Quote from: Chaz on June 28, 2019, 10:16:20 PM
Have you sent a follow-up email asking if they received the letter from you?  It's possible that the email automatically got sent in their spam folder by mistake.  Especially when the attached document is over 40 pages long.

The main email was answered by Customer Service and was supposedly sent to the production team, but I never heard any sort of follow up beyond that. Either way, I still had fun writing it up and making all the mock-up products.

A few months ago, I wrote a detailed list of suggestions for Bachmann Trains to make in 2020. Sadly, I never received a follow-up email to the letter. I put lot of research into this letter, and figure it'd be fair to share it with people on social media. I even designed and suggested new product ideas, and various designs and details of said product ideas was included in the document. You can read the letter here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MVCBnSqbOlkVK1spfOzsEymHQeKNQKYe/view

If you shop from Hattons (best dealer online from the UK that can cheaply ship to the US), you'll find Mainline stuff both under the Bachmann UK and Mainline categories. For example, this is the Mainline tooling salt wagon in the Bachmann UK range, which is the same tooling used for the Thomas range: https://www.hattons.co.uk/442673/bachmann_branchline_33_175_po02_10_ton_covered_salt_wagon_35_in_stubbs_red_livery_pre_owned__imperfect_box/stockdetail.aspx

The only difference the new flat beds have is they have a log load instead of a paint drum load, and say "Sodor Log Company" on the sides.

As for the M wagon, Bachmann and many other companies just look at reference photos and make what is provided in them. Considering Trackmaster also made the M wagon, it's likely the M wagon was in the reference photos they got from HiT Entertainment. Most of the toy companies making Thomas products have no idea what actually appears regularly and what doesn't in the Thomas episodes.

The flat-bed is being re-released with a log load in the near future. I don't see the M wagon being re-released anytime soon unless demand for it explodes.

Alternately, the cattle wagon, M wagon, salt van etc. are all toolings you can find eBay under the Mainline brand, which Bachmann UK bought out many years ago, and thus used in their Thomas line up.

Absolutely unexpected, but spells good fortune for the condition of the brand!

Now, one thing I wonder though, is that the resin buildings were discontinued because they didn't sell well. In the US, detailed resin buildings generally aren't as popular of a seller than say plastic buildings. In the UK however, both Bachmann UK and Hornby have their own lines of resin buildings. I wonder if Bachmann could test the waters of a limited run of the Thomas resin buildings in the UK, and see if they have a second chance. I think with a whole new market, it's worth a shot, and by starting with a limited run, would make risk minimal.

Quote from: TrainCollector on April 14, 2019, 11:34:16 PM
Right I see your point but Silver Spencer can't be that much of a stretch. I mean that would sell pretty good

I didn't include Silver Spencer because I feel like that's a different category. That should be less of a limited edition, and more just an update to his normal model, in a similar way they fixed up James. It all depends however, on how big of a seller Spencer currently is.

I've said it before, but they can do as many gimmicky items or repaints as they want, as long as we get an actual new engine every so-often. Repaints and gimmick items are easy to do, this is true, but the market is also limited. Not many people are going to pay $80.00-$120.00 for, say... A James with bees on him, a Percy covered in chocolate, or a Thomas in Indian decorations (just random examples). I reckon repaints like those will sell about as well as the Celebration Thomas did, which from what I can tell, seems to be a peg-warmer.

Just because an item is easy to do, doesn't mean the markets there.

That said, I think Bachmanns best bet for a repaint engine or two in the near future would be the LBSC Thomas and Black James. Anything else, I feel, would be a stretch.

It's more likely something Thomas' parent company, Mattel, mandates.

Mattel, from what I heard, does have a mandate somewhere along those lines. At the same time I believe that if there is enough fan demand for a character, Mattel could be convinced by Bachmann to make an exception (especially since unlike the other toy ranges where I heard this mandate comes from such as Wood and Trackmaster, Bachmann is a nostalgia driven range). In the long run, Stepneys demand is very much up to the fans, and persistence is key here.

