The topic of duplication of models between ready to run manufacturers regularly raises its head within the hobby especially on the many online forums. It has once again recently been mentioned in light of the National Railway Museum’s announcement that via Bachmann they have commission a model of their Midland 4P compound 1000, when Hornby has already this year reintroduced in to its “Railroad†range their 4P from its 1980’s tooling and have started to promote it in the same livery as the NRM model [insert your own conspiracy theory here].

Last Christmas when Hornby announced their version of, the quickly becoming iconic, new build A1 Tornado, there was much online disgust as Bachmannalready had a model in their range.

This to me shows that some within the hobby do not understand market segmentation which is a classic marketing strategy tool:

This is an extract of the latest entry on my modelling blog click here to read the full entry

My full model railway and meanderings blog can be read at www.grahammuz.com