Hornby 2020 range announcements

[TomScrut]

I think the other thing is that how many activities can keep adults entertained for hours when they would normally be out socialising or whatever? Other than TV which I think is what people have looked for an escape from.

 

There is DIY too of course, but in terms of toys and hobbies the Hornby and Airfix side of things don't have much competition I don't think. Other than things that are more crafty, there's only Lego etc which I also expect will have done well.

[Oldddudders]

55 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

I suppose it helps Hornby that their brands are well-known 

In the UK, Hornby is the Hoover of toy trains, the generic brand. You can't buy that level of brand-recognition, it has to be earned. That's why what was Tri-ang became Hornby. 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

1 hour ago, rob D2 said:

Be interesting to see what % continue with said hobbies...

It's all good, whatever. Made the sales to new customers, and some will subsequently buy more. Among those quite possibly some who have fallen off their mountain bike once too often, and are thinking 'trade it in for something less risky' .

[adb968008]

4 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Be interesting to see what % continue with said hobbies .

 

My local mountain bike group is seeing an upswing in covid bike starters ditching it now and selling on... although that’s a bit risky as we await the next U turn 

Well we spent nearly a grand turning ourselves into gardeners... tomatos, load of them , berries every colour of the rainbow, apple tree, strawberries you name it...

We seem to have a half dozen green tomatoes that just wont turn red to show for our efforts.. so its safe to say that our new hobby is going to be ditched.

Edited September 24, 2020 by adb968008

[Oldddudders]

Some have green fingers, and plenty of us don't. My personal Gertrude Jekyll ensures I have decent flower displays year on year - she is also my cleaner.

 

 

She also runs a comprehensive kitchen garden and many fruit trees. But then she has 17 acres so has the space.... Nevertheless, even she was very pleased earlier today when her lover turned up with these from his own kitchen garden.

 

 

And she has recently been bottling fruit and veg, too. These were awaiting completion of more shelving.

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Some have green fingers, and plenty of us don't...

How true. According to my other half who is local supreme commander of all green and growing things, you have to talk to them. I duly defer to her psycho-biological knowhow, and water, prune, fetch and carry, slash and burn compost, as directed; and stick to physics for my hobby interests, where stuff does what it should without need of verbal guidance.

[Oldddudders]

I believe the actress-turned-politician Glenda Jackson admitted to talking to her plants. She said "I look them full in the bud and say 'Grow you bu**ers!'"

[brushman47544]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

And she has recently been bottling fruit and veg, too. These were awaiting completion of more shelving.

 

The trouble with quantities like that is they seem never ending and you end up not wanting to eat them ever again.

[Chris116]

I am totally rubbish at growing flowers or plants of any kind.

 

So much so that my mother told me as a teenager that I would kill silk flowers if she let me look after them!

[Oldddudders]

3 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

The trouble with quantities like that is they seem never ending and you end up not wanting to eat them ever again.

For you and me maybe, but her three bairns (Alison is Scots, and they are 11,14,17) are used to such foods. Not much goes to waste in their household. Brodie happily eats raw broccoli stalk! Shelving was completed today and all is stowed. 

[caradoc]

Apologies if thus has been mentioned before (in these 66 pages) but the green Mark 1 BG announced on Page 1 was shown numbered S84289, and on their imminent release, retailer publicity still shows the same vehicle number. Surely this is wrong ? There was a BG renumbered 84289 (from 81289, in connection with the introduction of POIS) but not until the mid-1980s, and therefore definitely not in green livery !

[Dunsignalling]

Beware the elephant trap that is the green Mk1 BG.

 

AFAIK none entered traffic in that livery until 1963.

 

They should not therefore be seen in the company of Schools, Arthurs, Nelsons, non-rebuilt MNs, T9s etc. etc. 

 

John

Edited October 1, 2020 by Dunsignalling

[Joseph_Pestell]

9 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Beware the elephant trap that is the green Mk1 BG.

 

AFAIK none entered traffic in that livery until 1963.

