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Hornby 2019 announcements


Andy Y
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I see where you are coming from, but I think you have to remember where the company is financially . A retooled 37 or 47 would need to be so WOW  that it blew the socks off the opposition , and actually I don't see much wrong with the Bachmann ones , so would people have bought it in numbers that it required to make profit ?  Not sure .  Whereas the existing 47 is very definitely budget range, but good enough for me!

 

Terriers and Prairies are low hanging fruit . People will buy them if they are of a standard like the recent J36 as long as they bring them to market before Dapol and Kernow, so financially that's a winner.   Bullied coaching stock and GWR suburban stock , well people have been asking for them, so again should make financial sense . Immediate cash cows!

 

The Class 66 might be regarded as duplication, but I don't think it really is . Its going for the lower cost end of the market . Interesting there are so many liveries . Probably a direct reaction to Hattons marketing.  Again tapping into the lower end of the market , and these items should have very little development costs , having been bought when they acquired Lima , cost probably already written off. So again maximizing existing tooling . Low cost should have high return.

 

The more I look at the range , the more I'm impressed . Just the cost of some high end items bringing tears to the eyes !

 

Yes you make some good points and understand what you're saying, if the lower end of the market is really good and they make money off the re-liveried Lima tools then hat's off to them.

I am quite confident Hornby would have pulled it off with either a 37 or 47.

But I am impressed with Hornby's HST & Coaches announcement along with the 2 extra new tooled NR ones, well done to them for doing those.

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What surprised me, at a first glance through, is the range of reasonable prices (with some exceptions), especially with Sterling continuing to fall. It would appear that the strategy of forever increasing prices on old tooling, to maintain cash flow, has gone. This is a much more aggressive strategy. Good luck to Hornby for this.

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As has been stated already, a well thought out business orientated approach from Hornby that should prove lucrative for them.

 

There's not much for me personally but I can see the Ultramarine A4 joining my other example. The ROD J36 is a welcome choice from a pre-grouping perspective. I just wish more (non-southern) locos could be released in a pre-1923 condition (J15 etc).

 

If there are any dud notes in this then I guess the lack of a BR blue 31/4 vs the skinhead we got (a blue 31/4 with cantrail stripe etc having been requested for a number of years now) and a retooled class 91 would be the obvious thoughts.

 

Still. A good display from Margate to start 2019!

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Maybe the cost of tooling for the vast amount of differences there are in both classes would take too long to recoup going by their financial situation?

 

It makes sense reissuing older models in more liveries, quick return for a lower outlay. Get the books balanced then go for the more complex models.

 

Yes there is that and agree doing the current tooling again in popular liveries will get Hornby a quick return but they also need to think long term as well but perhaps that will come next year.

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What surprised me, at a first glance through, is the range of reasonable prices (with some exceptions), especially with Sterling continuing to fall. It would appear that the strategy of forever increasing prices on old tooling, to maintain cash flow, has gone. This is a much more aggressive strategy. Good luck to Hornby for this.

 

There are some high end items like the £289 Scotrail HST  which to me is just overpriced . However it has to be said that the new Princesses @ £189 and things like the new Mk3 coaches are reasonably priced.  There clearly is a more aggressive stance here typified I think by the Mk2fs where a new range of models is being brought in at a lower price point.

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Delighted to see a coach pack for the Class 800 Test Train

Delighted to see this too. So glad there was a change of mind here! And the LNER mk3s are a great compromise to build up the part complete Virgin take I have!

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Lots of nice stuff in there, particularly the Large Prairie and GWR coaches.

Doubt the people at Dapol are particularly happy today though!

 

Dapol might have been aware, there was speculation when Dapol made the rather sudden/strange announcement of their Large Prairie on December 15 2017 that it was a move to beat either Hornby or Bachmann announcements last year.

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Track rubber for me --- I hope it's a magic one -- rub the track three times and a Genie appears  - wonder what my wish will be !!!!!!

 

Anyway, a decent selection - Perhaps a 0-6-0 Pecket (along with the magic rubber)..

 

Brit15

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G'Day Folks

 

That was a disappointment, I was expecting after the ' New and exciting'  to have something 'New and Exciting, most of it is Same O- Same O, another Princess another GWR tank engine, and a 100 repaints, Ah well I'll save some money.

 

manna

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Yes you make some good points and understand what you're saying, if the lower end of the market is really good and they make money off the re-liveried Lima tools then hat's off to them.

I am quite confident Hornby would have pulled it off with either a 37 or 47.

But I am impressed with Hornby's HST & Coaches announcement along with the 2 extra new tooled NR ones, well done to them for doing those.

