Hornby 2018 Announcements

[stewartingram]

And get arrested 

 

Aaaargh - ninja'd

And so he should be! TRAIN station indeed!

 

Stewart

[GreenGiraffe22]

Man we need to be able to rate posts with an eye roll...

 

Anyway, good to see other younger modellers sharing a similar view about model subjects =)

Edited December 31, 2017 by GreenGiraffe22

[Dick Turpin]

I wouldn't call myself 'younger' but on modelling past timescale eras, I was born into a world where the railways were seemingly dull and uninteresting at the time, in fact the world had already ended, seeing how steam had finished. However, since I grasped onto the railway thing from a young age, my aunts and uncles were all keen to fill my head with stories from their youth, which were full of details, I yearned to know more about. so I asked about any little detail, and surprise, surprise they were all more than happy to describe their memories of how it was to me. Actually, I can also remember the relish that sometimes accompanied some of their memories. which made me want to reconstruct that 1930s scene all the more. That pre-war scene has always been on the edge of my imagination in a memory term so to speak, and there was always someone to ask, always someone to run things by and discuss practicalities with, until comparatively recent times. 

 

Consequently I am left with a boat load of memories and anecdotes that reflect on times I was not party to, though I feel emotionally attached to because of the people who told me about them and of the occasion of their telling. Thanks to them I have  sense of railway history in a specific time and place in specific detail which has been constructed in my memory from the lives of people close to me, at a time both of which have now passed into history. Obviously this is the period which interests me most, though due to the fact that I have always been actively constructing an imaginative socio-economic railway history, I do feel tempted to shift further back in time and imagine the lives of a previous generation, research, and grapple afresh with their pre-grouping life and times to the point where I'm ready to to want to model them and their railways. My word, what other hobby gives such scope I ask you?

Edited December 31, 2017 by Dick Turpin

[BlueLightning]

As someone who hopes he can be called as a "younger" modeller. (I'm under 30 so I hope that counts!!) I have to agree. I have no interest in modelling what I remember from my youth, Aquafresh belongs on my toothbrush, not my layout!! :jester:

 

I model the pre-grouping era, as I have always had an interest in Victorian / Edwardian history, and let's be honest, they had the best liveries!!

 

Gary

[Steamport Southport]

I wouldn't call myself 'younger' but on modelling past timescale eras, I was born into a world where the railways were seemingly dull and uninteresting at the time, in fact the world had already ended, seeing how steam had finished. However, since I grasped onto the railway thing from a young age, my aunts and uncles were all keen to fill my head with stories from their youth, which were full of details, I yearned to know more about. so I asked about any little detail, and surprise, surprise they were all more than happy to describe their memories of how it was to me. Actually, I can also remember the relish that sometimes accompanied some of their memories. which made me want to reconstruct that 1030s scene all the more. That pre-war scene has always been on the edge of my imagination in a memory term so to speak, and there was always someone to ask, always someone to run things by and discuss practicalities with, until comparatively recent times. 

 

Consequently I am left with a boat load of memories and anecdotes that reflect on times I was not party to, though I feel emotionally attached to because of the people who told me about them and of the occasion of their telling. Thanks to them I have  sense of railway history in a specific time and place in specific detail which has been constructed in my memory from the lives of people close to me, at a time both of which have now passed into history. Obviously this is the period which interests me most, though due to the fact that I have always been actively constructing an imaginative socio-economic railway history, I do feel tempted to shift further back in time and imagine the lives of a previous generation, research, and grapple afresh with their pre-grouping life and times to the point where I'm ready to to want to model them and their railways. My word, what other hobby gives such scope I ask you?

 

 

I take it that was pre Stamford Bridge and pre Battle Of Hastings?

 

 

 

 

 

Jason

[GreenGiraffe22]

Ah, the 1030s, I remember them fondly.

 

[ezza]

As someone who hopes he can be called as a "younger" modeller. (I'm under 30 so I hope that counts!!) I have to agree. I have no interest in modelling what I remember from my youth, Aquafresh belongs on my toothbrush, not my layout!! :jester:

 

I model the pre-grouping era, as I have always had an interest in Victorian / Edwardian history, and let's be honest, they had the best liveries!!

 

Gary

Here Here 100% agree . Strange that younger modellers are expressing a preferance for pre grouping era and liveries.I think Bachmann are realising this .I too love the edwardian era and have loved the thought of having a layout ,but in the past they were too toy like for me (not any more) .And , when Bachmann made the GC buildings in scenecraft that was me hooked .I model GC but will buy anything (almost ) pre grouping as well .SECR Birdcage and Mons D11 were my latest purchases. Anyone who makes any GC rolling stock Barnum and others i am in for at least 20 to complete my collection .Now the RTR are superb and ERA 2 is getting popular im in for the long run!

