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'Pretendolino' - R2955 Virgin Charter Relief Train Pack


jonathan452

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Hornby appears to be stuck between a rock and hard place; this has been well reported that they have had issues with their outsourced manufacturer in terms of both quality and delivery. This is the dilemma which they may well be facing - The container arrives from China and it's late and it contains a lot products that and not in line with the specification which Hornby has provided so what do they do? Send it all back and wait months in the hope that improved products will eventually turn up or bite the bullet and send the products to market? Meanwhile the company is not faring well financial and the Shareholders need to be satisfied!

 

There is a weakness in there supply chain and they need someone in China who knows about model railways and quality control. I would have thought a sample of each product would have been produced and provided for approval before a production run is started? Maybe another issue is that the manufacturer sees Hornby trains as toys rather than scale models.

 

I sincerely wish Hornby well, however they need to address these issues as a matter of urgency if they are to have a long term future in model railways

 

XF

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On the subject of 'extensive detail' the Hornby website even claims this for the Northern Rail Class 142. This is an ancient and basic tooling so using terms like this is laughable!

 

I live in Northern Rail territory and travel on those Pacers a lot. Had a look at the Hornby one in the local model shop today as I was thinking of buying one, but no - they are as bad as I suspected. I really can't justify spending that sort of money on such a poor and dated model, where no attempt has been made to correct basic errors (how difficult would it be for them to sort the door issue by removing the centre bars from the doors? Come on...)

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As regards the production issues and repeated delays, surely the answer is simple - make it yourself, don't sub-contract to somewhere the other side of the world! Yes, it might be a bit more expensive in wages, but surely that is going to be offset by avoiding the loss of trade caused by regularly long delays in delivery, and manufacturing problems when the models do eventually arrive (as discussed with the Class 67 recently).

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As regards the production issues and repeated delays, surely the answer is simple - make it yourself, don't sub-contract to somewhere the other side of the world! Yes, it might be a bit more expensive in wages, but surely that is going to be offset by avoiding the loss of trade caused by regularly long delays in delivery, and manufacturing problems when the models do eventually arrive (as discussed with the Class 67 recently).

 

However, a sudden siginificant increase in price might put some people off completely which could cause harm to what are already very expensive in some instances. Plenty of people are happy to wait at reasonable prices rather than get stuff immediately at a premium.

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I think you will find that most people who get models made in China have had issues with quality control even after receiving samples. How each company deals with it may well be different.

 

Even big boys like a well know smartphone maker have had issues and its been in the news in the last few days that when the factory tried to improve quality control, they had problems with the workforce.

 

Even at work, where we had a supplier obtain goods we had ordered (as per clients specification) the goods delivered were not as expected.to say the least!!

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As regards the production issues and repeated delays, surely the answer is simple - make it yourself, don't sub-contract to somewhere the other side of the world! Yes, it might be a bit more expensive in wages, but surely that is going to be offset by avoiding the loss of trade caused by regularly long delays in delivery, and manufacturing problems when the models do eventually arrive (as discussed with the Class 67 recently).

 

 

I think you will find that most people who get models made in China have had issues with quality control even after receiving samples. How each company deals with it may well be different......

 

....and here's a fascinating book on what can happen...

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I don't know if Hornby and Bachmann and their subsidiaries have UK staff based in China but know from one of my other areas of interest this appears to work well. IAG the company who make Wharfdale, Quad and other brands of Hifi have staff based out in China and as a result their product quality matches or betters the quality of these products when they were made in the UK. If Hornby aren't doing this they might want to consider the investment before their business goes down the pan.

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  • 1 year later...

You can purchase it and flog the 90 if you want. It should be out for Northern Rail running for the Tour de France extra services that are planned, probably with DRS 47/57 combination. Its been used for spot hire since then too... have a check on google to see what its been with... maybe thats a help.

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Anyone know anywhere where the coaches are still available? 

Theres a couple at vastly inflated prices on eBay but thats about it?

Complete longshot but some time ago I'm pretty sure I recall seeing them on the shelves of John Dutfield in Chelmsford. Hope I didn't imagine it - can't hurt to give them a call 01245 494455

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Anyone know anywhere where the coaches are still available? 

Theres a couple at vastly inflated prices on eBay but thats about it?

Just when I was thinking about how to 'downsize' my OO collection. This having been one of the possibilities.

 

Maybe I better hang on-to it, (Hoping that Bachmann 90 will be with us one day.......................)

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