Sale of the Century from Hattons

[Coryton]

No!. Not now that I've just bought 20 of them at £68 a pop

 

Appropriate that the advert at the bottom of this page as I type is for the Hattons/Hatton's/Hattons' sale. 

[brushman47544]

All this talk made me have a look. Some prices are an interesting interpretation of "Bargain" - a Hornby King that Was £153, Now £149, all of £4 off, and a DJM Weymss Austerity List £95.50, Was £99 so Hatton's was originally charging over the list price. You really have to ignore everything except the current sale price and decide whether that is acceptable or not.

['CHARD]

All this talk made me have a look. Some prices are an interesting interpretation of "Bargain" - a Hornby King that Was £153, Now £149, all of £4 off, and a DJM Weymss Austerity List £95.50, Was £99 so Hatton's was originally charging over the list price. You really have to ignore everything except the current sale price and decide whether that is acceptable or not.

 

I quite fancy the Wemyss P.R. Austerity at that price, but the BP Grangemouth 'Janus' is a steal at sub-50 quid!!!

 

 

On second glance, I may have imagined the Grangemouth bit.

[No Decorum]

No!. Not now that I've just bought 20 of them at £68 a pop

 

[Coryton]

All this talk made me have a look. Some prices are an interesting interpretation of "Bargain" - a Hornby King that Was £153, Now £149, all of £4 off, and a DJM Weymss Austerity List £95.50, Was £99 so Hatton's was originally charging over the list price. You really have to ignore everything except the current sale price and decide whether that is acceptable or not.

 

On the other hand, by showing reductions from the previous Hattons price not the RRP they very often make their bargains look a worse deal than they are.

[Steamport Southport]

All this talk made me have a look. Some prices are an interesting interpretation of "Bargain" - a Hornby King that Was £153, Now £149, all of £4 off, and a DJM Weymss Austerity List £95.50, Was £99 so Hatton's was originally charging over the list price. You really have to ignore everything except the current sale price and decide whether that is acceptable or not.

 

I think you are misreading the offer.

 

The DJM Wemyss Austerity was originally £99 and an exclusive to Hatton's.

 

It was then reduced to £95.50 (Hatton's price as nobody else stocked it)

 

Now it's in a sale for £69.

 

 https://www.hattons.co.uk/94069/DJ_Models_Dave_Jones_J9410_Austerity_0_6_0ST_No_15_in_Wemyss_Private_Railway_lined_brown_Exclusive_to_Hatt/StockDetail.aspx

 

 

I really think people are really reading far too much into the fact that Hatton's are selling off a few items that are slow sellers. Some of which have been there for about five years.

 

 

 

Jason

[Steamport Southport]

On the other hand, by showing reductions from the previous Hattons price not the RRP they very often make their bargains look a worse deal than they are.

 

You have to by law though.

 

It can only be called a sale if you can prove the item was on sale at a higher price previously and you have to state that price.

 

 

 

Jason

[Coryton]

You have to by law though.

 

It can only be called a sale if you can prove the item was on sale at a higher price previously and you have to state that price.

 

Right...you can only say x % off if it's been previously sold at the higher price.

 

But what I've seen them do is quote their "bargain price" and also the previous price they were selling it at, which was already substantially lower than the list price.

 

I don't think there is any law that says they couldn't just give the current price and the list price, whether they have ever sold at list price or not.

[Robin Brasher]

I bought R3311 Westminster in BR green livery with a cycling lion emblem from Hattons' Sale of the Century. I tested it on our club layout at Winterborne Kingston last Friday. Unfortunately the curved track was too tight a radius. The locomotive caught against the tender and the wheels spun round without moving the train. I tried an old tender driven Schools and that ran perfectly all evening. I am currently building a new layout with radius 3 and 4 curves so I hope Westminster will be able to run on that. The new layout is a lot harder to transport.

 

There is only one R3311 Westminster left in the sale but I don't think Hattons had over 10 in the beginning so it is taking a long time to sell out.

[The Black Hat]

I bought R3311 Westminster in BR green livery with a cycling lion emblem from Hattons' Sale of the Century. The locomotive caught against the tender and the wheels spun round without moving the train.