[Caledonian]

As I've probably mentioned before I missed out on original steam, other than the Culter Paper Mill Peckett [an R2 as it turns out] but looking back on growing up in the 50s and 60s it strikes me that after steam ended the world changed; it wasn't steam's fault, the demise of steam was a symptom rather than a cause, but it strikes me that the world I grew up in was closer in character and an awful lot of other things to the beginning of the 20th Century and indeed to the 19th Century, than the present time is to the 50s. There was a continuity there which saw my parents [i was born in 1954]  still talk about the LNE, and even the Caley.

[BlueLightning]

Here Here 100% agree . Strange that younger modellers are expressing a preferance for pre grouping era and liveries.I think Bachmann are realising this .I too love the edwardian era and have loved the thought of having a layout ,but in the past they were too toy like for me (not any more) .And , when Bachmann made the GC buildings in scenecraft that was me hooked .I model GC but will buy anything (almost ) pre grouping as well .SECR Birdcage and Mons D11 were my latest purchases. Anyone who makes any GC rolling stock Barnum and others i am in for at least 20 to complete my collection .Now the RTR are superb and ERA 2 is getting popular im in for the long run!

 

Well then you should come and join us in the pre-grouping section, we don't bite and you can learn a lot. 2 years ago I never even though I could build a kit, I am currently scratch building an SE&CR O1!! (Hopefully Hornby won't announce one of them!!)

 

Gary

[ezza]

Well then you should come and join us in the pre-grouping section, we don't bite and you can learn a lot. 2 years ago I never even though I could build a kit, I am currently scratch building an SE&CR O1!! (Hopefully Hornby won't announce one of them!!)

 

Gary

Think ive done it ,thanks mate!

[Steamport Southport]

Ooh! I would love a set of Barnums.

 

I tried many years ago to make some out of plasticard using plans from Model Railway Constructor, but they were a disaster.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Dick Turpin]

I take it that was pre Stamford Bridge and pre Battle Of Hastings?

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

OK SS, you got me, must a been a Freudian typo that, but I have also wanted to do battle re-enactments as well.  Not so much these days, but certainly when I was in my 20s I fancied myself in medieval terms fighting back against the factory enslavement I was trapped by, sword in hand.. Just don't ask me about my subsequent exploits with those fair maids I sought to rescue on my quests! 

[Steamport Southport]

OK SS, you got me, must a been a Freudian typo that, but I have also wanted to do battle re-enactments as well.  Not so much these days, but certainly when I was in my 20s I fancied myself in medieval terms fighting back against the factory enslavement I was trapped by, sword in hand.. Just don't ask me about my subsequent exploits with those fair maids I sought to rescue on my quests! 

 

 

 

 

Not quite re-enactments but I saw some knights who were doing combat at a music festival. Part swords/maces/hammers and part martial arts. It was brutal. 

 

 

These are them, Battle Of The Nations. They were really going for it and some of them were genuinely getting hurt.   

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUAB8vFUVEs

 

 

 

Jason

[coachmann]

Barnum's were mentioned. If you can solder, there are kits. I think the basic etchings were Mallard Models. The GCR 10' bogies were mine but I sold the range back in the 1980's.

 

Edited December 31, 2017 by coachmann

[Steamport Southport]

I remember the thread very well.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/27404-gcr-barnum-open-brake-third-coach/

 

 

I might try to hunt some down. But I've already got plenty of etched kits and they take ages for me to build. Or more accurately finish.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[grahame]

I well remember the end of steam, but wouldn't want to model the era as the trains were dreary, dirty and depressing. Then came the early D&E era of the late 60s and 70s and the the trains continued to be dirty and increasingly run down. It wasn't until Chris Green's NSE period that the railway and trains became bright, cheerful, worth travelling on and interesting to me. Now that's the period I prefer to model.

 

And as for something from Hornby I'd like to see them follow up their previous incursions in to British N/2mm market (with Hornby Minitrx and more recently Hornby Arnold) and produce a range of modern N gauge models.

 

G

[adb968008]

I well remember the end of steam, but wouldn't want to model the era as the trains were dreary, dirty and depressing. Then came the early D&E era of the late 60s and 70s and the the trains continued to be dirty and increasingly run down. It wasn't until Chris Green's NSE period that the railway and trains became bright, cheerful, worth travelling on and interesting to me. Now that's the period I prefer to model.

And as for something from Hornby I'd like to see them follow up their previous incursions in to British N/2mm market (with Hornby Minitrx and more recently Hornby Arnold) and produce a range of modern N gauge models.

