Hornby Update on Financials.

[mdvle]

3 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

I know at least one company has seriously considered it and been told very firmly by the trade that it would never sell. In O, Americans like 3 rails and coarse-scale.

 

Nice to know someone at least explored it.

 

I can't help but wonder if Heljan was given the same advice when they first entered rtr O?  I can imagine if there currently was no rtr UK O scale and Heljan queried if there was interest in an O scale loco to retail at £700 they might be given similar advice, though i could be wrong.

 

But I agree it would be a gamble - creating a market always is and there isn't much of a kit market to support an early entry.

 

As for the 3-rail issue, that is why I (if I suddenly had the money) tend more towards thinking S would be a better choice to attempt it.  Still reasonably hefty so the advantages of a larger scale, but that bit smaller so you can fit a bit more in, and the big advantage that 3-rail S is effectively dead unlike O scale.

 

Now if I could only win the lottery...

[jjb1970]

Didn't Atlas already try a range of relatively affordable true to scale accurate two rail O models for the US market which failed to really make an inroad?

[mdvle]

41 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Didn't Atlas already try a range of relatively affordable true to scale accurate two rail O models for the US market which failed to really make an inroad?

 

Nope, their stuff is dual - offered in either 2 rail or 3-rail.  Because of that the 2 rail stuff is inherently compromised by the needs of the 3-rail.  For example the GP7 has a minimum radius of 18", which is just crazy for trying to making an accurate model in O.

[Barry Ten]

The GP35 looks pretty good to me, but then maybe I'm just seeing it through N scale eyes.

 

http://archive.atlasrr.com/OLoco/arc-ogp35.htm

[robmcg]

I have read this thread with great interest, and think that the years from approx 2004 to 2017 will be soon considered the 'golden era' of affordable (as in under £200) RTR new 00 high fidelity models.

 

As adb968008 and others have ably pointed out, the number of buyers of steam outline at least is shrinking, prices are rising, supply is outstripping demand. I cannot speak of diesels, EMUs or electric trains, so my view is skewed.

 

I do not know how many sales of the new Stanier Princess will be required to amortise the design tooling and production but I'll wager it won't bring the profits of the 2001 tooling. I'd love to be proven wrong, over the 'long game' as it were.

 

There are a very large number of new or near-new models available, or in existing collections. I collect models I like, and there are a lot of them.  Mostly large steam locos, British 00, and a few French H0 by Hornby International, such as the magnificent Jouef 141R and 241P.

 

I stress that I may not be normal, and as some may know I buy models mainly for display and digital photography and associated picture-making, the latter being my much-enjoyed pastime. Who could be happier than we with the vast array of current 00 RTR steam models such as the N15, Schools, Duchess, West Country...  and all available 'as new' for under £100 on Ebay.  Mind you, I didn't even mind the 'design clever' models...  in some ways the solid smokebox darts  meant less likelihood of damage.

 

The future for Hornby if it wants to gross over £40,000,000 must presumably come from newer models with play value, be it railway, car, kitset and so on, and bluetooth style control, and things I haven't thought of.

 

I am nevertheless extremely pleased with the models I can buy now, new, RTR.  I must be slipping though...  I actually did some modelling the other day, gluing a front step back on to a s/h Duchess.  This has got to stop!  I have a reputation as a dedicated box-opener to preserve!

 

Here if I may be permitted, is my re-glued step, on a mildly edited version of a 2006 model of 46238 in late BR Crimson Lake... 

 

 

FWIW many details edited-on are from the latest tooling around the front, the original wheels are retained. The lighting is entirely late-afternoon weak sunshine through an adjacent window.

 

On the subject of 'red' livery some didn't like the gloss finish on 46229 but I did!

 

 

Hardly edited at all.  Bravo Hornby!  Who else could have done it?

 

To finish how about a Hornby French interlude?

 

 

Photos edited will remove if required.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by robmcg
name correction

[The Stationmaster]

On 04/10/2019 at 02:33, robmcg said:

I have read this thread with great interest, and think that the years from approx 2004 to 2017 will be soon considered the 'golden era' of affordable (as in under £200) RTR new 00 high fidelity models.

 

As adb968008 and others have ably pointed out, the number of buyers of steam outline at least is shrinking, prices are rising, supply is outstripping demand. I cannot speak of diesels, EMUs or electric trains, so my view is skewed.

