Craig, I'm not aware of any cork board shortage here in Florida. I'm assuming that you are talking about just cork sheets or rolls for laying track, not framed cork boards for bulletin boards. I just checked out Hobby Lobby's website. They have rolls of cork available in both 1/8 and 1/4 inch thicknesses, as well as framed boards. One other thought: check out the tile department at your local big-box store for cork tiles. Hope this helps.

Going to add the remainder of the items in the pipeline bar what was on Thomas Tuesday this week as a follow up to my last post here, just for a reference point for myself and anyone else who may find it useful.

Sir Handel is now the only item with an unpainted sample, and also the only item with a sample right now without an early 2025 release date. We also know DCC Thomas and Percy are "making good progress" but hard to say where they are beyond that. Exactly when the stuff will drop that was said to drop in early 2025 is hard to gauge as well, my best guess is in the post above but it's still ultimately a best guess.

Some of the existing announcements are stuff that are simply prexisting models recolored. The LMS brakevan in N (reused from Farish), the tar tanker, and the diesel flatbed are all existing tools, just redecod. So, the release of them should hopefully be rather quick. Which I imagine was deliberate for the NMRA 2024 and 2024 as a whole. Get some other rolling stock out in all scales where there were holds in production with new molds. Slate trucks in narrow gauge, some simpler wagons for HO, and Hannah and the brakevan for N. Push something easier out while development on other stuff is worked on in the background, a smart move in my opinion.

Then there are items that are primarily reused but have one small thing that'll be changed. Sidney and Mainland Diesel fall here, they only need a new face presumably. The China Clay wagon also falls here because the load is said to be new via New Model Monday. Salty also falls here, but he's a little more complicated. He likely needs a new mechanism based on the comment of what parts of the mold have degraded. He's still on indefinite hold, but my hope is he is the priority for HO development for most of next year to get that highly demanded character out for the market.

Everything else is primarily new. This includes the open carriage blue, the gondolas, the gunpowder wagons, N Paxton, N Diesel, N Henry, Bulgy, and the N express coaches. All of these bar Henry have prices and are up for preorder, so if nothing else price from the factory for manufacturing has been decided for most of these. Also worth noting some of these (the 08's and narrow gauge wagons) will have multiple products delivered from one mold, so that'll help clear up the pipeline even more once all are finished. They did a pretty good job getting a large chunk of the backlog done, and here's hoping that can continue into 2025. Now that the high side wagons are mostly finalized, imagine work is starting on the Gondolas. Same with the NMRA 2023 N announcements now that everything prior to that is about to be released. Same with Bulgy now that the car is done, and so on.

Going to end this off on a question, what is everyone most excited for from the remaining items yet to release? Stanley is definitely the big one for me, but the open carriage, figures, and Bulgy are ones I am also very excited for.

Found this on Ebay maybe it will help 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296817552415?_skw=Bachman+Christmas+Trolley+replacement+gears&itmmeta=01JCXG3RKD2KM6QB3T0KCN8FDD&hash=item451bb46c1f:g:-FcAAOSwAexnNnRm&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABEHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlvbyGb%2BW6X8TRNC2NjwYDk0oZAc1weeWTqM--7hYMQY29lNHl72JF8ZJP5iQckVhdYUdnNHpSM9BcmTW45htOqD1YU5%2BttAIyKb6rdWgH2sQ4NgEmt0TvS3B7U8aDMASWnfhUhVYBw7jfutlVmFA3m%2Fr8e66RUlNAPCxqDezmEhTv1zbEsNf195E04fIPsrKVgtJjpVMV1qp52dtVSV89jubGiGZd8K5zX53BvTA2TsWac6esaMi5FwlPvFf86pwkz7UZ06H9v%2FUskXtEk3fP%2BOmB421vvmeIH86CCAfiv%2FchIVOVf0YhklMGu8pFN%2FvrpU6PxU3fW2gbhoIqIndrn%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-CJj7DnZA

I have CV116 set to 90. Seems to be "close enough."

Hope that helps.

Don't shoot the messenger if it doesn't happen!

I heard from a rather reliable source that a certain Japanese company that makes Unitrack is developing On30 track. Not sure if it's Unitrack modules or part of their new flex track they've come out with.

I wouldn't think this something that company would do but it came from a very reliable inside source.

Here's hoping!

What decoder do you have in this engine?

I got it to blink the 16 times, but no sound afterwards.  Still runs though.

With a LOT of new releases coming up very shortly, including some between late December and early 2025, much of the backlog is already going to be cleared up. Maybe we will get some good announcements in the 2025 catalog.

The next newly-tooled engine for HO Scale will most likely be Whiff. Gold Thomas can be the special 80th Anniversary HO Scale repaint, along with a possible Silver Percy and Bronze Diesel, which could most likely be saved for the NMRA. The N Scale 80th Anniversary repaints can be LBSC Thomas and Origin James. With N Scale Diesel/Paxton and Henry not even having samples shown yet, it may be too early to announce Edward, but the NMRA for sure should announce N Scale Edward. Bachmann needs to announce Edward at some point in the near future in order to complete the original Steam Team in N Scale. They can then move onto making Duck, Oliver, Donald, Douglas, or even Daisy in N Scale.

If Flying Scotsman ever does get made in HO Scale, they may have to make his second tender sold separately. He would 100% be a new tooling since Gordon's chassis is disproportionate in HO Scale. Though he could easily recycle Gordon's chassis in N Scale. Same for Spencer if he was to get made in N Scale at some point. For the next tender engine in HO Scale, everyone wants Hiro. It may be a while before he gets announced, depending on how well Rebecca sells.

To make up for Duncan's cancellation, Bachmann should announce Luke for the HOn30 Scale range. It's possible for the 2025 catalog. Hopefully for the January stream at the earliest, we'll then be shown Sir Handel's painted sample, with his image being in the catalog. Not a Thomas product, but since Talyllyn is finally in stock, Bachmann should soon announce Dolgoch, using Rheneas' tooling.

Anybody else having trouble getting cork board?  Ive had some on back order at my local hobby shop for 6 months.  Checked around on line and every site is out.

Hi Yardmaster & Crew,

A big thanks for this effort to add these manuals and diagrams.  Bachmann large scale steam locomotives have allowed many of us to model a part of railroad history that would have been impossible without the many historic locomotives you have produced. Looking back to 1988 it has been an amazing run for us large scalers.  The 4-6-0 Big Hauler started it all for those of us who were waiting for a US prototype locomotive in large scale.  The Spectrum Line has been nothing short of amazing. It has been a great ride and I am glad to have been along for it.

Loco Bill