The Engine Shed

[No Decorum]

19 hours ago, atom3624 said:

What about the searchlight and Turbo Car?

 

Al.

I’d love a turbo car, just for the pleasure of experimenting with the control of a model driven by a fan rather than gears.

[No Decorum]

20 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

However if you've got DCC and it's set up properly you can control that. That's kind of the point. The models are future proof for the next generation.

 

Jason

Yep. Press the appropriate F button and you get the sound of the firebox opening, followed by firebox light and the sound of shovelling. Press the F button again and the shovelling sound stops, the sound of the firehole doors closing follows and the light goes out. If the loco isn’t moving, the light is steady as it would be with the blower on or off. If the loco is moving, the light flickers as it would with exhaust beats. I think it’s grate great stuff. Others are, of course, entitled to their own opinions.

[Hroth]

8 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

I’d love a turbo car, just for the pleasure of experimenting with the control of a model driven by a fan rather than gears.

 

I thought we were all fans? 

[No Decorum]

On 01/01/2022 at 23:14, Ian Hargrave said:

More bl###y frippery. I’d be happier if nothing on their products flickered prior to falling off before opening the box,an activity which in itself has become a heart stopping experience.

I hope you can forgive my liking for bl###dy fripperies. However, I wholeheartedly agree with your condemnation of bits falling off. Then again, there are design errors. Hornby checks EPs, we are told. Does Hornby check more than just running qualities? At the very least, Hornby should check what purchasers are likely to do. Will a normal decoder fit? Will a speaker? Will the supplied flanged wheels be able to turn and will they touch the railhead? Judging by the models thrown at supplied to us, It seems to me that these things are not checked.

[Oldddudders]

21 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

 Does Hornby check more than just running qualities? 

I'd be grateful for them doing even that! Several models where inadequate pickups mean they hardly move, let alone run smoothly. A pair of Terriers are dreadful, but by no means alone. 

[No Decorum]

27 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I'd be grateful for them doing even that! Several models where inadequate pickups mean they hardly move, let alone run smoothly. A pair of Terriers are dreadful, but by no means alone. 

Hard luck. My three run nicely and better than any of the Rails ones. I often wonder what checking consists of; I suspect sticking it on a track and rejecting it only if it’s dead. I can’t think that any manufacturer or retailer would have time to run every model through a complicated arrangement of points.

[Wickham Green too]

6 hours ago, No Decorum said:

Yep. Press the appropriate F button and you get the sound of the firebox opening, followed by firebox light and the sound of shovelling. Press the F button again and the shovelling sound stops, the sound of the firehole doors closing follows and the light goes out. If the loco isn’t moving, the light is steady as it would be with the blower on or off. If the loco is moving, the light flickers as it would with exhaust beats. I think it’s grate great stuff. Others are, of course, entitled to their own opinions.

Must admit there are bound to be zillions of people on here who have driven more steam locos than I have - but none of the four (?) types I've driven had anything that resembled a button F ........ and the fireman looked after the stoking without any intervention from me ! 

[scots region]

It would appear that @Hilux5972 was right after all.

 

 

A screenshot from my Facebook feed. No the link doesn’t work either.

[MrTea]

Hornby have just Tweeted the link to this month’s Engine Shed again but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere, just to the Blogs homepage. Let’s hope the 2022 range is a bit more joined up!

[Pre Grouping fan]

Looking on the homepage it apoeared

 

Here's the correct link: https://uk.Hornby.com/community/blog-and-news/engine-shed/a-star-from-the-east

[Graham_Muz]

Latest issue https://uk.Hornby.com/community/blog-and-news/engine-shed/new-years-revolutions VEPs and Class 91

[MrTea]

Credit where credit is due to the team at Hornby for this month’s Engine Shed Blog - that’s an informative and well written piece of communication IMHO. 
 

They’ve had a lot of stick from RMWebbers and others online (I’m looking at you Twitter!) in the last few weeks so it’s really nice to see an insight into the product development and also to see a manufacturer taking onboard feedback from modellers. 

More like that one please!