 

I

I don't think supply is necessarily outstripping demand but oversupply in some cases is definitely outstripping demand and Hornby has long been a culprit (or victim of self-inflicted over optimism?) in this respect.  But having said that it is clearly not easy to assess demand accurately unless you have eyes and ears very close to the end market which means having feet on the ground/in the car keeping in close touch with retailers as well as watching all the other sources of market intelligence.  And it also means not being misled by mass orders placed by the type of retailer who goes in for heavy discounting as soon as they can because that further muddies any assessment of the state of the market.

 

Can Hornby, or indeed any 'mainstream mass manufacturer' get it right on the balance of quantity vs costs vs price vs profitability because if they can do that consistently, whatever the size of the market for any particular item they should be on the route to overall profitability.  At the moment that is partly the situation faced by Hornby where they appear to be seeing the answer as increasing their sales volume (income) having sorted some of the other important numbers in the overall profitability equations.  But again that also boils down to making the right things, in all their product ranges - not just model railways, and selling them in the right quantities with correct ratios between volume, cost, and price.   Not exactly so easy as we might think of course, but then that is what their senior people are being paid to do.

 

From my own viewpoint I would have spent considerably more so far this year with Hornby if they had met the delivery schedule they originally forecast.   So there remains perhaps still some elements of a continuing stumbling block in getting their production to market in line with their forecasts (and presumably also in line with their budgetted cashflow)?

Edited October 5, 2019 by The Stationmaster

[Godfrey Glyn]

I  do think all the big companies ( 'commissioners') are, especially at the moment, between a rock and a hard place. Let us assume that they do a whole shed load of research and announce a model that the retail trade sees as attractive. The retail trade will worry that the demand  will exceed supply and over order on the anticipation that they will be cut back to the number they really need. The 'manufacturer' may then over estimate the demand and arrange for additional production. Hay presto the retailer gets what they have ordered and the supply exceeds demand and models stay on the retailers' shelves. The retailer then doesn't order anymore of that model and adjusts future order numbers; we end up with a cycle which neither helps the 'manufacturer' or the retailer or indeed, the consumer. I do wonder if the major companies make full use of the intelligence that could be gathered by their reps rather than relying too much on the spread sheets that derive from orders received. If you then add in the difficulty of choosing a suitable model in a very crowded market; the lack of obvious money making models when most suitable prototypes have been covered, the competition from new commissioners  who go directly to Chinese manufacturers and the huge uncertainties over currency variations and the decline in retail spending you are operating in, let us say a very challenging environment.  Its interesting that the new entrants have successfully established themselves by taking direct orders and then having the 'right' number manufactured, not something the major companies can do if they want to offer a full range of models and accessories.

I can think of a number of models that I would love to see brought to the market but whether they would make the money that they need to is another matter. As Mike says above, producing the 'right' number and pitching it at the 'right' price to produce a good profit is the key to success. Sounds simple but it's not, remember BL produced a super little car in the late '50s called the Mini but lost money on each one sold, we all know what happened to them!

 

I wish all the success in the world to those who bring us the lovely models we have available to us at the moment!

 

all the best

 

Godfrey

[Dunsignalling]

On ‎01‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 12:18, tomparryharry said:

 

It might well be that the original Merchant Navies are bl**dy awful-looking machines. However, to be fair, they were built against the background of WW2, and austerity. The rebuilt ones, however came to age when they had a rebuild, and certainly did their best work; an existence that is only remembered fairly recently. I certainly never them in original condition, and I'd guess that's the reason why Hornby haven't raced along is the prospective clients lack of perception, Sure, they've seen Clan Line & British India Line, but what about Union Castle, in 1947 condition?

 

Hmm....

 

Ian.

 

The other thing with the air-smoothed MN is that Hornby haven't yet done one that is in late enough condition to run alongside rebuilt ones.

 

Although I have 32 Light Pacifics and half a dozen rebuilt MNs. I haven't bought one yet. Show me 35011 or 35021 with cut down tenders or 35006, the second-last to get rebuilt, and the only one I made a note of seeing (at age 7) before it happened, and I'll be in like a shot.

 

John

 

 

Edited October 5, 2019 by Dunsignalling

[robmcg]

9 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I don't think supply is necessarily outstripping demand but oversupply in some cases is definitely outstripping demand and Hornby has long been a culprit (or victim of self-inflicted over optimism?) in this respect.  But having said that it is clearly not easy to assess demand accurately unless you have eyes and ears very close to the end market which means having feet on the ground/in the car keeping in close touch with retailers as well as watching all the other sources of market intelligence.  And it also means not being misled by mass orders placed by the type of retailer who goes in for heavy discounting as soon as they can because that further muddies any assessment of the state of the market.

