Hornby 2022 - Wagons

[scouse889]

1 hour ago, RJennings said:

Ordered mine from Kernow when I posted the links previous page and received them yesterday. If being sent via Royal Mail then may just be delayed with their current industrial action unfortunately.

I ordered much the same time but have not yet received them - although I have had an email from Royal Mail saying they have the parcel. So I think Kernow have dispatched and when you receive is down to the “people’s postcode lottery” of a post service we have at the moment!

[scouse889]

1 hour ago, HighPeak45 said:

Hi. Has anyone received their Hornby Bio mass wagons yet from either Kernows or Cheltenham Model Centre? I have an order in with both but not received anything yet. 

I ordered some from the Bluebell Railway and have not received them either. Very much hope they don’t get lost in the post given the situation as it is at the moment, these are pretty irreplaceable unless you have £500 for 8 on eBay….!

[TomScrut]

7 hours ago, HighPeak45 said:

Hi. Has anyone received their Hornby Bio mass wagons yet from either Kernows or Cheltenham Model Centre? I have an order in with both but not received anything yet. 

 

Yes. I got mine from Kernow last week.

 

I did contact them to ask them to send via DPD though.

Edited January 4, 2023 by TomScrut

[Watto1990]

Also waiting for mine from Kernow, dispatched on the 28th. I have had to remind myself a few times that it’s only really been four working days since then though!

[stonesboy]

Ordered from Kernow (last Thursday) the Drax wagons and received an email this morning saying they will be delivered today. Can’t wait

[WILLIAM]

For anyone still looking for these at a fair price, I know Gaugemaster are still working through their pre-orders and may have some surplus as I for one will not be taking my allocation with them as I have more than enough from other retailers following the twin pack revelation.

[HighPeak45]

On 04/01/2023 at 11:06, HighPeak45 said:

Hi. Has anyone received their Hornby Bio mass wagons yet from either Kernows or Cheltenham Model Centre? I have an order in with both but not received anything yet. 

All good. Finally got notification from kernow that mine will be delivered today and Cheltenham just called confirming that they have just arrived in stock. Looks like some retailers are getting them after others.

[scouse889]

6 hours ago, stonesboy said:

Ordered from Kernow (last Thursday) the Drax wagons and received an email this morning saying they will be delivered today. Can’t wait

 

3 hours ago, HighPeak45 said:

All good. Finally got notification from kernow that mine will be delivered today and Cheltenham just called confirming that they have just arrived in stock. Looks like some retailers are getting them after others.

 

Snap - and the postman just arrived with them, so they are obviously getting through. Disappointingly there are some small blemishes on the paintwork of one side of one wagon, but in this instance I won't be sending them back. The finish on most of the ones I have so far received have been excellent, however.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by scouse889

[meatloaf]

I recieved 2 packs of the drax wagons for xmas. 

 

As i model br blue / green changover ive not really got a suitable loco.

 

Im guessing ill be needing a Class 66 or maybe a Accurascale 92?

[scouse889]

1 minute ago, meatloaf said:

I recieved 2 packs of the drax wagons for xmas. 

 

As i model br blue / green changover ive not really got a suitable loco.

 

Im guessing ill be needing a Class 66 or maybe a Accurascale 92?

 

Search "GBRF Drax" on YouTube and there's plenty of inspiration.

Certainly both of Hornby's recent GBRF 60s (60026/60095) have pulled the wagons - and both are still available at quite a few retailers. I've seen 66s with the wagons too, but not sure about 92s......

[cessna152towser]

6 hours ago, WILLIAM said:

For anyone still looking for these at a fair price, I know Gaugemaster are still working through their pre-orders and may have some surplus as I for one will not be taking my allocation with them as I have more than enough from other retailers following the twin pack revelation.

When I tried to place a pre-order on my account with Gaugemaster their response was

"These Hornby items have already been and gone and are showing as discontinued from the information we have.

Unless they plan to do a re-run, they launch their new items for 2023 next Monday so might be on that, that is it for the moment."

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by cessna152towser
typo

[Ravenser]

4 hours ago, scouse889 said:

 

 

Snap - and the postman just arrived with them, so they are obviously getting through. Disappointingly there are some small blemishes on the paintwork of one side of one wagon, but in this instance I won't be sending them back. The finish on most of the ones I have so far received have been excellent, however.

 

 

In extremis - slap on a graffiti transfer....

