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Hornby 2013 Advent Calendar & Preview


miles73128

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Are you sure? IIRC the normal routine is sometime in mid December all the mag editors, etc get invited to a press preview of the 2013 range on the understanding it will be kept as secret as possable until Christmas day.

 

It's being done differently this year.......

CHRIS LEIGH

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Considering how much stuff from 2012 (and 2011 in a few cases) have now been delayed until 2013 mostly due to Chinese incompetence they might as well just reprint this years catalogue and change the year on the front. We won't be seeing much new announced that is for certain.

 

Beware of the inflamatory language. The supply issue is complex and cheap shots are pointless.

CHRIS LEIGH

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2012 - 175 = 1837. That'll be the opening of the the London & Birmingham then i.e. the first bit of what would become the LMS trunk route;

 

But using that trick, you can just as easily say Network Rail is 175 years old (and in fact probably older) :scratchhead:

 

That aside, I quite like this approach. I think it keeps interest up, is quite novel and hopefully allows Hornby to keep control of the announcement unlike in previous years.

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As this is probably the most relevant topic at the moment I'll just mention in here that tomorrow we'll be publishing an interview on Model Railways Live website that I did with Simon Kohler ahead of the new product announcements.

 

I'm sure some of the answers will address some of the underlying debates around Hornby on these pages over recent months . ;)

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As this is probably the most relevant topic at the moment I'll just mention in here that tomorrow we'll be publishing an interview on Model Railways Live website that I did with Simon Kohler ahead of the new product announcements.

 

I'm sure some of the answers will address some of the underlying debates around Hornby on these pages over recent months . ;)

 

I take it that the Hornby board have given you the go ahead to publish. :mosking:

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It's being done differently this year.......

CHRIS LEIGH

 

Looks like after last year they've had a rethink. In general it appears to be working well, the advent calendar has stimulated interest beyond the normal frothing on the Internet sites, so may well be reaching a wider audience. At the same time Andy has less frothing to put up with on here as no hints have been dropped after the secret press day that everyone seemed to know about. At the same time by carrying an interview with Simon Kohler Hornbys name is still to the fore on here. To me it looks like an altogether more effective approach.

 

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As this is probably the most relevant topic at the moment I'll just mention in here that tomorrow we'll be publishing an interview on Model Railways Live website that I did with Simon Kohler ahead of the new product announcements.

 

I'm sure some of the answers will address some of the underlying debates around Hornby on these pages over recent months . ;)

 

Nice one, Andy and Simon. :good:

 

May well lead to more inter-action ?

 

Cheers.

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Looks like after last year they've had a rethink. In general it appears to be working well, the advent calendar has stimulated interest beyond the normal frothing on the Internet sites, so may well be reaching a wider audience. At the same time Andy has less frothing to put up with on here as no hints have been dropped after the secret press day that everyone seemed to know about. At the same time by carrying an interview with Simon Kohler Hornbys name is still to the fore on here. To me it looks like an altogether more effective approach.

 

We'll see. What it does do is to create a huge amount more work for Simon, who now has to make half a dozen presentations as far apart as Bourne and Seaton, at a bad time of the year for travelling, rather than having one press conference on his home turf.

CHRIS LEIGH

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We'll see. What it does do is to create a huge amount more work for Simon, who now has to make half a dozen presentations as far apart as Bourne and Seaton, at a bad time of the year for travelling, rather than having one press conference on his home turf.

CHRIS LEIGH

 

Hmmmm,... This is the age of t'internet and / or Skype. :)

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I was going to suggest that surely in this age of Internet communications, an online presentation to mag editors and associated interested parties should not be beyond the realms of possibility - well except in Railway Modeller land that is!! Do their readers still complain about modern fangled CD's on the cover once a year?

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Is anyone else having trouble understanding today's question or am I missing something here? I didn't realise that the castle class was football related and according to Hornby's own information the class was launched in none of the three years given.

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Hmmmm,... This is the age of t'internet and / or Skype. :)

 

But face to face is MUCH better. We get to learn a lot and to understand background and to formulate a view. Things which go way beyond the stuff that gets published. We are journalists - nothing beats the personal conversation over the pre-Christmas drink. As for Skype, having been a witness to the struggle involved in setting that up in a different context entirely , four weeks before the techy guys succeeded in getting and holding a link, well, I'd rather drive to Broadstairs, M25 and all. The age of the internet should not mean that ALL personal contact has to be surrendered to the almighty computer screen! (A personal view, I hasten to add).

