Jump to content
 

Hornby 2019 announcements


Andy Y
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

I'm not sure if you have Game Workshop in Denmark, but in UK they sell mainly fantasy combat models like warhammer etc.  Not for me, but they do a range of very good paint and filler etc.  that I've used. Anyway, they have areas in their shops for painting demos, hold fantasy wargames and generally engage with their customers that way. Haven't noticed any display layouts in any of the  "railway" model shops I've visited. Locos in display cases, but nothing running or really showing what could be done to an interested potential newbie.

We do have them in Denmark, and they are an excellent example of what I mean.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Interestingly Games Workshop recently announced their results for the trading year (which were positive) and at the same time expressed considerable confidence in their methods of trading and attracting customers thus demonstrating that the way they work has advantages.  The idea of demonstration layouts is an old one and such layouts often used to appear in shop windows, or inside, in the pre-Christmas period.  Oddly one of the biggest I remember - at Heelas in Reading - was in a department store which only sold trainsets and then only at Christmas which perhaps illustrates that there were distinctions in the marketplace even back then. In fact from what I have seen a number of UK department stores still sell model railway items, not necessarily only trainsets, in the Christmas period but not during the rest of the year.  

 

Hornby used to have separate account and selling folk to deal with such customers and the mail order catalogues and if they all happen to be pushing Hogwarts trainsets in the pre-Christmas period it can only be good for Hornby and ultimately probably advantageous to our hobby.  perhaps one advantage of the LCD era at Hornby is that that particular market area is being re-attacked and hopefully this where those tie-in deals arranged by LCD will bear fruit.  Might not be entirely RMweb's  cup of tea (although surely the hobby needs a bit of fun and recent tv exposure will have helped?) but if it makes the numbers in Hornby's books start to turn black instead of red it will be to our advantage just as much as it will be to Hornby's.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Dapol kits.

 

They are literally the Airfix kits! But I was meaning the equivalent - back in the day the Airfix kits were a cut above the run of the mill stuff. But things have moved on, and the Dapol kits are actually poor relatively speaking. 

Lots of journalist at Toy Fair. There are three trade mags but they get a lot of general and lifestyle journalists plus bloggers and vloggers galore.

 

This is a excellent coup for Hornby and will help open doors to major accounts.

 

This deserves a big thumbs up from enthusiasts as more train sets sold means more money for investment in tooling as well as lots of kids who may take the next steps into the hobby.

 

I'm just surprised that something that hasnt been produced can win any sort of award. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

As has already been said, it's a fictional prototype so they can pretty much do what they like.

 

I'm more worried by the spurious apostrophe in "Hogwarts Express' Train Set". That's how it appears on the Rails and Cheltenham Models websites, too, and Googling for "Hornby R1234" lists plenty of other retailers using that title. So it's not just a Hornby website error, it appears to be what they've actually put in the catalogue data. But I'm struggling to imagine how anyone working for a model railway manufacturer could possibly think that "express" is either an abbreviation or a plural possessive.

 

Hatton's, on the other hand, have corrected that error and introduced one of their own - they have it listed as "Hogwart's Express", which is equally wrong (there's no apostrophe in "Hogwarts").

https://www.hattons.co.uk/430684/Hornby_R1234_Starter_train_set_Harry_Potter_Hogwart_s_Express_/StockDetail.aspx

 

I took advantage of the Hornby Magazine and Catalogue offer. On the front of the February magazine there is a huge single opening quotation mark in red and outlined in white. It should have been an apostrophe. Oh the shame!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I'm not attacking the Johnster, but a more general comment: So buying from Aldi is OK, but ordering via the internet is killing the local model shops? I remember when the book monopoly was broken and supermarkets started flogging Joan Collins and Dan Brown's latest and 'greatest'. That led to an expectation that all bookshops would disappear, and many did. But some learnt to start selling coffee and cakes and they survived and thrived. My point is that if Aldi do start selling trainsets. EVERY model shop in the area should buy one straight away and build a small layout using it in their store front window adding a few cheap items to show the next step, They might even produce 'added value' packs that include a couple of extra wagons, track to make a passing loop and a cheap loco, or a scenery pack with a few building and some grassflock a bit of road and a few cars. They could offer an parent/adult and child early-evening class where they teach how to build a baseboard, solder, wires, demonstrate dcc. and so on always making sure that video screens show the great model railway challenge in the background. For children, going to their model shop can become a treat that they ask for as 'bonding time'. My model railway project started as a means to have a joint hobby with my three boys, and we had a great time.