 

Take the 37 as an example, there are probably well over 30 detail alteration combinations and livery combinations to choose from so how do you cost effectively deliver three examples in a brand new catalogue ?

Centre headcode deep or shallow, split headcode, no headcode and wipacs, DRS jumper, headlights, nose end side grilles refurbished (two kinds) unrefurbished, bodyside windows, bodyside hand holds and boiler tank filler, RSH cantrail grilles or standard grilles.

 

The list is extensive, but then liveries have to be matched to the bodyshell variants and fair play to Bachmann, they have trodden a log and winding road with the class 37. I have a rather nice "Welsh" green one with a "Biffo" sound project in it, and I thinbk it would struggle to be bettered by an off the shelf product.     

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It would be easy for me to start with "nothing in it for me" but with my Wish List being as short as it is, that is to be expected.

 

However, looking at the Hornby web-site ahead of the more detailed information on here, I have to say the number of times I said "I didn't expect that!" and "oh look, one of those!" really did surprise me. And I'm very pleased to say that, as the programme represents positive news from Hornby, something which we've been waiting a while for.  No less than 414 items, according to their website - that's some range. OK some are doubled up DCC fitted and DCC ready, but still 414 different items. That's impressive.

 

And whilst my Wish List stays, unaltered, two layout projects which have been long-standings ideas for "one day" have gained very useful items and so have leapt forward from one-day to "perhaps I'll get the planning paper out".

 

Nice one, Hornby!

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G'Day Folks

 

That was a disappointment, I was expecting after the ' New and exciting'  to have something 'New and Exciting, most of it is Same O- Same O, another Princess another GWR tank engine, and a 100 repaints, Ah well I'll save some money.

 

manna

 

What were you expecting then ?

New tooled GW and SR coaches of the boring and mundane variety, which most people would like, but have never been done before

A new cute little industrial diesel.

A new slightly less cute bigger sister to the Peckett.

A new Princess

A new mixed traffic GW tank which lasted well into the 1960s in transition.

New sliding door HST trailers which represent the current classics between Inverness and Penzance.

 

A very well balanced range indeed in my view. 

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Erm. Can you name a "modern image diesel locomotive" which has not yet been announced / produced RTR in OO ?

 

The Fell and 10800 are the only mainline diesels I can think of, unless you add the two gas turbines to the list, and and maybe the class 74 to be pernickety.

 

I do however note that Hornby's green Brush type 2 for 2019 is once again a "skinhead". Why the aversion to producing a bog standard green headcoded class 31 for all the transition era modellers ?    

 

Class 48. Shunters. Agree that 10800 would fill a gap. Er, so would the Fell.

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Bin the Limby 66 for gawds sake.

 

If Hornby believe that they can make money from it then more power to their elbow. Not all enthusiasts can or would want to pay top dollar for top spec models. I think it's an astute move by Hornby to have models pitched at more modest budgets. It's been much reported that all is not well in the world of retail at the moment, both on the high street and on line; this stands to be compounded by the particularly uncertain future we face.

 

Yes you make some good points and understand what you're saying, if the lower end of the market is really good and they make money off the re-liveried Lima tools then hat's off to them.

I am quite confident Hornby would have pulled it off with either a 37 or 47.

But I am impressed with Hornby's HST & Coaches announcement along with the 2 extra new tooled NR ones, well done to them for doing those.

 

There is an argument that a good standard 37 or 47 would  compliment a lot of the D&E era models already in Hornby's range, but if they had gone down this route a pound to a penny that there would have been a flood of posts asking why, when there are perfectly good Bachmann models of the same classes. I think that would have been my view too. As it is there seems to be quite a buzz about the pair of industrials announced, I doubt the overall reception would have been as favourable if duplicate models of a 37 and 47 had been planned in their place.

 

Hornby seem to carving a niche out for themselves in the field of industrial locos. I think this is a smart move on their part. To start with there's the cute 'want one' factor. Secondly they will retail at less than £100 broadening out the customer base for new models. Buying a new Ruston for £70 -ish benefits Hornby, buying a second hand main line diesel or steam loco for the same price does not. Finally our biggest expense in life will be our home (rent or buy), few of us will be able to afford the space for a full HST set or a steam hauled express nine or ten coaches long, but we will all have room for industrial sidings, light railway terminus or factory yard.

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As much as I can say "at last" for the DB red 60, why couldn't they have done an un-named one thus making them easy to renumber? And for that matter - add names to if so required.

I suppose to their credit, they've gone for a relatively short plate that can be covered up with a longer one.

 

Cheers,

Mick

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