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Hornby 2019 announcements


Andy Y
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That pair of Royal liveried Limby Class 47's, is the RRP of £74.95 for the pair or each?  (Should be latter, expect the former!)

 

Also has anyone managed to get the Hornby website to work at all?

 

I went to the website twice, and on each occasion tried to re-sort the listings, but it failed every time. I started going through the 18 pages but it took so long that I gave up at page 6. Thank heaven for RMWeb !

 

It is a real shame that with so much new product to advertise and promote, Hornby's website was not up to the task.

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Pictures of a new range are illustrations only! The 21ton mineral illustrated as a new model is the Dapol one without NEM pockets so best not to take them as gospel as to what will actually emerge....

 

Phil

 

The livery on the model is based on one of the rebodied ones (see Paul Bartlett's photo) rather than the RCH ex Airfix model hopefully this could mean a complete new chassis and body but I doubt it as the same wagon was released as an MDV several years ago!

 

Optimism over reality?

 

Mark Saunders

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The Bulleid coaches are basically the same type but different lengths, yes? So now we've got two types of Bulleid coaches which probably won't match with each other, so most people will have a rake of one or the other, and either company could lose out. And neither has done the tavern car which got all over the place.

 

Me thinks there are a few open goals for Bachmann next week, for modellers of a North Eastern, Scottish and South Eastern persuasion...

Edited by nathan70000
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That pair of Royal liveried Limby Class 47's, is the RRP of £74.95 for the pair or each?  (Should be latter, expect the former!)

 

Also has anyone managed to get the Hornby website to work at all?

It appears to be about five minutes between pages - I got to page eight and it crashed. The tills must be meltdown! :O

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They are marketing bittern as era 11, I presume it's preserved like this?

 

Richard

In June last year Bittern moved into the old Hornby factory at Margate with one tender so Hornby did not have to go very far to check it. As far as I know the only time that Bittern had two tenders in LNER blue livery was when it was disguised as 'Dominion of New Zealand.' I would welcome any pictures of 'Bitten' in LNER blue livery to prove me wrong.

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theres deffo a few things i'll be getting from this lot, Police Boxes are top of the list :P

 

also, really nice to see the analogue controller go back to its routes a little bit, the silver controller just looked wrong after years of the the old wedge black with red knob design, might be looking into them concidering i'm starting to get failures after like 5 minutes use on an electrotren 0-6-0 loco or even a Bachmann thomas loco, doesn't matter who makes it or how modern, i think ive worn the poor dears out being my main controllers for years, last one i got was nearly 10 years ago now, or just over.

 

might look into the harry potter stuff, see how different it is from when the chamber of secrets set came out, that set was the second set i ever owned, so will be interesting seeing the differences

 

era 3 scotsman and era 6 (america tour) sort of tickle my fancy aswell, even double tender bittern has my intrigue up, and i'm not really a streamliner-person

 

gonna have to get me some sherwood trucks just for being proud of the shire i live in :P

 

pecketts are beautiful as ever, might hve to pick me one or 2 up, especially the 0-6-0 ones, as i do really quite like shunting engines :3 kind of what i collect, shunters and tank engines in general, something about them that just appeal in such a strong way, think its got something to do with the versatility for their size, no doubt the little blue 0-6-0 E2 has had some role in this liking of small engines, TVS shape not RWS

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I actually got something right about Hornby's forthcoming models this year; they don't seem to do DMUs anymore.....

 

No GWR 101-a-like, Jinty or Pannier in Railroad, either. I prefer to think Beggs Tooling on the Pug is less a musical in-joke and more a statement of intention :)

 

Will Hornby International have a general 2019 announcement, I wonder? (Although from what we have I'm sure some will be glad to have something for their Oxford Rail Gladiator Railgun to aim at...)

Edited by Mark Dickerson
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I went to the website twice, and on each occasion tried to re-sort the listings, but it failed every time. I started going through the 18 pages but it took so long that I gave up at page 6. Thank heaven for RMWeb !

 

It is a real shame that with so much new product to advertise and promote, Hornby's website was not up to the task.

 

Hornby's website is awful. Not just in that it's below capacity, but in terms of user-friendliness as well as (I'm reasonably certain) its effectiveness as a sales tool. As a web developer by profession, I would love the chance to build them a decent website. But I suspect that I would charge more for that than they are willing to pay.

 

In their defence, they would probably argue that direct sales aren't a significant part of their business model so the ecommerce site isn't a priority. But it's also a showcase for their products, even if people end up actually buying them from somewhere else. Given the strength of their brand, I bet most people searching for model railway products on the web as a newcomer will Google "Hornby" and end up at their site. And be put off by how slow and clunky it is.