I don't get to the UK often, but my recent visits to model shops remind me more of a dark, musty antique book shop than a visit til Waterstones

 

I really can't see the likes of Aldi or Tesco stocking anything more than the sort of very basic items and starter sets that W H Smith used to and Hamley's still do; they will never be much of a threat to the 'proper' model railway shop trade.  Starter sets, and indeed most locos, are sold in 'proper' shops at a very low mark up to remain competitive with the online box shifters, who started as proper shops themselves, as loss leaders; the mark up is higher on ancilliary items which is where the shops make their living.  

 

Starter sets in supermarkets can do nothing but good for the hobby as a whole, introducing new blood that will turn to the traditional establshed trade for it's future purchases.  And my local Aldi in not really likely to stock Colletts, or anything else I'm interested in.  But it is only 5 minute's walk, and my proper model railway shop is 2 bus rides...

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Not just a working "headlight", but its fitted IN the smokebox door, just where a shed plate would be.  I imagine some Warner product manager saw the white blob and ignorantly assumed that it would be an ideal place to site a light.

 

https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/hogwarts-express-train-set.html

 

 

I regret that the artwork on Hornby's website does not show the detail of the working headlight but I can assure you that the location is accurate. The real Hogwarts Castle loco has a headlight exactly where shown on the Hornby model - I can't see if the detail of the headlight is authentic but the position is 100% correct.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I regret that the artwork on Hornby's website does not show the detail of the working headlight but I can assure you that the location is accurate. The real Hogwarts Castle loco has a headlight exactly where shown on the Hornby model - I can't see if the detail of the headlight is authentic but the position is 100% correct.

It’s fitted where the shed plate should be, the same as it easily the previous Castle version.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Just had an email from Hattons saying I’ve been charged for the Blue Scotsman. Wasn’t due till Feb so a nice surprise to see it a few days early. Seems Hornby are definitely getting back on track with their releases.

Link to post
Share on other sites

My first 2019 catalogue "loco" arrived this morning, the GWR Diesel Railcar (R3669).

 

Body came off really easily, just unscrew two 3/4" cheesehead selftappers, pull off the buffers, lift the body off and drop an inexpensive LAISDCC decoder in.  Out of the box, on the test layout and running under DCC in 10 minutes. 

 

I'll have to see if my old Blood'n'Custard Lima W22W body will fit the Hornby chassis, if so I'll be getting another R3669 to replace the archaic Lima mechanism.

 

A pity that the glazing isn't flush, but for the price, I'm not complaining.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

My first 2019 catalogue "loco" arrived this morning, the GWR Diesel Railcar (R3669).

 

Body came off really easily, just unscrew two 3/4" cheesehead selftappers, pull off the buffers, lift the body off and drop an inexpensive LAISDCC decoder in.  Out of the box, on the test layout and running under DCC in 10 minutes. 

 

I'll have to see if my old Blood'n'Custard Lima W22W body will fit the Hornby chassis, if so I'll be getting another R3669 to replace the archaic Lima mechanism.

 

A pity that the glazing isn't flush, but for the price, I'm not complaining.

 

I picked one up a couple of days ago.

 

Haven't tried dismantling it yet but I do like ones which unscrew rather than having to wedge bits of plastic between the body and chassis to try to prise it apart without snapping anything.

 

A nice model, though as you say it could do with flush glazing. (Do Shawplan to Laserglaze for it?)

 

I've  wanted one for a while and it's a real novelty having it appear so quickly after the announcement.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

I'm just surprised that something that hasnt been produced can win any sort of award. 