Can Hornby, or indeed any 'mainstream mass manufacturer' get it right on the balance of quantity vs costs vs price vs profitability because if they can do that consistently, whatever the size of the market for any particular item they should be on the route to overall profitability.  

 

....

 

I think supply of new models may be organised as you suggest, but I include second-hand 'as new' and other models as advertised on Ebay, at Hattons and Rails/Ebay and others in my definition of 'supply'. 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

14 hours ago, robmcg said:

 

I think supply of new models may be organised as you suggest, but I include second-hand 'as new' and other models as advertised on Ebay, at Hattons and Rails/Ebay and others in my definition of 'supply'. 

 

 

I see your point Rob but in my experience it works in a slightly different way.  Interestingly I noticed in a current issue of one of the magazines an advert from an auction house I know well saying, in effect, that fairly recent models from teh mainstream manufacturers are curreently doing very well at auction.   What that no doubt translates as is that they are being snapped up by dealers who then effectively act as wholesalers although some I know of trade on Ebay as proivate individuals.

 

Now 'doing very well' basically means the models are selling instead of not selling at auction and it means little beyond that.  You could equally, and probably truthfully judging by past experience, say that kit built models are selling well although that is no guide to how much they fetch.   Overall it simply means there is a buoyant market out there and don't forget that some of the big boys charge very high prices for secondhand models (they also buy in at high prices so there is a balance there, it's not profiteering as such).  But again if second hand sells at high prices it again indicates more about the buoyancy of the market than anything else because some of those second hand prices are pretty high.  In reality the 'other than new' models are doing nothing different from what they have always done - simply competing for a share of our hard earned and as with newly made prices have risen over the years.

 

and there are several distinct market areas as far as buyers are concerned and there probably always will be because they have existed for more than 60 years to my personal knowledge and  I can't see them going away.  What has changed considerably is the new market where novelty and much more frequent issues of new models are a very different thing from the new market of many years ago and that is the market where the big boys and commissioners will always be active.

[adb968008]

I joined ebay in 1998, and am one of its dinosaurs. At the time I sold various OO bought in the UK to US buyers as I lived out there. At that time there probably wasnt more than 2000 items in model railways, and probably only a few hundred were British OO.

Since then ebay has eaten the model shop more than any other medium, it killed the thousands of annual swapmeets, where discounting was rife. But the model shop could with stand this event in that town once or twice a month, the local shop had their own second hand trade. Ebay gave everyone a global platform to buy whatever you want, precisely. You didnt have spend spare pocket money spent on whatever the shop has,  just because that “must have” item wasnt available.. you now got a global shop window, where someone somewhere had that “must have” item to sell.

The problem today is theres over 120k items for sale, last year there was 100k, the year before 80k... Everything made in China, each year slowly adds to the ebay pile. In many ways the model companies shouldn't have solved the mazak problem and make their products disposable.

 

Hornbys Coke trainset will long outlive a can of coke made on the same date, probably too any Monopoly boards games sold this christmas too.

 

As long as the attrition rate is slower than the production rate, modellers will inevitably slow spend as they run out of space, or feed their excesses to the ebay market. This in turn determines the optimum price to pay, which is almost always lower than retail new, and serves as a benchmark to the buyer about what is the “right” price to pay. For example as long as Bachmann Jubilees like 45611 Hong Kong sell secondhand for <£80, a buyer will view a new £170 45575 Madras as expensive, especially when you can buy a sound fitted 45593 at the same price.

Additionally the higher prices means people take more care of it and are less likely to weather / renumber / take a knife to  them etc too... the exact thing that made lots of attrition on older stock in the past.

The last time there was a life changing event was 25 years ago with the advent of DCC. Both DVD & Blueray & iPod technologies have both been invented and retired in the same timeframe.

 

A decade ago I was convinced to throw my 08’s and Jinty away for China detailed ones, but The hobby is absent of any other technological changes that make us want to throw our current 08’s in the bin and buy new, and the old tooling being quite good means incremental improvement isnt worth it.

 

The only counter to this is for Manufacturers to innovate their existing product and justify it, or just retire the tooling to make it rare and focus on something else.. but thats the very expensive unicorns blood, shrinking their survival with each tooling, I referred to two pages back...

