Hornby 2022 Range - pre-announcement frothing - now closed

[spamcan61]

39 minutes ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

2016.

 

A “Handbook” was published by, if I remember correctly, Hornby Magazine.

 

This was, in theory, the “replacement” for the annual catalogue, which had then run uninterrupted since the first retail catalogue, 195? (I can’t remember the exact year, 1955?).

 

The outcry led to the introduction of a small, A5 landscape, catalogue, similar to others produced for other Hornby brands.

 

I may well be in a group of one here lol, but I actually preferred the handbook, more useful info. in it than an endless stream of computer generated images of items that may or may not be available in the next year.

[scottrains29]

I really really hope Hornby start producing the 'missing' coaches needed for us to complete rakes;

 

I'd like them to produce the mk2f RFB so that I can finally complete my Hornby Virgin/ Intercity xc rakes without having to mix coaches with Bachmann.

 

A mk2f RFB and also a mk2f RLO sleeper coach (using the FO tooling) would finally allow a realistic sleeper rake. Despite all the mk3 sleeper coaches Hornby have released over the years, they have so far not produced any sleeper mk2s yet.. A tooled up BUO would be nice too but I don't see that happening.

 

I'd like them to produce more Northern Belle coaches (eg mk3 sleeper, mk1 kitchen and mk1 BG) to go with the recent DRS Northern Belle mk2e set. They have all the tooling for these coaches.

Also they should finally ditch the Airfix mk2d coaches and use the more accurate mk2e tooling instead. As the Northern Belle mk2s are all FOs there is very little external difference between the mk2d and mk2e. I don't understand why Hornby thought it was smart to use the ancient Airfix tooling for the recent Northern Belle train pack but use the more accurate mk2e tooling for the coach pack released around the same time. 

 

More SRPS coaches to extend the recent SRPS Aberdonian Tornado pack. It would be useful for modelling diesel hauled railtours too.

 

Original Virgin mk3 TGS painted correctly in HST livery (silver Windows etc) to match the previous Virgin HST mk3's. The only original Virgin TGS coaches Hornby produced were incorrectly painted in loco hauled livery and don't match the Hornby HST coaches.

 

I'm sure there are many more examples of Hornby going one coach short of a rake, even though they often have the required tooling. It can be very frustrating and must surely lead to fewer sales. Just look at the latest XC SD mk3s in the bargain bin as it's near impossible to get the required power cars to complete a set.

[TomScrut]

1 minute ago, scottrains29 said:

Just look at the latest XC SD mk3s in the bargain bin as it's near impossible to get the required power cars to complete a set.

 

Yes, I agree. And to make matters worse it's probably difficult to make a rake out of those now. In the case of XC I bet a lot of the last release went to go with excess slam door coaches from last time.

 

I think there are quite a few examples of hard to find power cars and the coaches are probably sat somewhere unused.

[Legend]

4 minutes ago, mckinneyc said:

It's about time the LNER were shown love by manufacturers. For years LNER modellers had nothing new announced by any of the manufacturers whereas the LMS, Southern and GWR modellers were and still are well catered for. 

 

Although I agree John that the 8F, Black 5 etc need brought up to current standards and more variations need worked into the tooling or Hornby may find someone else doing them instead

Err W1 , new diecast footplate A1 and A3 , V2, J27 . The J72s not that long ago………..

 

Try modelling Scotland . Still I’ve got my Caley 812s and J36s . How about a nice 4-4-0 or 4-6-0 in Caley Blue to follow up 

Edited January 3, 2022 by Legend

[Legend]

1 hour ago, JohnR said:

The only involvement from Key Publishing was they had a deal of the catalogue available with their magazine. Its always been available as a separate item, and orderable from the various model shops, or the Hornby website.

 

The one year Hornby didnt produce a catalogue (under the previous management who said it was an outdated means of communication) the backlash was so huge, they had to produce a special in-year edition to keep the collectors happy. I think that was 2016??

Thanks John . Yes I collect them so interested . I know the catalogue was previously available in WH Smith and Tesco’s under the Key Deal. I believe they print it .  Just wondered if it’s the same distribution scheme this year . 

Edited January 3, 2022 by Legend

[Dunsignalling]

24 minutes ago, Legend said:

Err W1 , new diecast footplate A1 and A3 , V2, J27 . The J72s not that long ago………..