 

I must have been imagining things when I shot the video this still is from

 

Hogwarts.jpg

 

The point is, a lot of the items on show at the Toy Fair are little more than early prototypes. They will be delivered in 8 months time so the stores have them for Christmas - if orders are placed. There's not point in putting something into production if no-one is going to buy it. 

 

That said, Hogwarts is a dead cert. We will be seeing it in the shops next December, complete with headlight.

 

As for the cola set someone suggested (as a joke I think) that might not appear because of the sugar tax, I'd expect to see that too and for it to sell well. Oxford has licenced the branding in the past for road vehicles, so they know how well it will sell. Comments on here and Facebook also suggest there is a ready market. It might not be finescale, but it has an appeal!

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I must have been imagining things when I shot the video this still is from

 

attachicon.gifHogwarts.jpg

 

The point is, a lot of the items on show at the Toy Fair are little more than early prototypes. They will be delivered in 8 months time so the stores have them for Christmas - if orders are placed. There's not point in putting something into production if no-one is going to buy it. 

 

That said, Hogwarts is a dead cert. We will be seeing it in the shops next December, complete with headlight.

 

As for the cola set someone suggested (as a joke I think) that might not appear because of the sugar tax, I'd expect to see that too and for it to sell well. Oxford has licenced the branding in the past for road vehicles, so they know how well it will sell. Comments on here and Facebook also suggest there is a ready market. It might not be finescale, but it has an appeal!

 

I really don't see why a concept shouldn't win an award anyway - it all depends what the award is for, surely?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

That said, Hogwarts is a dead cert. We will be seeing it in the shops next December, complete with headlight.

If Hornby could get the Set into the Warner Bros Studios store at Leavesden, I expect they could sell as many as they could produce. The tourists shopping there seem willing to buy anything connected to Harry Potter and Hogwarts.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

If Hornby could get the Set into the Warner Bros Studios store at Leavesden, I expect they could sell as many as they could produce. The tourists shopping there seem willing to buy anything connected to Harry Potter and Hogwarts.

I'd guess this is part of the deal. Put your products where people will buy them as "pocket money" items. The Wacky Races sets are the same idea - I can't see many Comicon visitors baulking at the RRP, it's peanuts compared to the stuff they buy.

 

Of course, if Hornby does find success in these areas, it makes you wonder about the enthusiasm they will have for the "we want all the minute detail but will endlessly moan about the price" sector...

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I'd guess this is part of the deal. Put your products where people will buy them as "pocket money" items. The Wacky Races sets are the same idea - I can't see many Comicon visitors baulking at the RRP, it's peanuts compared to the stuff they buy.

 

Of course, if Hornby does find success in these areas, it makes you wonder about the enthusiasm they will have for the "we want all the minute detail but will endlessly moan about the price" sector...

If they move their focus to a more lucrative sector, we will only have ourselves to blame.
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I'd guess this is part of the deal. Put your products where people will buy them as "pocket money" items. The Wacky Races sets are the same idea - I can't see many Comicon visitors baulking at the RRP, it's peanuts compared to the stuff they buy.

 

Of course, if Hornby does find success in these areas, it makes you wonder about the enthusiasm they will have for the "we want all the minute detail but will endlessly moan about the price" sector...

To put it in absolute terms, Hornby's can only succeed by producing goods for people who are prepared to pay enough for them to generate the returns necessary for the business to thrive. So, the willing: "Customer Type A", the reluctant, who grumble but still buy: "Customer Type B", (albeit, in both cases, perhaps in reduced quantities), and the refuseniks who grumble and stop buying altogether: "Customer Type C". 

 

So long as there are sufficient Customers of Types A and B, and they collectively buy enough models to enable production in batches of viable size, everything in the garden is rosy.

 

Customers of Type C, by definition, cease to be customers. Not quite sure where they'll go, as the products of Hornby's closest competitor are generally more expensive. Might they start making their own models, I wonder?  

