Heljan at Warley

[Neal Ball]

Heljan have announced on Facebook that they will be making announcements at Warley this weekend, in OO and O.

 

looks as if it might be busy at Warley this year with new announcements, with Accurascsle already announcing the class 37, plus something at 10:15 on the Saturday. Any other announcements?

 

[truffy]

Now, this is a better way of doing it, rather than Hornby's two-month announcement of an announcement in the new year!

[MGR Hooper!]

9 hours ago, truffy said:

Now, this is a better way of doing it, rather than Hornby's two-month announcement of an announcement in the new year!

 

Hornby didn't make an announcement of an announcement 2 months prior.

 

It was Hatton's that listed the 2020 catalogue, a fellow member put up the news here and Hatton's once again has created more hype by posting on Facebook.

 

Hornby hasn't said a word!!

[Neal Ball]

It’s interesting to see all the froth on the Hornby and Accurascale pages on here and yet nothing for Heljan. Just an observation!

 

Ive no idea what they are likely to announce, but will be heading over to their stand at Warley to find out.

[Edge]

Interesting from my point of view that they are announcing for OO, but that O gauge is explicitly O gauge. I’m always fond of more OO9 stuff coming out, and I’ll be keeping my eyes open for anything from Heljan - VoR tank locos are a persistent rumour that won’t go away

[66738]

It’s always nice to see an exciting announcement but perhaps they already have enough projects on the go and would be better if they just concentrated on the 25, 45, 47 and 86 (there will be more but that’s all I could think of at the moment) for the time being. Surely that’s enough to be getting on with. 
66738

[Neal Ball]

7 minutes ago, 66738 said:

It’s always nice to see an exciting announcement but perhaps they already have enough projects on the go and would be better if they just concentrated on the 25, 45, 47 and 86 (there will be more but that’s all I could think of at the moment) for the time being. Surely that’s enough to be getting on with. 
66738

 

There are a number of people you could say that about!

[66738]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

 

There are a number of people you could say that about!

Well yes indeed. It’s long been my mind to think for Bachmann and Hornby to scale back their upcoming projects and just concentrate on the back logs. And then when reasonably caught up, only announce a new project when it is a decent way along the road. (Accurascale and Cavalex are good examples of putting in a lot of the groundwork before going public.) Waiting 3,4 or even 5+ years for a model is frustrating. I know they have to lay down their marker. ‘We are planning on producing X model’ to (sometimes) stop others from doing the same thing. But it can feel like waiting for tomorrow to come. (It never does). 
66738

[Erixtar1992]

Shame Heljan dont sell their returned stock at warley like Bachmann and Dapol, would be good!

[Phil Parker]

13 minutes ago, 66738 said:

Well yes indeed. It’s long been my mind to think for Bachmann and Hornby to scale back their upcoming projects and just concentrate on the back logs.

 

Cue howls of "Why isn't there anything new announced this year!!!!" followed by talk of maker being doomed because they haven't announced anything new.

To be fair, they are catching up on back-logs, which is why we heard so much of the above earlier this year.

Who'd be a RTR manufacturer?

[birdseyecircus]

5 minutes ago, Erixtar1992 said:

Shame Heljan dont sell their returned stock at warley like Bachmann and Dapol, would be good!

It says they do on the opening thread to this topic.

 

Paul

[Phil Parker]

1 minute ago, Erixtar1992 said:

Shame Heljan dont sell their returned stock at warley like Bachmann and Dapol, would be good!

 

From the original post:

 

6) Seconds and factory rejects at bargain prices*

 

*While stocks last.

[66738]

12 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Cue howls of "Why isn't there anything new announced this year!!!!" followed by talk of maker being doomed because they haven't announced anything new.

To be fair, they are catching up on back-logs, which is why we heard so much of the above earlier this year.

Who'd be a RTR manufacturer?

Yeah fair point. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. 
66738

[truffy]

10 hours ago, MGR Hooper! said:

 

Hornby didn't make an announcement of an announcement 2 months prior.

 

It was Hatton's that listed the 2020 catalogue, a fellow member put up the news here and Hatton's once again has created more hype by posting on Facebook.

 

Hornby hasn't said a word!!

 

Really?

 

Where do you think they got the date of 06.01.2020 from? Made it up? That would be naughty!

