nathan70000

Hmm, I didn't hear about that. Surely if this was the case, though, prices would rise across the range equally on everything? I'll have to check but I'm pretty sure the six wheel coaches (for example) haven't increased significantly in price since last year. The massive 50% hikes we're seeing only seem to apply to locos.

They've got the Raven A2, "The Great Bear", and the A2/1 left to choose from. Given the popularity of their recent LNER releases I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually end up doing the lot. I can't help but notice the steam range is very Pacific-heavy and has been for the last couple of years. It might be wise for Hornby to give them a rest and focus on smaller engines that will likely be more useful to modellers.

You're not the only one who has noticed, trust me. For all those who dismiss any complaint about high prices as "moaning", we should remember that we are now entering a cost of living crisis. Discretionary spending such as model railways will be the first to go if people are struggling to keep up, and even comparatively small amounts of money can affect decision making. And the difference between 2019 Hornby prices and 2022 Hornby prices is not insignificant, things like the Light Pacifics have gone up by nearly £100. I'm sure they'll sell Turbomotives, unique as they are, but I think a new Black 5 at that RRP is seriously risky. They've sweetened the deal considerably with sound and steam effects but I'm not sure it'll be enough to entice buyers when the "old" model can be had for £100 less on eBay. I had a similar debate about the 9F not so long ago. I would also question whether some of those reliveries are wise. They're pushing their luck with all these W1s in the pipeline, I would be worried about a repeat of the Peckett situation on that one.

I'm gonna throw one last left field prediction out there... The Class 230. Odd choice you might think, but they'll soon be appearing on rural branch lines across the country and they're completely up-to-date which must heighten their appeal to Hornby.

The NRM actually do a fantastic limited edition gloss version which was in the shop cabinet the last time I went, £189 I think which is steep but not that much more than the Dynamometer car! It was actually used with plenty of locos and predated the 1938 run by at least a decade, I've seen a few photos of it coupled to the W1 and various P2s as well.

Could be similar to the 91-and-Mk4s situation where they leave the Autocoach until 2023. However, considering that it's such an appealing train to modellers in terms of space and cost I'm surprised it hasn't been redone already!

As a side note, when they're good humoured, I really enjoy these speculation threads. It's just a bit of fun, and this year at least I haven't really got anything invested in the outcome because my main area of interest has been quite well covered by various manufacturers in the last few years. My final guesses before the big reveal: GWR "Saint" Class 4-6-0 - I've predicted this one for the last couple of years but it has to be inevitable now with the new build stretching its legs across the country. As the last mass-produced GWR 4-6-0 not to be offered RTR it's low hanging fruit which Hornby would be foolish not to take. I wouldn't be surprised if it only appears in "Lady of Legend" guise initially though, actual GWR modellers might have to use some poetic license. BR Class 89 - Unusual, one-off locomotives have been a huge sales success recently and the 89 complements the new 91 nicely. As an added bonus, the real one still exists and will return to the mainline soon, with the possibility of it being used on revenue earning services. I wouldn't be surprised if the apparent lack of progress on the Rails/Accurascale Class 89 is down to somebody learning of Hornby taking it on. Additionally, I predict that both Hornby and a certain Canadian manufacturer will announce a 14xx and Autocoach, more or less concurrently. Hornby's 14xx will undercut its rival on price and arrive in shops sooner, and will later be revealed to be rushed through in an ill-advised TV documentary. Rivet counters will gleefully point out all the ways in which the Hornby one is inferior, but then still buy one anyway when they get reduced to clear like the Terriers...

https://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=21668 This is almost certainly the locomotive in question, it was actually built by Henschel and originally operated for KPEV. I think Fleischmann may have made a HO scale model and that similar locomotives were sold to Russia but I'll have to check!

I think it was once true that there were more Southern items than LNER items available, but I think it's fair to say the latter has caught up. Given that in recent years the O1, Q6, K1, J27, J26 and G5 have all been announced as well as a retooled J72 and V2, I think anyone modelling the ex NER region should count themselves lucky! Not to mention Hornby's L1, B1 and the not-half-bad Railroad D49 which have all been around for quite a while. Don't forget that prior to the 2000s there weren't many Southern engines available and the GWR was dominant.

I see the Class 89 has been brought up... I certainly wouldn't rule it out, it would match well with the range of late 80s/early 90s ECML stuff Hornby have built up (buffered HST, Class 91) and it would perhaps explain why the Accurascale one doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. It also has that legendary one-off status that Hornby seem so attracted to as of late. Hmmm

Yes...which makes the gulf in prices even harder to understand. Granted a Standard 2MT is a lot more complicated than a J26, and it's clear that they're aiming for the very top end of the market. But still, over £200 for a BR Standard 2MT is a lot to ask. We'll see if the gamble pays off.

I've had a quick glance at eBay and 32-850 "Evening Star" can be had from anywhere between £90 and £140 pre owned, DCC ready. That's £100 less than the new Hornby version. I suspect the typical consumer wouldn't buy from Bachmann's own website and wouldn't necessarily be discerning about whether an item is pre-owned or not. Granted that shipping has gone up, that's an unavoidable cost increase, but I'm still not sure it warrants the massive increases we've seen as of late. R&D costs money and if they put new models on hold for a bit they could focus on the stuff they've already announced and keep the price closer to RRP. Some items are up nearly £50. As for pricing pre-2021 we'll see what happens when the Oxford announcement is made. I do think that their prices will go up but not massively. Maybe only by £25 or so. EDIT - https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/lner-0-6-0-class-j26-5738-or76j26001 the upcoming J26 is up only around £5 since it was first announced, iirc.

