The model fits pretty well for a Thomas and Friends layout and would look good next to Bachmann models.  I don't necessarily model Sodor (despite collecting Bachmann models), since I'm more of an American modeler.  I recommend it, but be warned that prices for these and other models in the range are expensive (like around 30-60 dollars), so know what you are getting into before purchasing.  George is the second one I have so far, and I already have Trevor.  I plan on getting Bulgy and stopping there just because I do not have a desire for other road characters since Bachmann already made the ones I wanted.   I'll show some pictures as a sample for what's to come, while showing off George.





I apologize for any blurriness, since I took these pictures on my phone.  But I will show take and upload more pictures once school is out for the summer. 

College is not exactly better than high school as far as the workload goes.  I made the mistake of taking 16 credits this quarter at my school and it is limiting my free time, which includes layout work.

Anyways I recently got a bandai model of George the Steamroller from Japan.  I'll be more than happy to share some photos of the model as well as the layout in general.  I have not had much time to do any layout work, but I will get around to it soon, since I've been meaning to share layout photos with everyone for some time now.

Quote from: seanrail on May 03, 2014, 11:16:36 AM
No offence taken, but say if Bachmann makes engines from the other railway (BCE, D261, D199, Connor and Caitlin, ECT)?

I don't see how any of those characters will happen since most of those appeared only in the Railway Series, and Connor and Caitlin have very little development going for them.  On top of that, their large designs could put them at a disadvantage as far as production and sales go.  Personally, the only engines I expect Bachmann to do anytime soon are either Oliver, Stepney, Paxton, or Sidney.  The first two I mentioned already in the other 2015 thread, since they've proven to be iconic as well as loved by older and newer fans alike. 

It costs a lot of money for Bachmann to make engines with a new tooling and they'd want them to be long-lasting sellers which is why they've avoided short-lived characters like Stanley, Molly, Rosie, etc.  Thankfully, the engines that they have announced so far have never been unusual choices.  Paxton and Sidney I feel are inevitable additions just because they are repaints of Diesel with new faces on them.  I personally wouldn't mind Paxton, but Sidney could use some more development. 

All of those in one year is a little excessive.  I think Oliver, Stepney, Toad, and two of the buildings you mentioned sound a lot more likely.  It's funny that you mention the airport since it was an iconic location throughout Calling All Engines and seasons 10-12.


I think the possibilities for more buildings are fairly wide, and I certainly hope to see more additions in the near future such as more stations, a coal hopper, or even a level crossing.  The new buildings have received a very positive reaction from older and newer fans alike, so I imagine that most of them will sell very quickly. 

Personally I liked Thomas the Quarry Engine as it was.  It's easily my favorite out of all the season 18 episodes we have so far, one of the main reasons is because of how 'devious' Diesel was to Mavis throughout that episode.  Felt very much like a classic series episode.  That and I loved how very similar the accident was to a very classic episode:



Another nice Easter Egg from Andrew Brenner!  Same station, similar accident, water tower on the left side, eyes shut... I can't believe I didn't catch this when I first watched the episode! 

Quote from: jward on April 19, 2014, 10:07:16 PM

Quote from: PRRThomas11 on September 22, 2007, 05:04:36 PM

Quote from: FPT on September 19, 2007, 05:47:19 PM
Brooks & Dunn might make good Narrators.

Who are brooks and dunn.

exactly......

Is it really necessary to quote a post that is almost seven years old by two members that aren't on the forum anymore?

But going back on topic, my favorite narrators are almost tied between Ringo Starr and George Carlin, but the former over the latter just because he was my first narrator I was exposed to when I first started watching Thomas.  I found myself growing up with both of these narrators on the show as a kid and they will always be my personal favorites.  I do prefer Ringo's narration over George Carlin's for seasons 1 and 2 just because Ringo's narration feels so much more natural as opposed to Carlin's season 1 and 2 narrations.  I'm hoping that one day the US gets more season DVDs much like how we had the Early Years.  I feel it would make sense for Ringo to have the first 2 seasons, then Carlin for 3 and 4, Baldwin for 5 and 6, and the rest for Brandon just to show some consistency between the first three narrators having two seasons to themselves. 

