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Hornby 2020 range announcements


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Of course there is always some disappointment with what is announced, unfortunately Hornby (or any other manufacturer for that matter) cannot produce everything we may wish for. Hornby have made plenty of GWR/BR locos over the past few years. There is a good spread of modern/old locos whether you want or need them is entirely a personal choice. I believe there are some exiting developments coming especially with the new app. control system which must have huge potential. I like the fact that there is a new APT-E coming out, it will be good to see a really detailed model, and at a sensible price (compared to the Bachman Blue Pullman). Inevitably Hornby will announce further variations of some of the new products. I like the fact there are intermodal wagons with loads at good prices too.

Well done Hornby for continuing to give us some lovely locos and stock and a few innovations.

Edited by 7013
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3 minutes ago, JohnR said:

 

No, they are completely new tooling, and dont have the Mk3 chassis. Was confirmed by Paul Isles on this very forum last week. 

 

Cheers for the clarification John, they look very similar - I'd like to see one in the flesh because the bogies look identical

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Well there's interesting - and an awful lot of stuff dated 'December 2020' which judging by the situation with some 2019 releases probably won't appear until 2021.  

 

Of course there is the very personal question of 'what's in it for me'? - so maybe 78000 IF it's in the correct (green) livery, 60700 (yes really) does have an interesting personal reason as I travelled behind it and cabbed it so it might prove irresistible if they do a good job on it (in lined green of course) then there's the RB as a possible.  There are one or two potential items of Western Region wagonry although I do wonder above the colour of the lettering and the 1964 style 'framed' 'XP' on the horsebox and yet again they've got the WR period colour of the Shunters' Truck and it's lettering wrong  - I'd best tip-off Islesy on that one in case there's time to alter it.  Oh and one or two of the repro Dublo Dinkies will be worth a look.  Oh and isn't somebody else already doing a Class 91?

 

The H&M tech development does sound interesting and might be worth investigating although I suspect it might not be for an OF traditionalist like me but clearly they are very serious about it as they've negotiated an extra £3million loan facility from Phoenix with more than a hint that it will used to help fund new technical developments and this year's wider range of announcements.  As somebody else has already said announcements on this level and to this sort of extent do have something of a hint of 'last chance saloon' about them such is the quantity and market breadth of what they are proposing.  I do truly hope that they haven't bitten off more than they could chew in 2019 and that they've got their feel of the market correct.  For example how many APT sets will they have to sell to cover their investment?  I know the DJM proposal was a lot more expensive and price does play a part but the reality seems to be that it never got anywhere near 1,000 orders so how many do Hornby need to sell to get into profit?  And just how many folk remember the Beatles' more psychedelic period - is that HST aimed at the baby boomer market?

 

The other big question has to be with such a huge range announced to what extent will retailers stock up, or be able to afford to stock up, with the whole range particularly in an upcoming period of economic uncertainty?  Some items will very obviously go into the wider toy market while others will go to the nostalgia market and will undoubtedly quickly become 'factory sell outs' for Hornby (which is what matters to them of course.  Overall a very brave endeavour  on their part.  But as far as nostalgia goes and while it might work on me for 60700 it definitely won't for 'Duchess of Atholl' when they can't even get it in the correct colour box. - mine came in the plain blue box with a pale blue label on the end and it was (late) 1940s production, I didn't see any HD locos in the blue and white striped box until the early-mid 1950s and even then it wasn't consistent as both my N2 and 'Bristol Castle' also came in plain blue boxes.  it would seem that nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

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On the subject of Rocket, can anyone explain what the difference is between the regular range train pack version and the limited edition "Tri-ang" version? From the photos, they look much the same to me, the only difference is that with the latter you're paying an additional tenner for a retro-looking box and a certificate. Which seems a little pointless, to me.

 

Having said that, from my limited knowledge of the extreme end of the collector market (gleaned, if I'm honest, from watching James May on TV). a decent box is worth a lot more than a tenner. So maybe this one is a bargain!

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43 minutes ago, rovex said:

Just noticed that the Coronoation Scott coaches include a three car restaurant set. Sorry if anyone else has picked this up but I'm at work and can't really wade through 13 pages of posts

 

This must be the first time that such a formtion has been produced as RTR!

 

Whilst the Coronation Scott livery doesn't interest me, I might be interested in these in standard LMS/BR livery.

 

Rovex

For information, these are all loose coaches as the Stanier Period 3 stock. The formation of the three 1937 sets was BFK-FK-RFO-RK-RTO-RTO-RK-RTO-BTK. The set being produced was originally arranged 5052-1069-7507-30084-8996-8993-30086-8961-5812 according to Jenkinson.

 

The artics and 'streamliners' didn't get finished except for the 1939 set which went to the USA and never saw service in the Coronation Scot. After the war the part built coaches which had been stored were completed between 1947 and 1949 being used firstly in the Blackpool and Southport 'Club Trains' to Manchester and at least one twin on the Euston - Wolverhampton run.