 

They should not therefore be seen in the company of Schools, Arthurs, Nelsons, non-rebuilt MNs, T9s etc. etc. 

 

John

For clarity, are you saying that Southern Region did not have any BGs until 1963? Or that they were painted in BR Maroon?

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

For clarity, are you saying that Southern Region did not have any BGs until 1963? Or that they were painted in BR Maroon?

So far as I know, the former. Up to that point, any Mk.1 BGs on the region were either passing through or "borrowed".  There was a notorious case of a WR chocolate and cream example that featured in the Bournemouth Belle formation for quite some time until it's "owners" demanded it be returned.

 

The way the SR carriage stock was formed into mainly quite short sets, used in multiple as required, meant there was no shortage of guard accommodation and the Gangwayed Luggage Vans of (Tri-ang fame) provided the necessary baggage capacity on the main expresses.

 

Those were progressively withdrawn from between 1959 and 1962, so the need for corridor replacements grew. The one done up for use in Sir Winston Churchill's funeral train in 1965 had previously been out of traffic for some considerable time. During that period, the region received significant quantities of cast-offs from the ER and LMR, which had received the bulk of the earlier Mk1 BGs delivered. 

 

Photographs showing Thompson, Gresley or Stanier BGs attached to SR trains are sufficiently commonplace that their presence often passes unremarked in captions. There were even a few Stove Rs cascaded to SR milk train duties, as there were never enough of the stove-fitted Vans "B" to go round. 

 

John

Edited October 2, 2020 by Dunsignalling
Duplicated reference removed

[linz61]

On 02/10/2020 at 06:10, Dunsignalling said:

Beware the elephant trap that is the green Mk1 BG.

 

AFAIK none entered traffic in that livery until 1963.

 

They should not therefore be seen in the company of Schools, Arthurs, Nelsons, non-rebuilt MNs, T9s etc. etc. 

 

John

Interesting. Just wondering, if as you say the MK1 did not enter traffic in BR green till '63, do you know when the Maunsell stock were repainted into green? 

 

Cheers,

Linz

[Dunsignalling]

15 minutes ago, linz61 said:

Interesting. Just wondering, if as you say the MK1 did not enter traffic in BR green till '63, do you know when the Maunsell stock were repainted into green? 

 

Cheers,

Linz

Only the BGs. There was plenty of green passenger stock before then. 

 

AFAIK, all remaining Bulleid and Maunsell stock had been repainted into green by the end of 1959. Any to be seen in crimson/cream after that would have been withdrawn, awaiting disposal or conversion to departmental use.

 

The SR still had some BR Mk1s in c/c after that, and those received green as they came up to paint dates or went for conversion to EMUs. A couple of 3-sets escaped both until May/June 1962. 

 

Thereafter, any crimson/cream stock on the region was visiting.

 

John

 

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Dunsignalling

[Dunsignalling]

Just now, Dunsignalling said:

 

Accidentally hit quote instead of edit......

 

 

[linz61]

Thanks very much John. 

 

Linz

[The Johnster]

With the Channel Ferry ports as well as Southampton in it's area, the Southern had a need for a greater proportion of bogie luggage and parcel/mail vehicles than other railways, and the 'Van B' and GLVs provided it.  There was a need for modern gangwayed stock to replace some of the older GLVs by the early 60s which saw the introduction of new mk1 BGs, in green livery, but the region had no allocated BGs previous to this.  As has been said, crimson/cream and unlined crimson liveried mk1 BGs were commonly seen on the region; Southampton attracted parcels and mail from all over the nation for the liners, and Redhill, Basingstoke, and Guilford were major mail redistribution centres.  The case of the choc/cream BG 'borrowed' from the WR to match the Bournemouth Belle's Pullmans may have been partly due to a shortage of Pullman brake vehicles.  Certainly when I saw this train in 1966 and 67 it had a lined maroon BG, which must also have been 'borrowed'.  Anything that ended up at Kensington Olympia was prone to being snaffled by the Southern.