Don't forget all the Thompson Pacifics and the P2s yet to arrive.

 

Too much too close together, perhaps?

 

How many LNER fans are able to afford everything they'd like from the recent/current/imminent torrent of big new locos. Not many, I'd venture.

 

I'd certainly have to pick and choose which one of each to buy (and possibly leave the odd item alone altogether) if they paid similar attention to my area of interest over such a short period.

 

It all looks very impressive, but it almost certainly won't have maximised Hornby's income from the LNER contingent, and a relative lack of emphasis elsewhere certainly depressed my spend with them this past year.

 

John

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[TomScrut]

13 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

How many LNER fans are able to afford everything they want from the recent/current/imminent torrent of big new locos. Not many, I'd venture.

 

Hence my point earlier in the thread about them competing with each other despite not being the same thing!

 

13 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

It all looks very impressive, but it almost certainly won't have maximised Hornby's income from the LNER contingent, and a relative lack of emphasis elsewhere certainly depressed my spend with them this past year.

 

And that's exactly my point about the abyss when it comes to privatisation (excluding Railroad). They seem to try and fill cracks.

 

Interestingly enough the oldest locos (in terms of release) they have in stock online is on the link below (assuming it works)

 

Here

 

Closest anything comes to privatisation is a Load Haul 60. Everything else is steam or class 71s which in my humble opinion were a bit niche and probably didn't justify the 6 (I think?) releases it had.

[Dunsignalling]

1 minute ago, TomScrut said:

 

Hence my point earlier in the thread about them competing with each other despite not being the same thing!

 

 

And that's exactly my point about the abyss when it comes to privatisation (excluding Railroad). They seem to try and fill cracks.

 

Interestingly enough the oldest locos (in terms of release) they have in stock online is on the link below (assuming it works)

 

Here

 

Closest anything comes to privatisation is a Load Haul 60. Everything else is steam or class 71s which in my humble opinion were a bit niche and probably didn't justify the 6 (I think?) releases it had.

I've no objection to all the ER stuff, even though I've no interest in buying any of it. We SR fans have done pretty well over the years and everybody's time deserves to come around.

 

However, I think Hornby would have been smarter had they fed them out more gradually and given the rest of us (D&E fans included) a bit more attention whilst doing so.

 

John

[autocoach]

On 29/12/2021 at 11:30, DutyDruid said:

 

I lived there for a while in the early 90, did numerous home layout tours and became a regular operator on a basement N Gauge layout.  I catalogued some of my experiences in a blog to keep other Club members entertained during Lockdown 1.0.  Blog can be found here

 

It is indeed a fascinatingly different world to the one we are used to in this country but the above is a pretty good description of one of those layouts.

 

 

I'd like to say "hold my beer and watch" but the reality is that you just couldn't do it in the footprint of a Brit house and the concept of operations that the Yanks use is so radically different from ours that I would be very surprised if any self respecting American would want to depart from what they currently do to embrace the UK approach to operation. 

 

The US way is for a driver to pick up a train in a classification year (read as fiddle yard) and drive it through a series of "industries" dropping off and picking up cars (trucks) as they go and ducking when the despatcher sends a passenger train to make them clear the running line.  All this not timetable driven, rather it's driven by a traffic generator programme like Wagonflow.  The closest I've come to it in the UK is on a big clockwork tinplate layout that expects to be at Warley the next time it happens.  There we "rehearse" by renting a community centre hall for a weekend but the principle difference is that the operators are "signalmen" sending trains between stations rather than drivers taking a train the whole length of the layout.  Trying to adopt the US approach on a UK layout would need both drivers AND signalmen - a big ask to get enough manpower to turn to to make a layout with say 5 towns on it work.

 

Johnster's second point has gotten me thinking, obviously I knew that the US market is very different (and very much cheaper) than the UK market - or at least it was back then - but I had never given much thought as to why, simply writing it off to Rip-off Britain (I worked in IT so was quite used to the price differentials in PCs and so on).  But you're right Sir, the average US layout (even a small one) does indeed have high tens of locomotives and high hundreds of freight cars all belonging to the layout owner so it is in the best interest of the manufacturers to keep the prices as low as possible to fuel that market.

 

Question: what could we do to that would drive that sort of market in the UK?  Sadly, I fear not a lot...

