So now Bachmann comes out and explains why the catalog was so late, but at least it's here. Although I would've loved to see N Scale Henry, which has been asked for a good few years since Gordon was announced, maybe he'll be in the NMRA for sure, especially once N Scale Gordon is officially out there, with Emily possibly arriving in stock later this year. Plus, Diesel and Paxton are still on the backburner, but recolors like Sidney, 'Arry and Bert could easily be made with that tooling. Speaking of recolors, the 2025 catalog needs to have N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James for the 80th Anniversary, and for a new tooling, N Scale Edward could also possibly get announced with them. Next year's announcements might be much bigger, especially once Bachmann catches up with a bunch of other previously-announced products.

At least I'm understanding why the announcements were so underwhelming. There's so many other previously-announced products that haven't even been shown unpainted samples yet.

HO Scale:
Beau (fully painted)
Rebecca (fully painted)
Stanley
Open Carriage
12-Ton Vans
Salty Reintroduction (on hold)
DCC Sound Thomas (on hold)
DCC Sound Percy (on hold)

HO Scale Accessories:
Figure Packs (unpainted)
Sir Topham Hatt's Car
Bulgy

Narrow Gauge:
Sir Handel
Duncan
High-Side Wagons
Gondolas
Gunpowder Wagons

N Scale:
Gordon (fully painted)
Emily (fully painted)
Emily's Coaches (fully painted)
Henrietta (unpainted)
Diesel
Paxton
Express Coaches

That's a lot of catching up. Hope we see plenty of new unpainted samples this year.

The Slate Wagon repaints already have images. Those got done quickly because their tooling already existed. The March Thomas Tuesday for sure should reveal HO Scale Rebecca fully painted. After that, the NEXT big reveal from Bachmann has to be unpainted Sir Handel. There's already three rolling stock toolings for Narrow Gauge that have yet to be shown in the unpainted stage. This year, they should be finally shown. Doug has to confirm if any progress has been made on those, especially the High-Side Wagons and Gondolas. The Gunpowder Wagons were just announced back in August.

No new toolings announced whatsoever, so Bachmann can really catch up on them, instead of letting them pile up even further. Before we see N Scale Henry announced, Bachmann is at least trying to get Gordon and Emily out there first, with good progress on Diesel/Paxton. Before HO Scale gets anything else, they're trying to get Beau and Rebecca out there as well, with Stanley on the backburner.

The NMRA for sure should announce N Scale Henry, and if they want more Diesel repaints, 'Arry and Bert could be made in N Scale (with Bert having much more noticeable stubble than 'Arry) or Sidney, who could be the first character in N Scale that doesn't already exist in HO Scale. Sidney would be an easy one for N Scale, since there's no eye mechanism to worry about. The 2025 catalog should have N Scale LBSC Thomas and Origin James for the 80th Anniversary.

Speak of the devil, the 2024 catalog did drop today, just as I was starting to think it got delayed to March.

Anyway, there was hardly anything new in terms of Thomas products. Just some repaints of the Narrow Gauge Slate Wagons, and the return of the Large Scale Thomas set. Still no N Scale Henry, most likely because they're still getting Gordon and Emily out there, and they're still working on Diesel and Paxton. NMRA for sure, they can announce N Scale Henry.

I had a feeling this year's announcements would be an all-time small. Because there's so many other products that still have yet to be shown in the unpainted stage. including HO Scale Stanley, Open Carriage and 12-Ton Vans, N Scale Diesel/Paxton and Express Coaches, Narrow Gauge Sir Handel, Duncan, High-Side Wagons, Gondolas and Gunpowder Wagons. This is definitely going to be a catch-up year for Bachmann. So many products they've fallen behind, especially for Narrow Gauge.

Bachmann said the catalog would drop mid-February, but they were wrong... It may have been delayed to March, and I have no idea why... Their silence is deafening...

The catalog shall be up any day. Something is really holding Bachmann up this time. This will be the latest it's ever been. New record. The fact that even Doug himself didn't know the exact day and time really shows. What's with the seemingly endless wait for the catalog? We're less than a week away from March.

It's definitely taking longer than usual for the catalog to publicize. Even Doug himself didn't know the exact day and time.

Bachmann, just post the announcements already. They hadn't done that since 2021. The catalog has to be there by the end of the month.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on February 09, 2024, 11:54:19 AMBachmann has already said days ago it would drop mid February. Most likely on the 14th alongside the physical that's releasing that day. Unless Doug wants to be based and do a surprise reveal on the 12th, it's unlikely to be discussed at all on Thomas tuesday other than a date confirmation

Uhhhh...

I shouldn't be surprised if the 2024 catalog doesn't show many new Thomas products. There's still many other products that haven't even been teased with samples yet, especially for Narrow Gauge. It's already been two years without a physical sample of Sir Handel. Bachmann desperately needs to catch up on those products. They've fallen way behind.

So the stream only showed the unpainted N Scale Henrietta and fully painted N Scale Emily, which were previously revealed, but for some reason, Doug didn't show the painted sample HO Scale Rebecca, when it was teased a week ago! Why wasn't Rebecca shown, despite the painted sample being there? That doesn't make sense, and it was a bit disappointing.

One thing we do know is that we are getting a Thomas Tuesday stream tomorrow, which the big reveal will be HO Scale Rebecca fully painted. It's not likely that we're going to hear anything new from the catalog apart from a date confirmation. At the latest, we should finally have the catalog this Friday.