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Many thanks Andy for such a well set out and presented explanation of the New Hornby releases. I would imagine all this has taken a fair bit of time when many of us have been celebrating! Many thanks and I hope you have had some time for celebrations and trust your 2019 will be brill! Cheers Ian in Blackpool

Edited by ianmaccormac
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Overall this is an extremely interesting announcement and topping that is the fact that Hornby appears to have acquired some gonads and has not been prepared to allow announcements by others divert it from its intended course - witness the 'Terrier' and the GW large prairie both of which will have been in development since 2017 or thereabouts based on Hornby's normal development timescales.  And not only that but a willingness to take on the commissioners in the case of the Terrier. 

 

I think overall we can now more clearly see now the hand of Lyndon Davies in all of this as Hornby build up what almost amounts to a more clearly defined multi-pronged approach to the market.  Firstly the top end - with the likes of various re-toolings to a far higher standard of older models plus staying there with new coaches (both older times and modern) and wagons.  So a clear message there that they are still going for a broad market in terms of what folk model with higher quality more detailed products.

 

Then we come down to the ace competitive area - typified by the Class 66.  Really clever marketing and very much following the Lyndon Davies Oxford diecast idea of offering a product at what amounts to a very reasonable price but with the double edged idea in this case of picking up those customers who are enthused by Hattons offering but can't afford one.  The 'reasonably priced' theme continues across other things as well, generally using older toolings and appealing to a very different market from the high spec & high price stuff.  

 

Put these two streams together and you get back to what the brand had become known for - a wide range of 'trains' both modern and olden times but it is being aided and abetted by further adventures into industrial land where highly detailed locos come at readily acceptable prices and for which anybody can knock up a small layout or diorama.  others are obviously also in the market area but Hornby has clearly got a grip of it and knows it can sell whatever it makes and keeping on using the tooling until it falls to pieces - very unusual for this day and age.  Then add on to this what must obviously appeal to the many retailers who are not 'in' on commissioning and regard it as much as a threat to their business as a deep discounter - they will have something new to sell, across various price points

 

So overall I think we have seen emerge today the first truly tangible signs of what the LCD run Hornby will look like on our retailers' shelves albeit in a number of cases obviously picking up work which was w=already in hand under the previous regime (which is where the development team yet again need a pat on the back).  But interestingly it would seem some shareholders haven't been impressed because 1,600 shares were unloaded less that two hours after the announcement and a couple of hundred had gone before it so by 11.45 1.37p had been knocked off the share price.  But in my view, as ever with many share price fluctuations, that isn't relevant and what really matters will be getting all these models out of the factories and sold at which point one hopes we will see some far more encouraging results in subsequent Reports from the company.   It's a bold overall strategy and we can but hope that it will succeed.

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I think this is Hornby throwing down the gauntlet .

 

We know Lyndon Davies made reference to people bringing out their own models, special commissions and how it was abstracting from their sales. Well if you look at it he is going head on with the competition.

 

The new Terrier takes out Dapol/Rails commission. If it’s here Q1 then really they will have scored a huge success

 

The new Prairie deals with Dapol . Again the gamble is that the Hornby loco arrives first.

 

The 66s May be seen as completion for Hattons , but I really think we have different markets here . Those seeking fidelity will go Hattons . Those that are seeking a new loco for their Hornby layout will go Hornby . Once discounted they can maybe get 2 liveries on a 66 for close to what the new Hattons one will cost. I think the Bachmann 66 really has no where to go now. The only missing thing is maybe a low cost bogie hopper to give them something to pull.

 

Again with the 2Fs people may see this as duplication , but not when you consider price points . Hornby going for value , Bachmann going for gadgets /high spec.

 

I really think this is Hornby making a statement . You might bring out commissions or think you can compete against us but watch out!. Might make shops think twice before taking the plunge in future.

 

The Big Bang approach has made an impact . And I think all the more impressive because many models seem to be close. That’s something for Bachmann to think on when they announce next week. How far away are their models? Will their announcement even be seen as credible given the length of time it takes to bring models to market. However I do wonder if instead of its week of glory , Hornby could have made much more of this through Engine Shed . Imagine if instead of Big Bang they’d announced Terrier, Prairie, 6 wheel Pecketts, Princess , Diesel Shunter, Bullieds, GWR suburbans throughout the year . It would have had their website very busy , tuning in with expectation every few weeks . They would have been seldom out the model railway news.