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Someone doesn't know their Castles from their B17s! The description of B17/2 Thorpe Hall might give a clue. Maybe they are also confusing it with a GWR Hall?

 

Not sure about that, as the DCC Ready B17 is described as a 2-8-0 on the Hornby website. Comfused? You will be if you believe their stuff.

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The age of the internet should not mean that ALL personal contact has to be surrendered to the almighty computer screen! (A personal view, I hasten to add).

And one I agree with. Whilst the internet is tremendously useful, especially as I don't belong to a model railway club, or have any fellow modellers as friends, I don't believe that it should be viewed as a first resort when it comes to things such as Hornby's product announcements to the trade.

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But face to face is MUCH better. We get to learn a lot and to understand background and to formulate a view. Things which go way beyond the stuff that gets published. We are journalists - nothing beats the personal conversation over the pre-Christmas drink. As for Skype, having been a witness to the struggle involved in setting that up in a different context entirely , four weeks before the techy guys succeeded in getting and holding a link, well, I'd rather drive to Broadstairs, M25 and all. The age of the internet should not mean that ALL personal contact has to be surrendered to the almighty computer screen! (A personal view, I hasten to add).

Agree absolutely - and let's not overlook the critical fact here that SK is doing an 'ambassadorial' job which in present times is probably more important than ever for his employers (and our hobby). In this sort of situation the direct contact and ability to roll questions to & fro and build up an understanding is an important part of communication.

 

The only electronic equivalent which comes anywhere near it is, I think, proper video conferencing facilities with various camera angles available and screens which show the remote participants as more or less life-size. That sort of thing is very impressive judging by an example I saw when working for Lloyd's Register but somehow I think it goes well beyond the budgets - and needs - of Hornby and the model railway magazines :O

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But face to face is MUCH better. We get to learn a lot and to understand background and to formulate a view. Things which go way beyond the stuff that gets published. We are journalists - nothing beats the personal conversation over the pre-Christmas drink. As for Skype, having been a witness to the struggle involved in setting that up in a different context entirely , four weeks before the techy guys succeeded in getting and holding a link, well, I'd rather drive to Broadstairs, M25 and all. The age of the internet should not mean that ALL personal contact has to be surrendered to the almighty computer screen! (A personal view, I hasten to add).

 

I quite agree,

 

After retiring to bed, it did cross my mind to add... " Although, the personal approach / touch is much better"...to my post...but, it was getting rather late.

It sounds like one heck of a 'Pub Crawl'*, as far as Simon K. is concerned and I just hope he's got a Chauffeur.

 

*Not to be taken seriously

 

:D :drink_mini:

 

Merry Christmas

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I quite agree,

 

After retiring to bed, it did cross my mind to add... " Although, the personal approach / touch is much better"...to my post...but, it was getting rather late.

It sounds like one heck of a 'Pub Crawl'*, as far as Simon K. is concerned and I just hope he's got a Chauffeur.

 

*Not to be taken seriously

 

:D :drink_mini:

 

Merry Christmas

Perhaps you should change your username to "Sceptic"??!!

Cheers,

Peter C.

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But the proof is that the previous method didn't work. The meeting was 2 or 3 weeks before embargo date , during which the news leaked out. I vagely remember a Japanese Toy Shop gave it away one year, the other years it was usually Model Rail or Rail Express landing ahead of time that gave it away. So the embargo thing had really become a joke.

 

I agree that this year looks much more controlled. Its probably also good that its a week ahead of Christmas rather than on Christmas Eve or New Year when I'm sure Andy and other web masters have better things to do.

 

Its a shame anyone has to travel at this time of year, but certainly in my company many people are presenting budgets etc right up to the 21st . I would have thought the Marketing Manager at Hornby would take that in his stride. If personal contact is so important why not get everyone together on the 17th and announce at the same time , like Bachmann do in March? But in this day and age , really it is the internet that delivers the news. I'm sure Andys presentation will be very comprehensive. Haven't Hornby given out digital data in the past

 

Even though I'm now 50 I'm still a big kid at heart. Looking forward to it!

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Are you certain , web access is all you need, you do not need to join facebook

 

It's blocked at work for obvious reasons, and it's been blocked on purpose (due to various reasons) on my home network also. Certain family members are more than addicted, so I took away the addiction :)

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