Hornby 2011

[wombatofludham]

If Hornby do a Brighton Belle and then release it in the 1970's Blue/Grey livery, could Hornby claim to be doing a Blue Pullman? Seriously though, I can't help thinking that with Hornby's seeming obsession with umber and cream, prediliction for Southern stock, a group working to bring back a Brighton Belle to the main line, and the daft prices the Wrenn versions fetch when they come up for sale, I'd be more shocked if a Belle didn't feature this year.

 

Mind you, I'd probably die of shock if we found that they were releasing a new "Blue" Pullman, but comprising an all-new superdetail Class 86/0 and Mk2 "Manchester" Pullmans!

[Mike Bellamy]

Look at MRE for a bit more information http://www.mremag.com/

 

Also mentions that Hornby are not producing their railway models in India

 

Mike

[davidw]

Interesting the statement in mre not let up in production - interesting that there's a lot outstanding from 2010 some which isn't going to appear until as late as April/May. Interestingly BRM is out showing some new livery's, one of the phots wa s of A4 Golden Plover - This was done in 2004 - the only differences I could see was no - warning flashes and no speedo cable, it could be sound equipped - but if its correct then an odd choice!

[Shedmaster]

I was watching Simon Kohler's interview on ModelRailway.tv which was done sometimes last year and he talked about future DCC possibilities and he talked about the electric loco with working pantographs and sound and also the coaches with opening and slamming doors and guards whistle made by ROCO, which he didn't mention. I wonder whether we might see similar this on Hornby coaches sometime in the future.

 

Peter

 

 

I too saw the ROCO trainset thingy at Warley and wondered why Hornby couldnt copy the idea for an all new range of Mk2 and Mk3 coaches, before consigning the current offerings to the Railroad range ? Don't Hornby own ROCO ?????????

 

I'm liking the logic of the above posts.......an all new Class 59, 67, 71, 73 and Brighton Belle would be REALLY helpful for me in 2011 please !!!!!

 

 

Dave

[RedgateModels]

Duke of Gloucester

Duke of Gloucester

Duke of Gloucester

 

 

Actually, I hope not as it's kinda my 2011 project if I can get hold of a loco drive brit cheap enough and Chris at Golden Arrow could not do with another item from his range made obsolete

[Dave777]

I'll look forward to the official announcement thread to see how long it takes for someone to reply 'Nothing for me this year, so my wallet will stay shut' as if this is of great relevance and importance to the rest of us.

 

Why do people reply with it? Baffling.

 

[Mod2]

I'm presuming the normal embargo is in place (and obviously here is not the place to debate the rights and wrongs of such arrangements or scream about the "unfairness" of it all),

 

 

I'll look forward to the official announcement thread to see how long it takes for someone to reply 'Nothing for me this year, so my wallet will stay shut' as if this is of great relevance and importance to the rest of us.

 

 

Paddy, Dave - thanks for that, we do feel that the majority of readers share your views on these points. As and when time allows, you'll find we'll be particularly unaccomodating this year to posts that contravene either of them.

 

Cheers.

[phil gollin]

 

........... Finally, they have the Schools tender, so perhaps they might modfy it to make a Southern Region snowplough - I suspect it might be needed before the winter's over.

 

 

There is a sensible, contemporary comment.

 

I don't really care what they "announce", I will buy what suits and ignore the rest. I just hope they know their customer base sufficiently to make a decent profit.

 

I think they still have a lot of "filling out" still to do in terms of liveries, my main problem lies with late BR T.9s, at least two more models required.

 

Back when I had a proper local model railway shop they used to get early Bachmann and Hornby catalogues plus order forms for the next year. They had to put their order in BEFORE the official announcements which was silly, so they used to show the catalogues to their regulars to get an idea of the possible numbers. I hope things have improved and Hornby don't expect orders to be placed before the Christmas "official" announcement.

 

.

[7013]

We will laugh,cry,cheer and Boo in equal measures.The offerings have been set and frothing will not change anything, we will once again air our wishes for things that cover all points of the compass and every regional variation, one thing for sure I am predicting, that is something for everyone and disappointments for some.

