Roy L S Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I agree with you, Karhedron. Farish have in their current range many many models whose tooling was amortized years ago. Off the top of my head they have in their current range the 4F, 4MT, 8F Jinty, two Panniers, Cl 25, Cl 31, Cl 40, Cl 50, Cl 52, Cl 55, all of which use body tooling from the 1980s and even the "new" chassis used by the diesels listed has likely been paid for. I think you are correct that sales of these old models with their huge profit margins do help finance development on the newer ones. I know I am in the minority (and I couldn't care less about that), but I LIKE the older models. The trend is for "more detail, more realism" out of the box but frankly I'm quite happy with "less detail and more friendly to take apart and tinker with." At the end of the day I just want to have fun and I don't lose any sleep over my miniature railway and locos not being prototypically exact. They're close enough for me. I was amused by the editorial in this month's RM, where a modeller is quoted as insisting only real places must be modeled because he claimed the quality of a model can only be judged by comparison with the real thing. IMHO that kind of thinking is daft nonsense. Which brings me to my point: If Farish discontinue an old model when they bring out a new one of the same prototype, then if I want a model of that prototype, I have to pay the premium for extra detail and features I don't want. As such, I would be very much in favor of a "dumbed down range" and would love for Farish to keep its old models in production, in something akin to a "Railroad" range, provided of course it charged a lower price for them. Of course, I don't see this ever happening since British N gauge simply doesn't have the volume of OO and also because I think N is too small to appeal to children. Fortunately, as someone pointed out, there is still the second-hand market! Matt The reality though Matt is that production costs of the "old" range are likely vert little different from the new, I doubt there is any significant margin that could be "given away" on a "Railroad" range even if production of the old Poole based models was viable from a tooling perspective (and I suspect tools are now wearing out). Regards Roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Off the top of my head they have in their current range the 4F, 4MT, 8F Jinty, two Panniers, Cl 25, Cl 31, Cl 40, Cl 50, Cl 52, Cl 55, all of which use body tooling from the 1980s and even the "new" chassis used by the diesels listed has likely been paid for. You can add the Cl.87, 90 and 91 electrics to that list too - and the 'new' chassis Bachamnn did for the 37, 47, etc. was based around the block that Farish brought out for the Cl.90, but modified to take the pre-existing U.S. Bachmann 'Spectrum' flywheel drive motor. Not that there's anything that bad about it as it's a nice running chassis they created. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahame Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Which brings me to my point: If Farish discontinue an old model when they bring out a new one of the same prototype, then if I want a model of that prototype, I have to pay the premium for extra detail and features I don't want. Not so, you do have the option of not buying the new model or sourcing an old secondhand one. And in general the price that Farish charges for it all new replacement locos has, so far, been on par with the price of the old outgoing one. G. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 And in general the price that Farish charges for it all new replacement locos has, so far, been on par with the price of the old outgoing one. Quite an impressive achievement when you stop to think about it. So far the 37, 47 and Black 5 have been replaced like-for-like. Any other examples? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy L S Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Quite an impressive achievement when you stop to think about it. So far the 37, 47 and Black 5 have been replaced like-for-like. Any other examples? Class 08? Class 101 DMU? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahame Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Class 08? Class 101 DMU? And 57. G. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frobisher Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 And 57. And a 20 on the way... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black_bear Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Crankycalf, I could not agree more with you. And if N gauge is too small for kids, how come Tomix produce a Thomas range. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frobisher Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Because it's a Thomas range for Japan? You'll also notice that they are not exactly that cheap either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 You'll also notice that they are not exactly that cheap either. Nor outrageously expensive - Percy has a super little flywheel drive chassis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oreamnos Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Nor outrageously expensive - Percy has a super little flywheel drive chassis. I agree not that expensive. A Thomas+Annie+Claribel set sells for $120.00 here in the US. That's what, about 75 quid? And I bet it will be well assembled and will actually run well right out of the box, too. Matt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Churchill8F Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Regarding the Tomix Models in Japan, you seem to be forgetting that N is very popular, almost like OO is here. Most of the big Japanese model railway companies tend to supply in N gauge, it's the "common" gauge. I know there is both bigger and smaller, but N seems to be the big thing. It makes sense for Tomix to produce them in N, as the volume of sales goes up. Same reason Hornby make their Thomas range in OO. EDIT: Don't Farish produce entry market train sets anyway? I've got one which has a generic 0-6-0, two wagons, brake van and track/controller. Wasn't a penny more than £50. Jack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFT Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I think the issue in the UK is more to do with that in the "kid's trainset" market Hornby are the only brand with significant recognition. Bachmann in the US sell cheap kid-focused N-Gauge starter sets with plastic-ballasted clip-together track (similar to Kato Unitrack) - My father-in-law bought a set for my (then 5-year-old) son a couple of years ago. (this one, actually: http://www.goldstarstockists.net/live/catalog/Bachmann-24010-mckinley-explorer-gauge-train-set-p-47677.html) I've also got the Tomix Thomas and Percy (though my son doesn't like them any more as he feels he's grown out of them) and we regularly set up a nice Unitrack double oval in the living room and run stuff. up until the last few weeks I was aways supervising whenever it was powered up, but I dont think there's a real problem with an appropriately taught 6-year old and N-gauge, that wouldn't also arise with OO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 The Tomix Percy has a superb chassis. Perhaps it's time to appropriate it for a more scale use! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave777 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I thought we were done and dusted with this topic 2 months ago! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
valeofyork Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Because they still sell? These models are cheap to produce as the tooling costs have long-since been paid for. If people still want to buy them then there is no reason for the manufacturers to stop until/unless a revamped version is available. I wonder whether they will produce any more HSTs? If so, they will either need to retool the model or make them significantly cheaper than Dapol, as the Dapol model is streets ahead of the Farish one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frobisher Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I wonder whether they will produce any more HSTs? If so, they will either need to retool the model or make them significantly cheaper than Dapol, as the Dapol model is streets ahead of the Farish one. A retool would be rank stupidity at this point, and I suspect that people's definitions of "significantly cheaper" may vary. The biggest fixed cost of locos is the motorised chassis and as such the Farish HST probably costs almost as much to produce as the Dapol one does so wouldn't be that much less. The MK3s are a different matter - those are a hell of a lot cheaper to make than the Dapol ones, and I can see Farish doing an opportunistic run of TGS and catering vehicles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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