 

Its a Southern engine. I would say that is incredibly accurate...

[Ian J.]

I just bought a 'Westminster' too. I tested on my Radius 2 oval and it seemed to be OK, though not actually hauling anything.

[Robin Brasher]

I don't know what radius the track was on the club layout. It was Peco flexitrack laid between two Tri-ang ovals. Some of it may have been less than 2nd radius. Westminster seems to have the same chassis as the Hornby Railroad version and this ran very well on another club layout with two foot radius curves until the traction tyres came off.

[adb968008]

I don't know what radius the track was on the club layout. It was Peco flexitrack laid between two Tri-ang ovals. Some of it may have been less than 2nd radius. Westminster seems to have the same chassis as the Hornby Railroad version and this ran very well on another club layout with two foot radius curves until the traction tyres came off.

Looking at the above pictures Westminster has the super detailed chassis, Clifton has the tender drive chassis.

 

The best way to check is to hold and look at it, but ebay etc means pictures, dont rely on the box to give it away, some of ebays finest dealers have often manipulated this, similarly people have been known to swap chassis about.

 

The “at a glance” way to tell what your looking at is,,

 

1. Shiny silver wheels & rods.. 1980’s model tender driven. (900, 925, 927, 928, 30927, 30911 etc)

2. Darkened wheels, loco driven, but the same thick motion, no lamp brackets and the same big lump of coal in the tender (911, 925, 30935 etc). This will be the railroad version.

3. Superdetailed, basically opposite of 2, finer motion, lamp brackets, no visible coal in the tender, lots of cab detail, brass pipes under the cab (902, 903, 925, 921, 30901, 30904, 30908, 30915, 30924,30932, 30937 etc.

 

Beware the superdetailed versions, they have a weakness on the front bogie, the plastic mount that is held by a plastic retainer is prone to breakage. This was strengthened from either R3194 Epsom, or R3208 Brighton onwards. Even if it has been repaired, often the holding spring is lost,or substituted, the loco relies on this spring for balance on the driving wheels and can be a pig in its absence or substitution.

 

Some livery/number combis have been repeated several times, 925 Cheltenham has been done in the same malachite green in Railroad and Superdetail.

Edited December 15, 2018 by adb968008

[Robin Brasher]

I bought R084 Clifton when it came out around 1985 and it has given over 30 years good service. I was interested in the Schools class because I came from Orpington and the roads where I lived were named after schools and included Malvern, Stowe, Winchester and Eton Roads. I also saw lots of Schools class locomotives pass through Orpington station in my locomotive spotting days.

 

As the tender driven locomotives ran well I was reluctant to buy the new locomotive driven ones as replacements as they cost a lot more money and are not so robust. It was only during the Sale of the Century that I decided to buy one. I think I will hang on to my model of Clifton as it still runs well and I can use it on the small radius curves on our portable club layout.

[adb968008]

I bought R084 Clifton when it came out around 1985 and it has given over 30 years good service. I was interested in the Schools class because I came from Orpington and the roads where I lived were named after schools and included Malvern, Stowe, Winchester and Eton Roads. I also saw lots of Schools class locomotives pass through Orpington station in my locomotive spotting days.

 

As the tender driven locomotives ran well I was reluctant to buy the new locomotive driven ones as replacements as they cost a lot more money and are not so robust. It was only during the Sale of the Century that I decided to buy one. I think I will hang on to my model of Clifton as it still runs well and I can use it on the small radius curves on our portable club layout.

You could always give it an upgrade, a railroad schools chassis, with loco drive should fit, you could always leave the motor in the existing tender and have it super charged.

[Ian J.]

Beware the superdetailed versions, they have a weakness on the front bogie, the plastic mount that is held by a plastic retainer is prone to breakage. This was strengthened from either R3194 Epsom, or R3208 Brighton onwards. Even if it has been repaired, often the holding spring is lost,or substituted, the loco relies on this spring for balance on the driving wheels and can be a pig in its absence or substitution.

 

This is what broke on my 'Brighton' when it fell to the floor several years ago. I still have the broken spigot and spring, but I've no idea how to repair it.