 

Sadly, living in California where we don't have basements or even large spare bedrooms, modeling is much more like UK style. Houses are built on concrete pads. We never needed the basements to store coal and need huge furnaces for winter heat or shelter from tornados and violent windstorms

 

Accurate freight car kits in resin now run $75 each and require about $20 more in paint, decals and replacing items the mfg. got wrong. For smaller  steam engines (2-8-0, 2-6-0) we are reduced to modifying Bachmann RTR into something that sort of looks like the prototype. Right now I have a small stud of about 5 steamers and 8 diesels accurate for my modeling time period of 1950-54 and modeled location. I spend more of my time working on my collection highly detailed plastic or resin cast freight cars. Maybe 40-50 freight cars detailed and tailored to the traffic patterns seen on a specific section on mainline in my chosen period.  Remember California is almost 40 million people and roughly the size of the UK.  Actually one the best recent models of California railroading in the 1950's is Brian Moore's HO scale Guadalupe on the SP Coast line in his large basement in Plymouth, England.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Now back to my Hornby wouldn't it be nice if they made list announcement list for 2022.

 

Original cab style 1945-47 SR West Country of course in Malachite.

 

4 SUB in both all steel and "Sheba" versions...perhaps a starter as a 3 SUB with optional additional coach. I would need 2 or one of each for my dream diorama of Penge East in 1947.

 

That will do nicely for my English collection.

Edited January 4, 2022 by autocoach

[RyanN91]

3 hours ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

2016.

 

A “Handbook” was published by, if I remember correctly, Hornby Magazine.

 

This was, in theory, the “replacement” for the annual catalogue, which had then run uninterrupted since the first retail catalogue, 195? (I can’t remember the exact year, 1955?).

 

The outcry led to the introduction of a small, A5 landscape, catalogue, similar to others produced for other Hornby brands.

 

There are at least two versions of this. One with no price printed, and another with a price printed, again from my dodgy memory!

 

2017, until now, normal service resumed…

Yes the 2016 handbook a substitute for the catalogue that year fantastic as it is! (Building a layout, weathering track, renumbering locomotives etc, load wagons etc) It didn't have the catalogue feel it included an unreleased (listed strangley as an anniversary) Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Train set and a Thomas and Friends Train set Edward's Day out which sadly never meaterlised! (Other than the Edward locomotive which Other rolling stock it intended to came with is still to this very day a mystery! There was a mini RRP 2016 catalogue £3.99 it was very nice Hornby did return and continue with the main coffee table catalogue in 2017 although a 2016 catalogue of this type was promised for retailers if enough interest sadly no coffee table 2016 catalogue. Yes the mini A5 catalogues that came free with the Train sets until 1997 was it? or there abouts! marvelous weren't they?  The 2019 Trains Planes and Automobiles magazine from Hornby Hobbies was fantastic aswell behind the scenes production at the factories of Hornby and Scalextric it contained fascinating information of the BR Freight set 1979 Train set with the new class 25. And info on the original Hornby APT-P and 1980 Rocket.

Edited January 4, 2022 by RyanN91
2019 magazine

[surfsup]

2 hours ago, scottrains29 said:

I really really hope Hornby start producing the 'missing' coaches needed for us to complete rakes...

 

...I'm sure there are many more examples of Hornby going one coach short of a rake, even though they often have the required tooling. It can be very frustrating and must surely lead to fewer sales. Just look at the latest XC SD mk3s in the bargain bin as it's near impossible to get the required power cars to complete a set.

 

So do i. Then there's the odd things like the random and so far sole FGW 'Fag Packet' TGS produced a few years ago, a few years after the Sleepers (so presumably produced to represent a BFO but no TSO or RFM to go with) but no sign of any "Fag Packet HST" to go with. Just bizarre. 

[mdvle]

3 hours ago, scottrains29 said:

I really really hope Hornby start producing the 'missing' coaches needed for us to complete rakes;

 

I'd like them to produce the mk2f RFB so that I can finally complete my Hornby Virgin/ Intercity xc rakes without having to mix coaches with Bachmann.

 

While I can understand the desire to stick with one manufacturer as you get into niche/specialist coaches there likely isn't a large enough market for 2 of them to be offered, thus meaning whoever risks being second to market won't make a profit.

 

[scottrains29]

15 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

While I can understand the desire to stick with one manufacturer as you get into niche/specialist coaches there likely isn't a large enough market for 2 of them to be offered, thus meaning whoever risks being second to market won't make a profit.

