Andy Mac

Just went into my Hatton's account and my pre-order price of £203.50 still stands...interesting.

Fingers crossed you get it at the reduced amount, but if I was a betting man, i’d Say that Hattons will not honour that price....

Copy and paste from Hattons...

Pricing policy

The price you pay will be the current price advertised on www.hattons.co.uk excluding any items that have been priced in error. In the event these circumstances occur you will be notified before any price adjustments are made and given the option to accept or reject the revised order.

Most interesting, well IF and when a re-run is done, SURELY they can revise the livery colours and get them correct this time, and if not why not ?

 

The problem is they have sold out almost overnight....that’s not going to persuade them they have the colours all wrong.... I tried to have a conversation with them a few months ago through Facebook, and then just point blank refused to accept, in any manner, that their colours were wrong.... as far as they are concerned every other version, be it Dapol, Bachmann, Hornby, Lima, they all had it wrong and that they are the only ones who have it right...

Well I gave in.... I was sitting on the fence with these.... I had cancelled my pre order a while ago when it was obvious Oxford wern’t Going to change the paint spec’s.... I was waiting to see them in real life.... then they seemed to start disappearing really quickly.... Hattons sold out in 48hrs, rails intimating they are selling fast... so ordered some, and I suppose they’ll go into the list of jobs to be done....an eventual respray of the grey in the future.....

My thinking was it was the lesser of two evils to acquire the coachs and redo the grey, rather than try and source other coaches...

I guess another similar question would be whether you buy stock for use in the future?

 

 

I have purchased enough stock for my future 80’s/90’s/00’s/modern image layout set on a terminus station/Branchline/depot/industrial site/roundly round.... I haven’t quite decided what i’ll Build but seem to have acquired everything to cover all possibilities!

My next seat may be in the pub.

Save yourself the agony Andy..... Take laptop to pub....at 12 noon, publish the news.... at 12.01pm switch laptop off.....at 12.02pm partake of first pint of cider... about 11pm, remember to go home....

No matter what you or Bachmann say or do, there will still be all the same soul destroying comments....

Thanks for all the hard work and effort you put in.... I really do appreciate what you do....

This feels like confession, I'm going to be brutally honest.

 

I don't own a layout, The last layout I built was when I lived with my parents some 8 years ago in the loft. What stock I did have then is mostly gone, having been replaced by newer, more modern stock. I have a huge 60ft long outbuilding that was built with my house extension purely to accommodate my long planned dream layout, it's been constructed nearly 2 years, and it's just full of boxes and non modelling related stored crap basically, it hasn't been touched.

 

I'm not a member of a club, there's not one local enough to me (that I'm aware of), so 95% of my 'collection' has never been ran, most of it hasn't been out of the box.

 

Over the years I've spent thousands on impulse purchases, that sit around for that one time I get the time to spend on creating this model railway vision I've had for the past couple of decades. I'll confess, somehow buying railway models, and railway modelling related clobber makes me feel better about the fact that I don't actually get around to doing any railway modelling, what an awfully depressing paradox when you think about it.

 

Yes, I'm an armchair modeller, not by design, but by circumstance (I'm self employed), I have a great amount of knowledge of how to do things, time spent doodling on the internet in a spare half hour will do that, but in practice very little experience actually doing it. Makes me feel a bit of a fraud really.

 

What really hits home is recently I had to value all my stock to get it all insured, the figures I came back with were startling, and I've done pretty much nothing with any of it, it's quite sad. And when I then have to take photos of 'how and where the insured items are stored', I look at the photos and get even more depressed at the situation.

 

One day soon things will change, I'll have a lot more time on my hands later this year as my business gets sold and handed over, I'll then be able to take a more casual line of work for a moderate income, and invest more of my time in the hobby that I love.  But until then, my modelling consists of admiring boxes....

 

But they are lovely boxes.......

Like you I have an awful lot in boxes with only a small fraction getting a run....

I think that there might be a psychological issue to it... when I was a youngster in the 70’s and 80’s, I loved my train set and everything to do with the hobby.... unfortunately money was tight in those days and a new purchase was really only an occasional/annual luxury... I remember the excitement of my birthday or Christmas as that was the only time I got a new box....there was so much in the Hornby catalogue that I wanted, but just never could afford.... now 30/40 years later i’m Lucky I have some spare income, and seem to have amassed a fleet of loco’s/wagons/coaches that never really get any regular use.... I put it down to maybe over compensating for not being able to afford very much in my past...