Well seeing as how most of us witnessed the Season 18 episodes from the Trouble on the Tracks DVD, here are my thoughts so far:

Thomas the Quarry Engine
This was a great start to the season, as we see Thomas taking the lead role in an episode that was by all means worth watching.  I loved how Mavis actually had a role in an episode.  We haven't had this since around the classic era!  On top of that the way how Diesel manipulates Mavis while taking her further away from the quarry was actually pretty clever.  It made me feel like I was watching some high school football player trying to steal a girl's attention, but not so much in the romantic sense.  It was great seeing Toby with Henrietta picking up the workmen from the quarry, it was a nice touch to the railway series.  Though admittedly I did not like Henrietta's voice at all, it got annoying hearing her speak after a while too.  But I'll give it some time to grow on me, but her voice by no means affected the episode for me.  The crash with Thomas in the siding was a lot of fun to watch and it was one of the most suspenseful moments we have had in the show for a long time.  Plus I like how the troublesome trucks spoke dialogue as opposed to "biff bash" or "on on on".  I honestly see no fault with this episode whatsoever and it was a great start for the season.  10/10

Not So Slow Coaches - Two fun episodes in a row.  It was interesting to see Connor and Caitlin both having a role onto the show again, as well as seeing Charlie actually working in the yard.  Yes, Charlie actually was working and not just pulling some train in the background or ran around the Island accomplishing nothing.  That could be more than said for Rosie, Neville, the logging locos, and a few other characters.  Annie and Clarabel's reactions to Caitlin pulling them around as well as them hoping Connor wouldn't say yes to the race was what made the episode worth watching.  Plus, it was nice to see Hiro come back while bringing Annie and Clarabel back from the Mainland.  The episode itself was enjoyable but it did have one flaw and it was a big one... how on earth did no one notice that Annie and Clarabel were coupled behind Caitlin's coaches and not acknowledge it?  I mean really, Clarabel opened her eyes wide enough to at least recognize it was Charlie pushing her.  The men at the yard could have noticed something to, so it was a unrealistic on how this incident had happened in the first place.  Nonetheless, it was an episode worth checking out.  8/10

Flatbeds of Fear - This was a pretty good episode too, but it didn't quite make the cut for me like how other episodes so far did.  To get the worst out of the way, I did not like how Henry was portrayed in this episode (which was a complete wimp).  It never worked for Henry in the past and it did not work well here, regardless of how the writing has improved.  Plus hearing Henry repeating himself "I don't want to hear the flatbeds of fear.." got really annoying.  Especially when he thought a cow would be the flatbeds of fear.  This episode would have worked so much better if Percy had Henry's role since he's more gullible in that sense than Henry is.  For what worked in this episode worked really well though.  Emily having a role was great, and I loved the bit with her season 8 theme, it was a nice touch.  Salty and Cranky were both very humorous in this episode as well, Salty especially at the end.  Bill and Ben were the perfect engines to be the next ones to listen to Salty's story at the end of the episode.  The animation with the mist was also done very well, as well as the visuals for Salty's story.  It's definetely the weakest out of the first five I've seen so far, but even this episode proved to be fairly enjoyable nonetheless.  6/10 

Disappearing Diesels - Yet another perfect episode!  It seems like any role Paxton is involved with is usually very amusing and this episode is no exception.  This episode really shows how much of a well developed character Paxton has become since his role in Blue Mountain Mystery.  Plus seeing Sidney appear again was also a nice touch.  Diesel was great in this episode too, and I love how despite him not showing any gratitude for Paxton his utter look of confusion when Paxton still helps him out anyway is a nice touch.  Much better than what we've seen from Diesel in a certain season 14 episode.   The scene with Reg was very funny and easily one of the best moments, especially when Diesel is trying to sound like him while hiding behind the cars.  It was an all around great episode and easily another one of my favorites.  10/10

