Bachmann

Bachmann Trains is a model railway company that has made Thomas & Friends models in HO scale since 2002, G scale since 2009, and models in N scale that were released in 2020. Most of the range's models are made from specially produced toolings to resemble the characters as depicted in the television series. Nearly all of the locomotives have a special moving-eye-mechanism that allows the eyes to look back and forth across the tracks while the locomotives are in motion.

Previously, the HO models were not available outside of North America, as Hornby held the OO/HO Thomas license overseas (although the Bachmann models are compatible with Hornby models due to having identical coupling systems). After Hornby had discontinued their Thomas & Friends range in 2018, Bachmann secured the rights to distribute their HO scale products in the UK and Ireland with further availability expanding in 2020.

Narrow Gauge
The narrow-gauge line is still in HO scale but runs on N gauge track. This is commonly known as "HOe" or "HOn30". In the United Kingdom this is known as "OO9".

Accessories

 * Hook-and-Loop Couplers
 * Track Play-Tape

2012

 * Thomas' Snowplough

2017

 * DCC Sound Module

Trivia

 * The 2002 Product Catalogue oddly showed a Lionel O scale Thomas on the front cover.
 * All HO scale four-wheel coaches and brake vans (excluding Henrietta and Toad) are missing their dummy coupling hooks.
 * The first HO scale products released in 2002 (Thomas, Percy, James, Annie, Clarabel, Troublesome Trucks, Bertie, Harold and Cranky) were based on promotional artwork in circulation at the time. Because of this, there are some inaccuracies with some of the engines, most notably James' original HO model. His wheels and axleboxes are painted grey and his smokebox saddle is painted red when they should all be black. The handrails are also white when they should be silver. His tender's brake pipe is also on the wrong side of the coupling hook. The large scale model is devoid of these errors; however, the wheels are unpainted.
 * In an official forum post, a Bachmann representative revealed plans to update James to look more like his television show counterpart in 2015. However, once update artwork was sent to the factory, it was too late to change the production line at the time. James' updated model was released in late 2017, with black tender axle boxes, underframes, drawbar and dummy coupling hooks, as well as silver handrails. The dome, whistle and lining were also painted in a brass colour as opposed to the gold colour of the original model. However, the smokebox saddle remains red and the wheels became unpainted and it still has no front coupler. In 2021, James' smokebox saddle was finally repainted to black.
 * The HO scale oil, cream and raspberry syrup tankers and the mail coach were all initially released as they appeared in the model series but were reissued with their CGI series insignia in 2011.
 * Thomas, Percy and James' HO models do not have front couplers, unlike all the other HO scale locomotives.
 * Thomas, Percy, James, Gordon, Henry and Toby's HO models have grey coupling hooks. Henry and Gordon additionally also have grey brake pipes, axleboxes, and lamp irons. Curiously, however, the sound-equipped Thomas has black coupling hooks. In late 2018, the normal Thomas had his coupling hooks painted black.
 * Thomas, Percy, James, Toby, Oliver, Red Rosie, and Daisy (as well as all of Thomas and James' variants) are the only HO engines fitted with lamps. In addition to this, Origin James and the rereleased version of Salty have lamps printed on the back of them.
 * On Emily's HO model and G scale model, her water filler cap is green instead of black.
 * Later releases of Thomas' HO model feature two holes behind his front buffer beam so that his snowplough can be fitted. Also in 2014, the chassis block and wiring contacts on Thomas' HO scale model were redesigned.
 * Edward's model lacks his safety valves, similar to his pre-sixth series model. However, the face used on his model resembles one that appeared in the eighth-twelfth series. This was based on Edward's Series 8 model reference sheet.
 * Henry's tender is slightly shorter in height than in the television series.
 * Gordon's cab is noticeably taller in height than in the television series.
 * On Percy's HO model:
 * The coal bunker is painted grey instead of black and is oversized.
 * The cab steps are mounted on the valences instead of under the footplate. Strangely, his prototype model did not have this problem.
 * Percy is the only HO locomotive not to have a rear dummy coupling hook.
 * He is slightly taller than his television series counterpart due to the way the cylinders are fitted, said cylinders have a block on top of them.
 * His leaf springs are green.
 * In 2019, the brown colour on Toby's HO scale model was darkened.
 * Duck was the last locomotive whose model was purely based on his model series design. This is due to the fact that it came out before his return to full CGI.
 * On Duck's HO model:
 * The buffer shanks are black instead of red.
 * The prototype model had a black footplate similar to Duck's CGI model and the top of his safety valve was also painted black, but they were changed to grey and green respectively on the production model.
