Hornby's 2013 Announcements

[Oldddudders]

It's people like you what cause unrest!

And to think that pages and pages ago, people thought this thread had reached rock bottom..................

[Guest Belgian]

It's people like you what cause unrest!

Bringing this back on topic, as you've now got post no. 2001, I'd say you were 'Cock o' the North'!!! (Bearing in mind that the North starts at Watford).

 

JE

[250BOB]

Would I be right in thinking that the retailers were at Margate at the weekend(Sunday) having a look at whats on offer........the annual bash if you like.??

[frobisher]

And to think that pages and pages ago, people thought this thread had reached rock bottom..................

Not when you've got a pick axe

[Ian J.]

Better still, a pneumatic drill

[RJL]

Interesting move for the little industrial shunter - be interesting to see how that is received.

 I'm interested  in one, yet something else to go on my shopping list. it's about time we had a new industrial rtr model on the market,more please Hornby.

[Gilwell Park]

http://www.ehattons.com/51190/Hornby_R4538_Maunsell_unconverted_open_third_class_coach_in_BR_green_/StockDetail.aspx

 Thanks, I should have thought of that.

 

Roger.

[Robin Brasher]

Returning to the subject of the Hornby 2-BIL a model of the Bluebell Railway would be an excellent place to run it. A recent Kernow newsletter stated that Hornby said that pre-orders are very strong and it is possible that the 2-BILs will sell out to the trade before release. Both Kernow and the Railway Modeller, on page 180 of the February 2013 issue, said the 2-BIL was smooth and quiet and the Modeller added that the 2BIL had good trackholding. R3177 BR 2-BIL 2090 from the National Railway Museum probably visited more locations than any others. The Railway Modeller stated that it toured the Southern Region in the 1980s with 4-SUB no 4732. Most of the pictures of the 2-BIL show it working with other emus so perhaps there will be a demand for dummy emus.

 

A Pictorial Record of Southern Electric Units by Brian Golden supplies a lot of information about the prototype. On the front cover is a picture of 2-BIL 2124 at Havant on 6 May 1961 as part of a 4 car train. On the title page is a picture of 2-BIL 2084 at Lancing with at least 4cars. The 3 models R3161 SR 2-BIL 2114, R3162 BR 2-BIL 2134 and R3177 BR 2-BIL 2090 (NRM) are all based on the final batch produced from 1938-9that worked in Mid-Sussex, the Waterloo to Reading line and the South Coast Railway. If the Reading Line ran parallel to the GWR main line to Waterloo it would give GWR and BR WR modellers an opportunity to run a Southern emu allongside the GWR 4-6-0s. There are some excellent drawings of the later series of 2-BILs on pages 100-101 of the book. Further pictures show a possible war time shot of 2-BIL 2070 on page 90 at the Brighton entrance of Hove Tunnel and 2-BIL 2053 with a six car train on page 91.

 

I think I saw a 2-BIL near Brighton on Great Railway Journeys at 7.30pm on BBC4.

[Ozexpatriate]

Has anyone seen a survey of Railway modelling preferences by Hornby or anyone similar company ? I havent, and like  any survey can be manipulated to give any desired result.

Hornby do collect this sort of background information (and customer wishes) via a questionnaire form on their stand at major exhibitions.

I must be unlucky because I have never seen any on offer at Ally Pally for the last five years. I will ask for one in March at the show, and it will be interesting to see what they are asking therein.

You don't have to wait for Ally Pally. There is also an online version. At one point (before their most recent web page revamp) it had more specific questions. The Hornby questionnaire is largely a wishlist generator and is useful to them as such as an additional datapoint.

 

You can find it here:

 

Would you like to suggest a future Hornby product?

 

Please complete a comment form to let us know what you would like to see in the range.  This is the only way to suggest new products.  All ideas are read by the Hornby marketing team.

[micklner]

thanks for info

[coachmann]

Big suburban tanks sell , and Hornby and Bachmann have done very well out of them: the only railway without multiple representatives in this category has been the Southern . That's because on the Southern that niche was filled by EMUs . We now have the missing Maunsell EMU.