 

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1 hour ago, aaron3820 said:

Not everything has to be for the UK market you know 

 But if not , shouldn't it be HO ?     Also puzzled by this choice . Did it run in UK in this colour scheme ? While he has gone off on one , now the dust is settling on the new announcements I can sort of see where TGK300  is  coming from . Its not a balanced range . However I think what he is underestimating is the strength of the grey pound . People will buy tinplate trains because its Hornby and a Collectors Issue . I've just bought a Rocket presentation set , so I suppose I'm the greyish pound .  And frankly there's a lot in there to interest me, especially an APT launched in a logical manner of models and not the make it up on back of envelope approach .  I think also that Hornby maybe have got stung making black 0-6-0s that sit on shelf and as I predicted have gone back to large steamers . I had though an A4 fronted P2 so I got that bit wrong . I do wonder at the choice of Thompson Pacifics . There will be some that need them for their East Coast fleet but these must be relatively few and they are not exactly graceful looking models that will fire the imagination of the casual modeller , in the way that Stephensons Rocket does .

 

While they've been quick off the mark with an Aventi Pendolino , there's no TPE 802 which seems strange . Maybe they can't get license to produce it ????   So on second viewing quite a lot of strange livery choices in there and some obvious ones that are not there

 

I think the Analogue control system will be well received . I'll certainly have a look , but its probably ideal for folks expanding from trainsets at a reasonable cost and not going fully DCC .  Play factor but not overly complex.

 

Sorry I just don't get Steampunk at all , but that is me . The models look like abominations that have melted .Jules Verne wouldn't have designed that lot . Hang on isn't that Smokey Joe , Annie and Clarabel with pipes and cogs stuck on.  Well if it expands the market , why not, and it looks like a limited investment . Perhaps continuing the retro theme this is the equivalent to Tri-ang Battlespace of the 1960s!  Its just occurred to me I've been collecting Tri-ang and Hornby for half its life eek!

Edited by Legend
Sorry wrong quote
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2 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

For that money you can get an O gauge loco from Dapol that's a decent model of something real, four or five wagons to keep it amused and enough Peco Setrack to build a modest shunting plank!!!!

 

John

 

Well, yes, but some people prefer weird old-fashioned stuff to any amount of plastic trains ........ they meet in secret in church halls up and down the country, and play trains on dreadful old tinplate track.

 

Disgusting it is; it ought to be banned!

 

(you are right though, the price is a bit too high to make it a safe bet)

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10 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 

 

 

The other big question has to be with such a huge range announced to what extent will retailers stock up, or be able to afford to stock up, with the whole range particularly in an upcoming period of economic uncertainty?  Some items will very obviously go into the wider toy market while others will go to the nostalgia market and will undoubtedly quickly become 'factory sell outs' for Hornby (which is what matters to them of course.  Overall a very brave endeavour  on their part.  But as far as nostalgia goes and while it might work on me for 60700 it definitely won't for 'Duchess of Atholl' when they can't even get it in the correct colour box. - mine came in the plain blue box with a pale blue label on the end and it was (late) 1940s production, I didn't see any HD locos in the blue and white striped box until the early-mid 1950s and even then it wasn't consistent as both my N2 and 'Bristol Castle' also came in plain blue boxes.  it would seem that nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

It never has been, Mike...

Edited by Dunsignalling
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7 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

But as far as nostalgia goes and while it might work on me for 60700 it definitely won't for 'Duchess of Atholl' when they can't even get it in the correct colour box. - mine came in the plain blue box with a pale blue label on the end and it was (late) 1940s production, I didn't see any HD locos in the blue and white striped box until the early-mid 1950s and even then it wasn't consistent as both my N2 and 'Bristol Castle' also came in plain blue boxes.  it would seem that nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

 

I can understand people complaining about the wrong colour on the model - but on the boxes too??

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8 minutes ago, Legend said:

Sorry I just don't get Steampunk at all , but that is me . The models look like abominations that have melted .Jules Verne wouldn't have designed that lot . Hang on isn't that Smokey Joe , Annie and Clarabel with pipes and cogs stuck on.  Well if it expands the market , why not, and it looks like a limited investment . Perhaps continuing the retro theme this is the equivalent to Tri-ang Battlespace of the 1960s!  Its just occurred to me I've been collecting Tri-ang and Hornby for half its life eek!

 

Maybe Hornby think that anyone who watched Amazon's 'Carnival Row' want Steampunk trains to play with ready for Season 2...if they ever make it :jester:

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A well thought-out selection; covers a lot of bases.

 

What would've been REALLY nice, would be the re-introduction of proper O-gauge clockwork tinplate. I'm sure a good few of us started our model railway journey with these trains.

 

Oh, and doesn't anyone do DMUs anymore? A Swindon class 120 would've been good. These always come high in the "wants" voting.