 

Alternatively, down scope the tooling to make it more affordable, and encourage modelling, so people buy in higher volumes, and make the products less durable... minimum viable product... Airfix / Dapol kits are exactly that, rtr should be the same... how many Caley Pugs have been made & destroyed over the decades.

 

if the hobby is to survive it needs to adapt, Charles Darwin told us that... its that or get ebay to ban or ditch model railway sales, which if Hornby cleverly innovated itself, is not as far fetched as it sounds.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by adb968008

[Fenman]

26 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

...

The only counter to this is for Manufacturers to innovate their existing product and justify it, or just retire the tooling to make it rare and focus on something else..

...

 

Or they could do what Dapol and Heljan have done: look to other scales where there’s a lot more virgin territory and where margins appear to be higher. Because I agree with the first part of your analysis: 00 is becoming a saturated market with only niches left. 
 

Paul

[adb968008]

41 minutes ago, Fenman said:

Or they could do what Dapol and Heljan have done: look to other scales where there’s a lot more virgin territory and where margins appear to be higher. Because I agree with the first part of your analysis: 00 is becoming a saturated market with only niches left. 
 

Paul

O has barriers... very expensive track and rolling stock, as well as space constraints of the end user.

 

Would Hornby making O improve its chances of sales to mum & dad, especially without its own brand range of track, accessories and stock...? Thats a big investment but Hornby making an O gauge Scotsman alone will not a market make. They wouldn't just need to enter O gauge, they would need to own that market... Thats a big risk... Live steam and Zero 1 show solo products dont end well. 

They need a paradigm shift that encourages everyone to “I want that”... like metal to plastic, 3 rail to 2 rail, code100 track, nickel silver track, Made in China and DCC... theres not much new innovation across any gauge since the late 90’s... thats why we are so fat with toolings and scraping the barrel for things like DCC operated wagon lids and talking Water towers.

Edited October 6, 2019 by adb968008

[brack]

52 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

The problem today is theres over 120k items for sale, last year there was 100k, the year before 80k... Everything made in China, each year slowly adds to the ebay pile. In many ways the model companies shouldn't have solved the mazak problem and make their products disposable.

If you want proof, every time I search for o gauge on ebay you cant move for thousands of 70-80 year old Hornby tinplate items.

[Ouroborus]

3 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

if the hobby is to survive it needs to adapt, Charles Darwin told us that...

 

 

 

Hornby has had a few goes at adaptation, with varying degrees of success.  Whilst I agree with much of what you say, what exactly are you wanting Hornby to do with toy trains?  Higher tech = higher cost.  They get slammed for low fi models, they get slammed for expensive models.

 

To go back to the Darwin analogy, to me, Hornby's (and all the others) problem goes to the competition for resources.  We, the modellers, are the resources and Hornby needs us for its own survival.  But I'd hazard a guess that more are leaving the hobby (often permanently) than entering it.   

 

So Hornby's fight for survival is going to get tougher and tougher.  It's not just toy trains, but accross the board in modelling/crafts.  Yes, sure we can all give examples of our nephew who has just got into trains, but face it, model railway exhibitions have a heavy heavy bias of ageing males.  And that's it.  It's a simple fact that it seems to be a dwindling hobby.  Much like other hobbies and interests have gone into decline, so has ours. 

 

Those of you who don't have teenage children may struggle to grasp this, but the sub 20 year old have little interest in anything outside of their phone. They'd quite happily spend all their waking time on YouTube.  It is like a drug to them, their phone feeding them with things to keep them hooked.   Why 'do something' when you can just watch a YouTube clip of it.  And if that doesn't entertain, there'll be another clip along soon.  Hornby's had stick for taking to YouTube, but I guess they can see what they're up against.   Whether they've successfully tackled this is another matter.   Intercity82 is one of the more successful model railway YouTubers, he has 72k subscribers.  Four times as many as Hornby themselves.  But this is set against 6.3 million for Kylie Jenner.  And if you don't know who Kylie Jenner is (lucky you), that's exactly the point - kids are following some vacuous celebrity more than they are toy trains by a massive margin.  

 

All the innovation in the world by Hornby isn't going to change this, but it's what they're up against and as things stand, I really can't see a long term future for them because I don't see a long term future for the hobby.   It's a shame but the relative lack of youth being prepared to be different and creative means there will be fewer and fewer resources to keep Hornby and the rest sustained.

[JSpencer]

29 minutes ago, Ouroborus said:

 

Hornby has had a few goes at adaptation, with varying degrees of success.  Whilst I agree with much of what you say, what exactly are you wanting Hornby to do with toy trains?  Higher tech = higher cost.  They get slammed for low fi models, they get slammed for expensive models.