 

There was an announcement on the Hornby forums by JeremiahBunyan on 13.11: https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/forum/Hornby-2020-range-will-be-revealed-on/?p=1

 

I have no idea of JeremiahBunyan's affiliation, but his post seem to be announcements of upcoming Hornby events, and he has a lot of 'inside knowledge': https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/forum/user/index/id/644577/

 

I don't do F*c*book, so have no idea what goes on there.

Edited November 20, 2019 by truffy

[birdseyecircus]

1 hour ago, truffy said:

 

I have no idea of JeremiahBunyan's affiliation, but his post seem to be announcements of upcoming Hornby events, and he has a lot of 'inside knowledge': https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/forum/user/index/id/644577/

 

I don't do F*c*book, so have no idea what goes on there.

He was a regular poster on this site a few years back praising everything Hornby and pulling others to bits.

 

Paul

[Erixtar1992]

4 hours ago, birdseyecircus said:

It says they do on the opening thread to this topic.

 

Paul

 

4 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

From the original post:

 

6) Seconds and factory rejects at bargain prices*

 

*While stocks last.

 

ahh apologies guys! I completely missed that bit! Haha!

[mdvle]

5 hours ago, 66738 said:

Well yes indeed. It’s long been my mind to think for Bachmann and Hornby to scale back their upcoming projects and just concentrate on the back logs. And then when reasonably caught up, only announce a new project when it is a decent way along the road. (Accurascale and Cavalex are good examples of putting in a lot of the groundwork before going public.) Waiting 3,4 or even 5+ years for a model is frustrating. I know they have to lay down their marker. ‘We are planning on producing X model’ to (sometimes) stop others from doing the same thing. But it can feel like waiting for tomorrow to come. (It never does).

 

Or perhaps we could look at what is actually happening in 2019 and judge the companies on this year and not previous years?

 

Bachmann did exactly (and more) of what you asked for.  They announced essentially nothing - one OO freight wagon and a small number of OO9 items - and they made the tough decision to defer 4 items (2 N / 2 OO).  And they have made significant progress in catching up with their back log of items.

 

As for Hornby, a look at their 2019 announced new tooling (based on a quick check of RMweb):

• LMS Princess class - sample
• GW Large Prairie - in production
• Peckett B2 - delivered
• 48DS - delivered
• SR 59' Bulleid Short coaches - delivered
• GW 57' Bow-ended suburban - delivered
• Mk2F - delivered
• Mk3 sliding-door - samples
• LSWR brake van - livery samples (new for Warley)
• LMS brake van - samples
• Terrier - delivered

So for Hornby 11 new tooled items, with 6 delivered / 1 in production / 1 at livery sample stage (so close to production) and 3 have had at least tooling samples.

 

So I think your comment about Hornby scaling back to concentrate on back logs is more than a bit unfair given they are progressing extremely well on their 2019 announcements.

 

8 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

It’s interesting to see all the froth on the Hornby and Accurascale pages on here and yet nothing for Heljan. Just an observation!

 

Partially I suspect because Heljan have had a spotty track record in the past, and the new UK person hasn't had time to put things right.

 

But the amount of announcements leads me to believe that Heljan have made a decision to refocus their UK efforts which is a very promising sign.

Edited November 20, 2019 by mdvle

[66738]

1 hour ago, mdvle said:

 

Or perhaps we could look at what is actually happening in 2019 and judge the companies on this year and not previous years?

 

Bachmann did exactly (and more) of what you asked for.  They announced essentially nothing - one OO freight wagon and a small number of OO9 items - and they made the tough decision to defer 4 items (2 N / 2 OO).  And they have made significant progress in catching up with their back log of items.

 

As for Hornby, a look at their 2019 announced new tooling (based on a quick check of RMweb):

• LMS Princess class - sample
• GW Large Prairie - in production
• Peckett B2 - delivered
• 48DS - delivered
• SR 59' Bulleid Short coaches - delivered
• GW 57' Bow-ended suburban - delivered
• Mk2F - delivered
• Mk3 sliding-door - samples
• LSWR brake van - livery samples (new for Warley)
• LMS brake van - samples
• Terrier - delivered

So for Hornby 11 new tooled items, with 6 delivered / 1 in production / 1 at livery sample stage (so close to production) and 3 have had at least tooling samples.

