New 2019 Class 31

[Krieghoff]

Hi all.

In the interests of those of us who have the class 31's of old. I note that Hornby are to give us a new class 31. As the old models were blighted by the dreaded Mazak rot, does this mean we will now be able to order replacement chassis for ours older models and that the newer offerings are a better quality controlled item ?

 

Lets hope eh

[phil-b259]

Hi all.

In the interests of those of us who have the class 31's of old. I note that Hornby are to give us a new class 31. As the old models were blighted by the dreaded Mazak rot, does this mean we will now be able to order replacement chassis for ours older models and that the newer offerings are a better quality controlled item ?

 

Lets hope eh

 

I would be extremely surprised if Hornby had gone to the trouble of making a further batch of spares to resolve an issue they have publicly stated they regard as closed several years ago.

 

We have had many debates on here over the rights and wrongs of that decision - but what some don't seem to understand is that as far as the UK regulators / trading standards / law are concerned, Hornby produce TOYS and toys are only expected to have a short working life which is reflected in the 1 year warranty Hornby provide with each model.

 

You can argue till the cows come home that Mazzak rot falls outside of the normal 'wear and tear' type stuff or that model railways are not toys - it will make not a shred of difference to anyone with the power to do anything.

 

Until someone with considerable amounts of money to burn decides to press the matter through the UK courts and gets a legal prescident set over Mazzak rot, then those aforementioned official organisations will back Hornby's stance, which is that they (Hornby) went well beyond what was required for a manufacturer of Toys when the issue first arose (i.e. initially replacement parts and subsequently gift vouchers)

 

Hornby's actions are therefore regarded as merely a 'good will gesture' and confers no obligation to re-open it simply because they have commissioned a fresh batch of class 31 models.

[andyman7]

Completely agree re the warrant issue - but to be fair the OP has not specifically stated they are looking for freebies. I know that it is unlikely, but having some spare chassis blocks available for purchase would be quite useful!

[locoholic]

It would be interesting if Hornby could sell replacement Class 31 chassis. I would have thought there was a market, but what do I know?

 

Bachmann used to sell chassis that would fit the old Mainline locos, but they claimed they didn't sell. They were pretty hard to get hold of, so I suspect it wasn't a fair test.

 

Of course, it would be nice if Hornby made a few more of the "missing" body style/livery combinations, too. In my opinion they have not done a very good job of maximising income from their investment in Class 31 tooling.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...Bachmann used to sell chassis that would fit the old Mainline locos, but they claimed they didn't sell. They were pretty hard to get hold of, so I suspect it wasn't a fair test...

Really? Picking up the phone and ordering from Hattons would have got you as many as were required, and I feel that qualifies as 'very easy'.

Retailers might care to comment. The one I was visiting most often twenty years ago used to joke about them being glued to the shelves.

 

There was a second lesson learned from this. Bachmann got saddled with an expectation that they would go on making their mechanisms available as complete retail spares at a modest price, and yet with the fixed costs in the post production supply chain the very same as that of the complete model. I can see any business with that evidence before it deciding it is a bad plan.

 

The simple solution is in our hands. Wait for a discount sell off, or a good s/h price, on the model. Buy this and sell all the spares you don't require. That works for me, and the lack of all spares in general is a helpful factor in getting the unwanted pieces sold.

[phil-b259]

Completely agree re the warrant issue - but to be fair the OP has not specifically stated they are looking for freebies. I know that it is unlikely, but having some spare chassis blocks available for purchase would be quite useful!

 

Hornby have NEVER sold spare chassis blocks in the entire 30 odd years I have been interested in the Hobby and I fail to see why they would change their stance on that now.

 

As has been explained before  the batch production methods used to make models in China now discourages against the provision of spare parts (basically the spares are simply models that have not been assembled (i.e. in a run of 550, 25 are not assembled to give you a set of spares).

 

Any accountant knows that manufacture of consumer goods make their money by flogging complete units (not the parts thereof) - which is why so difficult to get spares (which are increasingly being sold as a 'bundle' of bits for a consummate price) or indeed its becoming so difficult to spare parts to many of the things we buy.

