Hornby 2023 - Playtrains

[rovex]

Is this what the exciting new announcement of a new train on Facebook four hours ago is all about?

[1andrew1]

1 hour ago, spamcan61 said:

Thought they'd killed it off 'once existing stocks are exhausted', maybe they found these in a corner of the warehouse / production slot already committed.

Autumn 2024 release so not manufactured yet. The track colour has also changed from red to grey. I think if a production slot had been committed, they would not have announced the range was being discontinued until after the last shipment. 

 

I think it's possible they've had a change of heart.

[MarkSG]

Slightly different marketing - the new release has a stated age range of 5+, whereas the original was 3+. That may partly be a way of differentiating the product from the likes of Fisher-Price, which are generally aimed at a younger age bracket. And I suspect it's probably more practical, too - the Playtrains track, while simple enough to assemble, is "proper" railway track, and the trains use flanged wheels to run on the track. That's different to Fisher-Price, which uses grooved track and unflanged wheels, which is less realistic but easier for a toddler to handle. Playtrains seems to me to be better suited to early primary school rather than pre-school children, and I suspect that the new marketing reflects that.

 

Also, the Playtrains page on the Hornby website now talks about a tie-in with Trainmaster, which for those who don't know is a children's train-based activity provider. So I presume that Hornby now see that as a key marketing opportunity for the range; kids will see Playtrains in action at the events and then pester their parents to buy one for them!

 

I'm quite pleased with this, actually. Obviously, Playtrains are of no real interest to adult modellers. But if it keeps the Hornby brand in the minds of children, and provides something that's just a bit of a step up from the Fisher-Price Thomas range, then that's a good thing in the long run.

[adb968008]

Maybe a steam punk version of play trains ?

[Guest]

Looking at the imagery, I suspect that this may be a new version of Play Trains. 

 

It might in fact be the previous version with the characters that they've decided to knock on the head. 

[GenericRMWebUsername]

23 minutes ago, Richard RK3 said:

Looking at the imagery, I suspect that this may be a new version of Play Trains. 

 

It might in fact be the previous version with the characters that they've decided to knock on the head. 

I think this is exactly right. Play Trains as we knew it is no more, but the Play Trains brand name will be repurposed with this new product lineup. This is probably a better approach. While the characters were cute, I think young boys want vehicles that look like their real life counterparts. One of my nephew's (aged two) favorite toys is a Caterpillar construction vehicle. It's painted in a realistic livery and fairly resembles the real thing. He gets excited seeing real construction trucks that resemble his toy. 

 

I guess this speaks to the brilliance of Reverend Awdry. His steam engines resemble real life prototypes. That's what kids like. 

[Guest]

13 hours ago, GenericRMWebUsername said:

I think this is exactly right. Play Trains as we knew it is no more, but the Play Trains brand name will be repurposed with this new product line up. This is probably a better approach. While the characters were cute, I think young boys want vehicles that look like their real life counterparts. One of my nephew's (aged two) favourite toys is a Caterpillar construction vehicle. It's painted in a realistic livery and fairly resembles the real thing. He gets excited seeing real construction trucks that resemble his toy. 

 

I guess this speaks to the brilliance of Reverend Awdry. His steam engines resemble real life prototypes. That's what kids like. 

And presumably girls too, for the interests of gender balance. Not to sound like I'm virtue signalling but I think that to make this hobby still work I think you do have to make it more diverse!

 

But that aside, I would wholeheartedly agree! It does seem that they going for a more realistic approach (given to the slight resemblance to the LNER Azuma livery) which is no bad thing! :)

Edited March 2 by Guest