The Southern Region's three big tanks have already been done, Fairburn 2-6-4T, Ivatt 2-6-2T and BR Std Class 4MT 2-6-4T. Despite Bullieds best efforts, the region depended heavily on the LMS from the late 1940s onwards.

[Robin Brasher]

The Southern Region's three big tanks have already been done, Fairburn 2-6-4T, Ivatt 2-6-2T and BR Std Class 4MT 2-6-4T. Despite Bullieds best efforts, the region depended heavily on the LMS from the late 1940s onwards.

Hornby has not made the Southern W class 2-6-4T, K "River" class 2-6-4T, H16 class 4-6-2T or smaller tanks like the T1 0-4-4T, Adams Radial 4-4-2T,class 13 4-4-2T and H class 4-4-2T. The Southern did not like large tank engines after the Sevenoaks accident involving K class 2-6-4T River Cray. Much of the Southern relied on emus for suburban work that was dealt with by large tank locomotives on the LNER and LMS.

[Guest Phil]

Robin Brasher has made a good point. Given that 2 BILs appear to have spent a good deal of their lives as pairs in a 4 car formation. Wonder if Hornby will exploit the niche market of releasing unpowered units (with different numbers) to make up prototype 2x2 car units.

[Dunsignalling]

Have to disagree Robin. I believe Margate saw the fantastic opportunity of following Bachmann's lead of 3rd rail EMUs. They seem to have botched the 4 VEP from all accounts, but undeterred they have committed to the 2 BIL as a follow on. The 2 BIL has all the credentials. A nice little two car train, with just two bodyshells to produce. The vehicle style is very much what Hornby are about, and it matches well with the steam era favoured by many modellers / collectors.

 

The "700" on the contrary is an anonymous black 0-6-0 - the kind Hornby don't seem fussed about. The one black 0-6-0 that Hornby produced (the Q1) seems to have been massively overproduced with stocks lingering on dusty LHS shelves.

 

No Robin, I believe Hornby made the right choice with the 2 BIL, if only to restore their credibility with 3rd rail EMUs. Not sure what those "Design clever" roof vents will be like though !!!!

I agree that Hornby prefer locos with at least 10 wheels and that the 2-BIL is (at least in part) an exercise in Bandwagon-Jumping.

 

However, it doesn't need to be either/or and producing the '700' would be both logical and relatively easy as Hornby have already tooled the boiler, cab and tender for their T9.

 

In what way would a plain black 0-6-0 be more anonymous than the plain black 2-8-0 which Hornby developed that way out of their B1?    

[phil gollin]

Hornby has not made the Southern W class 2-6-4T, K "River" class 2-6-4T, H16 class 4-6-2T or smaller tanks like the T1 0-4-4T, Adams Radial 4-4-2T,class 13 4-4-2T and H class 4-4-2T. The Southern did not like large tank engines after the Sevenoaks accident involving K class 2-6-4T River Cray. Much of the Southern relied on emus for suburban work that was dealt with by large tank locomotives on the LNER and LMS.

 

And especially the 0-6-2Ts, e.g. the  E4.

 

.

[Robin Brasher]

Should Hornby produce some West Coast Mainline Mk1s to go with preserved locomotives like the Duke of Gloucester that run on the main line rather than duplicate Mk1 coaches already produced by Bachmann?

[frobisher]

 

Robin Brasher has made a good point. Given that 2 BILs appear to have spent a good deal of their lives as pairs in a 4 car formation. Wonder if Hornby will exploit the niche market of releasing unpowered units (with different numbers) to make up prototype 2x2 car units.

Can't see that they will. Hornby's current construction methods don't lend themselves to making a dummy 2BIL without additional retooling (costly) whereas you can service the market by releasing a powered unit with a different number.

[ThaneofFife]

It did !!!!!!

Dont say that or youll lull people into thinking "Well it can only get better"..........

[coachmann]

Hornby has not made the Southern W class 2-6-4T, K "River" class 2-6-4T, H16 class 4-6-2T or smaller tanks like the T1 0-4-4T, Adams Radial 4-4-2T,class 13 4-4-2T and H class 4-4-2T. The Southern did not like large tank engines after the Sevenoaks accident involving K class 2-6-4T River Cray. Much of the Southern relied on emus for suburban work that was dealt with by large tank locomotives on the LNER and LMS.

