Roco becomes TT big player

[rekoboy]

Apologies for the cross post - I have added this item to the German Railways section which some of you may not read.

It has just been announced that Roco has taken over the TT scale producer Kuehn-Modellbahn. Roco is clearly using the takeover to establish itself as a real TT scale rival to Tillig and Piko as Kuehn's range includes a full TT track programme along with numerous DB/DR/DB AG/ CD electric and diesel locos and railcars, and, of course, the beautiful BR 94 steam loco plus some very nice carriages and freight wagons.  The catalogue (see link) seems to emphasize only new items, as in those taken over from Kuehn, and ignores Roco's existing own TT steam locos, except for the BR 38, and makes little mention of Kuehn's BR 94. The missing BR 94 might well be as a result of the need for Roco to get Kuehn's moulds back to Europe (or Vietnam!) from the factory in China which produces for Kuehn. Might be a problem! And Roco may well want to rejig the loco with one of its own motors.

https://www.roco.cc/documents/uploads/downloads/Kataloge/20230928_ROCO_TT_Katalog.pdf

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by rekoboy

[natterjack]

Interesting news and a probable fillip to the  Hornby board. For those restricted to English, appropriate Roco Catalogues are available at; https://www.roco.cc/ren/catalogues/

[andythenorth]

I have the Roco Ludmilla and it's excellent.  I had picked up the idea somewhere that Roco had quit TT, but eh, clearly not 🙂

[rekoboy]

Roco did put the TT products on ice for a while but were bombarded with pleas and complaints from German and Czech modellers and relaunched the range a while ago. This takeover will hopefully consolidate Roco's place as a major TT producer. My German friends believe that Roco will shortly be bringing out TT starter sets with track and controls now that they have Kuehn's range. That can only be good for the scale and the hobby.

[britishcolumbian]

I want to hope that this will mean good things, and so far it's looking encouraging, given the announced new items. I'm hopeful that with some time Roco will reissue some of Kühn's previous offerings (specifically the MÁV Y-coaches)... but then I've also been long hopeful that they release a MÁV Sergei (M62) in era IV or era V orange, but so far they've only done the era III version, and it's been long sold out and going for stupid prices on auction... so I figure I'll have to go the repaint route to ever get one. But overall I'm feeling enthused, I think Roco is a bigger power than Kühn could ever have been on its own ... I just hope they keep the Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Polish markets in mind with future releases.

[J-Lewis]

This is definitely good news.  I’ve got a few of the Roco TT locomotives and wagons, it’s good to see them getting rereleased.  Hopefully Roco will tackle some of the European wagons that run over here in the UK like tankers, bulk hoppers and maybe older ferry vans and so on.  Would be amazing if they produced a UK outline diesel.  Something like a Class 42 would make sense as it’s so closely related to the German V200 so it could share chassis, bogies and drivetrain.

[britishcolumbian]

On 08/10/2023 at 16:27, J-Lewis said:

Would be amazing if they produced a UK outline diesel.  Something like a Class 42 would make sense as it’s so closely related to the German V200 so it could share chassis, bogies and drivetrain.

From a Continental manufacturer, if we see something UK outline, I'd expect it to be more likely to be something that also runs on the Continent, so it would be just a matter of paint variations, rather than new tooling specific to the UK. At least, I'd expect the first UK outline release from over there to be something like that, and if it sells well in the UK, perhaps they'd then go for something UK-only.

[ColinK]

Quite a number of British locos have run in Europe, but probably not enough for Roco to make a model.  Ones I can think of are classes 20, 37, 56, 86 and 87.

[Steven B]

You can also add classes 11, 58 and 77.

 

There's also the locos that served in the UK and on the continent during war time.

 

 

[britishcolumbian]

On 11/10/2023 at 08:58, ColinK said:

Quite a number of British locos have run in Europe, but probably not enough for Roco to make a model.  Ones I can think of are classes 20, 37, 56, 86 and 87.

Probably not Roco, but MTB or maybe Piko...

[melmerby]

What about a 66? some have started abroad and come to the UK and some UK ones have gone abroad

[Les1952]

15 hours ago, melmerby said:

What about a 66? some have started abroad and come to the UK and some UK ones have gone abroad

 

Hornby's class 66 has Arnold variants planned.

 

Les

 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Les1952 said:

 

Hornby's class 66 has Arnold variants planned.

 

Les

 

Sounds like a no brainer for TT.