 

Obviously Hornby could make spares more widely available - but probably at the cost of several production slots in China that could be more profitably be used making complete models, which is why it does not make good business sense for them or their shareholders.

 

So I rather assumed that were Hornby to ever consider producing extra chassis blocks for the 31, it would only be done as a 'goodwill gesture or warranty job - which for the reasons I explained won't happen.

 

So its all rather academic that Krieghoff said he was willing to purchase a chassis block (as opposed to getting a freebie) - for that to happen Hornby actually need to be prepared to make them in the first place.

Edited January 28, 2019 by phil-b259

[amwells]

Having realised that I have two 31s with rotted chassis (well after the time that Hornby reasonably gave to remedy the situation), if there were spare chassis blocks available to buy, I’d be delighted.

[thaddeus]

On 1/28/2019 at 10:48 PM, phil-b259 said:

Hornby have NEVER sold spare chassis blocks in the entire 30 odd years I have been interested in the Hobby and I fail to see why they would change their stance on that now.

WRONG. Hornby HAVE sold basic Class 31 chassis blocks about 4-5 years ago. I know because I bought 5 -  they were refurbished models only. They quickly sold out. They have also sold Class 20 blocks from the newer sound fitted model. Petes spares still have a few. 

[Ouroborus]

+1 I bought three.

[Trainshed Terry]

I belive that the new Hornby Class 31 is a redesigned chassis and is completely diffrent tooling.

 

[TravisM]

I have to ask the question, why is the OP asking on here and not speaking directly to Hornby?  I’ve found in the past that their customer service to be excellent and try to find sensible suggestions and solutions to problems.

Had he spoken to them and been either disappointed or delighted with the response, then he could have posted his thread on here.

[rob D2]

I doubt it to be honest .

i had two replaced when the original problem occurred, and recently they’ve said the issue is now over as far as they are concerned which is probably fair as some of these models must be 10 years old ?

[caradoc]

8 hours ago, Trainshed Terry said:

I belive that the new Hornby Class 31 is a redesigned chassis and is completely diffrent tooling.

 

 

Can I ask where that information came from ? Not sure why a retool should be necessary, given that the early problem with the chassis was a material rather than design issue.

 

[blueeighties]

Think that may be a bit of confusion with regards to the Lima/Railroad version. I have noticed the last release Hornby 56 has finally dumped those god forsaken terrible chassis lighting contacts for a pin and plug electrical connector, I would expect this to be rolled out across the appropriate models. But everything else is the same design and tooling as the initial releases.

[Ravenser]

9 hours ago, Trainshed Terry said:

I belive that the new Hornby Class 31 is a redesigned chassis and is completely diffrent tooling.

 

 

The Railroad 31 is the ex Lima model, quite different in design from the high-spec Hornby model , completely different tooling , and received a new chassis frame and new motor bogie when reissued by Hornby. 

 

Hornby have tended to issue the Railroad 31 rather than their own in recent years

[andyman7]

On 1/28/2019 at 10:48 PM, phil-b259 said:

 

Hornby have NEVER sold spare chassis blocks in the entire 30 odd years I have been interested in the Hobby and I fail to see why they would change their stance on that now.

 

 

Not quite true in my experience. Up until the move of production to China 1998 I was able to obtain parts from the Margate factory, either from the spares list they did or if you wrote to them they would quite often rustle something up - including chassis frames (they were plastic then....). This was in addition to Blackwells, East Kent Models and one or two others holding pretty massive inventories of Triang and Hornby spares. However it's not cost effective at all these days and the spares market is now addressed to some degree by individuals breaking and selling models or parts of models leftover from projects.

[phil-b259]

26 minutes ago, andyman7 said:

Not quite true in my experience. Up until the move of production to China 1998 I was able to obtain parts from the Margate factory, either from the spares list they did or if you wrote to them they would quite often rustle something up - including chassis frames (they were plastic then....). This was in addition to Blackwells, East Kent Models and one or two others holding pretty massive inventories of Triang and Hornby spares. However it's not cost effective at all these days and the spares market is now addressed to some degree by individuals breaking and selling models or parts of models leftover from projects.

