Hornby, A Model World. Series 2.

[Pacific231G]

2 hours ago, finelines said:

Tedious and misinformative. I would love to lay into Fred Karno’s army, but I’d probably get hounded off the forum. Why do I watch it? It’s funnier than most sitcoms these days. Lifting the end of the baseboard up to see if the A4 needed rubber tyres!

 

Roger

It did seem odd  that their test track doesn't include a gradient and the slope they lifted it to couldn't have been more than about 1 in 30. I'm glad though they decided not to go down the traction tyre route. A lot of my H0 locos have them and they're a pain. I also suspect them to be unecesssary  as the driven tenders on my Jouef stock weigh a ton and my later Lilliput steam locos (140Cs) don't have or need them. I know that, for very good reasons, you can't used lead weight anymore in anything classified as a "toy" but why  do some manufacturers seem to need traction tyres but others not? 

 

I can't help thinking that equating Hornby's roots to Binns road is a bit like the current Great Western Railway describing IK Brunel as their "founder" 

 

On track standards, I have a very small amount of Tri-ang TT-3 stock left over from my childhood and though they'll run on plain track (12mm is 12mm) they don't like my H0m points (Tillig and Peco) which are ,so far as I can tell, made to the same NEM standard as TT (NEM track and wheel standards are gauge not scale related)  

Edited February 28, 2023 by Pacific231G

[steve1]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

That's entertainment.  And in entertainment (well some of it) clichés are everything - apart from catch phrases, e.g. detail, detail, detail.  And this programme is all about entertainment and is not a documentary - we should never forget that.

 

I spent 12 years writing for a living at the Press Association (now PA Media). We were taught to use our imagination and not resort to the lazy use of cliché, as entertainment or no.

 

steve

[franciswilliamwebb]

1 minute ago, steve1 said:

Press Association

 

Iconic 😉

[Pint of Adnams]

20 minutes ago, franciswilliamwebb said:

 

Iconic 😉

Cabbage!

[Darius43]

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

 

I spent 12 years writing for a living at the Press Association (now PA Media). We were taught to use our imagination and not resort to the lazy use of cliché, as entertainment or no.

 

steve

Agreed, one should avoid cliches like the plague.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[D9020 Nimbus]

5 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Will the real Hornby please stand up?

 

Yesterday, I had reason to go back to one of our 2008 issues which contained that year's Hornby announcements.

 

 

It seems dates for years and anniversaries (as long as they're LNER related) can be flexed to suit.

Since 2008 was the 70th anniversary of Hornby Dublo as stated in the text, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

[AY Mod]

4 minutes ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

 

Hornby's artwork logo states '70 years of Hornby 1938 - 2008'; nothing about the Dublo brand. The 'celebrating 70 years of Hornby Dublo' caption is the mag editor's wording.

[Huw Griffiths]

5 hours ago, Huw Griffiths said:

Anyone could be forgiven for thinking they might be referring to different anniversaries.

 

Of course, I'm slightly too young to remember what they're commemorating. I'm 57 (I know - I don't look a day over ...).

 

4 hours ago, HExpressD said:

It's almost like the introduction of Hornby Dublo and Hornby the company aren't the same year... 

 

Doesn't seem like the most complex whodunnit to me...

 

I thought you looked 56 anyway, promise :)

 

Thanks.

 

When I say my comment about my age in full, I usually say that:

 

"I'm 57. I don't look a day over 80. (I don't feel a day over 90.)"

 

 

One problem with saying how long a company's been around - doing whatever it does - is that it often won't have been the same company all those years ago - or they won't have been doing the same stuff.

 

Do we think in terms of Frank Hornby coming up with the idea for Meccano - a company being set up to produce that - the first Hornby Dublo appearing - any of the takeovers (however they're officially described) - the setting up of any of the companies that took over all or parts of the former business ... ?

 

Chances are that a legitimate case could be made for any of these - and probably more that I haven't thought of.

 

As for the programmes themselves, they probably give some idea of the sort of processes, decisions etc involved in getting some of their products into production (even though the actual production might tend to happen elsewhere). However, they won't show every detail (does anyone seriously expect them to?) and some of the stuff shown in the programmes might really be more "for illustration" than anything else.

 

Am I complaining? No - and I'm not worried, either.

 

I reckon that the programmes show the company - people working there - and the hobby - in a generally positive light. I'd guess that this is what they would have been looking for when they "signed up" - so it's probably achieving its objectives.

 

 

As for the models showcased in the programmes, I'm not in the market.

 

I'm not looking for a "circle of track + ultra basic loco + wagons" style toy train set.

 

I'm also not looking for any of their "full fat" models - even less their special editions - I just can't afford them (and I don't think I'm alone here).

 

If I buy any of their projects, I'm more likely to be after railcars, DMUs etc that I can modify - at a price that allows me to do this. In other words, I'm probably looking for something like Railroad models at the sort of prices I'd expect to pay for Railroad.

 

Somehow, I'm not expecting to see too much emphasis on Railroad in these programmes - so I'm probably not particularly interested in the specific models being showcased in these programmes.

 

 

[HExpressD]

15 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Hornby's artwork logo states '70 years of Hornby 1938 - 2008'; nothing about the Dublo brand. The 'celebrating 70 years of Hornby Dublo' caption is the mag editor's wording.

Is the bit of yellow text on the blue box that says 'to celebrate the seventieth year of Hornby '00' locomotives' under the image of SNG also an addition by the editor?