G

Didn’t start till 10 years later in Manchester, largely due to cascaded NSE stock ;-)

 

Despite the perils of British Rail in the 1980’s, Scotland always seemed to be a step higher In pride, presentation and reliability.

Edited January 1, 2018 by adb968008

[Caledonian]

Despite the perils of British Rail in the 1980’s, Scotland always seemed to be a step higher In pride, presentation and reliability.

 

That's because Chris Green worked his magic there first before moving south

[Chamby]

I wouldn't call myself 'younger' but on modelling past timescale eras, I was born into a world where the railways were seemingly dull and uninteresting at the time, in fact the world had already ended, seeing how steam had finished. However, since I grasped onto the railway thing from a young age, my aunts and uncles were all keen to fill my head with stories from their youth, which were full of details, I yearned to know more about. so I asked about any little detail, and surprise, surprise they were all more than happy to describe their memories of how it was to me. Actually, I can also remember the relish that sometimes accompanied some of their memories. which made me want to reconstruct that 1930s scene all the more. That pre-war scene has always been on the edge of my imagination in a memory term so to speak, and there was always someone to ask, always someone to run things by and discuss practicalities with, until comparatively recent times. 

 

Consequently I am left with a boat load of memories and anecdotes that reflect on times I was not party to, though I feel emotionally attached to because of the people who told me about them and of the occasion of their telling. Thanks to them I have  sense of railway history in a specific time and place in specific detail which has been constructed in my memory from the lives of people close to me, at a time both of which have now passed into history. Obviously this is the period which interests me most, though due to the fact that I have always been actively constructing an imaginative socio-economic railway history, I do feel tempted to shift further back in time and imagine the lives of a previous generation, research, and grapple afresh with their pre-grouping life and times to the point where I'm ready to to want to model them and their railways. My word, what other hobby gives such scope I ask you?

I couldn’t agree more. My modelling interests are driven by a strong sense of family continuity, despite living in GWR country for many years and teenage memories of blue diesels everywhere, I have a strong allegiance to the GC London extension, with memories of my grannies house at the foot of the GCR embankment at Wilford on the approach to the Trent Bridge and her cursing the passing heavy freight trains that sprinkled her washing with soot. Following that allegiance back in time beyond my own memories but within family knowledge has led me to my own focus of interest. It’s almost woven into my perception of family identity now.

[gc4946]

Hornby will continue exploiting its recent strengths.

 

1. The industrial steam and diesel shunter scene.

Many modellers increasingly don't have room for large roundy-roundy layouts, either because new homes are built smaller than 10 or 20 years ago and more people now live in rented accommodation on 6- or 12-month tenancies.

 

2. Pre-group locos, especially if they're represented in preservation.

People can relate to the actual prototypes. I bet Hornby's H class modelled - as currently running on the Bluebell - will sell like hotcakes if it was released on general sale!

 

Hornby could tailor its new tooling choices to cater for those who can only run compact-length trains as opposed to shunting

- small tank and diesel locos,

- non-corridors,

- 2- or 3-car multiple units

 

People would always go for glamour express prototypes but I suspect more sales would be for models suitable for compact layout scenarios.

 

Finally, I hope that the distinction between Railroad and full-fat ranges is clarified.

Maybe all ex-Margate, ex-Dapol and ex-Lima tooling should now be classified as Railroad, priced more competitively for modellers on limited budgets and differentiated in their catalogues with distinct online and printed presentation even to the extent of separate product numbering codes.

 

 

 

[ThaneofFife]

I well remember the end of steam, but wouldn't want to model the era as the trains were dreary, dirty and depressing. Then came the early D&E era of the late 60s and 70s and the the trains continued to be dirty and increasingly run down. It wasn't until Chris Green's NSE period that the railway and trains became bright, cheerful, worth travelling on and interesting to me. Now that's the period I prefer to model.

 

And as for something from Hornby I'd like to see them follow up their previous incursions in to British N/2mm market (with Hornby Minitrx and more recently Hornby Arnold) and produce a range of modern N gauge models.

 

G

 

sounds a good idea.  everyone else has had their 00 blinkers on.

[The Stationmaster]

I well remember the end of steam, but wouldn't want to model the era as the trains were dreary, dirty and depressing. Then came the early D&E era of the late 60s and 70s and the the trains continued to be dirty and increasingly run down. It wasn't until Chris Green's NSE period that the railway and trains became bright, cheerful, worth travelling on and interesting to me. Now that's the period I prefer to model.

 

And as for something from Hornby I'd like to see them follow up their previous incursions in to British N/2mm market (with Hornby Minitrx and more recently Hornby Arnold) and produce a range of modern N gauge models.