 

So I think your comment about Hornby scaling back to concentrate on back logs is more than a bit unfair given they are progressing extremely well on their 2019 announcements.

 

 

Partially I suspect because Heljan have had a spotty track record in the past, and the new UK person hasn't had time to put things right.

 

But the amount of announcements leads me to believe that Heljan have made a decision to refocus their UK efforts which is a very promising sign.

Again a fair point well made. I agree Hornby have pulled their socks up recently and indeed Bachmann are catching up with their projects.
I did say it’s long been my mind, (back from when Bachmann and admittedly Hornby to a lesser degree were announcing projects that were not to see the light of day for many a year), but you are right to point out that that was then and this is now and to praise them on what they have dished up for our delight in recent times. I’m sorry for the offence I have caused. 
66738

Edited November 20, 2019 by 66738

[MGR Hooper!]

6 hours ago, truffy said:

 

Really?

 

Where do you think they got the date of 06.01.2020 from? 

All they've done is inform the trade and possibly the press. That's normal procedure. I'm sure people like Andy Y and Phil Parker have also been informed. Hornby haven't been trying to drum up an audience via their own website and their own social media channels.

Their forums is for the public to use, no posts have been made by Hornby themselves. No one from Hornby (except the admin) post on the forum. Is purely for the public.

Once again, most of this frothing came about becuase Hatton's has done more advertising for the sales of the 2020 catalogue. And all this started from Hatton's as part of their usual form of adverts via emails and other social media platforms. No other box shifters seem to have done that.

[w124bob]

I'm just looking forward to the arrival of the next batch of banger blue class 27's, which I believe are not far off .

[truffy]

3 minutes ago, MGR Hooper! said:

All they've done is inform the trade and possibly the press. That's normal procedure. I'm sure people like Andy Y and Phil Parker have also been informed. Hornby haven't been trying to drum up an audience via their own website and their own social media channels.

 

Unless the announcement was embargoed, then it would be reasonable to assume that it would get out some way or another. IMO there's little difference in making an announcement directly or indirectly.

[Phil Parker]

2 hours ago, truffy said:

 

Unless the announcement was embargoed, then it would be reasonable to assume that it would get out some way or another. IMO there's little difference in making an announcement directly or indirectly.

 

The Hornby announcement will be embargoed when the press and retail trade are told, as it is every year. All sides take these very seriously.

[truffy]

28 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

The Hornby announcement will be embargoed when the press and retail trade are told, as it is every year. All sides take these very seriously.

Hi Phil, I'm not sure what you're saying here.

 

Are you saying that the announcement was embargoed, and that Hattons (and JeremiahBunyan), broke the embargo? Or that it was not embargoed in the first place?

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, truffy said:

Hi Phil, I'm not sure what you're saying here.

 

Are you saying that the announcement was embargoed, and that Hattons (and JeremiahBunyan), broke the embargo? Or that it was not embargoed in the first place?

 

No. He means that the details are embargoed.

 

No problem with anyone knowing the date as they've been releasing the details on virtually the same date for decades. Just that it used to be published in the back of magazines such as Railway Modeller rather than on the internet and to find out what they were making you had to buy a magazine or the catalogue...

 

 

Jason

[Phil Parker]

11 hours ago, truffy said:

Are you saying that the announcement was embargoed, and that Hattons (and JeremiahBunyan), broke the embargo? Or that it was not embargoed in the first place?

 

What announcement? All Hattons etc. said is there will be a catalogue and there will be some new announcements. The contents and details are embargoed.

 

Embargos exist so everyone can be ready to publicise the details of the new range properly. By telling us ahead of the official reveal date, Hornby ensures that they maximise publicity on the day. Instead of scrabbling around to pul information on the day, we'll have everything lined up for World of Railways, RMweb and later the magazine pages so the coverage is as good as possible. The retailers will have their websites set up to take orders. Those awaiting the news will get a proper reveal, which is something we all enjoy.

 

Technically, someone could spill the beans ahead of the official date, but that would at the very least ensure that no manufacturer would ever trust them again. Worse, it would spoil the fun of the reveal. Once you know, you know. The fun of speculation is over.

 

Now, could I suggest that this thread returns to talking about Heljan.