locoholic

I'm booked on 563 tomorrow - what do I get for my money? It doesn't look like there's time for a run over the whole line - is it Swanage - Harman's Cross and back, or Swanage - Corfe and back?

14 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Being a good employer is not expensive and actually increases the potential pool of people you can employ because your net is well spread.  In some respects this will drive down labour costs because if your employees come from a very small pool then competition for them will be fierce leading to spiralling wage costs as you pay more and more to attract and retain from that small pool.

 

Companies that focus on EDI find a more motivated workforce who feel valued.

The cost of EDI is not trivial, and neither is the demoralising effect of being lectured and browbeaten about stuff that denies reality. It's quite insulting to the vast majority of a workforce to be treated as unconsciously bad people whose redemption is only brought about by brownie points from Stonewall and the like.

13 hours ago, adb968008 said:

...Electrification is the answer, but it takes time...

As the GWML showed, electrification doesn't just take time - we simply can't do it any more, sadly.

I still find it impossible to believe that the wires still don't reach Oxford or Bristol Temple Meads.

Excellent article on the Spectator website today by Sean Thomas, detailing the "comprehensive" Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies of HS2 - nice to know that they've got EDI all sewn up, although perhaps if they concentrated on building the railway, the costs might not have spiralled out of control so spectacularly.

Is there any chance of a second run of Accurascale Manors, as I thought I'd ordered one, but apparently I didn't. Maybe some different names/numbers?

I still can't believe that Hornby have never made the J15 0-6-0 in the Great Eastern blue livery that it had for a while at Sheringham. I though Simon Kohler was a big fan of blue locomotives?

I'm still waiting for a BR black M7 with the front sandboxes below the running plate - they look so different from the usual M7s - I believe only an SR olive green one has ever been produced. Similarly, I don't think a BR late crest Schools with original chimney has ever been made using the new tooling.

I always wish they'd do a set of Black 5s in the liveries tried out by BR soon after nationalisation, too.

And as for the late crest J36...

Just to advise anyone who wanted to order the Footplate Models limited edition brewery loco and was told by their website that it was sold out, to try again, as they've upped the number available for sale.

It's not easy to find on their website - I had to search for "Hawthorn" and it was towards the bottom of the search results.

The BBC is reporting that the Infrastructure and Projects Authority says of HS2, "Successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable".

What on Earth does this mean? What does an unsuccessful delivery of HS2 look like?! Horse drawn trains from Old Oak Common to Brackley?

Surely the solution to this sorry situation is for the Scottish Government to nationalise the WCRC West Highland operation?

A brand new fleet of "heritage effect" carriages with seat-belts on every seat to prevent the intellectually-challenged passengers hurling themselves off Glenfinnan Viaduct, and solar panels on the roof, pulled by an eco-friendly battery powered steam locomotive (a replica of the tartan-liveried North British engine which honoured Queen Victoria) - all delivered on time and on budget. 

One bizarre effect of the Nuneham closure was to give Cheltenham its fastest trains to/from London - one (very) early morning train from Hereford to Paddington ran via Cheltenham, thence to London, omitting the Gloucester reversal and stops to Swindon, giving a journey time of less than two hours for Cheltenham to London. The train in the reverse direction ran in the early evening, with the same route.

The current edition of Rail magazine has a news item about the Nuneham Viaduct. They are trying to pin the blame for the problem on some unspecified aspect of climate change, whilst noting Network Rail's habit of dumping tons and tons of ballast on top of an embankment with known stability issues in order to maintain track alignment. Climate change is a very handy tool for deflecting blame!

16 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

Especially if one sock is different to the other...🙄

To judge by my teenage son, that's quite the fashion these days.

8 hours ago, Jenny Emily said:

A tool could have just broken. They are quite old. Bachmann had this with the old former Mainline Midland coaches where after a last hurrah of several releases they announced that all further versions were cancelled because something broke. 

And yet something very similar remains available in the Bachmann Thomas the Tank Engine range.

Got my pack of three today. They look good - I can overlook the axleboxes. I think they would look better with loads - does anyone make the brick pallets that they carried in 4mm?

KR Models are to be congratulated for making a model of a distinctive and unusual prototype, in contrast to the seemingly endless tide of five and seven plank wagons that has hit us from other manufacturers. 

Excellent - I've cobbled together a rake of Graham Farish teak suburban coaches for my Heljan Met electric loco, but would invest in some Dreadnoughts, or the Chesham set that ended up on the Bluebell Railway.

I appreciate these wagons are a step up compared to the generic offerings from Hornby and Bachmann, but I do wonder whether the market is nearly saturated, and even more wonder why liveries have been chosen that Hornby and Bachmann have already done.

Having said that, there are a couple that I'll buy - hope that's enough!

I would also echo an earlier comment - one thing I'd love is a rake of colliery wagons with different numbers, as seen in so many photos of old colliery sidings.

Collected my red set from Derails. They look good...    apart from the wheels, which are shiny silver, so will need a coat of grot.

Given these are not cheap, I do think EFE could have spared us the trouble by toning down the wheels before assembling the models.

Intrigued by the reference to Kernow Models on the back of the box.

On 12/01/2023 at 20:41, GeoffBird said:

If we are getting a new chassis, then Hornby will be able to produce B2 class locos (may I suggest 61671 Rolyal Soveriegn) for all our Thompson fans next year.

