Hornby 2022 Range - General discussion

[RJS1977]

One thing that sticks out to me (unless I've missed it) is no mention of the Railroad Range. Last time I searched for Railroad on the Hornby website, there wasn't much on there either. Playtrains is all very well, but if the next few steps are missing, there's not a lot of point.

 

The new deluxe Black 5 would seem a perfect opportunity to move the current (or even previous) iteration into Railroad. I doubt it would have a significant impact on sales of the top-end model but as an almost-ubiquitous (certainly on ex-LMS lines, and potentially further afield) mixed-traffic loco, it's something that should be available at an affordable price.

[89A]

Glad I got my Granges, Halls, Castles, Kings, 28xxs, 41xx,42xxs, 52xxs, 72xxs, Collett & Hawksworth coaches when I did.

No need to buy any more Hornby now.

Edited January 11, 2022 by 89A

[cctransuk]

Money-grabbing cynicism is my reaction to this announcement.

 

The only thing listed that would in any way cause my wallet to twitch would be the Black Five - but anyone in that market would surely, like myself, have made alternative arrangements by now.

 

CJI.

 

 

[InterCity80s]

5 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

One thing that sticks out to me (unless I've missed it) is no mention of the Railroad Range.

Take a look at this from 21:00 onwards: 

 

[RJS1977]

A lot of those diesel liveries seem somewhat obscure!

[SamThomas]

3 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Remember this ?

 

 

Poor lad would need an armed guard on the way to the model shop now !!!!

 

Brit15

 

 

The lad would need to go a long way thesesdays to find a model shop that was still open.

 

I also remember Yellow Pages. (& push button trimphones).

[James Harrison]

Truly eye-watering prices for some items. Two locos and that's more than my monthly mortgage payment... if that isn't a wake-up call about unsustainable costs I don't know what is.

[Philip Jackson]

oh well. another year to save up for when the class 124 get's announced

[Legend]

36 minutes ago, SamThomas said:

The lad would need to go a long way thesesdays to find a model shop that was still open.

 

I also remember Yellow Pages. (& push button trimphones).

Posh people had Trim phones . I think you paid more rental for them from BT. And you could have any colour from Black, Beige, Avocado or red . Aye these were the days . 

[OOgaugeJaf]

3 hours ago, Global said:

Steam not my thing, but the Accurascale Manor is £169.99 or £259.99 with sound for something far superior to anything Hornby has ever produced! 
 

A great looking model at a price that doesn’t leave you feeling robbed… unlike Hornby - I’m sure SK should wear a balaclava! Lol. 

Have to agree on the cost of the new Loco. Accurascale however are making the most of their new Manor product with a significant number of variants. That’s probably keeping the costs down. On another note Hornby are going to need cash for their legal team taking Studio Canal on over Titgate as someone named it.

[OOgaugeJaf]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

Money-grabbing cynicism is my reaction to this announcement.

 

The only thing listed that would in any way cause my wallet to twitch would be the Black Five - but anyone in that market would surely, like myself, have made alternative arrangements by now.

 

CJI.

 

 

I have two fairly recent Loco driven versions. Weathered up with a bit more detail look decent. Will not be buying a further one. O gauge one on order for the garden from Ellis. 
 

There is still so much to go at in terms of models never produced and in demand. Personally think it’s a poor show. Would have suggested a new 8F over the Black 5

[phil-b259]

4 hours ago, 30368 said:

 

Meanwhile the going rate for a steam outline loco seems to be edging towards £300 fairly quickly. At that price, building a loco from a kit will be cheap(er) now and keeps a number of small UK based suppliers in business and... most importantly, is very rewarding.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

Building the kit  is only half a challenge - getting the decoration as fine as RTR is a whole other ball game. The intricacy, vibrancy and general tininess of Tampo printing on modern models (all of which hikes the price of courses as one small slip and thats another bodyshell written off) are far in excess of what 90% of modelers can match themselves.

 

Not all of us are fans of BR unlined black / grot you know!

Edited January 10, 2022 by phil-b259

[nathan70000]

Overall I think the 2022 range is a mixed bag. The choices for modern image modellers are fantastic; Lumo 800s, the FLIRT, Drax biomass hoppers. Really good, forward-thinking stuff.

