.

-Mavis

She would be fairly easy for Bachmann to produce, sharing the same chassis design as Toby, after all. She also seems to be somewhat popular as well, considering she is the third engine to get a Day Out with Thomas model. However, Plow Bender has brought up several good points about why both a new engine and a diesel wouldn't get as good of sales as we would hope for, and considering Bachmann Large Scale in general has been thinned out considerably over the last few years, I could see why a new engine couldn't be made.

-Red Coach
-Red Brake Coach

People have been hoping for them to make these in large scale for years, and they are really popular in HO, so they could be really popular in Large Scale too. It also wouldn't be that difficult for Bachmann to make these.

I don't think it sounds completely unreasonable, considering 2016 when Rosie, Rheneas, the slate wagons, Oliver, and the large scale box vans all had to be done, not to mention the Sound decoders. However, considering the slower runs with Bachmann in recent years, and that they said the new N scale line won't be out until 2020, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't announce anything new for the N scale line. I still feel like it's a little too early to tell what could happen next year since, barring N scale, we only have the new HO scale repaints, Rusty, and the narrow gauge coaches to wait for. Depending on how early all of these get released, what could happen next year would vary quite a lot.

If anything, it would be the faces that sell the models, especially on Thomas, Percy and James. I think a jam/trousers covered Percy with a sad face could work well. They could also do something like a Thomas with a shocked face and quarry dust like in Trust Thomas.

Quote from: Len on April 13, 2019, 10:17:52 PM
With the screw that goes up through the bottom of the smoke box removed, pull the top of the steps out to the side to disengage the pins holding them to the smoke box. With the ladders free, the entire pilot assembly should slide straight out to the front of the loco. You may have to seperate the shell and underframe slightly. Reverse to install the new pilot.

Len

Len actually did tell him how to do everything to remove the pilot.

To post pictures, you can click on the image icon in the BBC Tags area on post reply. Mine shows it under italics. You could also just type the image tags out. The link to the picture on photobucket or other sites goes in between the two tags.


[ img ]https://postimg.cc/mt03kYDp[ /img ] It will look like this.

Without the spaces it becomes a picture.

Wow, Rusty is really small. Even the slate wagons look kind of big next to him. That does make him slightly more accurate to Midlander (in size, at least), so no complaints from my end.

It's the British term for 'boxcar'.

I've been looking back through the old threads and catalogs recently, and there are a few things I noticed in regards to how quickly Bachmann has been able to get new ranges out. When the Large Scale range was announced in 2009, there were no pictures for the models, but they had painted samples of at least Thomas by July. They were also able to release the entire range by December 2009. For the Narrow Gauge range in 2015, there were again no pictures for Skarloey (a.k.a. the only model Bachmann were making themselves at the time). By the NMRA train show 2015, they had an engineering sample on display (August 28, 2015 - Thanks Chaz for providing the record). The official picture was uploaded to the site on December 9, 2015 (thanks Cheeky_ULP for the record) with Skarloey coming into stock the same day. Another thing I have noticed with the large scale range is that all engines, with the exception of James, have been released within the year they were announced. I believe one thing that could possibly have to do with this (in the case of Emily and Toby, at least) is that they were able to just scale up the HO models and make the small changes for details to stand out better. It seems like they can release things fairly quickly when they only need to be resized. I think the reason James took longer was because he had several differences compared to the HO model. Another thing that I noticed is that the models seem to take the longest when it is being completely designed for a first release. Examples of this are Oliver, Rheneas, Rosie, Duck, Donald, Douglas, and Rusty. I know that we are in different economic times, but do you guys think it would be possible for the N Scale range to have at least a couple of engineering samples on display at the NMRA Train Show in July?

Not to mention, everyone who actually wanted those models would have them by now. Plus, without having to make those old models, there is more room for Bachmann to focus on models people will actually want, like Duck, Oliver, and the narrow gauge line.

So what exactly would you guys suggest to do to get rid of older locomotives you don't have a use for?

Quote from: TrainshockeylifE on February 22, 2019, 07:27:55 PM
If any of you guys noticed, they took the Narrow gauge coaches off the website....

They're actually still on it, you just have to go through the HO Scale section to find them rather than the Thomas & Friends section.

I am slightly disappointed that there are no pictures of the N scale stuff, but it makes sense because their still determining the sizes. It's probably why there aren't any prices either.

The regular large scale Thomas is back in the range as well. I hope they are able to release the N scale stuff this year though. That would be really cool.

Quote from: Streak on February 21, 2019, 04:29:06 PM


What characters do you guys think Bachmann may be unable to make in N Scale?

I think that Philip, Scruff, Bash and Dash are too small to be made.

On a completely different note, I got an Update email from the Bachmann Sales team about the scaling of the N Scale models. Considering that I never asked them again about the sizing and they gave me an update anyways, I feel like that just shows how good Bachmann's Service is. This is what it said:

Dear ___________,

Sorry, we replied too quickly. The exact scale of this line has not been determined yet.

Best regards,

The Sales Team

Bachmann Industries, Inc.

Read into this what you will. It almost makes me wonder if they will do completely new toolings for everything or not.

I agree about the Christmas set. It just doesn't look like it's up to the standards of the previous Christmas sets. Making an N scale starter set would have been a much better choice. I just wonder if there's going to be anything about the N scale range (other than having something like the "HO models shown for illustrative purposes") in the catalog. I would almost prefer those 2d illustrations over the HO models because we would at least get some basis of what the product will actually be like, sort of like how the McColl's Cattle Wagon clearly used the Branchline tooling, even though it was just an illustration.