2014 Hornby Announcements

[Robin Brasher]

The prices broadly match that which box-shifters have already done.  It appears to be a simple addition to Hornby's direct-sales strategy, with items which all sellers find hard-to-shift.

 

Coronach would have been good value, but A3 buyers are a mysterious type, requiring not just something close to 'their' particular engine but 'as it was between May and September 1959'..  (I'm probably being a bit harsh...)  The red-cream Stanier brake 3rd is quite cheap at £24 but not much to run it with...

 

Also box shifters have had Maunsells, and Hawksworths for around £21 for a long time now.

Some of the items match Hattons' prices but some are undercutting them. The teak Gresley coaches have always been strong sellers. Hattons is out of stock of R4170E Corridor Brake and they are selling on eBay for £49.99. Hattons is selling R4173D Buffet car for £47 and they have only got 6 left. Now Hornby is selling them for £39.99. I remember Simon Kohler telling us at a meeting of the Wimborne Railway Society that Hattons' policy of selling items at a discount was unsustainable and now Hornby is doing it.

[Andy Y]

I may have missed it, but has anybody else noticed that there is to be a TTS fitted P2? - R3246TTS

Yes; it's in my OP.

[The Stationmaster]

Some of the items match Hattons' prices but some are undercutting them. The teak Gresley coaches have always been strong sellers. Hattons is out of stock of R4170E Corridor Brake and they are selling on eBay for £49.99. Hattons is selling R4173D Buffet car for £47 and they have only got 6 left. Now Hornby is selling them for £39.99. I remember Simon Kohler telling us at a meeting of the Wimborne Railway Society that Hattons' policy of selling items at a discount was unsustainable and now Hornby is doing it.

 

I think there might be a slight difference between deep dscounters and what Hornby are doing.  The deep discounters have offered very considerable percentage reduction on most r-t-r as a matter of course and it has basically meant low returns which, I would agree with SK, is hardly a sustainable business model.

 

What Hornby would appear to be doing is something rather different in that they are clearing surplus inventory, no doubt at a price which still offers a degree of return but which more importantly gets it off their books (refer Company reports) thus provided they don't sell at a loss they are benefitting in their balance sheet as new stock arrives.  Not very nice for retailers who are holding stocks and I bet Hornby won't give them a rebate! 

[brian777999]

Perhaps it is time that Hornby bought manufacturing back to their own factory in the UK so they can have complete control of the production process. I read an article in the Australian newspaper yesterday about how some yarn spinning companies are moving from China to the US where electricty costs are cheaper and the wages are not that much higher now.

 

Any photos of the Sentinel yet ?

[trisonic]

Power costs are significantly cheaper now in the US (it has just been announced in the past year that we are totally self-sufficient - I learnt something new; the USA is the World Leader in geothermal power from deep Earth, even more so than Iceland).

 

Wages over here are still way higher than China though.

 

Best, Pete.

[Robin Brasher]

Hornby's recent on line sale reminds me of what happened over 20 years ago when I lived in Worthing. Here we a had a toy shop called Gamleys that sold Hornby items at the full price and Hobbyhorse and Gaugemaster that sold at a discount. During the year Gamleys hardly seemed to sell any Hornby items but at the beginning of the following year Gamleys sold its stock at a huge discount. Gamleys had a stand at Modelworld at Brighton in February. Before the show opened Gamleys had lots of M7s for sale at £20 each. Although the M7 had only come out at the end of the previous year Hornby had stopped producing it. As soon as the show opened I went to the Gamleys stand to buy five for my layout because I did not think they would be produced again. I found out that Gaugemaster had purchased the whole stock of M7s from Gamleys before the show opened and were now selling them for £27 each. As a matter of principal I did not buy any M7s from Gaugemaster or have any dealings with that firm until the management changed and I ordered most of my stock from Hattons. If Hornby are deeply discounting some items to the extent that they are below trade price retailers may buy the whole stock and then sell them on at the market rate.

[edcayton]

Hornby's recent on line sale reminds me of what happened over 20 years ago when I lived in Worthing. Here we a had a toy shop called Gamleys that sold Hornby items at the full price and Hobbyhorse and Gaugemaster that sold at a discount. During the year Gamleys hardly seemed to sell any Hornby items but at the beginning of the following year Gamleys sold its stock at a huge discount. Gamleys had a stand at Modelworld at Brighton in February. Before the show opened Gamleys had lots of M7s for sale at £20 each. Although the M7 had only come out at the end of the previous year Hornby had stopped producing it. As soon as the show opened I went to the Gamleys stand to buy five for my layout because I did not think they would be produced again. I found out that Gaugemaster had purchased the whole stock of M7s from Gamleys before the show opened and were now selling them for £27 each. As a matter of principal I did not buy any M7s from Gaugemaster or have any dealings with that firm until the management changed and I ordered most of my stock from Hattons. If Hornby are deeply discounting some items to the extent that they are below trade price retailers may buy the whole stock and then sell them on at the market rate.

 

I don't understand what your "principle" was. A retailer buys goods at a low price and sells them at a profit (with the risk that he may not sell them, or make a loss). What's wrong with that?

 

Ed

['CHARD]

I don't understand what your "principle" was. A retailer buys goods at a low price and sells them at a profit (with the risk that he may not sell them, or make a loss). What's wrong with that?

 

Ed

 

Looks like what was wrong was £35's worth of being very cross indeed. 

[Robin Brasher]

I don't understand what your "principle" was. A retailer buys goods at a low price and sells them at a profit (with the risk that he may not sell them, or make a loss). What's wrong with that?

