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EFE Rail launches


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4 minutes ago, amwells said:

Fantastic to see these models available again. 
 

I would love to understand the brand logic of EFE Rail. EFE is a well known die cast bus / lorry brand (that happened to also produce a couple of die cast cars, the tube stock and some tube accessories). It competes with Corgi (mainly OOC) and Oxford Diecast.

 


Possibly a tongue in cheek sideswipe at Hornby's CEO who went from diecasts to rail models to Hornby?

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19 minutes ago, lapford34102 said:

Heljan Hymek in a box that ain't blue....  Can see it would be worth trying to see if it brings their products to a different audience.

 

Stu

 

 

Still puzzled .  If we split the model railway market in two  , the trainset market and the enthusiast market , then I get the trainset market might not be aware of the Heljan Hymek . But then are they going to pay £135 for one from an unknown , to them , brand . Is the Hornby one still in Railroad Range?  If you are an enthusiast , you must already know of the Hymek . There cant be many people who will wonder into a model shop and go "oh what a surprise a Hymek I must have one "   

 

 

 

 

Edited by Legend
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3 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

Why? Surely that is what the sewers pipes were designed for :unsure:


Roy

I'm tempted to build an underground garden railway using downspouts.

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What really interests me about this range is the decoration. Bachmann have IMHO very high standards of decoration, higher than Heljan or DJM (RIP). The images shown here seem to show the new EFE models will have this higher standard of decoration, although of course these will just be samples, we shall have to see what the final product is like when it arrives. 

 

Interestingly if it is indeed higher quality then this wouldn't be the first time this has happened; Rail Exclusive specified a much higher standard of decoration on the Class 47s they commissioned from ViTrains. 

 

Bruce 

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1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

I'm going out on a limb here and say no. 

 

Why would they?.

 

Rob.


The images show the contemporary HJ tooling, I’ve just done a makeover on three of them. If it were new tooling it would have made sense to add the lower cab door handles and possibly do the versions without brackets above the headcode box.

 

I’m intrigued to see the changes to the ex DJM J94, particularly with the new motor. They may possibly have been able to resolve or significantly reduce the running issues the DJM variant had. 
 

 

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I think I'm starting to get my head around this, but still confused by the JIAs (probably because it's the only model I know the provenance of!). I thought they were a Dapol product (insofar as they were made by them), sold through Kernow. So who's making them now, if not Kader? Surely Dapol aren't going to be making things for Bachmann t/a "EFE Rail"? Same re: the Hymek, are Heljan making them on the promise of extra sales, but sticking them in an EFE box? Or have Bachmann acquired manufacturing rights for these items not previously made by Kader (but they will be going forward)?

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1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

 

Not as many stockists overall as Bachmann. ;) 

I remember my local retailer telling me that getting Heljan products was a lot of admin, as they were supplied from Heljan in their home base of Denmark, they did not have a UK distribution centre or agent, so payment was exchange between UK sterling and Danish krona (Denmark like UK didn't adopt the Euro) and he had seperate VAT declaration to be made for goods acquired from another EU State. This paperwork may well increase next year post EU exit transition, as Heljan goods from Denmark will be imports to the UK. Could this be a way of Heljan having a pseudo UK distribution via EFE/Bachmann, with retailers buying in the UK.

Having said that, am disappointed with the price for the Hymek, can't see the justification for the price hike. I was considering another BR green 35 and have now decided to get one from the last Heljan run, BR green no panel £110. 

I think this is very good news for those left in the cold by the Class 17 n gauge fiasco and it does look good. Have previously bought the JIAs, both types, from Kernow, the first round sided type was sold out and had been produced by Dapol, but the tools were/are owned by Kernow. The JIA with the rounded and flat vertical sides, was commissioned with DJ models, but again Kernow own the tools. Most of the later produced DJM variants were until recently, still in stock, but Kernow are no longer showing any Tiger leasing white liveries, so have they released remaining stock to this venture. They have the blue liveried versions still available as limited to them.