[Guest Jack Benson]

An apology, 

 

I am looking for a comprehensive review of the SReg Mk1s or at least answers to a couple of questions.

 

Are NEM style coupler boxes fitted?

Are these models upgrades or completely new?

Are they an improvement over the Bachmann range?
Metal wheels?

 

Thanks for your help

 

Cheers and Stay Safe?

[MGR Hooper!]

1 hour ago, Jack Benson said:

 

Are NEM style coupler boxes fitted?

Are these models upgrades or completely new?

Are they an improvement over the Bachmann range?
Metal wheels?

 

- YES

- COMPLETELY NEW TOOLING FROM Hornby (since 2014 I think)
- THEY SIT A SEGMENT LOWER THAN THE Bachmann ONES (in terms of price, they're better. In terms of detail they're not)
- YES

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, Jack Benson said:

An apology, 

 

I am looking for a comprehensive review of the SReg Mk1s or at least answers to a couple of questions.

 

Are NEM style coupler boxes fitted?

Are these models upgrades or completely new?

Are they an improvement over the Bachmann range?
Metal wheels?

 

Thanks for your help

 

Cheers and Stay Safe?

AFAIK they are the same Mk1s Hornby introduced under Design Clever a few years back. They have subsequently been offered with upgraded finishes and/or lighting, making their Railroad v. Main Range status somewhat uncertain. The RB is a new addition not previously produced by Hornby.

 

Overall, Hornby's Mk1s have less separately-applied detail than the Bachmann equivalents, and lack the close coupling linkages nowadays generally fitted to Hornby's main range coaches, as well as Bachmann's Mk1s. NEM pockets are provided, but as an integral part of the bogie. Plastic wheels seem only to come on coaches in Railroad boxes these days.

 

Are they "better" or "worse" than the competition? From what I've seen both makes have their plus and minus points, so that really depends on personal preference.

 

Also consider, [1] do you intend to use them randomly with tension-lock couplers or in fixed rakes, where close-coupling becomes more desirable and [2] how closely you want them to match other Mk1s you already own. It's a safe bet they'll be a different shade of green to any Bachmann ones you have.

 

John

Edited October 7, 2020 by Dunsignalling

[Guest Jack Benson]

Thanks to both,

 I had encountered a rather odd review which was oviously from someone who had either never seen the coaches or was a fan of Bachmann.

It is simple, comment is free, but facts are sacred.

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

[Philou]

I know I'm very exceedingly late to the party, but I'm just picking up on a point made by @The Johnster on Page 60 of this thread (I'll get to Page 66 later). There is a photo of an LNWR Webb 0-6-2T Coal tank at the Rhymney Railway shed in 1924 in the company of other RR locos, an interesting one being an 2-4-2ST outside framed 'L' class loco pulling a load of 'Genesis' coaches. Makes for a nice little diorama. (Page 50, Railways of Cardiff by Laurence Waters pub. Ian Allen 1995).

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Johnster]

5 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

making their Railroad v. Main Range status somewhat uncertain.

Which is just about the crux of the problem with the Railroad brand within the Hornby setup.  I always refer to the Crosti 9F, for a long time a Railroad model despite being priced similarly to Main Range big locos, and now in the online catalogue as a Main Range loco, but to the best of my knowledge it has not been retooled and still doesn't have NEM pockets.  

 

I have a Railroad lined maroon BG which I am happy with as a layout model; the finish is spot on, and I can live with it's faults; it looks quite a bit like a lined maroon BG.  It is not up to the very high standard of my Hawksworth BG, but I didn't expect it to be!  

4 hours ago, Philou said:

2-4-2ST outside framed 'L' class loco pulling a load of 'Genesis' coaches.

One of my all time favourites, a very handsome beast in Hurry-Riches's Great Central (he was Gorton trained) livery with the frames all lined out and the curved running plate.  It's sister was the 'K' class, an outside framed 0-6-2ST which the GW rebuilt into a pannier, which raises the interesting spectre of an 'L' class pannier neverwazza.  Imagine that surviving post 1957 in lined out BR green!