 

To go back to the Darwin analogy, to me, Hornby's (and all the others) problem goes to the competition for resources.  We, the modellers, are the resources and Hornby needs us for its own survival.  But I'd hazard a guess that more are leaving the hobby (often permanently) than entering it.   

 

So Hornby's fight for survival is going to get tougher and tougher.  It's not just toy trains, but accross the board in modelling/crafts.  Yes, sure we can all give examples of our nephew who has just got into trains, but face it, model railway exhibitions have a heavy heavy bias of ageing males.  And that's it.  It's a simple fact that it seems to be a dwindling hobby.  Much like other hobbies and interests have gone into decline, so has ours. 

 

Those of you who don't have teenage children may struggle to grasp this, but the sub 20 year old have little interest in anything outside of their phone. They'd quite happily spend all their waking time on YouTube.  It is like a drug to them, their phone feeding them with things to keep them hooked.   Why 'do something' when you can just watch a YouTube clip of it.  And if that doesn't entertain, there'll be another clip along soon.  Hornby's had stick for taking to YouTube, but I guess they can see what they're up against.   Whether they've successfully tackled this is another matter.   Intercity82 is one of the more successful model railway YouTubers, he has 72k subscribers.  Four times as many as Hornby themselves.  But this is set against 6.3 million for Kylie Jenner.  And if you don't know who Kylie Jenner is (lucky you), that's exactly the point - kids are following some vacuous celebrity more than they are toy trains by a massive margin.  

 

All the innovation in the world by Hornby isn't going to change this, but it's what they're up against and as things stand, I really can't see a long term future for them because I don't see a long term future for the hobby.   It's a shame but the relative lack of youth being prepared to be different and creative means there will be fewer and fewer resources to keep Hornby and the rest sustained.

 

I agree entirely with the bulk of that to just one glimmer of hope. A lot of young - though a small percentage in number - prefer living history, dressing up and cosplay. It is a different set of crafts. 

A layout takes a lot of space, the young don't have this, but a costume is easy to hang in a wardrobe.

I have had 18 or 20 somethings look at my layout, think it is really cool and then remind my that there viking outfit (or whatever) cost less than one of my trains (mainly though making much of it themselves).

I feel our hobby probably is in decline, and rather than trying to build to the sales of the old days, it is probably best to consolidate their costs around what they have got. 

 

[Phil Parker]

What a circle of doom this thread is. Basically we should all give up and die. Happy days.

 

I stood at a show last year while someone expounded the "hobby is dead" argument to me. He swept his arm around the room telling me how it was full of old people. At that point, it was full of families with kids, but that didn't fit his narrative so he decided to ignore the evidence of his own eyes. 

 

People have written off hobbies for years purely on anecdotal evidence, yet we are still here. 

[Widnes Model Centre]

 

With our shop being an "all round model shop", it is sometimes difficult to give the average age of our customers especially appertaining to railway modelling. However I have gone through yesterdays takings sheet and recalled the customers who bought anything model train related.

 

Just a snapshot showed me that a nine year old boy and his parents bought a Hornby train set. He already has a model railway but his parents decided to buy another set for him so he had another controller. A young man of around 22/23 years of age bought a rake of accurascale PCA wagons. Guy in his 40's bought some N Gauge wagons and a coach. Last customer of the day who arrived very late from the Wigan show bought some track. He was roughly in his early 30's. Difficult to recall if we had anyone over 45  buying model railway stock yesterday except maybe the customers who were buying for their father who had sent them in with his shopping list. They "Facetimed" him to show what they were getting to make sure it was the right products.

 

Our experience would show that not all railway modellers are as old as "we" like to believe.

[robmcg]

45 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

What a circle of doom this thread is. Basically we should all give up and die. Happy days.

....

 

I don't read it that way at all, just realistic comment.  We can still enjoy whichever aspect of modelling we choose. Back in the 50s such as Hornby hardly ever introduced anything new, but there was no 'doom'. 

[Ian Hargrave]

On 05/10/2019 at 14:52, Dunsignalling said:

The other thing with the air-smoothed MN is that Hornby haven't yet done one that is in late enough condition to run alongside rebuilt ones.

 

Although I have 32 Light Pacifics and half a dozen rebuilt MNs. I haven't bought one yet. Show me 35011 or 35021 with cut down tenders or 35006, the second-last to get rebuilt, and the only one I made a note of seeing (at age 7) before it happened, and I'll be in like a shot.