[Robin Brasher]

Fortunately 'Westminster' in the sale came out after 'Brighton' and 'Epsom'. You can send a damaged super detailed locomotive back to Hornby to be repaired.

 

Now, one and a half months after the sale started, sales are still trickling through:

 

R3452 Llanvair Grange. One left Thursday 13 December. Now sold out.

R3566 Nederland Line. Six left Thursday 13 December. Five left now.

R3458 Shrewsbury. Eight left Thursday 13 December. Six left now.

R3331 King James 1. Nine left Thursday 13 December. Seven left now.

 

A lot have sold out but there are over ten left of a lot more. They must have a mountain of R3170 Adderley Halls. One of the best sellers but over ten left.

[woodenhead]

How do you know it is a best seller if there are more than 10 left.

 

Just because Hattons say it's a best seller doesn't necessarily mean they have sold lots over time just at some point it met some criteria that allowed them to market it as a best seller and try and clear stocks.

[Robin Brasher]

How do you know it is a best seller if there are more than 10 left.

 

Just because Hattons say it's a best seller doesn't necessarily mean they have sold lots over time just at some point it met some criteria that allowed them to market it as a best seller and try and clear stocks.

 

It is in the top 20 best sellers in the last fortnight on their website.

 

 

[woodenhead]

 

How do you know it is a best seller if there are more than 10 left.Just because Hattons say it's a best seller doesn't necessarily mean they have sold lots over time just at some point it met some criteria that allowed them to market it as a best seller and try and clear stocks.It is in the top 20 best sellers in the last fortnight on their website.

So are some milk churns and a very old now railroad wagon in a fictitious EWS livery.

 

Marketing is a clever magic trick

[Robin Brasher]

So are some milk churns and a very old now railroad wagon in a fictitious EWS livery.

 

Marketing is a clever magic trick

The milk churns have probably been on the best selling list the whole time the sale has been on. Hattons must have hundreds on sale. I wonder what the buyers use them for. As far as I know there has only been on 00 gauge model of a milk van to collect milk churns and that is the Hornby R6242 LMS crimson lake 'Insulated Milk' van

[ndg910]

The milk churns have probably been on the best selling list the whole time the sale has been on. Hattons must have hundreds on sale. I wonder what the buyers use them for. As far as I know there has only been on 00 gauge model of a milk van to collect milk churns and that is the Hornby R6242 LMS crimson lake 'Insulated Milk' van

Hornby outside framed GWR Siphon G as well.

[cctransuk]

The milk churns have probably been on the best selling list the whole time the sale has been on. Hattons must have hundreds on sale. I wonder what the buyers use them for. As far as I know there has only been on 00 gauge model of a milk van to collect milk churns and that is the Hornby R6242 LMS crimson lake 'Insulated Milk' van

 

Sorry, but milk churns were loaded into guard's compartments of coaches throughout milk-producing areas.

 

There are plenty of photos around showing small groups of milk churns standing on rural station platforms.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Ian J.]

Fortunately 'Westminster' in the sale came out after 'Brighton' and 'Epsom'. You can send a damaged super detailed locomotive back to Hornby to be repaired.

 

My 'Brighton' is several years old already, so well out of warranty for a repair by Hornby. Plus, I don't think it would be covered as I (accidentally) did the damage myself.

[Mel_H]

I remember when Evening Star broke the £10 barrier !

 

It is fascinating to see what's shifting and not  and the learning can be used to figure out whether you should buy new models in the first 6 weeks or just wait.........  Of course the key point is you don't know how many models there were in the first place . If its 000's then you may have a chance, but I reckon initial quantities are lower.   Still if its on the nice to have list, and you are not gutted if you miss out , the lesson is you might as well wait and see.

 

And, that is how deflation happens. People put off buying expecting the price to be less; if enough people do this then businesses have to drop the price further to sell stuff. When that happens across a whole economy, then inflation can turn into deflation. That's bad news for businesses and their employees. Therefore, do you wait until the 'January' sale in the hope that things might be even cheaper? That's one reason why most companies* put their prices up in January, to encourage people to buy, rather than hold out for a further sales period

*I'm talking of general (non-model railway) comapnies