[iak]

It would be nice if some direction was given to Hornby as they sifted thought the jumbo sized choices they have available

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Interesting the statement in MRE 'no let up in production' ...

Really, the RTR manufacturers have little choice if the business is to thrive. A large proportion of the revenue in RTR comes from new introductions, which typically yield large sales volumes for only 2 to 3 years. (The hope of course is that some proportion of these go on to become 'cash cows'; steady sellers come rain or shine that can be economically produced from amortised tooling. If only there was a way of successfully predicting the specific subjects with definite cash cow potential...)

 

As it is the manufacturers have to 'go fishing' for genres that will do this. I have no idea what the sales performance of the contemporary railway models produced by Bachmann in particular are like, but the steady introduction of freight stock probably tells its' own story; and there is a noticeable gap emerging between them and Hornby. Bachmann have accumulated a pile of recent tooling investment for the contemporary diesel operated freight railway, with more coming, and are moving into the 25kV zone; which up to now Hornby have held largely uncontested. As if that wasn't enough competition, Heljan have, and Dapol almost certainly will move into this subject area once the prototype/failure/few in number diesel classes have been wrapped up. I shall be surprised if Hornby don't make some move now to define some territory.

[Barry Ten]

I was surprised by how little pre-nationalisation rolling stock is in the current Hornby range (as gauged by the Hattons website). Select Hornby, then wagons, then pre-nationalisation ... 17 items - of which one doesn't belong (although there's an LMS milk tank incorrectly listed under early BR). Hornby's rolling stock range has always been patchy (a mere 92 items in total, according to Hattons) but it was a bit of a shock to see how little pre-BR stuff was actually available and how much of it is based on very old tooling.

[Ron Ron Ron]

Don't Hornby own ROCO ?????????

No Dave, they don't.

 

 

 

[exet1095]

[i think - tender apart - that Hornby have most of the bits available to do an early 'Castle' or it would only be minor changes such as a tall chimney etc.

 

They have the tenders on the 28xx and Grange

 

Paul

[Ron Ron Ron]

Really, the RTR manufacturers have little choice if the business is to thrive. A large proportion of the revenue in RTR comes from new introductions, which typically yield large sales volumes for only 2 to 3 years. (The hope of course is that some proportion of these go on to become 'cash cows'; steady sellers come rain or shine that can be economically produced from amortised tooling......

We are told that the bulk of sales for new models are contained within the first 6 months or so from its release, after which they tail off to a small trickle.

Re-issues in new liveries and/or new running numbers have similar sales patterns and extend the shelf life of that particular model, until demand eventually falls away.

Batch production is organised accordingly, with some models only ever being produced once (i.e. one batch of x thousand produced for the initial release).

 

 

 

 

As it is the manufacturers have to 'go fishing' for genres......

.......there is a noticeable gap emerging between them and Hornby.

Bachmann have accumulated a pile of recent tooling investment for the contemporary diesel operated freight railway, with more coming, and are moving into the 25kV zone; which up to now Hornby have held largely uncontested. As if that wasn't enough competition, Heljan have, and Dapol almost certainly will move into this subject area once the prototype/failure/few in number diesel classes have been wrapped up. I shall be surprised if Hornby don't make some move now to define some territory.

It certainly looks as if the other manufacturers have been making a "land grab" in the D&E arena over the last couple of years. Hornby run the risk of losing out if they don't do something soon.

 

 

 

 

[davidw]

Really, the RTR manufacturers have little choice if the business is to thrive. A large proportion of the revenue in RTR comes from new introductions, which typically yield large sales volumes for only 2 to 3 years. (The hope of course is that some proportion of these go on to become 'cash cows'; steady sellers come rain or shine that can be economically produced from amortised tooling. If only there was a way of successfully predicting the specific subjects with definite cash cow potential...)

 

agreed but as I said there's a lot of announced items not yet released. I'm wondering which way Hornby will go though I'm sure it will be interesting...

[David Bigcheeseplant]

My prediction is for a GWR 64XX/74XX and an updated 14XX and 61XX

 

David

[m0rris]

It certainly looks as if the other manufacturers have been making a "land grab" in the D&E arena over the last couple of years. Hornby run the risk of losing out if they don't do something soon.