 

John

 

 

 

Which sort of identifies my position in the scheme of things as a member of this forum and as one who gnashed his teeth with the appearance of 35018 in defrocked garb .I thought ( and still think ) that they were brutishly magnificent as OVS designed them and had an aural and visual presence which for their time was...and remains...unique .

 

This thread is a warning that I wander in the treads of a dinosaur . Any more out there ? Somewhere? No ? 

 

 

 

[Ian Hargrave]

29 minutes ago, robmcg said:

 

I don't read it that way at all, just realistic comment.  We can still enjoy whichever aspect of modelling we choose. Back in the 50s such as Hornby hardly ever introduced anything new, but there was no 'doom'. 

 

Always depending of course if you could actually find it stocked in the shops.But you’re right Rob,by then doom was behind us and the age of “You’ve never had it do good “approached.History will judge the accuracy of that observation.....

[robmcg]

12 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

 

Always depending of course if you could actually find it stocked in the shops.But you’re right Rob,by then doom was behind us and the age of “You’ve never had it do good “approached.History will judge the accuracy of that observation.....

 

I am of the opinion that in terms of material comfort the west at least has never had it so good, equally in ample supply of such as high-fidelity model trains.  The shareholders of Hornby  quite reasonably expect returns. The answer is simple. I just forget where I wrote it down....

 

But I will buy a new Princess or two and have recently bought several s/h Duchesses, already owning most of the recent 'new' versions. 

 

What more can a balanced reasonable erudite and well-informed man do? I mean, there was a time when I spent a lot of money on old Jaguar motor cars and before that on British large motorbikes, so currently indulging in appreciation of truly stunning modern RTR 00 models it is.

 

pic edited, but added to reinforce the opinion that original MNs had 'something'...

 

[adb968008]

I’m under 45, and have a 9 year old girl who begs me to either play or take her out, indeed last night she and I were out at 930pm, watching Mayflower in South London, as consolation, a cold prevented me taking her to the SVR diesel gala, wife permitting were having a half term rail trip to Scotland, as my father used to for me in the past. In the Bachmann rep thread you will hear her giggling in the video of the 37142 to 37262 conversion, as we jointly did it yesterday... you can judge a 9years old work too.. she put the numbers onto the cabside.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118772-Bachmann-rep-limited-editions/&do=findComment&comment=3690094

Next up is fitting the detailing to a VITrains 47.

 

model railways certainly isn't for old men or even boys, girls like it too... try putting her to bed without a story of a real locomotive.. tonight was about 31423 (she didnt want 31413 as I referred to it as the Ice Cream van livery, which she correctly recalled was the same nickname given to 25322, which I told of some months back).

 

My posts of the last few days, certainly are anything but espousing an old mans hobby, Ive been saying theres an untapped market for modern image, overseas, new tech, new approaches, I’m realistic though...I dont expect anyone of any influence in the hobby will listen to my words here, but a forum is meant for discussion ?

 

If suggesting the hobby needs to change is a translation of we are all going to die, then I’m using the wrong words or someones using the wrong ears.

 

I was at Doncaster last week mid-week and the station was full of enthusiasts, some of whom I think were wagging from school...  The hobby on the station in 2019 certainly looks healthier than Ive seen for a few years.

 

To quote “Mama Mia”, if the hobby is too grown up.. “it needs to grow back down.”

Edited October 6, 2019 by adb968008

[Ouroborus]

It's not doom and gloom Phil but a simple acceptance of what it is.  Times change, what children are into change, how we spend money changes.  Don't worry about it, it doesn't affect us.

[adb968008]

On 01/10/2019 at 10:42, Phil Parker said:

 

Do you mean the serious model railway market? Possibly. But Hornby are pointing themselves beyond that market with pop-up stores and new things that look like concessions. Models that will sell to the general public at full RRP.

Heres the St Pancras pop up shop.

ive seen it several times in the past few weeks.

 

Its got a nice mix of Kits, Train-sets and Cars, though the £365 TGV and Big Boy maybe in the wrong shop. It does seem a but quiet each time Ive seen it.

That said its a great idea, I haven't asked but assume they have the ability to browse the catalogs and pre-order, or buy online and collect from there on your way home, could be good for last minute Christmas presents.

i’m hoping the Hornby SE class 395 enters this shop first, then I can buy my little one something she can see in model form, in the same place she sees the real thing... thats how a memory is made.

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by adb968008