The Majestic E-link sets are out now...

[Bulleidboy100]

At the end of the day this is a "train-set" not a model railway. Lets look at it from the other end of the scale - if this set contained the finest detailed locomotives available, with super detailed coaches and wagons + everything else it comes with - would you all be complaining about the ridiculously high price charged - whatever that price may be. Perhaps someone should convince Golden Age Models to produce a similar set - a couple of their A4s, half a dozen Pullman carriages, some hand built wagons etc., not much change from £4000 I would think.

[steventrain]

Now RRP £299.99 - Hornby website.

 

 

http://Hornby.com/shop/sets/digital-train-sets/r1172-the-majestic-train-set-with-elink/

 

 

 

[andyman7]

At that price, not bad value for money if you are starting from scratch and want everything in a box 

[jonathan452]

Watch out for this becoming a 'Sunday Times' Magazine 'Special Offer'.

 

A classic vehicle for offloading all kinds of surplus stock.

[Jonboy]

Don't forget to look out for the HUGE "discounts" in the sales at some point...

[jjb1970]

Value for money if you know what you are buying? Poor. Ease for parents wanting a good set up for somebody wanting a trainset for somebody's gift and if they have zero knowledge of or interest in model trains? High. As with most train sets if you go to a good specialist shop you can get a better package thrown together for less but the people buying most train sets are probably a lot more comfortable buying a set in a box from a department store, Argos, Toys R Us etc, the target audience is not really the people who contribute to this board. Not my cup of tea for sure and if asked I'd steer people to a model shop but there is a market for stuff like this. And at a discount price as it will invariably end up discounted then it could be a decent buy as a trainset.

[GordonC]

I'd have thought if Hornby wanted to attract more kids into the hobby then taking a little bit of a hit on the RRP of starter kits might be worthwhile. The RRP of that set is pretty steep and while the children playing with it might be happy to get one, it must put lots of parents off unless they're keen or have a model railway themselves.

[andyman7]

Value for money if you know what you are buying? Poor. Ease for parents wanting a good set up for somebody wanting a trainset for somebody's gift and if they have zero knowledge of or interest in model trains? High. As with most train sets if you go to a good specialist shop you can get a better package thrown together for less but the people buying most train sets are probably a lot more comfortable buying a set in a box from a department store, Argos, Toys R Us etc, the target audience is not really the people who contribute to this board. Not my cup of tea for sure and if asked I'd steer people to a model shop but there is a market for stuff like this. And at a discount price as it will invariably end up discounted then it could be a decent buy as a trainset.

It's not a set for kids at this price, more for adults that want a big train set. If you go to a specialist shop you could no doubt get a package tailored to your specific interests, but I very much doubt you would get a brand new twin track oval with sidings, e-link, Railroad 4-6-2 and class 47 both DCC fitted and the rolling stock for less than 300 notes!   

[JSpencer]

The choice of models is an odd one. Newcomers would prefer a high speed train and Tornado!

 

I agree for seasoned modellers it would be "yuck" but have many seasoned modellers buy train sets anyway?

[scorpion]

its for kids, price is not an issue, mum and dad are paying

[Guest]

I think this topic is just about exhausted!

[oatmeal]

Currently £199 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hornby-Majestic-E-Link-Gauge-Electric/dp/B00BUKPXU6/

[MrB]

Currently £199 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hornby-Majestic-E-Link-Gauge-Electric/dp/B00BUKPXU6/

 

and a few others for today only

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=amb_link_184794527_2?ie=UTF8&node=5537302031&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=0FFZ5K5MVT6WDJDN7PQB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=564375847&pf_rd_i=468292

[Hroth]

Currently £199 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hornby-Majestic-E-Link-Gauge-Electric/dp/B00BUKPXU6/

Only till midnight - less than 3 hours left at time of posting.....

[jjb1970]

OK, I'll put 'me hand up and admit I've just bought this for the little lads Christmas present. At £199 it is a bargain and is pretty much a layout in a box.

[Hroth]

Hope you got a cheap laptop to run the eLink too?  Its worse than having to remember batteries these days!

 

My first Triang train set had the 3 x 4.5v lamp battery controller.  Guess what wasn't there on Christmas Morning!  And there weren't any shops open to sell that sort of thing until the 27th in those days.  And if the 27th was a Sunday.....  :-(

[jjb1970]

Fear not, the boy is 7 and knows far more about computers than I do! :senile:I'm actually looking forward to making a train set layout with him using the track mat concept. OK I know it is not what a real modeller should say, but I think it'll be a good opportunity for me to maybe try and give him a passion for model railways and hopefully see him fall in love with trains. And he did ask for a train set this year. And if all else fails I'm not too proud to deny that I'll enjoy playing with any train set or model layout!

[JSpencer]

Have great fun bringing your young boy into the world of Model railways. But be patient either the railmaster software.

 

I hope both locos have different IDs and not set to 3 by default.

 

If you have windows 8, persist with the program, sometimes it will see the elink, sometimes not....

[jjb1970]

Having opened this and put it together tdoday with the boy I think that if you forget about modelling and imagine this through the eyes of a kiddies as a train set it actually has a lot of positives. To be honest I do not like the PC control idea but the boy loves it, may be an age thing. Loading the software and getting it to work was a bit fiddly but it works and works surprisingly well once it is set up. The set is very nicely presented in a stout nicely designed box and the contents give some play options in addition to running a train around an oval, having two trains and a double oval with cross over and a siding. The choice of trains may be a bit odd to us but the boy loves it and to him there does not appear to be anything wrong with packing a steam hauled passenger train with a diesel freight and both trains are in bright, eye catching colours. The track mat and set track pack ideas again are train set rather than model railway but provide people with no interest or experience of model trains (ie. many parents and small kids) a clear route towards building the initial set up into quite an impressive train set.

 

Putting my own head on now, this is the first time I've ever really given much attention to the Railroad A1 (I'm not really into the LNER) and I have to say that it is a better model than I expected. True, it is not in the same class as the Bachmann model and the absence of cab glazing is unfortunate but it appears to capture the shape pretty well, although the detail is clearly basic compared to a full end release it is a lot better than I was expecting and the finish is very good. And it runs beautifully smoothly. I think it is a lot better than a train set toy and that with some work it could be made into a very good model. Unfortunately it'd probably end up costing more than the excellent Bachmann model and take a lot more effort however the point remains it is not at all a bad effort considering it is made for the trainset market.

The class 47 is the old Lima tooling and whilst basic remains a pretty decent effort in terms of capturing the look of the 47 well. Again the model runs beautifully smoothly and is in a different league to the old Lima model. The paint finish is a bit basic but nicely applied. The problem with this model is the skirt type addition to the outer ends of the bogies which is bizarre as somebody has obviously made the decision to add something which makes the model less realistic. This is a shame as other than this the Railroad class 47 remains a pretty good basic no frills representation of the prototype, with the improved Hornby motor it is a good starting point for people wanting to do some conversion and/or detail work.  

The wagons and coaches are less positive, being very basic but even here I have to say the paint finish whilst basic is very well applied.

 

At the SRP I think this set is very over priced but for £199 I actually would recommend it to anybody looking for a trainset and at this price I think it represents very good value. As I say the thing is to see it as what it is (a trainset) and not what we might like it to be.