[HighPeak45]

Well they have arrived. First impressions look good. Not noticed the blemishes yet mentioned before but one wagon didn't have the add on vac pipes in the box. Do feel a little light so may need to figure out a way into them to add some weight. Seen mentioned elsewhere they can be prone to derailment. Rerailing team may get a little busy :-)

[No Decorum]

My four wagons arrived yesterday, luckily on a mild day so that the roof space was habitable. They look magnificent! I was fascinated by the ingenuity of the design in creating a wagon to carry as much biomass as possible; biomass being less dense than coal. For something as historically significant as these, I like to get an original livery if possible but £80 each ruled them out. At £25 each, they’re a bargain.

 

The picture livery appears to be a transfer but well done. They are betrayed by a barely noticeable ragged edge at one of the apertures in the body on one wagon. There is a different illustration on each side and the wagons in each set match, although the illustrations are different on each set. Should you be so minded, you could arrange all four wagons to show different illustrations along the rake.

 

A lot of the pinpoints have what looked like fine brass or copper wire (possibly swarf) wrapped around them. Removing it didn’t seem to make much difference to their running, which isn’t very free. Lubrication helped very considerably and I dare say more weight would improve them further.

 

With modern wagons like these, I like to replace the couplings with the shortest Kadees which will work but they droop and foul switch rails. I have contented myself with Bachmann short straight couplings which are an improvement over the clumsy Hornby ones. On the original design, the bogies are set well inward to allow an extra small hopper to be added to each end. On the model, the couplings are fixed to the bogies by a long extension and consequently they swing a lot from side to side. No problem on my gentle curves but I can’t comment on tighter curves.

 

The loaf-of-bread buffers aren’t sprung but they are metal and look well.

 

I wonder if Mr. Kohler is contemplating another run in view of the runaway success of these. Four might make a train long enough for some people but I’d welcome another four with different running numbers.

 

Here’s an end shot with the coupling and pocket removed and the brake pipes attached. Someone has stumbled off in the dark to find a tail lamp!

 

[Ravenser]

1 hour ago, No Decorum said:

 

 

With modern wagons like these, I like to replace the couplings with the shortest Kadees which will work but they droop and foul switch rails. I have contented myself with Bachmann short straight couplings which are an improvement over the clumsy Hornby ones. On the original design, the bogies are set well inward to allow an extra small hopper to be added to each end. On the model, the couplings are fixed to the bogies by a long extension and consequently they swing a lot from side to side. No problem on my gentle curves but I can’t comment on tighter curves.

 

 

 

Pack the NEM pocket with a scrap of plasticard or even card underneath to stop the droop.

 

Also get a set of Kadee pliers which allow you to bend/ adjust the tail below the coupling so that it stays above the railhead

[No Decorum]

8 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

 

Pack the NEM pocket with a scrap of plasticard or even card underneath to stop the droop.

 

Also get a set of Kadee pliers which allow you to bend/ adjust the tail below the coupling so that it stays above the railhead

Thank you. I pushed in the thinnest plasticard I could find but it was too thick, which is why I settled for the Bachmann couplings. I might try paper some other time. Kadee pliers sound like a useful addition to my toolkit.

[cessna152towser]

4 hours ago, No Decorum said:

I wonder if Mr. Kohler is contemplating another run in view of the runaway success of these. Four might make a train long enough for some people but I’d welcome another four with different running numbers.

I am assuming this current limited release was Hornby testing the market and now that these are fetching a premium on eBay there will be a further release announced shortly, probably at a higher price than 49.95 for a pair but still less than the eBay rip off merchants want to charge.  

Edited January 6, 2023 by cessna152towser

[PeterStiles]

hmm.

Someone's failed their checks... These shouldn't have been allowed out on the track...

 

My wagons have five of these levers in the "locked" position

 

but one of them is in the OPEN position!

 

Oh My!

 

[cctransuk]

3 minutes ago, PeterStiles said:

hmm.

Someone's failed their checks... These shouldn't have been allowed out on the track...

 

My wagons have five of these levers in the "locked" position

 

but one of them is in the OPEN position!

 

Oh My!

 

 

Not too difficult to correct, though?

 

CJI.

[PeterStiles]

10 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

Not too difficult to correct, though?

Well.

 

The levers don't move.

 

The lever in the middle is connected directly to the lever on the other side of the wagon.

Which implies it should say "open/closed" on one side of the wagon and "closed/open" on the other side/

But it could mean that the connection from one side to the other isn't supposed to be as simple as the rod that the model has...

