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Hornby 2020 range "reveal date" = 6th Jan


phil gollin
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2 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

If Hornby wanted to make a 100 year statement, the obvious ones that appeal to all are already there.., Mallard, Scotsman & HST.

 

Depending on how they tooled it, they had new tooling for the slide-door Mk3s so perhaps a new tooled set of Mk3s for the HST power cars?

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I predict a reproduction of the first clockwork trainset to capture the last gasp of the grey pound.  probably in some sort of presentation case covered in leather, with gold-leaf embossed lettering, an official history of the company and a lifetime pass to Hornbyworld or whatever it's called in Margate.  Probably priced at four figures to the left of the decimal point.

And having urinated this year's development budget way up the wall on the commemorative gift set, the normal range will comprise half a dozen re-liveries of existing toolings.  There again, I am a cynic modeller.

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I will be extremely surprised if any new tooling.  Hornby needs to be on the black side of the ledger before any concerted effort to introduce new models.  Given the many retooled or newly tooled models over the last few years,  I can see more reliveries and new cab numbers.    Perhaps more of those oddball collections of slowly moving wharehouse stock bundled into a box at a slightly reduced pricing on full retail.  More of the same seems my impression of what to anticipate on January 6th.     I will wait until the items appear on the pre-owned listings.

 

 

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2 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

I will be extremely surprised if any new tooling.  Hornby needs to be on the black side of the ledger before any concerted effort to introduce new models.  Given the many retooled or newly tooled models over the last few years,  I can see more reliveries and new cab numbers.    Perhaps more of those oddball collections of slowly moving wharehouse stock bundled into a box at a slightly reduced pricing on full retail.  More of the same seems my impression of what to anticipate on January 6th.     I will wait until the items appear on the pre-owned listings.

 

 


I doubt that will be the main thrust of their 100 year celebration. I’m pretty sure SK has stated they have “exciting plans” for 2020.

 

it would seem to be new tooling of locos “x” as well as new liveries for existing models. 
 

Toplight carriages anyone? Lol 

Edited by Neal Ball
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3 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

I will be extremely surprised if any new tooling.


Why would Hornby not announce any newly tooled items? They've been in worse financial situations before and still announce a minimum of 6 newly  tooled items year after year. Seriously doubt Hornby will have a boring 2020.

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1 hour ago, GWR-fan said:

Apart from a few notable exceptions,  a lot of recently tooled items over the last several years have finished up in firesales or bundled together to reduce stock.

I hate to say it, but they have all been steam.

 

and if you look at other manufacturers, their sell offs were steam.. 47xx, 04 and Bachmanns discounts are steam...

 

Not many modern image* classes end in the bargain bins of late.

i get regular emails containing lists of bargain plain steam black locomotives.

 

The good thing about modern image is modernity... modellers want today... which means when new TOCs emerge and the vinyls change, the previous model becomes disposable giving the model railway company another bite at the cherry...

 

* modern image, Post y2k..

 

Edited by adb968008
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14 hours ago, MGR Hooper! said:

Isn't it their 100 year anniversary or something?

 

Not really, the "Hornby" that started marketing tinplate trains in 1920 died when it was absorbed by Tri-ang in 1964 and not much that was Hornby Dublo was carried across to Triang-Hornby.  The best that might be considered in anniversary tems is that the present company might be said to have hit the 70 years mark that commemorates the production of a train set for Marks and Spencer to sell at Christmas 1950 by Rovex.  The company that now trades as "Hornby" is even more recent as it was formed in 1972 after the "Tri-ang" name became unavailable due to the collapse of the Lines Brother conglomerate, so that would give a 50th anniversary in 2022!

 

The infatuation with Old Hornby that SK has is on a par with the recent advertising slogan "Vauxhall, a British Brand since 1903"*.  In other words, a somewhat stretched association.

 

* Vauxhall Motors, formed in 1903, bought by General Motors in 1925, bought by Groupe PSA in 2017.

 

Edited by Hroth
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A number of high street “quintessentially british” brands that everyones knows, but “used to be” popular reach 100 years have gone pop soon after...

 

They don't just need to celebrate history, they need to make a statement to the future too, that turns heads, not just warms hearts.

Edited by adb968008
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They're usually on an N chassis with an added rear bogie, aren't they?  I thought about buying the kit but there's quite a lot of work involved in the conversion, including reprofiling the cylinders.  Also, cheap Bachmann "N" chassis don't really exist so it could be a £200 bodge.

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Looking back fifty odd years or so  (100 years seems more like an advertising wishlist),  what is there to celebrate in Hornby's history?     Instead of looking backwards to history,  Hornby should be celebrating the future with something more current.   

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18 minutes ago, GWR-fan said:

Looking back fifty odd years or so  (100 years seems more like an advertising wishlist),  what is there to celebrate in Hornby's history?     Instead of looking backwards to history,  Hornby should be celebrating the future with something more current.   

...

so I did a recent half term trip across the country with my little one... London to Inverness, to Edinburgh, York, Leeds, Manchester, Crewe, Cardiff and back to London.

ignoring classes already modelled, and stuff from pre-2000.. the memories in my head are.. classes 175/185/195 (and with it the identical 331) / Electrostar.

 

of these:  

185/195/331 cover all the North East, North West.
Electrostar covers all the South East, Anglia and GWR Electrified lines, Plus LMR upto Milton Keynes,

175 covers Wales, Midlands and Manchester.

and as outsider the 319/768/799 has in its life covered all the South East, LMR upto Carnforth, southern MML and ECML and will eventually cover GWML parts of wales.

 

if 4 models were Selected from the above you could appeal to just about every modeller south of Scotland* and have 30 years worth of new liveries.

 

whilst the Scottish may feel aggrieved at my result.. they actually dont have that much new, but have been catered for with 156/158/170/68/Mk5/92& HST which pretty much covers their entirety.


if I had influence, it would be Electrostar, and the 195/331- I get both an EMU and a DMU from the same tooling, and finally the 185.. they are everywhere.

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