 

Anyway, as I said before , well done red team. Love it . And really for the first time in years there are lots of models I’d really like to go out and buy , maybe even supplement my 1971 Princess . She can’t be replaced but I can certainly look to buy another. You’ve restored my mojo!

Edited by Legend
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It may well be the case that Hornby's Terrier is at a more advanced state than the Rails offering.

But, the Rails Terrier has been announced for some time and must have attracted many pre-orders,

including mine. Am I going to cancel my pre-order? no, and I suspect that many will stick with Rails.

We know that the Dapol B4 was a quality product, so the risk of a dodgy model is remote.

 

It would seem the major manufacturers are out to stamp on the commissioners, seeing them as

a threat to their own business. As for duplicate ' wars ' look at the Adams Radial, both the Oxford

and Hornby models are now discounted.

if you read the quote from Simon K you will see that development of the Hornby terrier started long before Rails announced their model. Having invested the thousands of pounds of development money, Hornby are quite rightly going to release their version. It has nothing to do with hitting commissioners. Rails are a huge Hornby customer. They wouldn't intentionally do anything to a very large part of their income stream.
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I think this is Hornby throwing down the gauntlet .

 

We know Lyndon Davies made reference to people bringing out their own models, special commissions and how it was abstracting from their sales. Well if you look at it he is going head on with the competition.

 

The new Terrier takes out Dapol/Rails commission. If it’s here Q1 then really they will have scored a huge success

 

The new Prairie deals with Dapol . Again the gamble is that the Hornby loco arrives first.

 

The 66s May be seen as completion for Hattons , but I really think we have different markets here . Those seeking fidelity will go Hattons . Those that are seeking a new loco for their Hornby layout will go Hornby . Once discounted they can maybe get 2 liveries on a 66 for close to what the new Hattons one will cost. I think the Bachmann 66 really has no where to go now.

 

Again with the 2Fs people may see this as duplication , but not when you consider price points . Hornby going for value , Bachmann going for gadgets /high spec.

 

I really think this is Hornby making a statement . You might bring out commissions or think you can compete against us but watch out!. Might make shops think twice before taking the plunge in future.

 

The Big Bang approach has made an impact . And I think all the more impressive because many models seem to be close. That’s something for Bachmann to think on when they announce next week. How far away are their models? However I do wonder if instead of its week of glory , Hornby could have made much more of this through Engine Shed . Imagine if instead of Big Bang they’d announced Terrier, Prairie, 6 wheel Pecketts, Princess , Diesel Shunter, Bullieds, GWR suburbans throughout the year . It would have had their website very busy , tuning in with expectation every few weeks . They would have been seldom out the model railway news.

 

Anyway, as I said before , well done red team. Love it . And really for the first time in years there are lots of models I’d really like to go out and buy , maybe even supplement my 1971 Princess . She can’t be replaced but I can certainly look to buy another

 

Presumably if we'd still had the old style use of The Engine Shed we'd have seen the Dapol sort of prairie seen off immediately the CAD surfaced in the way the Hattons 'King' was dealt with and the same would no doubt have been the case for the Rails 'Terrier'.  I'm not at all sure if Hornby have missed a trick here as they are now the ones being accused of duplication when in all likelihood (certainly with the prairie) the opposite was the case.   I think there's a lot to be said for a rolling programme of announcements when it comes to maintaining customer interest instead of a big bang which tends to fizzle out after a month or two.

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Hornby's website is awful. Not just in that it's below capacity, but in terms of user-friendliness as well as (I'm reasonably certain) its effectiveness as a sales tool. As a web developer by profession, I would love the chance to build them a decent website. But I suspect that I would charge more for that than they are willing to pay.

 

In their defence, they would probably argue that direct sales aren't a significant part of their business model so the ecommerce site isn't a priority. But it's also a showcase for their products, even if people end up actually buying them from somewhere else. Given the strength of their brand, I bet most people searching for model railway products on the web as a newcomer will Google "Hornby" and end up at their site. And be put off by how slow and clunky it is.

Rather than suggest you charge more than Hornby can afford, why dont you contact them and build them a website that will stop you moaning about it?

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The Bulleid coaches are basically the same type but different lengths, yes? So now we've got two types of Bulleid coaches which probably won't match with each other, so most people will have a rake of one or the other, and either company could lose out.

I don’t see why. As Hornby already had the right length underframe from the Maunsells, it makes sense for them to do these. They are not treading on Bachmann’s toes. The two versions were each formed into self-contained sets, by and large, and had quite distinct styling, one from the other, although the profile was identical and quite unlike Maunsell’s. Yes, liveries will vary, but greens, among other colours, did and do vary within a fleet.