There aren't many items that would encourage me to shell out over £200 on a single locomotive but that Raven Pacific is certainly one of them. It might even be the only one besides possibly those streamlined P2s. There are a select few legendary steam locomotives where I reckon Hornby will get away with charging the prices they're asking. One of them is the W1 that's just been released; the others are the P2s, the Raven A2s, Churchward's "Great Bear" and maybe the Turbomotive. I think they'll get a shock when the more run of the mill items get released for roughly the same amount. I simply cannot afford a new A3 at £200 and I'd rather put the money towards a streamlined P2 I don't already have. There are also plenty of old A3s floating about eBay. If Hornby were canny they'd have done 4472 in its late 1920s condition as an A1 with a corridor tender. They've never done that particular combination on a super detail model before despite it being Scotsman's most iconic "look".

I think many Hornby customers would welcome a price correction above more shiny locos, even if it means a smaller product range in the next few years. To use just one example, the price of the Standard 2MT has surged from an eyebrow-raising £179.99 to a completely ridiculous £228.99 on Hornby's website. The Standard 9F, "Evening Star", has surged to over £250. We all understand that prices have gone up for everything, but the numbers appearing on the Hornby website are now eye watering and risk cancelled orders and models sticking around on shelves. The 9F is at particularly high risk for this I think; there's already a half-decent Hornby model and an excellent Bachmann model which can be had for £100 less than the price Hornby are asking. Will the average modeller shell out over £200 on a locomotive they already have? I don't think so, and Hornby risk pricing themselves out of the market if they carry on upping prices. Oxford Rail (and Hornby themselves, in the past) have clearly demonstrated that smaller locomotives can be produced for an RRP of around £100. As for actual predictions, I'm completely at a loss because it really could be anything. I anticipate a more SR and GWR focused set of announcements compared to the very LNER and LMS centric announcements of the last few years. A GWR Saint would be a good shout for this year's "big engine" since 2999 has been out and about. I wouldn't be surprised to see the SECR R1 and the 2721 Pannier revived as 21st century quality models, and perhaps another small industrial. Maybe a Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T? I think anyone hoping for more big engines is going to be disappointed, and I'd be very surprised if they retooled anything made in the last twenty years. The Gresley P1 and the Raven A2s are the last big LNER locomotives not yet done but I reckon they'd target Bachmann with new Peppercorn A1s and A2s before they go down that route, as gorgeous as the former two classes are.

Did 18100 actually work ordinary trains as an electric locomotive?? I've only ever seen a couple of photos of it in it's latter guise and it looked quite neglected.

There's something not quite right about the cab. To me the door apertures look far too narrow. The detailing on the under frame looks quite "chunky" and plasticky too. I wouldn't complain, but for a £150 RRP I'd want it to be as good as it can be. Despite it's diminutive size it's considerably more expensive than the models Kato have made for the Japanese market.

American passenger cars is a vast topic, you'd need to invest lots of time and effort if you wanted to model formations accurately. Railroads pretty much had them individually designed to their own specification so even superficially similar cars built by the same manufacturer for different railroads can be quite different. For this reason I tend to use modified/detailed Athearn cars as these are cheap and come up on UK Ebay quite often. Walthers cars look very good but in my experience are terrible runners and derail with alarming regularity. The newer Mainline ones are much better in this regard.

Yup, on quite a few later streamlined cars as well right up to the Amtrak era. I don't see it modelled very often, I believe the Broadway Limited model of the California Zephyr has them.

If you desperately need Horizon cars, Walthers are also doing them and I believe you can order them in the UK from Gaugemaster.

This is...interesting... I remember I had a train sim game on my PC a few years ago and there was some exceptionally good depictions of Russian/Soviet bloc narrow gauge railways. I do remember quite liking the little Tu2, I believe the one you have is actually painted in Ukrainian livery but I could be wrong!

This is amazing work!! Any pictures of the conversion, I quite fancy having a go myself. The last 1001 was based at Whitby to work the Rosedale incline, I believe.

I would hazard a guess, that had the DHP1 been put in to production, they would have ended up in the Western Region but honestly it's quite difficult to see where they'd fit?? Given that the prototype was built in 1965, production "Clayton Type 3s" probably wouldn't have arrived until around 1967-68, when BR was already considering retiring the WR diesel hydraulics and the Class 14s were being withdrawn. I definitely think they would have had a very short working life.

Another vote for the E4...honorary NER locos too as they worked over Stainmore! I did specifically note that the C12 in original livery would be an an ideal complement to the Stirling Single should Rapido ever choose to reissue that model in other identities. As for some of the other locos mentioned- as much as I'd dearly love to see a B16, I don't think we'll ever see one RTR, as they were all so different and individual. By BR days no two locomotives were exactly the same. I suspect this might be why we haven't seen an RTR J21 yet although I wouldn't be surprised if one was commissioned sooner or later with the restoration of 65033. Here's a slightly more offbeat NER suggestion- the Raven A2 Pacifics. LNER 4-6-2s are always sure sellers.

Made two suggestions- the D49 and the C12. The D49 is the LNER's equivalent to the GWR Manor- widespread, numerous and very well proportioned. Rapido might well shy away from it for fear of provoking Hornby to upgrade their Railroad model but it's definitely time a new one was available... As for the C12, well, it was more widespread and therefore more useful to the modeller than the J70 which seems to have been a success.

I recieved an "as-new" 67777 today and I was disappointed to find that the smoke box door handle had come loose in the box. It was duly carefully glued back on only to be immediately snapped back off again when I tried putting it back in the transparent clamshell tray! Truly atrocious packaging design from Hornby. This is about the third ex-LNER loco I've had from Hornby with this exact problem. Does anyone know where I can find those little external glass windows by the side of the cab? One of them is missing on mine and it wasn't in the box. If they're available as spares I might get a few since I should imagine they come off quite easily.