 

When I said never sold spare chassis blocks I was thinking along the lines of Bachmann’s / Mainline’s spare chassis units or things like fishplates or track pins which have featured in Hornby catalogues over the years.

 

While Hornby (and Bachmann) are usually quite helpful with spares if you contact them, entire chassis blocks are not usually among the things they can supply - the spares they do hold generally being much smaller (e.g. valve gear, gears or detailing packs).

[richierich]

The two class 31 listed in the 2019 range are the super detailed tooling with central can motor driving both bogies, which arrived in 2005/6. 

 

This is in my opinion the super detailed tooling, is a superior model to the former Lima, now Hornby Railroad Class 31 released in recent years. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by richierich

[SHerr]

I presume with the recent increases in costs that a chassis, even if released on its own would probably retail for over £100. It would be more cost effective to by a random full loco (checking it’s not a Mazak affected model of course) on eBay or similar and then selling on the body. You can normally get one for about the £100 mark if your patient and would get £20-30 back for the body.

[Krieghoff]

Right

Here goes.

I may not be as knowledgeable as some but Phil made a statement that was incorrect about why i made the original post. To the other chap that asked the question why i hadnt spoken to Hornby first, then posted.

 

Im fully aware that models are toys. I dont particularly care what has been said about chassis blocks not being sold separately or all the other comments for that matter. I simply asked the question that if Hornby are producing another class 31 which it appears they are, that they may indeed have spare chassis blocks available. My intent was to come on here and find out from the knowledgeable folk so i can then further my quest to obtain them if they are. 

 

This is the second time that peoples replies on here and phils in particular dont take into account that some people dont know as much as others. I will reiterate that some of you need to have a little more understanding and appreciate that some of us arent as knowledgeable but we bother to ask on this forum for positive reply and help !.

 

Some might well think about that before they type a responce !!

[mdvle]

40 minutes ago, Krieghoff said:

 I simply asked the question that if Hornby are producing another class 31 which it appears they are, that they may indeed have spare chassis blocks available. My intent was to come on here and find out from the knowledgeable folk so i can then further my quest to obtain them if they are.

 

But the only people who would know would be Hornby, so why aren't you instead asking Hornby?

 

Otherwise you need to accept the answers given above that the manufacturers don't make spare parts for old models.

[Krieghoff]

You are once again missing the point !

I know that the manufacturers don't make parts for old models !!!

That's exactly why I have asked the question on here about the new class 31's they are making and subsequently a new chassis, to see if anyone has any information that may assist BEFORE I approach Hornby.

 

Im fully aware that the old chassis aren't available. I simply wanted to know if anyone else had any more current info before I proceeded to ask Hornby.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Krieghoff

[Foden]

1 minute ago, mdvle said:

 

But the only people who would know would be Hornby, so why aren't you instead asking Hornby?

 

Otherwise you need to accept the answers given above that the manufacturers don't make spare parts for old models.

 

Well that may be because without discussion, this place would be quite dull. You can apply the same notion to many points, questions, and topics raised throughout these forums, "Just ask the manufacturer/retailer/etc...", it doesn't make for very fluid topics of conversation and debate.

 

And I quite understand the OP's disappointment to the apparent condescending tone of some replies. Krieghoff brought up a perfectly reasonable 'just putting it out there' question, let's not forget that manufacturers have a presence themselves around these forums.

 

My own response would be I doubt it, although given the previous rot issues that have been mentioned, there'd certainly be a few takers. I myself have removed the bodies from a couple of rotten chassis in time, I dare say there will be others having done the same. Never say never, but I';d be surprised.

[Krieghoff]

THANKYOU FODEN.

 

At last..............a common sense and supportive reply, and exactly my point !

Edited February 3, 2019 by Krieghoff

[mdvle]

3 minutes ago, Krieghoff said:

You are once again missing the point !

I know that the manufacturers don't make parts for old models !!!

 

 

 

Then why are you asking?

 

You started out asking if you would be able to buy parts for an older model, and yet you are now claiming that you know that you can't?