 

Hornby seem to be going backwards when it comes to their steam era choices, however. The Turbomotive will surely sell but the big Pacifics need to be balanced out by smaller, more workaday locomotives that modellers actually need.

 

There's no shortage of prototypes to choose from, the ex-Airfix 14xx surely deserves an update and I was very confident that would appear this year, possibly with a retooled Autocoach. Hornby's N2 of identical provenance would also be a good candidate for retooling.

 

Yet these smaller engines seem to have been forgotten and we're moving back to the bad old days when the only thing you could get from Hornby were big named engines. I'm pretty sure almost anything steam would sell, so I'm hoping for some braver, bolder choices next year. More balance would be welcome; I don't want Hornby to stop making big engines, far from it (I bought a W1 and might well save up for a P2) but I think the ratio of big engines to small engines needs adjusting.

 

And the sets... not once on this forum have I seen someone express a desire that Hornby re-release fifty year old train sets as "collectible" limited editions. It made sense in 2020 during the fiftieth anniversary, but I'm honestly not sure there's much of a market for stuff like the Triang Hornby re-releases.

 

Finally, I won't comment on prices again, since I've made my point elsewhere. But anyone who thinks that customers will just passively accept price hikes needs to have a look at the reactions on social media to this announcement.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by nathan70000

[CUCKOO LINE]

It would seem that maybe Hornby have misread the success of the Airfix Vintage Classics and applied the theory to Hornby. But the airfix kits were reasonably accurate if not quite so detailed whereas in trains Hornby have rather moved on in terms of accurate models.

[andyman7]

I have enough models already to last a lifetime, and a set of projects to exceed that lifetime - so for me the new release announcements are a curiosity, and if there is something in there to attract me, I'll note it for purchase. If there's something I definitely want I will pre-order if I can; but years of experience have taught me that as long as I am on my toes when and if something hits the shelves, it can be obtained (for example, I have no interest in the W1, but even without a pre-order, if I'd been quick off the mark I could have bought one).

 

In that vein, I've seen plenty of things that may be of interest; noted that as usual there are many products that are of no interest at all to me (Father's Day, Christmas, or Coca-Cola models) and (in the case of the VEPs) probably some must-haves. I've also noted items where in my view another manufacturer makes a product that I consider a better item for my needs - for example many of the Hornby wagons are catered for better by others, although some (such as the KFAs) are excellent.

 

Funnily enough, I haven't managed to experience the outrage, fulmination, condemnation and general spleen-renting that seems to characterised a lot of reaction. I think the reactions border on the unbalanced in some cases (and this is not because I'm a Hornby apologist), it seems completely disproportionate to the subject matter - it's just model railways!

 

If they can deliver even some of the promised items in the next year or so there are items there I will definitely consider buying; others I will leave alone. But I simply can't work up the outrage that seems to emanate from some postings.

 

4 hours ago, Global said:

Steam not my thing, but the Accurascale Manor is £169.99 or £259.99 with sound for something far superior to anything Hornby has ever produced! 
 

A great looking model at a price that doesn’t leave you feeling robbed… unlike Hornby - I’m sure SK should wear a balaclava! Lol. 

 

I've referenced this post but this is not having a pop at Global - it is, though, worth noting that the Accurascale Manor does not yet exist, so it is surely impossible to judge how good it will be. I wish them every success, mind you when it does appear I bet someone will find something to grumble about with it...

 

[phil gollin]

5 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Maybe people may like to consider there are still hundreds of models delayed from last year.

 

455 models still to come according to Kernow.

 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/c/765/Hornby-2022-Range

 

 

Jason

.

 

I read that first time as a Class 455 still to come !

 

If only.

 

One can hope.

 

. 

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

Whats the score on the Drax biomass wagon pack,is it instantly sold out or not yet listed.

Not found any all afternoon,i guess the tier one thing is a preferential supply thing....

[The Johnster]

4 hours ago, nathan70000 said:

 

Finally, I won't comment on prices again, since I've made my point elsewhere. But anyone who thinks that customers will just passively accept price hikes needs to have a look at the reactions on social media to this announcement.