Toad's Adventure - We now come to a close with the final episode of the DVD, the one that I am sure everybody was anticipating for the most, purely and simply for the return of Oliver and Toad.  And it was great seeing them both in CGI form.  I found myself happy with Oliver's voice and design (despite its flaws).  While I liked Toad's design I found his voice to be extremely annoying.  He sounded like that one old man from that movie Eight Crazy Nights (forgot his name) and hearing that regularly throughout the episode did get a little tiring, but that doesn't affect my view on the episode as a whole.  I would have been a lot happier if we had a voice similar to the one Alec Baldwin gave him in season 5.  As far as the episode itself goes, I will just say right now that this episode was definitely worth watching.  Escape was referenced, Toad gets a lead role, the 'Little Western' was referenced, and James playing a role in this episode was great!  On top of that I loved seeing Thomas taking Sir Topham Hatt and Dowager Hatt in express coaches, and the moment when Dowager asks STH to sing in front of him and STH seemed extremely hesitant was really funny!  In the Nitrogen era, I didn't find Dowager Hatt funny or interesting, but here it worked perfectly.  I guess if there is one flaw I have to point out it is how Oliver was treating Toad throughout the episode.  He sounded just a tad too concieted while focusing on himself while telling Toad his stories, and how he was snooty right in the middle of Toad telling his story in some ways felt a little mean.  Normally I wouldn't have minded it but it's Oliver and his trusty brake van Toad, to see Oliver act so inconsiderate like that and didn't make me connect to the character like how I normally would have, despite how much I love this character.  Despite that flaw it's easily one of the best, and I think it will be hard to top off.  9/10

So overall I think we are off to a really great start so far, and I am anxious to see how the other 21 episodes turn out.  Hopefully we will see more surprises like Donald and Douglas on the way.

I strongly agree with this!  I am glad I am not the only one who thinks that this is a good idea!  N scale is surprisingly a popular scale amongst modelers, and Bachmann owning the rights to produce N scale Thomas products would be a smart idea.  Tomix proved to be popular and getting a hold of any models in the range online (especially Percy and Henry) is very difficult.  Especially when it comes to the prices they are worth too. 

I even think that an N scale line would open more possibilities for more locomotives compared to large scale since the large scale line is restricted in some ways due to size.  With N scale, chances of seeing larger engines like Henry and Gordon would be much higher.  I do think a moving eye mechanism would be out of the question since details like that would be harder to make in N scale. I certainly hope this is something Bachmann can look into for the near future since I know it will be very successful.

Quote from: Nykrivas on March 26, 2014, 03:07:54 PM

First off I will say this;
Stepney would be so pointless at this time, since alot of online retailers still have the Hornby one in stock.

Hornby making models has never stopped Bachmann from producing the same character at a different time.  Bachmann even made Spencer before Hornby did, so it's hard to compare those two companies in that department (it's like comparing apples to oranges).  So Stepney wouldn't be a "pointless" addition at all.

Just curious, what rolling stock and other additions are you interested in besides locomotives?

Cheeks and pupils might be a little off, but I think I might eat my own words about what I said earlier about troublesome truck 4.  I still think the idea of it being a green six ton wagon is still a terrible design, but if it's close to an accurate model era face I think I might get two of them and pop the faces off of them and add them to other trucks (similar to what I did with troublesome truck 3).  Kudos to Bachmann on this one.  

Dear Bachmann staff,
Recently I sent my Bachmann Edward model to the service department (along with another model, a 4-6-0 from the Spectrum range).  The 4-6-0 was not running properly, and the Edward motor had burned out.  I mailed the models to Bachmann customer service telling them what happened and threw in a 25 dollar fee for Edward since I have had the model for over a year.
I got the box with the models a few weeks ago and while looking at the models upon opening them from the box again such as the 4-6-0 missing one of the bolts holding the handrail.  This didn't bother me as much, but when I opened up the Edward model, there were scratches on the model as he was not in the box I placed him in while mailing him out.  
This resulted to a scratch in the buffers, the black body covering the motor (where the smokebox is) and the face, which is especially the most noticeable out of them all.  