 

Ian

[Oldddudders]

A revised VEP will please many people. Ramsgate to Bournemouth (and Weymouth?) is a pretty big operating area, so they fit a lot of SR locations in a 30+-year career - and these revised models look the part to a much greater extent. 

[acg5324]

Interestingly the 4VEP coaches shown in Engine Shed have the original MBS whereas the Southern and SWT ones being issued this year should have the smaller brakevan with the ‘coupe’ at the outer end….which is what the catalogue shows.

Edited January 28, 2022 by acg5324

[Hilux5972]

Latest edition up now. P2 and Peckett https://uk.Hornby.com/community/blog-and-news/engine-shed/powerful-p2s-and-plucky-pecketts?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The+latest+edition+of+Engine+Shed+is+here!&utm_campaign=Hornby+-+Engine+Shed+-+Week+1+2022%2F23

[Oldddudders]

"a train line noted for its difficulty and intensity." Who writes this stuff? The same idiots who designated the Bulleids as suburban coaches? 

 

Hornby credibility really is lacking. 

 

EDIT - There's more. "There was a strong buzz of excitement at Canterbury Station" Really? Did you know there are two major stations in Canterbury? This one is Canterbury West - as the sign on the wall in your pic shows - as distinct from Canterbury East. And this rather less than an hour from the Hornby HQ....

Edited April 1, 2022 by Oldddudders

[The Stationmaster]

58 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

"a train line noted for its difficulty and intensity." Who writes this stuff? The same idiots who designated the Bulleids as suburban coaches? 

 

Hornby credibility really is lacking. 

 

EDIT - There's more. "There was a strong buzz of excitement at Canterbury Station" Really? Did you know there are two major stations in Canterbury? This one is Canterbury West - as the sign on the wall in your pic shows - as distinct from Canterbury East. And this rather less than an hour from the Hornby HQ....

To which we can add that the 'VEP was known by its nickname VEP'??? And the 'Class 91s were given the auxiliary name  of 'inter City 225' - wrong.  the train, not  the loco was given the name Inter City 225 and the operating manual barely mentions the Class 91.   Poor (if any) research  yet again i'm afraid.

[Steamport Southport]

I would like to know how they are measuring "the most powerful steam locomotive ever seen on British rails". As it was far from it.

 

The Duchesses hold the record for highest HP*. If you are going by TE then surely it's the LNER Garratt? 

 

 

 

*With Dynamometer Car for those who dispute anything without one as being invalid. Also with a 20 coach train and running over both Shap and Beattock. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Coronation_Class#British_power_record

 

 

Jason

[Vistisen]

I want to be a satisfied reader of ‘the engine shed’. It started life written in an amateur blog style, appearing to be written by people actually involved in the process design and testing departments with ‘snaps’ from a camera phone. After a couple of apparently innocent slip ups, there was a fun period where the Hornby bods seem to enjoy trolling us with tantalizing glimpses of things we should not have seen, causing delight and much frothing on RM web, it was as if we and Hornby had something in common. It now appears to have become a marketing tool written by the marketing and sales people, who do not make a connection with me. Very sad. Please bring back the unauthorised version.

Edited April 2, 2022 by Vistisen
Grammar and spelling

[Fireline]

On 01/04/2022 at 16:48, Vistisen said:

I want to be a satisfied reader of ‘the engine shed’. It started life written in an amateur blog style, appearing to be written by people actually involved in the process design and testing departments with ‘snaps’ from a camera phone. After a couple of apparently innocent slip ups, there was a fun period where the Hornby bods seem to enjoy trolling us with tantalizing glimpses of things we should not have seen, causing delight and much frothing on RM web, it was as if we and Hornby had something in common. It now appears to have become a marketing tool written by the marketing and sales people, who do not make a connection with me. Very sad. Please bring back the unauthorised version.

 

Have you noticed that the "unauthorised" version, complete with glimpses of things future, ended when someone rejoined the company....?

[The Stationmaster]

On 01/04/2022 at 16:48, Vistisen said:

I want to be a satisfied reader of ‘the engine shed’. It started life written in an amateur blog style, appearing to be written by people actually involved in the process design and testing departments with ‘snaps’ from a camera phone. After a couple of apparently innocent slip ups, there was a fun period where the Hornby bods seem to enjoy trolling us with tantalizing glimpses of things we should not have seen, causing delight and much frothing on RM web, it was as if we and Hornby had something in common. It now appears to have become a marketing tool written by the marketing and sales people, who do not make a connection with me. Very sad. Please bring back the unauthorised version.