 

 

An interesting point there, however, I like to buy Hornby due to its high quality (and the fact that from a young age Hornby has always been the one), but Hornby is a mass market and they are doing their best to lay down the sector, as they have done by bagging the second high profile train in recent times, the Javelin. Hornby are very successful at capturing the main classes out there that attract the public... which raises an important point, which ones are still out there?

 

On the D/E front they have eurostar/pendo/javelin/125 (my money would be on Hornby being the ones to produce a model of IEP) and a limited coverage of units and "basic" locos (although it is swelling in numbers). Looking at the big 4/br, the holes left are Duke of Gloucester (I wouldn't hold my breath on this one!), unrebuilt merchant navy, King, (possibly Star) and something LNER pacific shaped (possibly a warming over over the A1/3 to go with the Scotsman when it finally gets going again!).

 

Looking at this from a hard headed business point of view, we will naturally see a big ticket high profile item, probably King or LNER shaped. One "cute" steam engine, i.e. something from the bewildering array of tank engines that have yet to be modelled (or to modern standards). As for the DE front, the great unknown sector (i.e. third rail) might yield another electric unit, but I suspect it will yield a class 73 to modern spec and if something unit shaped were to appear it would be 116/117/121/122 shaped. I might be wrong but I'll have to wait and see.

 

Roll on the 25th!

 

m0rris

 

EDIT: I notice that I have mentioned the 117 on my 117th post!

[Anglian]

Following on from the LNER L1 I'm going to predict we'll see a large Southern Tank, perhaps an H16 or a Z. But I'm hopeless at making predications so will leave my contribution to this thread in the realm of wishful thinking.

[chrisf]

Has anyone asked Mystic Meg?

 

Chris

 

 

[m0rris]

Has anyone asked Mystic Meg?

 

Chris

 

 

 

I was going to but apparently she was killed by a froth overdose when she sucessfully predicted the Blue Pullman.

 

m0rris

[APOLLO]

Some nice metal post semaphores would be nice !!!!

 

Or perhaps a COVHOP (or 12!!)

 

Brit15

 

 

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... it was a bit of a shock to see how little pre-BR (Hornby wagon stock) was actually available and how much of it is based on very old tooling.

From a business perspective, Hornby will be content: these are first class cash cows, because small wagons (churned endlessly into new PO liveries where applicable, and sometimes where not!) go on selling and selling as 'pocket money' purchases. Based on a conversation with a retailer, this product is aimed squarely at the established train set / set track market, thus the retention of the large coupler for compatability with earlier product.

 

The volume scale of Hornby's operation is significantly larger than Bachmann's; could it be that the volumes of modeller oriented SWB wagons that Bachmann shift (exhibit A, the BR 16T mineral) are actually too small to justify tooling competing products? Surely the retailers will be telling them that their main competitor is supplying a demand. But then when they do tool a new SWB wagon, the Shark ballast plough, it is an implicitly low volume sale vehicle. Not that I am ungrateful for this fine model, but it has to be an odd choice when there are many common steam era wagons completely lacking RTR models; and one very important subject poorly executed by Bachmann, a rare blooper in their range (LMS design van).

[Legend]

I see Model Rail have a 2011 Hornby publication coming out as well in early January. So as well as the Catalogue to look forward to , we have this too

 

Strange the reference in MREmag to disappointments. I'm wondering if this means the Railroad / Hornby BP is canned . BP seems to be the only model everyone is expecting, so why else mention it?

 

Like a few others., I suspect there will be developments in DCC. Its been quiet on that front for a while now.

 

The only other point I'd make is if there is an embargo, why mention the fact there was a press day at all either on here or MREmag. Surely the embargo would have been better being total then it would not encourage the froth that everyone seems to dislike!

[coachmann]

While the GWR 'Castle' still has at least two years mileage left in it, I cannot see Hornby introducing a distraction such as a revamped 'King' or a revamped Hawksworth 'County'. However, a 'Star' might be possible (on the Castle chassis) if done for the NRM. Bearing in mind the LNER B17 has yet to appear, I don't suppose this railway will see much else.....I'm not going to even mention coaches!