 

So: what's it supposed to be then?

Edited January 6, 2023 by PeterStiles
levers dont move

[Steamport Southport]

20 hours ago, Ravenser said:

 

In extremis - slap on a graffiti transfer....

 

They're normally spotlessly clean though. I go past them at least twice a week (unless they're on strike).

 

I hope people managed to get a lot of them. I think there are 25 in this train....

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Edge+Hill/@53.4039126,-2.9358438,234m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487b2100cdd324d9:0xfe5b82ceaa91f0d6!8m2!3d53.4026933!4d-2.9468965

 

 

 

Jason

[spamcan61]

2 hours ago, No Decorum said:

I wonder if Mr. Kohler is contemplating another run in view of the runaway success of these. Four might make a train long enough for some people but I’d welcome another four with different running numbers.

 

I remain baffled by the pricing of these wagons: two quite big/fancy/complicated wagons (by Hornby standards)  for about the price of 1 Hornby coach, and significantly cheaper than the nearest (albeit better detailed ) 'close' equivalents from the competition. In some ways it's like they forgot to double the price when they decided there'd be a two pack. <shrugs>

 

I'd love to see more items from Hornby offering this level of value, but I'm not holding my breath.

[scottrains29]

2 hours ago, No Decorum said:

I wonder if Mr. Kohler is contemplating another run in view of the runaway success of these.

I'm not so sure we will see more released anytime soon. The fact that these tier 1 exclusives have been such a success will be an incentive for model shops to remain/join tier 1 and therefore good news for Hornby.

It would be foolish of Hornby to release them in the main range so soon as it basically suggests all future tier 1 exclusives will quickly join the main range if they happen to be popular. They could release them again as tier 1 exclusives but I'd wait a few years first. 

 

Keeping demand high for all future tier 1 exclusives will only help these model shops. Had these wagons not been in such high demand I probably wouldn't have bothered buying them, afterall the Accurascale biomass wagons are far superior and have been available for months now at around the same price for a pair (TMC, Rails sales etc). I've even had to resort to rule 1 to run the Drax wagons on my Scottish layout!

I suspect we will see more tier 1 exclusives announced next week but I'm not sure it'll be the biomass wagons this time.

[newbryford]

14 minutes ago, scottrains29 said:

I'm not so sure we will see more released anytime soon. The fact that these tier 1 exclusives have been such a success will be an incentive for model shops to remain/join tier 1 and therefore good news for Hornby.

It would be foolish of Hornby to release them in the main range so soon as it basically suggests all future tier 1 exclusives will quickly join the main range if they happen to be popular. They could release them again as tier 1 exclusives but I'd wait a few years first. 

 

Keeping demand high for all future tier 1 exclusives will only help these model shops. Had these wagons not been in such high demand I probably wouldn't have bothered buying them, afterall the Accurascale biomass wagons are far superior and have been available for months now at around the same price for a pair (TMC, Rails sales etc). I've even had to resort to rule 1 to run the Drax wagons on my Scottish layout!

I suspect we will see more tier 1 exclusives announced next week but I'm not sure it'll be the biomass wagons this time.

 

 

IMO - doing Tier 1 exclusives will only serve to drive other shops away from stocking Hornby.

But - as Hornby seem to be  moving towards a direct approach - the TT120 range for example - then maybe Hornby will eventually drive all retailers away anyway.

 

 

 

 

[jonnyuk]

21 minutes ago, scottrains29 said:

I'm not so sure we will see more released anytime soon. The fact that these tier 1 exclusives have been such a success will be an incentive for model shops to remain/join tier 1 and therefore good news for Hornby.

It would be foolish of Hornby to release them in the main range so soon as it basically suggests all future tier 1 exclusives will quickly join the main range if they happen to be popular. They could release them again as tier 1 exclusives but I'd wait a few years first. 

 

Keeping demand high for all future tier 1 exclusives will only help these model shops. Had these wagons not been in such high demand I probably wouldn't have bothered buying them, afterall the Accurascale biomass wagons are far superior and have been available for months now at around the same price for a pair (TMC, Rails sales etc). I've even had to resort to rule 1 to run the Drax wagons on my Scottish layout!

I suspect we will see more tier 1 exclusives announced next week but I'm not sure it'll be the biomass wagons this time.

i agree with most of what you are saying, except far superior, i now own both and they are about on a par, at least with the Hornby model i don't have to hack the underframe to allow them to go round R2 curves!

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by jonnyuk