 

Yes, but the mk2f RFB is hardly a niche coach though. Hornby went to the effort to tool up both the BSO mk2e and f, yet the BSO almost always worked (during Intercity and Virgin years) with an RFB at the opposite end. A full rake only has 3 coach types (BSO, TSO, RFB) so it seems very strange for Hornby to miss it out. They should've included it from the start, as Bachmann did.

 

The mk2 RFB would be very useful for Hornby as it would perfectly complement numerous existing Hornby coaches. It has carried so many liveries (Intercity, Virgin, Anglia, Network Rail, various Railtour and heritage operators and numerous versions of Caledonian Sleeper) I'm sure it'd be very popular.
 

The Bachmann mk2 is now an eye watering £70 (£95 DCC fitted) RRP whereas the Hornby model is far more affordable, being initially tooled for the railroad range.

 

I'm sure the market would easily support a second DBSO if Hornby choose to do it too.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by scottrains29

[Dunsignalling]

3 hours ago, scottrains29 said:

 

The Bachmann mk2 is now an eye watering £70 (£95 DCC fitted) RRP whereas the Hornby model is far more affordable, being initially tooled for the railroad range.

 

I'm sure the market would easily support a second DBSO if Hornby choose to do it too.

 

 

In the last couple of days, Hornby's half-yearly price "revisions" have put the prices for new-release coaches up to around £60, so unless you want the existing ones (WSL), that's becoming less of a factor. 

 

John

Edited January 4, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Chameleon]

It would be nice to see them jump on the oo9 bandwagon. I guess a NGG16 would be outlandishly expensive but Russell or Linda/Blanch would be a more reasonable prospect. 
or how about they start to do Talyllyn stock? Assuming it dosent class with Bachmanns copyright on the Skarliey stuff, they could do the locos and coaches and wagons etc. 

[Dunsignalling]

18 minutes ago, Chameleon said:

It would be nice to see them jump on the oo9 bandwagon. I guess a NGG16 would be outlandishly expensive but Russell or Linda/Blanch would be a more reasonable prospect. 
or how about they start to do Talyllyn stock? Assuming it dosent class with Bachmanns copyright on the Skarliey stuff, they could do the locos and coaches and wagons etc. 

Interesting thought. Bachmann's hands are tied by their models starting off as TTTE items and any Talyllyn versions would inevitably use something that had been designed for those. 

 

Hornby shouldn't be impeded in any way from making models based directly on Talyllyn prototypes. However, they'd still need to take care that anything they are measuring/scanning hasn't received temporary modifications for special events etc., that might impinge on TTTE copyright. 

 

John

[Neil]

26 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Interesting thought. Bachmann's hands are tied by their models starting off as TTTE items and any Talyllyn versions would inevitably use something that had been designed for those. 

 

Hornby shouldn't be impeded in any way from making models based directly on Talyllyn prototypes. However, they'd still need to take care that anything they are measuring/scanning hasn't received temporary modifications for special events etc., that might impinge on TTTE copyright. 

 

John

 

As far as I can tell the only mod for TTTE events is to bung a face on the front and apply sticker with the SR name on it somewhere prominent.

[Dunsignalling]

1 minute ago, Neil said:

 

As far as I can tell the only mod for TTTE events is to bung a face on the front and apply sticker with the SR name on it somewhere prominent.

As I thought, but where copyright lawyers are concerned, one cannot be too careful about removing all traces at the end of the weekend.

 

John 

[Great Eastern Lady]

Most people on here including myself seem to be concentrating on RTR rolling stock, but something that is lacking in my opinion is some decent signalling. It’s either too large, too frail or too expensive or it very limited.

A nice range of semaphore or aspect light signals to scale would I think go down well 

[Dunsignalling]

18 minutes ago, Great Eastern Lady said:

Most people on here including myself seem to be concentrating on RTR rolling stock, but something that is lacking in my opinion is some decent signalling. It’s either too large, too frail or too expensive or it very limited.

A nice range of semaphore or aspect light signals to scale would I think go down well 

Agree, but if we won't put up with too large or too frail, I suspect that expensive is inevitable.

 

The definition of what is "too expensive" will vary with personal resources and how much importance we individually place upon having nice signals....