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

To put it in absolute terms, Hornby's can only succeed by producing goods for people who are prepared to pay enough for them to generate the returns necessary for the business to thrive. So, the willing: "Customer Type A", the reluctant, who grumble but still buy: "Customer Type B", (albeit, in both cases, perhaps in reduced quantities), and the refuseniks who grumble and stop buying altogether: "Customer Type C". 

 

So long as there are sufficient Customers of Types A and B, and they collectively buy enough models to enable production in batches of viable size, everything in the garden is rosy.

 

Customers of Type C, by definition, cease to be customers. Not quite sure where they'll go, as the products of Hornby's closest competitor are generally more expensive. Might they start making their own models, I wonder?  

 

John

No they’ll just buy second hand or give up and do something else instead. But I think amongst the main U.K. manufacturers Hornby are showing more awareness of the need to be price competitive and not lose Customer Type C completely

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I go to the 'manufacturer' who gets the model right, and I'd rather have one correct at a higher price, than two with uncorrectable errors at a lower price.

 

For me, I still wonder why Hornby don't market their ranges to better target their likely buyers - the higher detail stuff still, IMO, needs to be marketed differently.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

No they’ll just buy second hand or give up and do something else instead. But I think amongst the main U.K. manufacturers Hornby are showing more awareness of the need to be price competitive and not lose Customer Type C completely

 

The Customer C types include those who for various reasons are on tight budgets (including the junior modellers), and those who are 'dipping a toe in the water' to see if the hobby is for them, with minimal outlay.

 

The less experienced/junior modellers almost certainly won't have the skills to make things themselves...

Link to post
Share on other sites

Of course, if Hornby does find success in these areas, it makes you wonder about the enthusiasm they will have for the "we want all the minute detail but will endlessly moan about the price" sector...

 

I can't see Hornby ever pulling out of the high-end model market, not least because those products are bought by some of their most loyal and non-price sensitive customers: the collectors. And I think that's a market sector that we here on RMweb (and within the hobbyist sector in general) often fail to appreciate.

 

The "toy train" market we do, generally, have some understanding of, even if we sometimes pooh-pooh it a bit, partly because a lot of us started there as children before moving on to become hobbyists and partly because it's clearly where the more mass-market models (such as the Christmas train set) are targetted. But collectors are a bit of a different breed. I suspect it's the other route of progression from toy trains, some of us get drawn into the nitty-gritty of layout construction and developing our skills in that area, while others just like to carry on buying things - they just buy more expensive things when they grow up and get a job!

 

To give an illustration of that, I was chatting to someone the other day that I'd been told "likes trains", so I mentioned our mutual interest. And he told me all about his collection of Hornby locos - as far as I can tell, he owns pretty much every express passenger steam loco that Hornby have ever made since he started buying them. He says that, now he's retired, he has to ration himself a bit, but he still likes to buy one or two a year. And all he does is run them round an oval of track in his spare room, with no attempt at creating a realistic setting for them. And he doesn't buy any other locos - no diesels or electrics, or even what he calls "boring black" steam locos. He likes colourful 4-6-0s and 4-6-2s, and that's pretty much it. Oh, and they're all Hornby. Nothing else.

 

Now, that's a world away from my experience as a modeller - although I do buy the odd thing just because I like it, I mainly aim to stock my cabinets with models that can realistically (with maybe a little modeller's licence) be used on whatever I'm building now, or have a hunch I might build in future. And I love "boring" 0-6-0s, and quirky little tank engines. And whatever loco I'm running, I like it to have a realistic setting and be hauling an appropriate set of rolling stock.