[Darius43]

7 hours ago, Legend said:

I lost at bingo watching this yesterday . Not one "Iconic" or "lets go into production".

Just started watching my recording of last night’s programme.  I counted four “iconic”s in the first 10 minutes, including in the standard programme introduction (four “iconic” brands).  
 

It’s before six so I’m taking swigs of coffee…

 

Cheers

 

Darius

 

PS. Five in total.

 

PPS.  Loved the garden railway.

Edited February 28, 2023 by Darius43

[AY Mod]

5 minutes ago, HExpressD said:

Is the bit of yellow text on the blue box that says 'to celebrate the seventieth year of Hornby '00' locomotives' under the image of SNG also an addition by the editor?

 

Of course it isn't but I bet you had to squint to read that; as opposed to the much larger ' 70 years of Hornby (current logo)' which is what the man on the 88 bus would take the logo to mean.

 

Next you'll be suggesting that I shouldn't take what Hornby says too literally.

 

 

[PMP]

17 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Of course it isn't but I bet you had to squint to read that; as opposed to the much larger ' 70 years of Hornby (current logo)' which is what the man on the 88 bus would take the logo to mean.

 

Next you'll be suggesting that I shouldn't take what Hornby says too literally.

 

 

Likely due to a mix up of communication. Scouse bloke instructed website bloke to do an announcement of modern stuff and  says ‘diesel do get dem on’

[AY Mod]

Calm down, calm down.

 

Gizza job, go on gizza.

[Phatbob]

1 minute ago, AY Mod said:

Calm down, calm down.

 

 

[HExpressD]

33 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Of course it isn't but I bet you had to squint to read that; as opposed to the much larger ' 70 years of Hornby (current logo)' which is what the man on the 88 bus would take the logo to mean.

 

Next you'll be suggesting that I shouldn't take what Hornby says too literally.

 

 

Spose' but I imagine '70 years of Hornby' is more likely to grab the eye of Mr 88 bus who has a fringe understanding of model railways and vague notion of who Hornby are (hence the modern logo) than '70 years of Hornby, but when we say Hornby we mean the smaller 1:76 scale trains, not the larger 1:43 scale trains we've been doing for a bit longer than that'

 

 

Marketing, innit

 

[Hippel]

As an ex-international planner at DB I did wonder what the Eurotunnel description of an HLP meant. My schoolboy french thought it was 'high footing ' i.e. running!

 

light engines- machines h.l.p. (haut le pied an ex equestrian term meaning an unburdened horse)  

 

Thanks

Paul

[Willie Whizz]

5 hours ago, Darius43 said:

Agreed, one should avoid cliches like the plague.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

And eschew pompous prolixity ....

[Butler Henderson]

The more I watch the goings on at Margate I do wonder if the program is considered to be a comedy at Barwell, Beer, Chirk etc

[Barry Ten]

4 hours ago, Phatbob said:

 

 

 

Did the Flying Scotman run between Edinburgh and That London?

[BMS]

Puzzled that Montana seems to have got less and less to do as the series goes on; totally invisible last night. Especially with her enthusiasm earlier for getting into 3d printing.

[NIK]

I noticed when the baseboard was lifted up at one end to test the TT A4 the baseboard bowed so whatever slope was measured at the end of the layout would have been less steep away near the start of the curve. I guess the worst case is a long helix where the whole of the train is on an up gradient and on a curve.

 

Maybe Hornby will then bring back traction tyres for the A4 if they get complaints.

I guess the main thing is to get through the magazine reviews and initial online comments without a mauling although annual books on UK RTR may get to mention any introduction of traction tyres.

[JohnR]

For me, the most interesting thing about the "rubber tyres" was that apparently, they are accepted on continental models, but rejected by modellers here in the UK. Is that true, and why is that, do you think?

[Markwj]

I do like looking in the background in the shots of the office and spotted what looked like a blue lima box- hope they were not looking for inspiration in there! 

[HExpressD]

21 minutes ago, JohnR said:

For me, the most interesting thing about the "rubber tyres" was that apparently, they are accepted on continental models, but rejected by modellers here in the UK. Is that true, and why is that, do you think?

It's true, traction tyres are common on EU model, just see the new £520 Marklin Flying Scotsman that boasts of it as a feature. I personally don't mind traction tyres on models, some of my best pullers are models with tyres, no idea why people dislike them. Maybe it's because it's a wear component or maybe because they see it as a get around for poor engineering, no idea!

[Pacific231G]

2 hours ago, HExpressD said:

It's true, traction tyres are common on EU model, just see the new £520 Marklin Flying Scotsman that boasts of it as a feature. I personally don't mind traction tyres on models, some of my best pullers are models with tyres, no idea why people dislike them. Maybe it's because it's a wear component or maybe because they see it as a get around for poor engineering, no idea!

People seem to have differing opinions of them. I don't like them- especially after having to change those on a Jouef driven tender- and these are my reasons. 

1. They are unprototypical.

2 When they wear out or break- which sometimes happens rather quickly- they can be difficult to replace without dismantling the running gear or sometimes the whole chassis.

3 With an out of production model finding them as spares can be very difficult

4 They reduce the number of wheels that can pick up power. 

5 The wheels can't slip under excess load so there is a risk of burning out the motor

6 They enable manufacturers to not add enough weight to locos which means they tend to be more "jittery".    

Edited March 1, 2023 by Pacific231G