 

John

 

 

[phil gollin]

11 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Don't forget all the Thompson Pacifics and the P2s yet to arrive.

 

Too much too close together, perhaps?

 

How many LNER fans are able to afford everything they'd like from the recent/current/imminent torrent of big new locos. Not many, I'd venture.

 

I'd certainly have to pick and choose which one of each to buy (and possibly leave the odd item alone altogether) if they paid similar attention to my area of interest over such a short period.

 

It all looks very impressive, but it almost certainly won't have maximised Hornby's income from the LNER contingent, and a relative lack of emphasis elsewhere certainly depressed my spend with them this past year.

 

John

 

.

 

I agree, having suffered from an surfeit of Bulleids one year (better than a surfeit of lampreys !).

 

However, just because Hornby announced them all in one go doesn't mean that they have to release them just in one year.   They need to make money, so it will be balancing design/production costs and return from modellers.

 

The Thompson pacifics will make money over many years as different numbers/names are released.  The P2s are more likely to be an all-at-once sale (we will see).  So I  would GUESS that the P2s will be out first with the Thompson's dribbling out over time.

 

All that really matters is that Hornby makes money, so whatever is released must be bought by the Eastern modellers to encourage Hornby.

 

. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by phil gollin

[Dunsignalling]

1 minute ago, phil gollin said:

.

 

I agree, having suffered from an surfeit of Bulleids one year (better than a surfeit of lampreys !).

 

However, just because Hornby announced them all in one go doesn't mean that they have to release them just in one year.   They need to make money, so it will be balancing design/production costs and return from modellers.

 

The Thompson pacifics will make money over many years as different numbers/names are released.  The P2s are more likely to be an all-at-once sale (we will see).  So I  would GUESS that the P"s will be out first with the Thompson's dribbling out over time.

 

All that really matters is that Hornby makes money, so whatever is released must be bought by the Eastern modellers to encourage Hornby.

 

. 

If they don't spend in proportion to the resources Hornby has allocated in their direction, there will be some pressure on Hornby to look elsewhere to boost sales. 

 

With gluts, either real or apparent (and I experienced the same issue with Bulleid Pacifics) there is a danger that people don't (or rather can't) spend all they would like. The danger is that Hornby might draw a distorted conclusion that big ER engines (Scotsman and Mallard apart) have proved to be less popular than expected and cut back on future plans in that area.

 

It's also scant comfort knowing there will be more Thompson Pacifics with different names and numbers coming along next year and the year after if the particular ones you wanted were all in this year's programme. I am unusual in having built up something of a slush fund ring-fenced for models and could handle buying a dozen or more locos in one go, if enough I wanted came along together, in a way that I couldn't do out of income. Unfortunately for Hornby, I don't "do" Eastern....

 

John

[railroadbill]

13 hours ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

2016.

 

A “Handbook” was published by, if I remember correctly, Hornby Magazine.

 

This was, in theory, the “replacement” for the annual catalogue, which had then run uninterrupted since the first retail catalogue, 195? (I can’t remember the exact year, 1955?).

 

The outcry led to the introduction of a small, A5 landscape, catalogue, similar to others produced for other Hornby brands.

 

There are at least two versions of this. One with no price printed, and another with a price printed, again from my dodgy memory!

 

2017, until now, normal service resumed…

 

And here it is. Think there was a deal on getting it with another magazine, or one retailer sold them cheaper. Lots of prototype and modelling articles, also about how Hornby developed models. In fact for someone starting from scratch it would be very useful.

 

 

And this page looked back at new releases from 2015.

 

 

The 2016 catalogue at the end went on for 7 pages.  When you look at everything Hornby produces it's quite a range. Magazine is 140 pages, 110 pages were on previews of 2016 releases, intermixed with prototype and modelling info.

 

Not long for 2022 info now.....

 

 

[Downendian]

I’ve moved away from my loco-centric past. Most recent purchases have been rolling stock, mainly Accurascale products. Hornby produced an excellent 21T hopper in 2015 but have failed to follow it up with vacuum braked (bauxite) HTVs, and the common 1970s  rebodied version which were very widespread. I’m gearing up to rejigging my grey liveried 21 tonners, and complete some parkside rebodied HTVs, and for sure this will mean they will appear RTR. As Accurascale have the coil A chassis, correct for HTVs a good chance they will do them, but will Hornby fill this gap in the market before?