Hope we hear updates on Stanley, Sir Handel, Narrow Gauge Gondolas and N Scale Diesel, with progress made on those.

So, yet another week of suspense? Bachmann HAS to get to it eventually...

Tomorrow for sure, we should finally get the 2024 catalog.

I too would love to see a Bachmann Sonny, given how unique his paint scheme and design is. He too would be a great choice for another new tooling in HO Scale. He, along with Nia, Whiff, Norman, Philip and Hiro are among the best choices for new toolings. Like I said about Philip, his tooling would most likely be the easiest and cheapest to make, given that he is a small box. If Bachmann is looking for the simplest new tooling in HO Scale, Philip is the way to go. Hiro is by far the most wanted, since Rebecca marked the return of tender engines in HO Scale. Hiro was one of the first, and most likeable characters to have originated from the CGI series.

Speaking of Rebecca, since her fully painted sample was teased, and will be shown in the next Thomas Tuesday stream, maybe we will see the next new tooling for HO Scale. If not in the 2024 catalog, then maybe the NMRA for sure. By summer, they should have Stanley's unpainted sample ready. Maybe even the Open Carriage and 12-Ton Vans, as well as those Narrow Gauge High-Side wagons and Gondolas. The latter two should have had some progress by now. It shouldn't be too much longer before Bachmann finally shows the unpainted sample of Sir Handel, and N Scale Diesel. In the next stream, Doug might also show us N Scale Gordon in the package, showing he is soon to arrive in stock. For Diesel, Bachmann just simply has to scale down his HO Scale model to work in N Scale. With no eye mechanism to worry about, Paxton's face will look perfect, which had been a turn-off by many on his HO Scale model.

The next new tooling for N Scale has to be Henry, then Edward, then after that, other good choices would be Duck, Oliver and Mavis. Henry wouldn't 100% be a new tooling since his chassis would easily be recycled from Gordon, minus trailing wheels, and his body shape is very similar to Gordon, though his tender is a Stanier instead of a Fowler. Mavis would recycle Toby's chassis, which is also the same as Thomas', and her N Scale model would be the first to actually have siderods. Duck because of his rivalry with Diesel in the earlier seasons of the show, and Oliver because we have Toad. I personally would like to see Ryan and Daisy in N Scale too, though it will be a good while before they're even considered, since they're the most recent models in HO Scale. One other character to recycle Gordon's chassis is Spencer, who has a streamlined body shape, and an even boxier tender with extra wheels. After Henry, the next 'big' engine for N Scale would have to be Spencer.

It really doesn't make sense that the CGI mandate ONLY applies to engines. Mattel is okay with Bachmann making model series rolling stock, but not engines, which is what's holding them back from making characters like Smudger, Splatter and Dodge, who would otherwise easily be made from existing toolings. They were one-off characters, but so is Beau, and Bachmann made him because they had his tooling. Mattel only let Bachmann make Beau because he was a CGI character; from Big World Big Adventures. Unless the CGI mandate gets lifted, the only characters who are still possible to use Diesel's tooling are Sidney and Fernando.

The fact that Doug Blaine deconfirmed Stepney a while back proved the CGI mandate was real, which is the same thing holding them back from making BoCo. Bachmann UK has the toolings for Arthur, Murdoch, Derek and Class 40, but we may never get them all because they never officially appeared in CGI... Although BoCo has a fan-made CGI render, it's not enough to convince Mattel...

For HO rolling stock that would use existing toolings that were actually in the show, the Italian Blue Coaches can be made using the Red Coach toolings. Stephen's blue coach would require a new tooling. An-An and Yin-Long would be recycled from Annie and Clarabel's tooling, and if they were to be made, it would mean Bachmann would have to make Hong-Mei, who can recycle Rosie's chassis, but with a different siderod configuration. One international engine that would completely recycle an existing tooling is Fernando, but if they were to use Diesel's tooling again, we'd rather have Sidney first.

As questionable as Nia is, it's only a matter of time before Bachmann eventually does make her for HO Scale, given that she is still a main character, even in the reboot. Most would rather have Whiff instead, since he's the last engine to appear in both model and CGI to not feature gimmicks, and that no ready-to-run model of Aerolite exists. Philip would be a great choice for a simple new tooling since he's just a small box, and would be a cheaper model. Norman is certainly an honorable mention for a new tooling since even though he was a nothing character in the show, many fan-made stories shed light on him, and that no ready-to-run model of BR 11001 exists. The new tooling everyone wants most of all is Hiro, especially after Rebecca's announcement brought tender engines back into the picture for HO Scale. Although Hiro would inevitably be the most expensive model, but high prices didn't stop the Narrow Gauge range from selling.

Considering Stanley has no unpainted sample ready yet, I don't see a new HO Scale tooling being announced in the catalog. Rebecca's first painted sample will be shown in the next Thomas Tuesday stream, as it has just been teased. It may not be until summer before we get to see Stanley's unpainted sample. Hope it won't be too long before Bachmann gets an unpainted sample of N Scale Diesel.

Any of these engines could be the next new tooling for HO Scale:
-Nia
-Whiff
-Philip
-Norman
-Hiro
-Hong-Mei (chassis recycled with some modification to siderods; don't really see her happening unless they make An-An and Yin-Long)
-Sonny (has a rather complicated siderod configuration, but could be doable, and no model of his basis exists)
-Porter (has rather problematic scaling)

The best choices for HO Scale recolors are Sidney and Fernando because Mainland Diesels and Green Salty are rather too niche.