A Nod To Brent - a friendly thread, filled with frivolity, cream teas and pasties. Longing for the happy days in the South Hams 1947.

[MrWolf]

I suspect that there's an awful lot of Victorian engineers spinning in their graves.

[gwrrob]

Four more Rapido wagons enter the roster after weathering, three links and loads added. An overhanging timber load covered with a tarpaulin graces the upgraded 13T SR 8 plank wagon. Three LMS D1666's have wool bales or barrels using Skytrex resin castings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin Johnson]

Hi Robin the wagons look great and very nicely weathered.👍

[Tony Wright]

5 hours ago, gwrrob said:

Four more Rapido wagons enter the roster after weathering, three links and loads added. An overhanging timber load covered with a tarpaulin graces the upgraded 13T SR 8 plank wagon. Three LMS D1666's have wool bales or barrels using Skytrex resin castings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautifully-natural work, Robin.

 

My compliments.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[gwrrob]

County train pack anyone.

[checkrail]

'King Stephen' anyone?  Very slim GWR pickings in new Hornby announcements.  And sadly I see that we're no longer going to get the Hornby Macaw.  

[Fair Oak Junction]

I might be wrong, but it does look like the GWR locos announced have a better shade of green on them (like the latest Castle).

[Ian Hargrave]

Just now, Fair Oak Junction said:

I might be wrong, but it does look like the GWR locos announced have a better shade of green on them (like the latest Castle).

Well …maybe .Best not to judge from Hornby’s IT generates images. However their livery finishes are in any case now much improved..Do I require a ToyTown Hawksworth County ? No thanks. 

 

 

 

[County of Yorkshire]

1 hour ago, gwrrob said:

County train pack anyone.

Absolutely not; bargain bin fodder. 
 

As I’ve said in the announcements thread, imagine if this had’ve been a new-tool County with the newer Collett coaches in the 1945-1947 Hawksworth livery (which H have never done). I’d have bought at least a couple! 
 

I’m struggling to understand who this train pack is aimed at? Enthusiasts and time-served modellers are all hanging in for a new-tool County, whilst newer modellers and those who aren’t fussed about the fidelity of their models aren’t going to fork out £180 on a 40 year old loco tooling and a couple of (50?) year old coaches. You could probably buy the constituent parts of this train pack at a swap meet for about £75 or so. 
 

I genuinely think the 2024 range announcement is an admission from H that they’re no longer going to pursue the high-spec end of the market with new tooling. As such, there is zero chance we’ll see a new tool County or Saint from Hornby this decade. Thank goodness for our friends at Dapol, Accurascale and Rapido!

 

CoY

[Fair Oak Junction]

4 minutes ago, County of Yorkshire said:

I genuinely think the 2024 range announcement is an admission from H that they’re no longer going to pursue the high-spec end of the market with new tooling. As such, there is zero chance we’ll see a new tool County or Saint from Hornby this decade. Thank goodness for our friends at Dapol, Accurascale and Rapido!

 

I still think it's too early to infer that. As Hornby clearly stated at the start of the video, they are still very much in catch-up mode. And that can be clearly seen by the list of still to be released models from previous years on the announcement page. For a company that has been making questionable decisions and teetering on the edge for a good few years now, the last thing they need to do is overstretch themselves at the exact moment they are trying to turn things around. Caution in the short term will hopefully lead to taking more chances in the long term.

[MrWolf]

There's plenty that we don't know about Hornby's business which is quite rightly for their eyes only and there's not much point in speculation.

Whatever moves they make will be based on the perceived market but constrained or enabled by their current strengths and weaknesses. I would expect that most established businesses are treading carefully at the moment.

[gwrrob]

2 hours ago, County of Yorkshire said:

 

I’m struggling to understand who this train pack is aimed at? Enthusiasts and time-served modellers are all hanging in for a new-tool County, whilst newer modellers and those who aren’t fussed about the fidelity of their models aren’t going to fork out £180 on a 40 year old loco tooling and a couple of (50?) year old coaches. You could probably buy the constituent parts of this train pack at a swap meet for about £75 or so. 
 

 

I wouldn't have thought it was aimed at anyone who follows this thread @County of Yorkshire. I'm disappointed they've shelved the bogie bolster though , I didn't think it was far from being released.

[Fair Oak Junction]

Yeah, the bolster cancellation is an odd one. You'd think that would be a good seller, but Hornby must have thought otherwise.

[Star-rider]

A belated Happy New Year to everyone…

 

I’m not too distressed over the cancellation of the Macaw. OK, it was the only significant new tool GWR model announced last year, but it is a duplication of something that has been available from Bachmann which in itself I’m told not a bad model.