 

I'm not so sure. 

 

The problem here is that however passionately and convincingly we rant about price increases on social media, in the world of real virtuality we will, by and large, passively accept higher prices because past experience has shown that this is, by and large, what we do and always have done.  From a manufacturer's perpective, the reactions on social media are so much p*ss and vinegar; they don't care and, unless you actually believe the ancient delusion that the customer is always right, why should they!  The model will probably sell in the anticipated quantities and make the anticipated profit; most of them do and always have.

 

There are a few customers like me who are on fixed and limited incomes, pensioners or teenagers on pocket money, but because we do not have disposable income we buy proportionally far less models and have smaller layouts.  Manufacturers would soon go out of business if they catered to our needs when the bulk of customers are those relatively well off folk who have sizeable disposable incomes and live in properties large enough to built sizeable layouts, or are collectors who will buy one of each item produced, each train set produced, each pack of stock produced and so on because that's part of what collecting is about; I'm not complaining about any of this, but it doesn't create a situation in which the RTR companies take my needs seriously and I have to ride on the back of the needs and desires of those whose needs they do take seriously.  Considering which I haven't done too badly overall out of it!

 

As long as the core of the customer base has decent levels of disposable (and despite the uncertainty of the world, I don't see anything that would seriously threaten the middle income middle class white collar salaried folk who actually are the core of the customer base in the foreseeable; they're pretty safe), prices can and will rise without any serious effect on sales irrespective of the howls of entitled protest; look at the prices of model railway items on mainland Europe or in the US and consider yourself lucky that we are still paying much less than those prices for comparable models. 

 

I am lucky in that, like 89A, I managed to buy most of the big ticket items before the prices started becoming too much for me, and if Hornby or any other RTR manufacture want more of my big ticket money they have to produce new models a) that have not been produced before to current standards and b) that I want.  Given the niche nature of the models that I want, the least unlikely to ever actually materialise from Hornby would probably be an A30 auto trailer retooled to current standards; put me down for 2 of them to replace the two Airfix derivates on the layout at the moment.

 

There are plenty of dissappointments for me in the release list, but they were not unexpected.  I'd hoped that there might be retoolings of the A30s, 2721, shorty clerestories, and so on, but would have been amazed, delighted but amazed, if any of those had appeared this year and will be quite surprised if any of them turn up in the next decade.  I've been delighted and amazed before, though, with the Collett 57' suburbans and large prairie to haul them, so it's not impossible!

Edited January 11, 2022 by The Johnster

[KDG]

SK in his video pleaded with us to email him with suggestions of things we'd like him to do.

 

Now I have a few, and they're actually all model railway related, no axe to grind here at all  - would anybody know the most appropriate address to email him at?

 

Thanks in advance 

[Bloodnok]

Hmmm. Nice to get a proper confirmation from Hornby that a 12 or greater car APT needs a second powered NDM. Also nice of them to produce one with the correct cantrail colour to go with the black-fronted set this time, so that people don't have to crossbreed the shell of the (still presumed unpowered) NDM from the 7 car set with the innards of the 5 car set.

I will first confirm they didn't sneak a motor into 2020's 7 car black fronted set, then place the apparently necessary add-on order to complete the rake and make it work properly.

I wonder if the 2022 yellow fronted 7 car set (representing a completely impossible set, with a coach that didn't exist until well after everything had received black fronts, in a livery it never covered) still has the same problem of having an unpowered NDM (which will need powering if someone stretches the set to 14 cars)?

Anyway, outside of APT stuff ... I should really have a black 5 on my layout, as they were running for the first two years of my modelling period. But I want one to represent 1966-1968 condition (i.e. plain black and filthy), and there's no way I'm parting with that much money for one. I will keep an eye out and see if people upgrade from their current "super-detail" black 5s to the new ones though. The smoke thing is hilarious -- they've managed to sync the smoke with the chuffing sound from the sound chip, but they are the only manufacturer of sound decoders who haven't managed to sync that with the wheel rotation yet. That's a facepalm moment if ever there was one.