 

Ed

What is wrong from the retailer's point of view is that he has lost hundreds of pounds of future sales from a regular customer to make a quick profit. I would point out that the management of Gaugemaster has changed and I have recently had many happy visits to their shop.

[40F]

That's all part of business I am afraid. I would do exactly the same.

[James Makin]

Hornby's recent on line sale reminds me of what happened over 20 years ago when I lived in Worthing. Here we a had a toy shop called Gamleys that sold Hornby items at the full price and Hobbyhorse and Gaugemaster that sold at a discount. During the year Gamleys hardly seemed to sell any Hornby items but at the beginning of the following year Gamleys sold its stock at a huge discount. Gamleys had a stand at Modelworld at Brighton in February. Before the show opened Gamleys had lots of M7s for sale at £20 each. Although the M7 had only come out at the end of the previous year Hornby had stopped producing it. As soon as the show opened I went to the Gamleys stand to buy five for my layout because I did not think they would be produced again. I found out that Gaugemaster had purchased the whole stock of M7s from Gamleys before the show opened and were now selling them for £27 each. As a matter of principal I did not buy any M7s from Gaugemaster or have any dealings with that firm until the management changed and I ordered most of my stock from Hattons. If Hornby are deeply discounting some items to the extent that they are below trade price retailers may buy the whole stock and then sell them on at the market rate.

Very ironic considering Gaugemaster's current RRP pricing policy, how times change!

 

Good premises though and a smashing blast in the car past Arundel, even if there's nothing to buy when you get there!

[Ozexpatriate]

I'm off topic a bit so please excuse me.  

... I learnt something new; the USA is the World Leader in geothermal power from deep Earth, even more so than Iceland.

New to me too and quite true. The US produces more geothermal power than anyone else, though I would think (not having checked) that players like Iceland (where geothermal contributes 26%) and New Zealand (where geothermal contributes 13%) would tally high per-capita totals. Total US geothermal generation is still fourth behind hydro, biomass and wind power in the renewable energy space.

It represents about 0.4% of the total power generated in the US. The big players remain coal, followed by natural gas and nuclear power.

[newbryford]

 

 

Any photos of the Sentinel yet ?

 

Try this link

 

Cheers,

Mick

[SDJR7F88]

Any photos of the Sentinel yet ?

I have just posted a review of the Esso Livery one.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65710-Hornby-sentinel-at-last/page-11&do=findComment&comment=1276697

[Tom J]

All far too big for me, but interesting to see the MML teal and tangerine livery make a comeback. I have a vested interest as that's where my railway career began!

[NHY 581]

Very ironic considering Gaugemaster's current RRP pricing policy, how times change!

Good premises though and a smashing blast in the car past Arundel, even if there's nothing to buy when you get there!

I recently contacted Gauge master regarding some continental items. I am just starting a small continental layout and am looking for a number of items over the coming months. I spoke to a person who clearly was not familiar with the items in question. There was very much a take it or leave it attitude. As such I did not order anything from them, despite them having other items in stock. . This was my first time in dealing with Gauge master and from this experience, I will not be contacting or recommending them again.

 

I have since placed an order elsewhere.

 

A classic case of big adverts, nice premises and discounted prices not being better.

 

Rob.

[truffy]

Interested in the 2-HAL. But has it been designed cleverly or accurately?

[dibber25]

Interested in the 2-HAL. But has it been designed cleverly or accurately?

Have a look at the photos and decide for yourself.

[truffy]

Have a look at the photos and decide for yourself.

I did look, and if I could have decided for myself from them, then I wouldn't have asked.

 

IMO, the driver's grab rails look good. But the ventilators look moulded and the passenger grab handles are indistinct.

 

Do you have anything more helpful to add other than sarky comments?

[Andy Y]

Interested in the 2-HAL. But has it been designed cleverly or accurately?

 

Well there was a hint of sarcasm/cleverness in the original question.

 

The grab rails are moulded, the ventilators are moulded but I don't necessarily see it as worth criticising; have a look at decorated samples in due course and make your own mind up whether it's good for you.

 

[coachmann]

Passenger door grab handles on coaches should be moulded in my view. Moulding separate ones in plastic is the wrong use of this material, like cast whitemetal vac pipes. Quite simply they well off some previous coaches. The drivers door long vertical handgrabs are wire however, which is common sense.

[truffy]

The passenger grab handles on Hornby's Maunsell coaches are fine. They look like handles rather than blobby add-ons, and I've never had one fall off. That is the standard I was looking for.

[coachmann]

The passenger grab handles on Hornby's Maunsell coaches are fine. They look like handles rather than blobby add-ons, and I've never had one fall off. That is the standard I was looking for.

I understand. Lots of separate handles must have been time-consuming & expensive to fit. Reading that folk considered £35.00 was too much to pay for a rtr coach must have focussed Hornby's minds. Moulded handgrabs on coaches make sense, although I don't think some modellers realise how little these things stick out on the real thing. Take an LMS coach....9' 0" over body...9' 3" over handles. Therefore .75mm over a handle is best moulded if it isn't to be well overscale with daylight behind it!

[New Haven Neil]

Half of that if they had handles on both sides....????

[Oldddudders]

The usual logic applies. If you feel the need for separate door- and commode-handles, and their being moulded is a deal-breaker for you, then by all means build your own 2-HAL adding the better detail Hornby won't provide, and you'll be lauded for your efforts on here, without a doubt. I have more than 40 Hornby Maunsells, but have accepted the 2-BILs as excellent, and expect the HALs to be the same.