 * There are some different variants of the model with the filler caps on the sandboxes, whilst others do not.
 * He has only one whistle valve instead of two.
 * His wheels are a tad smaller.
 * Donald and Douglas' HO models lack cab side handrails that support the roof.
 * Oliver, Rosie, Ryan, Paxton and Daisy are the only HO locomotives to be based purely on their CGI renders. All other models, including those with CGI faces, borrow elements from the model series builds.
 * Oliver's model lacks the tank front handrails.
 * Bill and Ben's HO models have different faces, unlike other twin engines released.
 * Spencer's footplate flattens out at the cab, unlike his television series model which keeps going at a slope. His boiler is also too thin.
 * Both of Rosie's models lack her brake pipes and lamp irons.
 * Rosie is the only HO scale standard gauge tank engine with an open cab.
 * For a short time, Diesel's model was mistakenly sold with red buffers and black buffer shanks. This was fixed in 2019.
 * Diesel's model was used as the basis for 'Arry, Bert and Paxton, due to all of them being BR Class 08 shunters. As a result, 'Arry and Bert have faux wires around their headlights, as well as brake pipes, which they do not have in the series like Diesel and Paxton do.
 * Mavis' pupils became smaller in 2011, but they returned to their original size in 2020.
 * Due to sharing Diesel's body shell, the HO Paxton's eyes are raised higher than they are in the show, thus causing his whole face to be incorrectly proportioned. This issue was fixed on the large scale model, as both Paxton and Diesel were designed at the same time.
 * Paxton is the first CGI exclusive character to be introduced into the Bachmann range for HO scale.
 * Winston is the first CGI character to be introduced into the Bachmann range for large scale.
 * Currently, Thomas, James, Diesel, and Rosie are the only HO scale engines with more than one variant.
 * On Annie and Clarabel's HO models:
 * The underframes are painted grey instead of black.
 * The roofs are attached and have plastic frames and rectangles attached underneath them to resemble windows, unlike the large scale models that have unattached roofs. Emily's coaches and the Christmas coaches have similar features.
 * Clarabel is missing her guard's compartment.
 * The coaches in the Thomas' Christmas Delivery and Thomas' Christmas Special sets are Emily's coaches repainted.
 * S.C. Ruffey's HO and large scale models both have a face that was not used in the television series on-screen and inaccurately have orange buffers instead of black ones.
 * S.C. Ruffey's HO model's frames are grey instead of rusty orange. This was corrected on his large scale, and N scale models.
 * There are two versions of the 6-ton wagon; one with white lettering and the other with a more cream tint. The white lettering wagons have an unglossed chassis on the bottom and would have the "K101019".
 * Terence's HO model has a removable snowplough.
 * Despite Terence being a road vehicle, his packaging says, "For use on HO/OO scale track".
 * Winston is currently the only character to date to be made in Large Scale but not HO scale.
 * In addition, he is also the first character that was first made in Large Scale, unlike the other characters who were all first made in HO scale and then made again into large scale.
 * The human figures were originally marketed as HO scale but have been relabelled large scale since the introduction of said range due to being too large.
 * The large scale GWR box van and Sodor Fruit and Vegetable Co. van are depicted as single-vent vans like the ice cream wagon. The HO versions are instead depicted as double-vent vans like the ventilated van. In addition to this, they are the first pieces of rolling stock first made into G scale and then HO later on.
 * The Sodor scenery accessories are recycled models from Bachmann's Plasticville line.
 * The original releases of Emily's coaches had a matte coating on the roofs, but the 2017 releases have the roofs glossed.
 * In close-up shots, the large scale Thomas is used (albeit with the face altered to resemble the HO one for consistency).
 * Percy's large scale prototype had a green coal bunker.
 * Most wagons throughout the Bachmann range are reused moulds of wagons made in the OO scale Bachmann Branchline and Mainline Model Railways ranges, albeit with the detail reduced. The Narrow Gauge rolling stock also seems to be based on Peco 009 gauge rolling stock, but without brake pipes.
 * The cream tanker is incorrectly coloured white instead of yellow.
 * The blue narrow gauge van has the letters "SR" painted on the side which stand for "Skarloey Railway", while the red van does not, as it's based on Cora from The Railway Series. Interestingly enough, the large scale Brake Van similarly has the letters "NW" for "North Western".
 * The narrow gauge van's roofs were most likely originally painted grey but were later changed to white as evidenced by the fact that the underside of the roofs is painted grey and visibly painted white on top afterwards. This change is also likely since the roofs are slightly darker than the Peco models' roofs as a result of being repainted.