Thanks Robin but I learned how to suck eggs....

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

And especially the 0-6-2Ts, e.g. the  E4.

That old 'penny packet numbers' problem by the time we get to the late BR steam period. Obvious why Hornby picked the M7;  a large class by SR standards and a good survivor in service, likewise the C and N from Bachmann. Often wondered if Airfix/GMR had carried on a little longer whether the E4 would have been their pick for a Southern tank following the GWR and LNER 0-6-2T types. The E4 has to be a candidate for anyone going by the numbers to represent the extended group of 0-6-2T's that the LBSCR constructed.

[The Stationmaster]

The Southern Region's three big tanks have already been done, Fairburn 2-6-4T, Ivatt 2-6-2T and BR Std Class 4MT 2-6-4T. Despite Bullieds best efforts, the region depended heavily on the LMS from the late 1940s onwards.

In 1954 the SR had just short of 50 LMS/BR Std 2-6-4Ts on the Central and South Eastern Divisions; those two Divisions also had a stock of c.100 various 0-6-2Ts of LBSCR origin - which would hardly be on a par in effectiveness with the two modern designs, particularly for the sort of passenger work the Fairburn and Riddles engines were handling.  In effect the imported locos were handling much the same sort of work on non-electrified lines that the 2BILs covered on some electrified routes and as Coach has said they were there notwithstanding Bulleid's best - but ill-fated - efforts.

[Fenman]

Hornby has not made the Southern W class 2-6-4T, K "River" class 2-6-4T, H16 class 4-6-2T or smaller tanks like the T1 0-4-4T, Adams Radial 4-4-2T,class 13 4-4-2T and H class 4-4-2T. ...

 

And neither have Bachmann, Dapol or Heljan.

 

From the way you have phrased this, it looks like you think Hornby has some sort of obligation to provide a complete stud of every locomotive ever run on the Southern.

 

Interestingly, in a post below you, Hornby is implicitly criticised by someone else for "duplicating" Bachmann. They really do seem to be damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

 

Paul

[Oldddudders]

And especially the 0-6-2Ts, e.g. the  E4.

 

.

The problem - as already identified above - is that the Brighton radial tanks were on the very part of the Southern Railway that received the most electrification and had perhaps the thinnest freight services. Thus they were laid aside earlier than their contemporaries elsewhere on other railways. Loco classes that didn't make it in volume into the late '50s, at least, seem to be seen as less of an attraction to the market.

[brushman47544]

Should Hornby produce some West Coast Mainline Mk1s to go with preserved locomotives like the Duke of Gloucester that run on the main line rather than duplicate Mk1 coaches already produced by Bachmann?

 

Not sure exactly what you mean by "West Coast Mainline Mk1s", but Hornby is producing a train pack for Duke of Gloucester R3192 with its new Mk1s. DoG is being produced with a preservation era tender, so who is to say that the Mk1s will not be suitable for the preservation era - after all the Mk1s used in current charter sets were all used in BR service once upon a time, have only been repainted and upholstered since, and many are in steam era liveries. Hornby doesn't appear to say but I assume the 3 Mk1s in the pack will be in maroon so perfectly suited to current main line charter operations.

[Robin Brasher]

That old 'penny packet numbers' problem by the time we get to the late BR steam period. Obvious why Hornby picked the M7;  a large class by SR standards and a good survivor in service, likewise the C and N from Bachmann. Often wondered if Airfix/GMR had carried on a little longer whether the E4 would have been their pick for a Southern tank following the GWR and LNER 0-6-2T types. The E4 has to be a candidate for anyone going by the numbers to represent the extended group of 0-6-2T's that the LBSCR constructed.

The 00 Works made a ready to run E4. Before Airfix went into the hands of the receivers it was planning to make a Schools, a Lord Nelson, a U class an 02 and a G6. I have not seen any evidence of Airfix planning an E4. I have heard that Bachmann have measured all the Bluebell locomotives so it is possible we may see a model E4 one day.