I really could kinda use that banger blue 31 ... but not at that price. That'll go into the list of stuff from last year's announcements (which already has 87s and 56s in it, which I note have not arrived yet) that I might get, but only if they get sufficiently discounted. At the price they are now, even less a standard dealer discount, there are far too many locos from other manufacturers ahead of them in the queue which are both better and cheaper.

The VEP is interesting. It doesn't fit my current layout, but I spent a lot of time riding these - first to School, then to University, and also to my first job. Network SouthEast, Network SouthCentral, Ghost white, Connex white and yellow, De-branded Connex (white and all the blue trim, but the yellow bit removed), I'd have all those liveries. Oh, and there was one oddball in Southern Green too. Guess which one Hornby have picked to model? The unique one. Oh well. I will watch for further news of said green one with interest. I can see they've fixed the corridor (which, to be fair, is something a "proper modeller" can do to the old model relatively easily), but the decision point on buying it will be the all-important face of the unit, which requires much more careful surgery to the old one to get right, as many things are "slightly off" meaning it's a lot of work to put right, plus a lot of risk of making it worse too. Hornby never showed that in the video.

If the face of the unit looks sufficiently right, I might pull the trigger on this one, despite the exorbitant cost of it. If finances allow, of course...

Edited January 11, 2022 by Bloodnok

[Pmorgancym]

13 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

One thing that sticks out to me (unless I've missed it) is no mention of the Railroad Range. Last time I searched for Railroad on the Hornby website, there wasn't much on there either. Playtrains is all very well, but if the next few steps are missing, there's not a lot of point.

 

The new deluxe Black 5 would seem a perfect opportunity to move the current (or even previous) iteration into Railroad. I doubt it would have a significant impact on sales of the top-end model but as an almost-ubiquitous (certainly on ex-LMS lines, and potentially further afield) mixed-traffic loco, it's something that should be available at an affordable price.

I dunno I reckon the 'current' black 5 is probably good enough for most people and at the sort of price it would have to be pitched at to be in railroad or railroad plus, it would take a lot of sales away from the all singing and dancing new one.

This is an issue all manufactures now have, the last 20 years have seen a huge step forward in levels of detail, performance and features.  Retooling of a 'newish' model is entering law of diminishing returns territory, hence gimiks like firebox glow and working lamps.

[Legend]

I'm a bit puzzled by the Black 5 .  Its too cheap !   I know , I cant believe i've written that  but as I understand it the latest generation model with lighting , firebox glow , TTS Sound and Smoke is £249. I'm wondering if thats correct . I have a feeling there are some pricing gremlins in there . The other one is the Biomax wagons . Is it a pair of wagons or one . With the pricing of £45 ish I'd suspect one but it does say pack . 

[spamcan61]

12 hours ago, OOgaugeJaf said:

There is still so much to go at in terms of models never produced and in demand. Personally think it’s a poor show. Would have suggested a new 8F over the Black 5

The strategy seems to be gradually replacing the 'HiFi' models developed by Sanda Kan 2000 - 2008 with newer equivalents which are presumably more suitable for manufacture by whoever they're currently using. From my point of view the Sanda Kan era models are fine, I've no interest in paying even more money for a 'better' model designed in 2022.

Edited January 11, 2022 by spamcan61

[Pmorgancym]

24 minutes ago, Legend said:

I'm a bit puzzled by the Black 5 .  Its too cheap !   I know , I cant believe i've written that  but as I understand it the latest generation model with lighting , firebox glow , TTS Sound and Smoke is £249. I'm wondering if thats correct . I have a feeling there are some pricing gremlins in there . The other one is the Biomax wagons . Is it a pair of wagons or one . With the pricing of £45 ish I'd suspect one but it does say pack . 

Quick order one before they notice

[GreenGiraffe22]

Uninspiring range for me, but I don't think this range is aimed at me, someone who is after useful workaday Southern stock, I just wanted a humble wartime black A1x and sods law, if I want one I gotta buy an expensive limited edition pack it would seem, (if any LBSCR modellers who just want Poplar wanna go halves with me on it, let me know! You can keep the box)