 * Bachmann models were used as references for the Percy, James, Gordon and Emily replicas at Thomas Land US.
 * Skarloey is the first locomotive model in the range to not have moving eyes and the first HO scale tank engine with an open cab.
 * The Thomas Deluxe Whistle and Chuff set is similar to the Percy and the Troublesome Trucks set. The only difference is that it comes with a sound-chipped Thomas instead of Percy.
 * The Trackside Station is the fourth series Glennock station building, but without the canopy.
 * 'Arry's HO model has more stubble than Bert, instead of the other way around.
 * The 2022 reissue of Salty has several paint changes:
 * He is now overall brighter in colour.
 * His wheels are now unpainted and made of blackened nickel.
 * He now has a painted-on tail lamp.
 * His running board has a black stripe painted across it to make it appear thinner.
 * Thomas and James' G Scale models are featured in the I Love Toy Trains DVD "Ticket to Ride", in which they are operated by Dave Simkowski.
 * Unlike the red version of the mail coach, the green version does not have its CGI mail emblems nor 'Sodor Mail' written in white. It's likely that this is meant to be the Utility Vans, as they are the same type of vans.
 * Spencer's prototype had differently shaped eyebrows and did not have his whistle, buffers, coupling hook or lamp irons.
 * Packaged Bachmann models of Skarloey and Rheneas are on display at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn.
 * In the Large Scale range, all the locomotives have their CGI faces. However, Annie, Clarabel and the two Troublesome Trucks are based on the same 1990s promotional art as the HO ones.
 * Thomas and Percy's HO models were recycled as different models with the same moulds in the Bachmann Junior range. Thomas' model was repainted into engines such as 2005, Billy and Stuart. Percy's model was repainted into GWR locomotives and Greg. Interestingly, they were given front couplings.
 * Contrary to popular belief and what is often stated, the range is OO scale; this is due to the amount of stock reused from OO tooling. The HO label is only included for the fact they are predominantly sold in HO standard countries. Likewise, the narrow gauge range is in OO9 gauge.
 * Gordon's express coaches were the first Bachmann Thomas products to be reintroduced following their discontinuation. In addition, these coaches were given a yellow stripe to match their CGI counterparts.
 * The Red Rosie's window and cylinder lining are silver instead of light grey. She also lacks her rivets.
 * Rosie and Rheneas' crossheads are plastic, instead of metal like the rest of the motion.
 * Rheneas is the first HO scale engine to have a separately fitted handrail.
 * The PDF version of Toby's blueprints incorrectly labelled him as "Toby the Big Express Engine". This was intended for Gordon's blueprints.
 * An alternate version of the James the Red Engine Freight set featured Troublesome Trucks 1 and 2, Bertie and Sir Topham Hatt instead of the blue open wagon, Sodor Fuel tank, and brake van.
 * The UK releases of the HO scale engines and rolling stock contain several differences to the standard US models:
 * The lamp irons and coupling hooks on all the engines are thicker to comply with UK safety standards (the minimum age was lowered from 8+ to 3+).
 * Thomas' coupling hook on his standard model is painted black.
 * Thomas' eyebrows have been enlarged.
 * Annie and Clarabel have black underframes, brass door handles, and red buffer shanks, matching the G and N scale versions.
 * When the N scale Thomas and Percy models were first revealed, their faces had been switched around and had swapped eyebrows.
 * Donald and Douglas share the same facial expression moulding, but with differently painted eyebrows.
 * Unlike the standard versions, the LBSC Thomas has lining on the back of the bunker, a rare feature on modern Thomas models.
 * In 2020, Twitter and YouTube user SodorRyModeler photoshopped a red coach into Toby's museum coach and posted it on his Twitter account. Bachmann saw the page and made their version of the coach taking inspiration from him.
 * Ryan is the first CGI-exclusive steam engine character to be made by Bachmann.
 * The brake van in the Thomas Saves Santa's Sleigh set is a repainted Toad brake van.
 * In March 2022, a prototype HO Mavis was put on eBay.
 * At that same time, the release of James in the N scale range - along with a restock of OO9 Skarloey - was delayed due to the products being stuck in the container ship Ever Forward that ran aground in Chesapeake Bay.
 * Beau is the first HO scale standard gauge engine to not have moving eyes.
 * This is due to his model being a repaint of Bachmann’s existing American 4-4-0 tooling. As a result of this, the model is inaccurate in a few places.
 * He is missing his front bufferbeam, and buffers; and has a knuckle coupler.
 * His numberplate on his cab is shorter and wider.
 * He has no taillamp.
 * He is missing one of his tender hand brakes.
 * His front footplate lacks the top handrail.
 * Beau is also the first Bachmann locomotive in the range to have an operating headlight.
 * In 2022, Skarloey's model would be retooled for the Bachmann release of Talyllyn.