I think pre ordering will become more common in the future as the manufacturers continue to trim their production runs and the frequency of models selling out on preorder increases...

Today, you can still get away with not preordering, but you need to keep an eye on this forum for clues as to a models popularity and keep a watch on the online shops for availability....

Strange no one complains about the same from the automotive manufacturers as there is so much duplication there!

38.4 million vehicles on the road, according to google....

Most people in the UK need a car as a necessity, There’s maybe a couple of tens of thousand modellers/collectors(I don’t know the number), and models are really not a necessity.....

What makes you think Hornby are not going to make anymore mk3 coaches?

Hornby have announced new tooling for the Mk3 sliding door version which caters for the current updated and future versions...

Hornby have also been upgrading their exisiting mk3 coaches.... couple of years ago they got a minor revamp, tinted windows, some got lighting... Last years release of the Mk3 saw a further improvement with an improved coupling system...

Seems bizarre to think that after investing in both new tooling and updating the existing tooling that they are not going to release any more coaches.

Hornby tend to release their mk3 coaches in liveries that tie in with their HST power car releases, so this year they have 3 modern livery power cars, which is great for modern image modellers, and the corresponding liveried coaches....

You’ll probably not get your intercity swallow mk3’s till Hornby release another run of the power cars or if your lucky they release them as a Mk3a set and you pull the buffers off.

It’ll be a brave company that introduces another mk3 coach to the market, with 3 toolings in place. The market has shown that 3 or 4 companies producing the same models just doesn’t work.... ie class 47 Heljan, Hornby, Bachmann and Vitrains, and 37 with Hornby, Bachmann and vitrains....

It was fairly explicit from some information that circulated perhaps two or three years back, that Kader were expecting Bachmann UK to deliver equivalent profitability to that achieved by comparable product in their other ranges. The first thing that will result from that is that prices will need to be comparable piece for piece between HO and OO. Bachmann UK haven't got to HO price level OO - yet - and Kader may well have a view on that.

 

I have 'large multinational' experience, and national divisions that didn't perform in HQ's opinion were put into what might be termed special measures. Now Kader may not work like that, but I wouldn't bank on it...

Thank goodness someone else remembers that announcement.... for some reason the most people seemed to equate Bachmanns substantial annual price increases with increased salaries for the factory workers...whilst i’m Sure that part of the yearly increase does go towards updating wages, the other part goes to increasing the profit margins...

The Scotrail Mk2f’s.... what is the correct consist for them? Is it 4 or 5 TSO”s plus a BSO? Are they still used on the fife circle?

Normally i’d Pre order, but after getting the Hornby spotrail class 156 when it was released and being disappointed in the livery and colours used, it was far too light, i’ll Maybe just wait and see what they are like once released...

Can someone confirm if the Belmond 'British Pullman' Train Pack R3750 contains the Railroad version coaches?

Thanks.

Looking at the prices, £144 for the loco, £204 for the pack..... it’s either good value for the full fat version, or, what’s more likely, the going rate for the loco and 3 railroad models.... like you, I wish the manufacturers would make it clear what are the high detailed toolings and the lower quality railroad toolings.....

I’ve (fortunately) got the virgin liveried model on preorder at £129.50...... the new ones preorder price is £153..... ouch.....

For the modern image modeller there's a lot of crappy duplication on old tooling as in the 47's, 66's & 92's.

If Hornby think they can take sales away from Hatton's, Bachmann & DJ Models by offering sub standard rubbish with new liveries then good luck to them.

Hornby should have least attempted to do a newly tooled Class 37 or 47.

Someone’s spat the dummy.......

I predict a price adjustment from Bachmann for their mk2f’s.... they will have to drop their prices.....there is too much of a gap...

Having majored in Economics at university, this all comes down to demand elasticities and available/acceptable substitutes. The number of substitutes, particularly for Bachmann locomotives more so than their Scenecraft range is low. For example, if Hattons don't stock the Bachmann class 04, you can't just buy a Hornby one instead as they don't make one. Will the demand for a Bachmann item go down if Hattons don't stock it? Unlikely, for their locomotives range at least, considering the number of well renowned competitors such as Rails of Sheffield able to supply them to us, the consumer. In other words, Hattons has many competitors offering the same product, Bachmann don't.

Most of Hattons sales are made online where the number of alternative retailers is high and a consumer can, with the click of a button, buy a product not stocked at Hattons from another website. The number of customers who shop in store at Hattons and think for example 'oh, they don't stock the Bachmann class 150 so I'll buy a Hornby 153 instead' is quite low.