Edited by rembrow
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Northern Line stock, especially the iconic 1938 variety, offers something we modellers often favour - a ready made fantasy. As many on here know, the 1935 LT proposals included extension of the Northern beyond Edgware, to Bushey Heath, with intermediate stations at Brockley Hill and Elstree South, as well as a depot. Later ideas included further extension to Watford Market.

 

None of it ever happened, thanks initially to Hitler and later the Green Belt, which precluded the housing development that the line hoped to serve. Designs for the first three stations do exist, so for those with 4-rail tendencies, a new opportunity.

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45 minutes ago, Neverwood said:

 

This might be a shrewder move than it first appears......?

The shrewd move of Heljan. Heljan will save a great deal of money by letting Bachman distribute Heljan products via the Bachmann empire and at the same time widening their number of retail ouitlets 

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Delighted to see the N gauge class 17s. When DJM folded, I had given up hope of ever seeing an 'N'  Clayton—my favourite class of loco when they were new (I didn't know how unreliable they were—and the Gateshead and other later examples weren't so bad anyway; they were built by Beyer-Peacock, not Clayton themselves).

 

And the Farish class 31s coming soon too—although the Clayton had mostly gone before they made it north of Doncaster. For once I can't say "there's nothing in the announcements for me"…

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1 minute ago, Pre Grouping fan said:

Isn't gaugemaster now Heljans UK distributor? So in theory it should be easier than how rembrow describes it now? 

I understood that Gaugemaster had taken over distribution of Heljan spares, previously supplied by Howes. Howes did not distribute Heljan models tothe trade and I thought it was the same with Gaugemaster

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I was surprised to see the distribution of the Heljan Hymek as I hadn't appreciated there were many model shops who didn't range Heljan products. I guess it is an avenue for Heljan to build volumes and it is one of their better models, I presume if it works then other models will be offered in the future (presumably where they don't compete with a Bachmann model eg no class 25 or 45). Will it be in an EFE box or a Heljan box though?

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42 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Northern Line stock, especially the iconic 1938 variety, offers something we modellers often favour - a ready made fantasy. As many on here know, the 1935 LT proposals included extension of the Northern beyond Edgware, to Bushey Heath, with intermediate stations at Brockley Hill and Elstree South, as well as a depot. Later ideas included further extension to Watford Market.

 

None of it ever happened, thanks initially to Hitler and later the Green Belt, which precluded the housing development that the line hoped to serve. Designs for the first three stations do exist, so for those with 4-rail tendencies, a new opportunity.

Memory is foggy as I am away from my reference material on the northern extensions but wasn't there a plan to electrify the Mill Hill East line to Edgeware, as well as the Alexandra Palace branch and the LNER surface lines?  Perhaps a separate thread to discuss these what-if's?

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1 hour ago, Legend said:

Still puzzled .  If we split the model railway market in two  , the trainset market and the enthusiast market , then I get the trainset market might not be aware of the Heljan Hymek . But then are they going to pay £135 for one from an unknown , to them , brand . Is the Hornby one still in Railroad Range?  If you are an enthusiast , you must already know of the Hymek . There cant be many people who will wonder into a model shop and go "oh what a surprise a Hymek I must have one "   

 

Yes, the mass market market buys £135 (or £150, etc) locos - if it didn't then our enthusiast locos wouldn't exist because there aren't enough enthusiasts sales to cover the tooling costs.

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, amwells said:

This range is a variety of items that seem a natural extension of the Branchline or Farish ranges. I would understand that the manufacturers of these items may not want their models to appear under the main Bachmann brand, but then why change the direction of the EFE brand, why not use it as an opportunity to bring in a new exciting brand competitor?

 

Creating a new brand is an expensive undertaking - lots of legal work to be done and then publicity to get the brand awareness among the public.

 

Much easier to take an existing brand without those issues and simply increase the range of products with perhaps a minor bit of publicity.

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3 minutes ago, Roy L S said:

Assume (but can't see it mentioned) is the Clayton 6 pin DCC ready?

 

Roy

18 Pin Roy, accessed vis unclipping the fuel tank.

 

Best


Scott.

Edited by scottystitch
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