 

G

 

It is odd how we see and remember different things, or how we think we remember them.  The end of steam spread over almost a decade as far as my railway interests were concerned and through much of that decade you could still see clean steam engines hauling clean trains - as the thread below showing pictures from 1963 shows, but it also includes some workaday dirty engines.  And of course it is easy enough, for me at any rate, to recall the late 1950s/early '69s of shiny new diesels alongside newly overhauled steam which some sheds still had sufficient labour to keep reasonably clean while stations and infrastructure were still repainted regularly and had sufficient staff to keep things in a reasonable condition.  Yes there were areas which were not so good but decrepitude was far from universal and the lineside was unbelievably tidy and looked after compared with today.  For comparison many 1930s photos show a situation not too much different from that - many smaller engines were distinctly grubby if not downright filthy and railways going through financial pain clearly didn't waste money on cleaning and painting some of their infrastructure.  As ever the past is what you remember of it or the image which photos etc project.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66922-the-stationmaster-says-goodbye-to-steam-at-henley-on-thames/page-1

[dibber25]

It is odd how we see and remember different things, or how we think we remember them.  The end of steam spread over almost a decade as far as my railway interests were concerned and through much of that decade you could still see clean steam engines hauling clean trains - as the thread below showing pictures from 1963 shows, but it also includes some workaday dirty engines.  And of course it is easy enough, for me at any rate, to recall the late 1950s/early '69s of shiny new diesels alongside newly overhauled steam which some sheds still had sufficient labour to keep reasonably clean while stations and infrastructure were still repainted regularly and had sufficient staff to keep things in a reasonable condition.  Yes there were areas which were not so good but decrepitude was far from universal and the lineside was unbelievably tidy and looked after compared with today.  For comparison many 1930s photos show a situation not too much different from that - many smaller engines were distinctly grubby if not downright filthy and railways going through financial pain clearly didn't waste money on cleaning and painting some of their infrastructure.  As ever the past is what you remember of it or the image which photos etc project.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66922-the-stationmaster-says-goodbye-to-steam-at-henley-on-thames/page-1

 

You're right. I lost interest in Southern steam only in the last year when locos became nameless and filthy. On the Western, from my memory there were always some dirty and some clean locos. Only after sheds like Banbury passed to the LMR did I see appallingly kept locos, with bits missing etc. On the other hand, the railway of the early Rail blue era was a decrepit mess. Some blue engines with tastelessly applied all-over yellow ends did nothing to overcome the image of decay made worse by demolishing fine old brick stations and replacing them with bus shelters on weed-infested platforms. As to today's railway 'image', well we have pretty liveries in some places but the railway itself often looks neglected with permanent way around stations overgrown and covered in litter. One wonders how long it will be before a serious mishap is caused by trackbed (or indeed a bridge) degraded by weed infestation. I think it was Norwich, recently shown as the backdrop to a news interview with Jonathan Denby, with bushes several feet high growing out of ballast in the immediate station area. (CJL)

[trevor7598]

You're right. I lost interest in Southern steam only in the last year when locos became nameless and filthy. On the Western, from my memory there were always some dirty and some clean locos. Only after sheds like Banbury passed to the LMR did I see appallingly kept locos, with bits missing etc. On the other hand, the railway of the early Rail blue era was a decrepit mess. Some blue engines with tastelessly applied all-over yellow ends did nothing to overcome the image of decay made worse by demolishing fine old brick stations and replacing them with bus shelters on weed-infested platforms. As to today's railway 'image', well we have pretty liveries in some places but the railway itself often looks neglected with permanent way around stations overgrown and covered in litter. One wonders how long it will be before a serious mishap is caused by trackbed (or indeed a bridge) degraded by weed infestation. I think it was Norwich, recently shown as the backdrop to a news interview with Jonathan Denby, with bushes several feet high growing out of ballast in the immediate station area. (CJL)

 

Great economy was achieved when steam finished, as there was no need to regularly

cut back cuttings and embankments. No steam, no sparks, no lineside fires.

Fast forward a few years, seedlings grew into saplings which grew into trees,

and now the whole network dreads the coming of Autumn.

 

To keep on thread, more pre-grouping coaches please ( and a Maunsell restaurant car )

[Oldddudders]

Great economy was achieved when steam finished, as there was no need to regularly

cut back cuttings and embankments. No steam, no sparks, no lineside fires.

Fast forward a few years, seedlings grew into saplings which grew into trees,

and now the whole network dreads the coming of Autumn.

And, quite apart from the inconvenience and cost of slippy-slidey syndrome in that season, the rail travel experience has been reduced, as those trees now often obscure the countryside vistas that made it such a joy. Edited January 1, 2018 by Oldddudders