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a story of two halves from me over joyed about the two class 60's especially the DB red one at last ,but why not do two one named one unnamed surely Hornby would know these would quite probably sell out on pre order such is their popularity and long awaited arrival . and or a GBRF one  again i'd think this would sell out quickly ... 

 

NO 31/4 gutted ... another missed opportunity.. this variant must tick so many peoples boxes ...

 

 No class 50's but i think more importantly NO class 56 !  why not do a run of various 56's and both Railroad and Super detail versions of the HAA the complete package so to speak with no competition from other manufactures easy sales I would have thought that was a no brainer. come on Hornby surprise us with a standard rail blue 56  56038 Western Mail maybe .... ..... or more of the DCR ones in their fabulous liveries .

 

I stand to be corrected but I couldn't see a single new Air braked wagon . but maybe that segment of the market now being left to other manufactures to fill. 

 

The HST's look great as usual but mega bucks for a full length set at RRP . well done re the new plug door types . 

 

for me i have no interest in anything pre TOPS so the numerous steam age offerings are totally missed on me . 

 

Andy 

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It’s amazing , for those that say there’s nothing in it for me , think back to 1975 when half the range went, because they didn’t have enough capacity to make it and I think the only “new “ model was a dmu with hideous headcode. Then there really was nothing in it for me!

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The Bulleid coaches are basically the same type but different lengths, yes? So now we've got two types of Bulleid coaches which probably won't match with each other, so most people will have a rake of one or the other, and either company could lose out. And neither has done the tavern car which got all over the place.

 

Me thinks there are a few open goals for Bachmann next week, for modellers of a North Eastern, Scottish and South Eastern persuasion...

No. The Hornby ones are the early type with exterior doors to each compartment on that side, whereas the Bachmann ones will be the longer, more modern style with fewer doors. They, therefore will be the more likely source for any Tavern Car set (they didn't run alone). Incidentally, if you want South Eastern coverage, I think only the Bachmann ones will be of use to you - the short Bulleids were a South Western/Somerset & Dorset thing.

 

In any case, we Southern fans, having suffered decades of being largely ignored, long ago got into the habit of buying everything suitable we can lay our hands on. 

 

Hornby cottoned on to this almost twenty years ago, but Bachmann were a bit slower on the uptake. :jester:

 

I do buy Bachmann models when they make something I want (mainly wagons, coaches and non-SR locos that ran on the S&D) but Hornby have long catered for my requirements much more thoroughly.

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
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Looking at the contents of Margate, and the 1:1 collection.

I’m guessing both 45379 and 4464 models are intended to represent the locomotives as “stored” condition at Margate.

 

We maybe missing a gap here, perhaps Margate is being intended to be opened up as a visitable museum, and hence they are modelling the collection visitors are seeing in front of them ?

 

That would explain the limited edition nature ?

 

45379 is by far my favourite 5, ive had several journeys with it in recent memory, its not an LSL loco, but it is stored in Margate.

 

Perhaps that suggests a 4Sub and class 503 in the future, and the GWR super saloon too, that just arrived this week.

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They are marketing bittern as era 11, I presume it's preserved like this?

 

Richard

 

I think the link is to engines that are stored at Hornby's former site at Margate. Hence Bittern being done there with 2 tenders and the Black 5 as well. These are part of the Icons of Steam locomotive fleet (aka Jeremy Hoskings Empire) and they are putting engines under cover at Margate, while other engines are overhauled at their main base at Crewe - formerly Crewe Diesel TMD. 

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Rather than suggest you charge more than Hornby can afford, why dont you contact them and build them a website that will stop you moaning about it?

 

Hornby's website has been the way it is for quite a while now, and there are plenty of web development companies out there with a far higher profile than mine that they would be more likely to turn to if and when they do decide to replace it. They could hire the firm behind Hatton's or Rails' websites, for example. I'm not going to chase work that, realistically, I'm not going to get.

 

Their website is currently based on a fairly bog-standard off-the-shelf package. Some of its more irritating aspects could probably be fixed with some more customisation, but I suspect that, ultimately, they're trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot.

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When I said there was nothing for me, I lied. Didn’t realise until I looked later that Hornby are doing a TTS chip for the B12. Not sure of the quality of TTS chips as I’ve never bought one before but as it’s £40 vs £100+ from a third party supplier, it’s definitely worth trying out.

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