Bachmann Thomas Tuesday Livestream Unveils New Rolling Stock Samples

The Tar Tanker is coming back. Bachmann Trains' Thomas Tuesday livestream showcased boxed samples of the long-discontinued HO scale wagon, confirming it is now in active production and on track for a 2025 retail release. First flagged for a comeback in Bachmann's Mid-Year 2024 announcements, the Tar Tanker carries genuine Sodor lore behind it: in the Thomas & Friends universe, it's the wagon James famously lost control of during a runaway goods train collision.

The livestream covered five items across two scales, giving Thomas collectors their clearest look yet at what's coming out of Bachmann's Dongguan, China plant this year. Alongside the Tar Tanker, boxed samples of the HO scale Milk Tanker and Open Carriage wagons were on display, with a still-unpainted Troublesome Truck #7 rounding out the HO lineup. HOn30 narrow gauge modelers also got a look at the Gunpowder Van, catalogued as item #77311 under the 'D. Fusit' variant and listed as a new 2025 product.

The Milk Tanker carries an unusual wrinkle for long-time Bachmann watchers. The 2025 release is a CGI-style version, but unlike every other CGI-based rolling stock item in the Thomas line, it is not intended to replace the existing model series counterpart. Both versions are set to coexist on shelves, a dual-release approach Bachmann has not previously taken with CGI rolling stock. For collectors who track every variant in the line, it's the kind of policy shift that quietly changes the calculus on what to acquire.

Troublesome Truck #7 is the furthest from finished. The unpainted sample shown on the livestream puts it at an earlier development stage than the boxed items. For reference, the existing Troublesome Truck #6, a maroon HO Oil Tanker catalogued as item #77401, currently retails at $48.00 and is modelled on standard 14-ton pre-war British tankers common across most railway regions.

The HOn30 items deepen a sub-line Bachmann has been building since 2015. HOn30 places HO-sized vehicles on N gauge track to represent the narrow-gauge Skarloey Railway on the fictional Island of Sodor, the line running from Crovan's Gate up to the Blue Mountain slate quarry. The Gunpowder Van samples arrived in the line's 10th year of production, a milestone that reflects how seriously Bachmann has developed what began as a niche addition to the Thomas range.

Bachmann's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based operation, part of the Kader manufacturing group, has been producing HO scale Thomas & Friends products since 2002. This year marks its 24th consecutive year in the line, with G scale in its 16th year and N scale in its fifth. The collector base is also considerably broader than it once was: after Hornby discontinued its competing UK Thomas & Friends range in 2018, Bachmann secured distribution rights across the UK and Ireland, folding a significant new audience into the Thomas Tuesday orbit.

A discontinued wagon returning in boxed-sample form and an unprecedented dual-version Milk Tanker surfacing in the same livestream suggest 2025 is shaping up as one of the more consequential years the Thomas HO line has seen in its two-decade run.