 

If someone needs a Macaw I’m sure a s/h mint boxed one could be bought from Ebay for a third of the price Hornby would want.

 

Perhaps it’s no bad thing. My guess is that the new team at Hornby have recognized this and the harms to business of duplication. After a couple of years of trying to bring duplicates early to market and squash new competition, maybe they’re looking toward untapped diagrams. Surely even a different diagram bogie bolster would outsell what they were proposing.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of retailers aren’t tripping over crates of Loriot Y’s at the moment. With any luck it may mean they are clearing a production slot for some alternative GW wagon not done to date.

[Garethp8873]

With today's announcements, at first I was disappointed that we wouldn't see a GWR Macaw from Hornby. Looking at it now though, I do not see it as much of a loss in the long term. The Bachmann one still looks good and I was happy enough to snap up Bachmann's 33-927A example last year. The Bachmann version in GWR livery is still available from what I quickly observed this evening.

 

For many years now, Hornby has gotten into a bad habit of not only duplicating products but also rushing them out to beat any rival products. From my own perspective, usually this tactic has almost and without fail, resulted in a disappointing outcome for Hornby.

 

After the Titfield Thunderbolt situation in 2022, I lost a lot of respect for Hornby and to be honest everytime I see Hornby's Loriot Y it reminds me of that episode. I don't think the Hornby Loriot Y has been good seller either seeing it's been announced again today bearing the same livery, same running number but only now coming with a British Railways Coles Crane as a wagon load.  As @Star-rider says, hopefully the new team is trying to tap into models that we have never seen before on the RTR scene. Only time will tell though...

[Garethp8873]

By the way I dropped the question about the GWR Macaws on Hornby's Facebook page a few days back and got a reply this morning.

 

Quote

Sadly the new tooled Bogie Bolster Wagons have been postponed until a later year, at this stage we aren't able to confirm what year they will be released - sorry for any inconvenience caused and when we have some news on this we will announce this via our website and social media channels.

 

[gwrrob]

I wonder if Hornby have been spooked by poor sales for their Loriot model , a duplication  of course and a niche subject and feel the market doesn’t support the bogie bolster at the moment.

[Ian Hargrave]

1 hour ago, gwrrob said:

I wonder if Hornby have been spooked by poor sales for their Loriot model , a duplication  of course and a niche subject and feel the market doesn’t support the bogie bolster at the moment.

Along with this cancellation comes the decision to produce the Streamlined B17 in black rather than green. IMHO this could result in loss of sales on the new release,correct though it might be. So how much thought has been given to both these decisions,I’m not going to speculate. Hornby is as Hornby does,I’m afraid.

[Ian Hargrave]

Now what am I going to trail behind my steam railcar ? A vey pertinent question. This must almost be the longest running saga since “ Gone With The Wind “. Well it’s been a dismal week,so here’s something to cheer us in GW terms. Though I have to say that my BR ( S ) Booster in black does cut the mustard . 

[Garethp8873]

2 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Now what am I going to trail behind my steam railcar ? A vey pertinent question. This must almost be the longest running saga since “ Gone With The Wind “. Well it’s been a dismal week,so here’s something to cheer us in GW terms. Though I have to say that my BR ( S ) Booster in black does cut the mustard . 

 

4w Siphon, Cattle Wagon, Milk Tanker, Cordon to name a few suggestions.

[gwrrob]

Another two Rapido 8 planks have had a sugar beet load added using the Model Scenery Supplies product [JU28277].

 

[Neal Ball]

18 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Now what am I going to trail behind my steam railcar ? ......

 

Clerestory all 3rd - I have seen a photo of a Railmotor and all 3rd on the mainline approaching Reading from Twyford (possibly Henley-on-Thames). That will be nice for occasional running to add variety.

[Captain Kernow]

8 hours ago, gwrrob said:

Another two Rapido 8 planks have had a sugar beet load added using the Model Scenery Supplies product [JU28277].

 

So where in Cornwall or Devon was sugar beet grown, then Robin?

 

[gwrrob]

7 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

So where in Cornwall or Devon was sugar beet grown, then Robin?

 

 

Good question Tim and I don't have the specifics except for the mention in the Kingsbridge branch book as outbound traffic, plenty of farmland in the South Hams. I've also seen photos of the Ivybridge goods with what looks like beet but equally could be potatoes. Always open to suggestions with wagon loads.

[Oldddudders]

Since I saw sugar-beet being loaded to minfits in W Sussex - Lavant - in 1967, the balmier climes in the SW would certainly have supported it.