Therefore, if such a dispute does indeed exist, it would be much more in Hattons interest to resolve it amicably.

Very well put..... it just amazes me that some people think that Hattons can carry on as normal, challenge or directly compete, whilst unable to supply the main manufacturers range.... i’m Sure Hattons will have to acquiesce to Bachmanns terms, or else run the very real risk of taking a large financial hit, as the customers, that’s you and I, move to a different online retailer and place our orders.

As my mother always used to tell me, ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you’.....

If Hornby announces new Skaledale structures, my guesses would be:NBR West Highland line chalet station buildingNBR signalbox(this year is the 125th anniversary of the opening of the West Highland line)Low relief tenements and shops

Lol....i’m Sorry this post should be removed.... It’s logical, realistic and entirely feasible.... It goes against all the principles of this frothfest.....

The DBSO has been at the Glasgow end of virtually every picture of a PP that I have found.   

 

Hope these are helpful

 

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2010/post-3695-12625429850644.jpg

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/429-scottish-region-photos-1980s/page-16

The Cowlairs Incline our of Glasgow Queen Street Station was pretty severe....In day’s gone by, they used a pulley system to help pull the trains up the incline!!

The DBSO’s were (generally) always at the Glasgow end, as it was easier to drag the coaches up the incline rather than push them uphill....

I pre-ordered and placed a deposit on one back in 2016(?)

I have tried emailing a few times but have not had any form of reply, is there any sound evidence this is actually happening?

There is a lot of completely non-related chatter here about who doesn't like who.. but none of the promised 'surprises' from DJM actually occured, to my knowledge and extensive search of the forum/Google and I was never sent a newsletter either !

I'm not a total numpty and I know stuff does go wrong, it's business but someone somewhere has £30 of mine for the last almost 3 years and it is disappointing that there is nothing to show for it. I understand there is troubles with CAD files disappearing but going to ground because a few people are (rightly imo) upset is a peculiar business model.

As to him not being active on the website, neither are Hornby, Oxford, SLW, Peco, or indeed Bachmann (they only reply to Andy York’s questions)... you may quote certain smaller manufacturers as models of communications, but I could probably tell you a couple of horror stories... however I chose not to air these on the forums, as at the end of the day they are small one or two man operations trying to make a living... if there end product is good, then I can forgive the poor communications....

Does anyone wonder why Bachy is knocking out so many rep. limited editions? Could it be a way of getting the most out of existing toolings without a big production run of one livery, which would sit on shelves when newly tooled 37s and 47s are announced?

I have a sneaky suspicion that it won’t be Bachmann releasing a new 37/47 tooling.... if I was a betting man, i’d Have a punt on Rapido doing one or the other...

We are all familiar with the need to send away for parts for our trains.  My source is a respected UK dealer in tinplate parts and an order was placed nearly a month ago and paid via PayPal.  Up to now the parts have not arrived and even at this time of year, it only takes about a week or so for the post from the UK.  These  parts are very small and would fit in a padded envelope and as there is no customs on an item like this, its not being held up at this end.

 

I don't know if there is a way of finding out as there would be no tracing involved but contacting the seller might be fraught with a "he said, he said" situation; the only proof is a record of my payment and if its lost in the post, how do we know and who's to blame.  Are there ever satisfactory endings to this kind of problem?

 

Brian.

I’d maybe wait another week or two till the new year.... i’ve Ordered stuff before that’s in stock, and it gets dispatched at the same time and arrives weeks apart in Australia..

If you didn’t pay for a courier and we’re relying on Royal Mail, then it’ll take longer... or if you haven’t specified air mail, it’s quite possible it’s been sent surface mail. Now if it’s small and been sent surface mail, then if there is space on the air freight side, then sometimes it’ll be put into the airmail system. There are so many mail/parcels in the system at this time of year and the slow down is unavoidable.....i’ve Got three parcels all ordered 1st December still to arrive from the Uk, but i’m Not concerned...

I find birds to be a darned nuisance on my 00 garden line as they s*** on the rails...

Could you imagine finding a s### seventy six times larger than normal!!

£110 a pop seems a great price though........

Wasn’t that long go, there were bowls of collective anguish as we approached the physiological price point of a £100 a loco....

Now it seems like a bargain! Lol....

Another pair of 27’s ordered.... that should finish my BRCW type 2’s!

This has gone all quiet, is it still happening?.

Did you not get his Email to all the crowd funders about 6/7 weeks ago?

Not exactly common though were they?

Well depends which side of the border your on? Lol....