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2 minutes ago, SouthernBlue80s said:

I model the 1980s

Surprised they do not do a class 31/4 and a few more blue class 56s. Perhaps 56036 in large logo.

I think these would sell well for them.

 

No a Hungarian liveried Class 56 will appeal to a much larger base & sell heaps more...sorry I can't help myself as this is too funny :jester:

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16 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

On the subject of Rocket, can anyone explain what the difference is between the regular range train pack version and the limited edition "Tri-ang" version? From the photos, they look much the same to me, the only difference is that with the latter you're paying an additional tenner for a retro-looking box and a certificate. Which seems a little pointless, to me.

 

Having said that, from my limited knowledge of the extreme end of the collector market (gleaned, if I'm honest, from watching James May on TV). a decent box is worth a lot more than a tenner. So maybe this one is a bargain!

Apparently the limited edition has different coach names, so if you were willing to have two Rockets you could make a six-coach train.

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SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE SMOKEY JOE

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5 hours ago, adb968008 said:

....DC Bluetooth App control i’m intrigued by... this could be the start of something big.

 

5 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

...Not revolutionary, though, we've been using such a system (Blue Railways) for almost two years.


Nothing revolutionary about it.

It’s just normal analogue DC control of a layout, via an app and using individual layout section controllers.

There’s no individual control of trains and almost all, if not all, of the downsides of using DC, still pertain.

 

Now before I say any more, please note that from various quotes in this thread, it’s apparent that there is some confusion over...

BlueRail Trains (an American company) and

blueRailways ( a British company).

 

The former (BlueRail Trains) is a wireless digital control system that communicates directly with each individual loco or train.

There are no controllers nor any Command Station involved, other than the free control app that runs on a smartphone or tablet.

There are no line side boxes to buy.

Individual locos and trains are controlled wirelessly, direct from a smartphone or tablet, direct to the loco or train.

Power is via fixed voltage DC or DCC to the track, or with an adapter, on-board batteries.

It is now, in its 2nd generation form, fully compatible with DCC and DCC sound decoders. A known sound decoder manufacturer is shortly to launch DCC sound decoders with the Bluetooth receivers already built-in on board.

It could be seen as a form of progression beyond DCC.

 

The latter ( blueRailways) is wireless control of a bog standard DC layout.

There is no individual control of trains and it continues to “drive the track” and not the trains.

It requires proprietary trackside modules to be purchased and wired up.

It requires section switching etc.

There is almost no technological advancement here, other than being able to use a phone or tablet as a DC controller.


Hornby appear to have copied or licenced the blueRailways analogue system, or a similar product.

I personally can’t see it being of much use to diehard DC operators, but it might have some “kerbside appeal” if it’s included in trainsets.


Unfortunately, Hornby have had a very checkered record when it comes to adopting new technology, often backing blind alleys.

 

 

5 hours ago, adb968008 said:

It depends on price / features.

 

I looked at Bluerail..shrugged my shoulders.. Ive 000’s of locos and such a solution wouldn't fly at that price.

i’m also DC, not DCC.

 

This looks interesting in that it looks simple..and potentially extensible... i’m need to read the details.. but at under £30 this is interesting...

If they open the system, or at least are open to community feedback, they could go down a really interesting path here.


You are obviously aware of the difference.

What does this new Hornby product offer you?

 

6 hours ago, JohnR said:

APT? Wow. I want one. My lad will want one too. 

 

.....But that DC control app? That is, I think the most stunning announcement, though it may go under the radar of some on here. I expect it to be in train sets before long. 


I beg to differ. Nothing stunning.

Its as if Zanussi, AEG, Bosch et al, put all their combined efforts into using new technology........to recreate the scrubbing board and mangle.

 

5 hours ago, NIK said:

Hi John,

 

I though Blue Rail was control of locos directly by wireless.

 

The Hornby system is control of DC/accessory controllers by wireless, then wires to the tracks etc. Even less revolutionary perhaps.

 

Regards

 

Nick

 

Spot on.

 

 

5 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

I'm guessing that the sounds are in the app on the phone/tablet (much like the original Bluerail was) as there is no way to communicate with the engine beyond the simple voltage amount, so no way to add sound to a loco that isn't already sound equipped......

 

 

 

49 minutes ago, scottrains29 said:

......The new analogue control system is a surprise.
It seems like a step backwards when people want more functionality and control, the popularity of DCC and TTS shows this.

 

.....I suspect the launch of the analogue system is part of their retro celebration year.

 

 

That made me chuckle. Spot on though.

What a wasted opportunity. 
 

 

 

Ron

 

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15 pages of conjecture and nobody seems to notice or pass comment on this: There is not one new or newly re-tooled wagon of any kind for 2020

 

For me that's a huge miss. 

 

Paul A. 

Edited by 1whitemoor
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