Nick Holliday Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 As a result of my wife managing to break her wrist on the penultimate day of our holiday in Pickering, I was able to spend some time in York Museum , once she had been dealt with, very efficiently, at Malton Hospital. While the main exhibits are generally stunning, as always, and the cases and cases of odd items in the store occupied plenty of my time and interest, I also examined the extensive showcase displaying Hornby products near the main entrance. I was surprised to note that many of the items therein were obsolete and therefore not looking at their best. The venerable generic GWR coaches appeared as themselves, LMS stock and in SR green. Where were all the new items - Hawksworth, Stanier and Maunsell coaches? Although there were some of the newish Gresley corridors, the live steam A3 had a couple of the old teak coaches in tow. Surely Hornby would be better off keeping this display up-to-date as the best way of selling their latest wares, or have they got a different agenda? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well, if they're obsolete, then maybe a museum is the best place for them.....? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I'm guessing event the old models make it into the national collection. Displaying the latest and greatest isn't always the best stuff to put out. Theres plenty of model railway stuff in the storage area, lots of O gauge and gauge 1, alongside some N and OO. I went for the Flying Scotsman preview and was astounded by the amount of stuff they simply have no room to display properly, my favourite find being an 'O' Gauge princess by Hornby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigwelsh Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 astounded by the amount of stuff they simply have no room to display properly, my favourite find being an 'O' Gauge princess by Hornby. Don't forget there is still a lot of stuff elsewhere in 'deep storage', the warehouse is an interesting treasure-trove though! I think that case was restocked at a point in time and isn't updated as time goes by. There is some newer stuff running on both companies new layouts in the reopened shop. I didn't notice what happened to Bachmann's display case following the revamp of the area in front of 'Station Hall'. If it were meant to be a catalogue it would probably show R numbers too, as it is its just a good way of getting Hornby and trains associated in the public conscious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 As a result of my wife managing to break her wrist on the penultimate day of our holiday in Pickering, I was able to spend some time in York Museum , once she had been dealt with, very efficiently, at Malton Hospital. While the main exhibits are generally stunning, as always, and the cases and cases of odd items in the store occupied plenty of my time and interest, I also examined the extensive showcase displaying Hornby products near the main entrance. I was surprised to note that many of the items therein were obsolete and therefore not looking at their best. The venerable generic GWR coaches appeared as themselves, LMS stock and in SR green. Where were all the new items - Hawksworth, Stanier and Maunsell coaches? Although there were some of the newish Gresley corridors, the live steam A3 had a couple of the old teak coaches in tow. Surely Hornby would be better off keeping this display up-to-date as the best way of selling their latest wares, or have they got a different agenda? As others have said it is a museum. I think we are fortunate that a national museum had extended its remit to include models - it has many many models - some are fine museum pieces in their own right, but they also simply have what a previous generation considered to be toys - like the Hornby ones. I know my friends Tony and John at Mopok and Kemilway were overwhelmed when the NRM displayed their kits as representing early examples of etching and pre-printed colour sides in their kits. Paul Bartlett Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Holliday Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Whilst I agree it is within a museum, this display case has no captions and does not make any attempt to show the history of the development of the Hornby range. It looks to me to be a snapshot of the latest Hronby items of several years ago, perhaps akin to a Modelzone display in aspic, but without the pricies. As such it does not do Hornby any favours as an advertising media. I am just surprised that Hornby have just let it fester - either they should keep it up to date to show off their wares, or provide a more historic selection so that it could be considered part of the museum, which I don't think it is at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 3, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 3, 2011 Whilst I agree it is within a museum, this display case has no captions and does not make any attempt to show the history of the development of the Hornby range. It looks to me to be a snapshot of the latest Hronby items of several years ago,......... If my memory is working properly that is exactly what it was as the trains in those cases were all current, or very recently discontinued, Hornby items at one time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigwelsh Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 As such it does not do Hornby any favours as an advertising media. I am just surprised that Hornby have just let it fester - either they should keep it up to date to show off their wares, or provide a more historic selection so that it could be considered part of the museum, which I don't think it is at the moment. As I said earlier, it is good advertising for them, its basically a big sign saying 'if you like trains, look, Hornby is the company to buy models of them from'. Considering its location it does something in that underpass to link it to trains and not just a place to put vending machines.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 When I was there last week I noticed that the Bachmann display case that used to be there had been taken away completely. Maybe they had worked out that it was easier than letting the exhibit go out of date? Anyway, both companies have new display layouts there now to promote their ranges so static displays are not really required anyway. steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
valeofyork Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I went in there at the weekend for the first time since they've rebuilt the entrance by the shop. It appeared that they have stopped selling OO gauge locos in the shop, apart from a few in sets and the limited-edition prototype Deltic. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't sell much - they usually seemed to charge at or more than the RRP, which pretty much no model shops do - e.g. they had Hornby GNER HST power cars at (I think) £170 when lots of shops were selling them for £99. Likewise they had not-very-special plastic display cases for individual locos at £50. I went to look at these because I wanted a case, but they were nowhere near worth that, and I picked up a much nicer one for less than half the price online. I'd like to be able to suppot the NRM by using their shop, but with the prices they charge there was no way I could justify it, and it's no great surprise that they've reduced the range that they stock. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
303013 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Seeing the prices charged these days in say, Modelzone and elsewhere, It does make me feel a bit embarrassed, because I can imagine non modellers or parents of kids who want a train set, looking at them and thinking 'You're having a laugh aren't you?'* Going on the description of the shop at the NRM, I can well imagine this happening all the time '£170 for a GNER Intercity 125?? yeah, pull the other one, do you think I'm stupid or something?' I mean, gowd only knows what they (the general public) thinks of us on seeing prices like THAT! * - Even I think that when I see some prices these days, and to think my non railway friends all thought that spending £30 on a Lima model from Beatties was silly money for a 'piece of plastic' at the time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.