You want Stepney? Keep asking for him, logics be darned.

Granpuff your work is absolutely stellar! You should be very proud of the work you make; it's consistently high quality, and admirably so. That has to be one of the best Peter Sam customs I've ever seen, and can't say that I've seen a Millie custom before, either.

Quote from: MoarCrossovers on March 22, 2019, 06:03:05 PM

Quote from: Ronniethe14xxx on March 22, 2019, 04:09:35 PM

Quote from: Toad139 on March 22, 2019, 04:04:55 PM

Quote from: Ronniethe14xxx on March 22, 2019, 03:16:33 PM
Is anybody going to acknowledge the fact the scrap car has coal in it, that doesn't seem right.

The coal wagon is also missing its coal load, so someone must have accidentally switched it. Just a simple mistake.

I didn't realize they were removable, are they?

Is the green coal wagon's load removable?

Yes it is. Safe to say this is the same case, as the new wagons use the same coal load mold that the original coal wagon did.

Quote from: Ronniethe14xxx on March 21, 2019, 08:58:41 PM

Quote from: Chaz on March 21, 2019, 08:17:31 PM
To me, red Rosie was inevitable for this year for more than just because the tooling was already there, but I think it might also come down to the fact that maybe the sales for Rosie were so minimal compared to Oliver or Skarloey and Rheneas that maybe they felt they could justify her tooling cost a little more by creating an alternative model for those who preferred her modern livery?  Bachmann does like going for characters that they know are going to sell well and Rosie wasn't that much of a hit compared to other releases.  She clearly had her fans, but never made it on the bestsellers list when it was still around.  I'm sure that the lavender model will probably find its way out of the range in the same way Arry and Bert did once the new supply of Rosie models that just arrived will sell out in the next couple of years so the red one would be the only option left. 

I'm sure Mattel wanted Bachmann to update her in red too, and something tells me if they made her red in the first place and pushed Rosie back another year like they did with Oliver and Rusty then her sales would have been slightly better than what they made out of the lavender one. 

Either way if Rosie clearly didn't win that many people over, that's definitely going to say something about how Nia and Rebecca models would do (no matter how much Mattel may push for them), which is one reason why I feel Bachmann are better off avoiding those two altogether if the sales aren't going to be there. 

I feel like people didn't buy Rosie because they were waiting for Red Rosie, and Nia and Rebecca wouldn't have that problem. Rebecca especially Rebecca as she is super popular with the fandom

What are we calling super popular? Largely indifference, followed by ridicule of her shoehorned insertion, and then a select few fans going "Rebecca is my wife for life" on Twitter? Nia and Rebecca are absolutely not "popular" in a strong good way, especially compared to classics like Oliver, Rosie or Paxton.

I'm well aware of those customs, and I feel the fact that you are reiterating that only about.. 3 have been made, only supports my point more. It would have to be a -very- limited run, and then that run would have to cost enough to warrant the manufacturing costs, as well as a small tooling for a new faceplate.

It's also why I'm surprised we got Red Rosie so soon; there were customs going around in the fandom, but they were small in numbers. Either Bachmann has strong confidence in Red Rosie, or it was a Mattel mandate.

Quote from: TerencetheTractor525 on March 20, 2019, 09:28:42 PM
That's fair. Yet, that's why I also stated that they could maybe announce Smudger as a limited edition product. Specifically, a limited run of 1000 Smudgers may be possible, making it a product specifically for avid fans like us.

They'd be lucky if 50 people bought a Smudger. I feel like if there was a stronger demand for him, more people would be repainting their Rheneas models by now. Spiteful Brakevan on the other hand had a nice handful of customs being made prior to his announcement.

I think a rolling stock character like the Spiteful Brakevan is easier to justify making into the range, when it's only a few small plastic parts. Rheneas on the other hand is mostly metal and some plastic parts, especially the chassis. It'd cost a lot more to manufacture, and they would have to be confident that there's a market for a repainted engine like that. The Spiteful Brakevan on the other hand is less of a liability due to its minimal resources.