I would love a RTR B2, being a one-time resident of Framlingham, but I suspect the problem is the tenders - second-hand ones from various classes of scrapped engines - expensive to tool for an obscure and uncharismatic class. Having said that, I suspect Royal Sovereign in apple green would sell well.

11 hours ago, Ramblin Rich said:

A shame the funding isn't sufficient to reopen the section from Treviscoe to rejoin the Newquay line past St Dennis. Falmouth to Newquay would still need reversal at St Austell, but cuts out some running  distance via Par. Although it also cuts out services via Bugle - sorry @Rivercider!

When I first saw this story I assumed that the £50 million must include building the shorter route from St Dennis Junction to Burngullow, but I now realise I was being very naive, and the rail industry can easily swallow £50 million without blinking, and certainly without delivering anything much in return.

Who in their right mind would travel by train from Newquay to Falmouth when it's over 40 miles by rail and around 25 miles by road, anyway?

11 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

I find it enlightening to hear this.

 

I was born in the 70s & brought up in line of sight of the Clacton line. What could I see? A line with OLE (I couldn't actually see the tracks themselves) with EMUs heading each way twice an hour. I cannot model anything like this without spending loads of time building kits or bashing models. This is something which would put off potential new modellers.

Same here - if RTR models of the 1970s EMUs that operated out of the Liverpool Street of my youth were available I would buy them. 

19 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

This is a holding announcement after much of the 2022 programme was not  delivered in 2022. We were told that.That announcement will provide a substantial part of the Hornby product available in the shops in 2023

 

Normal announcements will resume in Jan 2024

 

Hornby are not going into an arms race on premium models , pouring in development and tooling resources to re-do every model every decade or less at a higher and higher specification and a higher and higher price/cost . That will not please those who want "the definitive Class XYZ" and see SLW as what the future of OO RTR looks like  (That kind of future looks rather like this:  NSWGR Z19  )

 

Hornby are aiming for an affordable midrange position as the hobby becomes inevitably more and more costly. That involves re-running a lot of existing tools. (It seems to be an approach that is working for Dapol in N)  But as existing elderly tooling wears out they will replace it - see the Railroad Mk1s and this year the TTA. That's late 60s tools being replaced...

 

We will see how it all works out . But I'm a lot more optimistic about the future of the hobby and of 4mm than I am about the future of OO RTR manufacturing. After 25 years of an astonishing boom in ever more detailed models driven by low costs in China  I think OO RTR manufacturers are starting to run out of road 

 

This  post from the Hornby 2MT thread  is also the shape of the future for 4mm modelling :

 

The number of folk who are looking at the latest releases and saying "thanks , I'll pass. At that money , I'm perfectly happy sticking with my Helbachby one , its still a good model" is becoming a serious issue if you want to sell people new RTR at ever increasing prices.

 

Each year the amount of pretty decent stuff out there second hand will rise. Increasingly new RTR must compete with the last 25 years' production available second-hand

 

We are not there yet, but the view ahead in the distance is getting a little ominous

 

At this point the Croaking Raven of Doom will fly off, cawing ominously....

That NSW model looks good. Those Aussie branches like Batlow were full of character.

3 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

The only valid indicator of the first is if there were major trades in shares one way or the other; my understanding (from conversations at a senior level) is that the major shareholders are in it for the long haul and the fact that they've stuck with it through testing times underlines that.

 

SK indicated in the YouTube briefing that it's a catch-up year and that there's more in development. I've no reason to doubt that but to what extent it is true may only become evident in a year or so.

 

In conversations, again at senior level and with those who have had similar conversations, there's evidence that the business is moving towards being marketing-led rather than product-led. Of course both are needed but there is a detectable change in the balance over the last few years and recent executive and non-executive appointments bear that out with stated strategic input on digital transformation and Lyndon Davies said of incoming CEO Oliver Raeburn "Hornby will continue to build direct relationships with our customers, and Olly is ideally qualified to steer the group through this process".

 

As I was taught; products are for the customers, marketing is for the business.

Marketing-led rather than product-led? That sounds ominously like spending money on passing off old or below-par stuff, rather than making things that people actually want to buy. MBA buzzwords are no substitute for quality and innovation.

3 hours ago, RichardT said:

1. Buy BR black J36 from eBay/new old stock in model shop.

2. Gently erase BR early crest/BR lettering from tender.

3. Replace with appropriate BR late crest Fox transfer (other transfer manufacturers are available.)

 

Or wait several years, possibly forever.

 

RichardT

Your reply is, of course, correct for an individual modeller. But for Hornby, who have paid for the tooling for the J36 and have stubbornly resisted making one of the versions with the greatest sales potential, and therefore the greatest potential to profit from their investment, the situation is tantamount to self-harm.

19 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Only Heljan carry any responsibility for that!

 

Even I wouldn't dream of laying any blame at Hornby's doorstep! 😇

 

Just a thought, has Hornby ever produced a loco in LT livery before?

 

John

They did a version of their pannier tank in LT red, although it was more orange than red.

6 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

Doesn't the 6-wheel RR Sentinel in LT livery count?

 

Unless it created an opportunity for yet another new edition of an A3 or A4, I doubt Hornby would bother.

 

Instead we're still waiting for coaches for Sarah Siddons to haul!