 

But I reckon my acquaintance spends far more on Hornby products than I do. Certainly, he did when he was working, even if he has scaled back a bit since retirement. So it's not at all unreasonable that Hornby will continue to cater to that market. However much we hobbyists may froth over industrials and put gap-filling workhorses on our wishlists, the "top link"  express locos are Hornby's cash cow in the collector market. And there are other collectors who do like industrials, or freight locos. There's a significant proportion of Hornby's customer base who will buy it "because it's there". And they're not going away any time soon.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Your friend who spends more on Hornby locos than you do because he collects every large express passenger loco as it comes out is a very important customer for Hornby.  I have 10 locos, which is enough to run my timetable and cover boiler washouts; I am intending to buy 1 more as a replacement for an inferior version (Baccy 94xx to replace Limbach), and possibly a Hornby 5101 when it appears but I'll have to be feeling flush and will probably wait for discounts or s/h to appear.  I have not paid full RRP for any of them; new ones have been discounted at my local model railway shop, which is 2 of them, and the rest are secondhand from the same place or 'Bay.  I think I've spent about £50 per loco on average (the 94xx'll blow that out the water when it arrives), which makes a total of £500, very little of which has gone in any direct way into the pockets of RTR manufacturers.  Your friend would struggle to own 3 or 4 of his big locos at today's prices, and I'm assuming his oval of track doesn't need DCC!

 

This puts me pretty much in customer C territory, but I do not regard myself as a price moaner or in any way likely to give up and do something else; I love my railway.  This brings us back to the point that railway modellers, while they may be important to the companies, are not necessarily the bread and butter, and if you want to get a sense of how marketing to the hobby works, you might be better off looking at somebody like Peco.  I think of myself as customer B, but my disposable income is limited and disposed of very quickly; the companies must despair of the likes of me!  

 

But, as I've said many times, what it costs is what it costs; I'm gonna be happy to shell out nearly £100 on a pair of new H Collett suburbans when they appear in BR livery, which'll be the largest amount I've ever spent on coaches in one go, because I want the coaches more than I want £100, which will be the bulk of my disposable for that month and mean a few nights in.  The iron and immutable law of supply and demand is obeyed, I get my suburbans, Chinese workers' get better standards of living from pay rises (this is what's driving the prices up, and why shouldn't they), H make due profit, my local shop gets a cut, and I can retire my old Airfix B set and use it's bogies for other projects; everybody's happy.  

  • Like 5
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

My apologies if I missed this in earlier posts; I think I have read them all! My question concerns the pre-orders for Gresley 61’ teak coaches. The teak seems to look OK, but I cannot fathom whether the bodyside moulding issue has been ‘fixed’. Guidance/wisdom would be welcome.

 

Best,

Marcus

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

The Customer C types include those who for various reasons are on tight budgets (including the junior modellers), and those who are 'dipping a toe in the water' to see if the hobby is for them, with minimal outlay.

 

The less experienced/junior modellers almost certainly won't have the skills to make things themselves...

Any hobby is a luxury, funded by discretionary spending. Hornby, like all leisure-oriented businesses, make their living from offering products or services, at prices that make the effort worthwhile, to customers who want and can afford to buy them.

 

When I was on a tight budget, nearly all the models I bought were second-hand, it was that or the same loco, two coaches and four wagons until next Christmas (yes, it was that long ago). I also, aged 8 upwards produced my own buildings from balsa wood and cereal packet cardboard. They cost little and got replaced or altered repeatedly as  I gained the ability to make better ones.

 

If someone wants (for instance) to "dip their toe" into photography, they don't (if they have any sense) buy a new DSLR, they get a six/seven-year-old one for a tenth of the price to learn the basics on. Nikons like the one I still have produce sharp, noise-free A4 prints and can now be picked up for about £70, the current equivalent is up around £800.

 

Then, with the knowledge of what sort of pictures they want to take, they can make a better-informed decision on what equipment to buy, and what is an acceptable budget for them when they are ready to get in more deeply.

 

I really don't see why railway modelling is, or should be, any different. 

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

However someone can also go down to Argos and buy a very cheap, basic, digital camera for £40-£80. No, it doesn't have lots of extra lenses or other features but it can still be given to a child as a Christmas present, used to record family events, and with some good framing etc even pull off some decent photos now and then. 

 

I'm certainly not saying that there shouldn't be *any* superdetail models, and I'm happy for those that want them that there are those models available. But there's a balance to be struck and there's room in the market for both the superdetail models and the budget models.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...