I love supporting Bachmann and buying the products but having this issue with the models I had only recently shipped to the service department and got back before is honestly very disappointing.  Is there any way customer service can please look into fixing both of these models without me having to pay the extra 25 dollar charge?  

Thanks in advance.

I have mixed feelings in this recent makeover given to Henrietta.

To get the worst out of the way, here is what I don't like. What I do not like is it ruins Henrietta's true characteristic. Even though she had a face in the railway series (only one illustration, which was published in 2007), the character Henrietta has always been noted to not have a face, which had been mentioned in various character bios about this character.  This new addition to the character completely contradicts that which I am not to thrilled about.  Another thing I do not like is the face design. The face that was picked for Henrietta looks terrible. If it was something similar to the faces on Annie and Clarabel, then I would warm up to a little more. But as the face looks, particularly the eyebrows, I don't think it looks good on Henrietta.

Now what do I like about this. Well I like that this could give us some promising development not only for Henrietta but also Toby as well. Out of the eight steam team members Toby seems to get the short end of the stick the most throughout the series. In season 17 he only spoke in one episode and that was it.  Plus Andrew Brenners other favorite characters besides Bill and Ben are Toby and James.  And seeing as how we got good episodes with Bill and Ben I trust Andrew Brenner will now give us a good Toby and Henrietta episode.  And it seems like every episode starring Toby past season six has been either boring or just plain terrible.  With how good we have seen the writing of the show in the past year, I think this could potentially mean we could get a good Toby episode!  So if it means redemption for Toby and also some development for Henrietta then I am all for it.

I am sure I will warm up to this soon but as it is I have mixed feelings on this dramatic change given to this character.  We will find out soon what is in store for these two characters.   

Does anyone (or the forum mods) know of the release date(s) of the red coaches or the new buildings or the speed-activated sound Thomas?  Haven't heard any updates on that last one yet at all. 

I completely agree with thomasj219.  The forum doesn't need to run on a schedule or has to be organized in such a specific way such as who gets to post what.  As long as it is on the subject of the Bachmann Thomas and Friends HO and large scale line either in it's current, previous, or future state, it's not doing any harm to anyone.  

Plus as I've said before, no one should ever judge someone else on this forum for posting what they want Bachmann to make.  Everyone has done it and will continue to do so since it allows for productive discussion, and not one member here is an exception of that.  Especially ones who continually make polls and petitions over re-released items.  

I'm probably not going to share my thoughts on next year until a little later, but I am interested in seeing what fans will ask for rolling stock wise since we just got the highest demanded rolling stock finally announced.  Besides, Toad of course.  

Well time for me to express my thoughts on the new products that were shown in the photos (Thanks Sparks for the photos).   


To get the worst out of the way, I honestly am not too impressed with troublesome truck 4 since it's a green six ton wagon with a CGI face.  It's not the CGI face that gets me, don't get me wrong, but I was expecting something along the lines of a van repaint (similar to the one with the ice cream wagon) with a new face.  I probably won't be getting this one.  


Arry and Bert look exactly as how I pictured them.  Repaints with no ladders and have CGI faces as well.  For what they are though, despite the obvious design choice I think they look great.  Not characters who I have been keen on getting but I'm sure they'll satisfy the fans who have been anxious for them.


The illustration for the new water tower looks fairly good so far, but the actual model itself I am sure will look great.  Same with the red coaches, with both having no photos revealed of them so far.  Nice we finally got an insight to the new products, and I'm looking forward to seeing more soon.

So my final thoughts on what we got this year...  It was a real hit and miss.  I think the things that were great additions (like the buildings and red coaches) were all good ideas and I am sure will sell well, and I imagine Arry and Bert will do well too.  Troublesome truck #4, Jeremy, and the large scale rolling stock however I think were the misses since I have a feeling these will not be quite as popular as the other additions.  So overall, I think we did good this year and as always I am looking forward to the new additions to come soon.