That sums up beautifully the delights and fun of what used to be The Engine Shed.  Some time back I discussed the whole approach of TES as it had been with someone, for whom I have great respect, involved in marketing with another company and his view was interesting as he thought the idea of what amounted to 'loose cannons' (my words, not his) was not a good approach to marketing.  Mind you his approach to marketing has always completely outshone Hornby's efforts so the situation was perhaps not directly comparable.

 

The change to TES can obviously be directly linked to a personnel change at Hornby and was clearly all about 'control' rather than - in my view - any sortt of marketing.  If you want to do an annual 'big bang' announcement followed by taking huge orders you can shout about (but seemingly can't actually fulfil if the arrival of Tiers really means something) then you do want anyone stealing your thunder or the ability to shout about massive order figures following on from your announcement and therefore (perhaps?) attributable to it.  As I've long said I think that approach long ago had its day in the British model railway market and probably nowadays causes Hornby more headaches than it delivers benefits.  

 

But 'big bang' means hints and off the cuff 'it'll be here next week' or 'this is an EP of what we've been working on - and it'll be on sale within a year' don't go together. And 'big bang' also means things can get lost - just as the potentially innovative new Black 5, to quote one example this year, was massively overshadowed by Titfieldgate and a lot of opprobrium headed in Hornby's direction.  Plus a subsequent shambles of a marketing situation for them as excuses about the Titfield train pack were wheeled out to retailers enquiring about placing orders - one retailer even being told that they were sold out so no more orders were being taken (after they had been removed from the announcement video).

[woodenhead]

But the old style TES guerilla marketing can work, putting things in the background, talking about progress etc it just has to be done right.

 

I am going to use Rapido (as I always seem to) as an example - this is just a new run of cabooses from 2020 that they had done previously with some new additions.  Each time Rapido do one of these they appear to spend the time thinking how to attract attention without repeating the past and in the UK video which is a little less off the ball than the Canadian stuff they still place new unannounced models in plain sight.

 

In this case Jeremy brings his whole family into the video whilst managing to homage Dr Who and a subtle nod to Trekkies and Star Wars fans.

 

[Ruston]

On 28/01/2021 at 11:39, jafcreasey said:

A new edition of The Engine Shed has been released: -

https://uk.Hornby.com/community/blog-and-news/engine-shed/great-gresleys-stunning-shunters-and-complex-coaches

 

I'm not a regular reader of this thread, or of Hornby's Engine Shed and the last time I looked at this thread was when the quoted post was new. In that particular Engine Shed, with regard to the Ruston 88DS they said:

"As these near production ready samples demonstrate the 88DS is nearing the end of its development with only a few minor changes being reported back to the manufacturer. The detail of the mouldings, the excellent livery application, and the weight and solidity felt when holding the locomotive combine to create the impression of a model exuding the quality that has come to be expected from all of Hornby’s growing range of stunning small locomotives."

 

A year and two months on and these things have not appeared in the shops but models that weren't even announced at the time have appeared out of nowhere and have been and are in the shops since January last year, so what is going on with the 88DS?

[Legend]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

But the old style TES guerilla marketing can work, putting things in the background, talking about progress etc it just has to be done right.

 

I am going to use Rapido (as I always seem to) as an example - this is just a new run of cabooses from 2020 that they had done previously with some new additions.  Each time Rapido do one of these they appear to spend the time thinking how to attract attention without repeating the past and in the UK video which is a little less off the ball than the Canadian stuff they still place new unannounced models in plain sight.

 

In this case Jeremy brings his whole family into the video whilst managing to homage Dr Who and a subtle nod to Trekkies and Star Wars fans.

 

 

You see that would just annoy me !   Everyones different 

[woodenhead]

8 minutes ago, Legend said:

 

You see that would just annoy me !   Everyones different 

Indeed we all are, yet I think nearly all of us are agreed Hornby's approach to it's models and marketing don't work.