RSS Fetcher Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Bachmann & Hornby have recently announced new models as they do every year. Some announced models aren't to everyone's taste and this year there's nothing much to appeal to me, that's personal taste. Can't please everyone at the same time, it's as simple as that. My biggest criticism towards Bachmann has always been that from announcement of a specific model to when it reaches the retailers, there has been a rather large time span. The retooled 158 for instance, was announced about 5 years ago and still nothing. The same applies to the 2HAP which was announced more recently than the Sprinter and still nothing other than the price going up and up. There has been a very evident backlog of models that are yet to be released that the manufacturer keeps adding to and it is frustrating to railway modellers who are looking forward to the release date of the said model but are still waiting years later. I get that announcing new models keeps the public interested but adding to the backlog that will take years to clear at this rate will only cause frustration and bitterness towards the company. Some models do make it through the net and have a short ''Announcement to reaching retailers'' time span but most of the time that is not the case. Another thing that railway modellers get frustrated by is the hefty price tag of models these days. It is getting less affordable by the year with constant price hikes, not everyone is on a good pension or in a well paying job! Railway modelling used to be an affordable hobby but now it seems to be a premium hobby that fewer people can actually afford. I get that the standards of the models has improved massively in the last decade but I don't think the rising prices reflects that fairly. The prices that got me recently was the recently announced retooled Bachmann Class 159 in NSE, a three-car DMU and it is listed on Hattons @ £263 - wow, that is steep for a model that isn't DCC sound fitted. By the time it gets to the shop floor, it could easily reach £300! It makes me happy that I got my old tooling 159 for just £90 and it's a good model for its age. I can't justify well over £260 for an updated model. The others that got me are the yet to be released Class 414 2HAP, when announced it was £186 and now it has gone up to £212, so it has gone from being unaffordable to downright extortionate. The same can be said about the 170, which dates back over a decade ago when it was first released and the 2 car variant is nudging £200! I remember when a 2-car 170 was £65 brand new and £75 for a three car! It's ridiculous. There are various factors as to why the prices have gone up such as the factories in China paying a higher wage to their workers, which is a good thing in that sense but manufacturers moved production to China because it was cheaper than the UK. Now with the rising wages there, it has cost a lot more for production and they have to reflect that with the prices of the models now. Brexit might be playing a part as well as inflation but it still barely justify the extortionate amount they want for their products. Surely there must be a cheaper alternative out there that must be explored before they end up losing money from a waning number of customers. Sorry to ramble on, it is something that really gets to me and it ruins the hobby in my opinion. View the full article Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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