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A Thorough response, but also you need to consider Advertising / Marketing, Postage, Tax (and if your offering a few other dealers the option to sell some, their margin too) also don't under estimate how much space they consume, and how long they take to process the income, wrap/add that custom certificate, and send. There is also the risk of delay, currency but also unexpected production error which could be omitted details or missed changes in paint shade. I had some experience of with limited editions back in the 1990s, model railways and road vehicles, though I would add the margin offered by the manufacturers was the same trade terms, with some payment term differences. The whole process from order to delivery seemed much quicker in them days than it appears now. Agreed on quantities though Hornby have made exceptions, TCDD 8F was an example.. only 200 made.. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/60754-Hornby-turkish-8f/

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depends on the quantity, and when.. if its made alongside another run, then it's just an extension. If it's a one off with no other variants the price may be slightly less interesting dependant on quantity. But I wouldn't expect it to be significantly different to the production models, unless the tooling was to be altered... Many previous limited editions have been released at the same time at a price not too different to the standard models.

Maybe before, the reasons why collectors club models were selling at high prices on ebay, was they were underpriced in the collectors club.

Boltons changed so little, but so much

First time I've seen the Prototype HST with a yellow dipped nose with yellow roof and below buffers

Nothing too exciting from me, as Hornby has become the first to recognise the mighty Manchester Ship Canal (With the MSC Peckett and Sentinel Diesel) maybe some of the more well known Hudswell Clark Short / Long tanks (like 31 Hamburg, 32 Gothenburg, 67 and 70 - long tanks and Lady Armaghadale) with some suitable wagons... oh and just a nice class 02 shunter

A couple more arrived this morning, Sourthern region...

My orders gone in.

could this be a better chassis for putting under an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 ? (in the past it was the l&y pug chassis).

sadly I've see this to be the average side.. I paid (or rather my company paid) £8 at London City Airport. Felt like keeping the glass at that price.. but the security scanner says no.

Canary Wharf Waitrose has a bar and a couple of restaurants in store. Rock up, grab a pint (they prefer you to have wine) and a bite to eat, leave your trolley with you.

Arrived today.. OO gauge I've previously used Viessman German semaphores on a different part of my layout and found them easy enough to set up. Let's see how these compare.

I definitely want a class 74, but my holding pattern is budgeting, but rest assured when that deadline date comes a class 74 order will go in :-) When I first became a project manager decades ago the lecturer said to me a good Project Manager is one that has a start date for their next project, as it ensures their current project will have a defined end date. When neither the GNR No1 or 1st Gen hst have end dates for subscription I haven't rushed to subscribe, but as soon as you announced the end date for the 71.. my order went in.. I suspect the class 74 is the same... When the deadline looms, budgets get moved.

ordered mine today. Would be interested to know the final totals of each of the versions when the order goes in, is that something you would share ?

Yes but kids love it... and some older ones too. I just saw a roco video the other day, besides lights on the trains, platforms in peoples homes, they had a farmyard with ... yes HO scale bunch of chickens moving around the farmyard pecking at the water.. and a bus driving down a road... Essential no.. but I nearly fell off my chair watching the video, especially when seeing a HO water pump flowing water and bloke chopping logs as a tractor came from the shed... and it was viewed from an in-cab HO scale camera giving a drivers eye view. Someone working at Roco clearly has had a lot of fun, a huge amount of imagination and a good budget to spend time building a layout to that level of representation. https://youtu.be/AyHuy8gfqzs?list=PLNvPmEw53CGHoH-rNwFY_UsdtI0K9cR1U lights is childs play compared to this... so now how about opening doors, yellow door unlocked lights and moving passengers inside the MK3's... just to raise the bar, though working toilet flushes may be a step too far ?

I doubt the Chinese would sink a ship load of Chinese made Hornby trains on the high seas. But if they were yet more railroad flying scotsmans I could understand.

Agreed to above, but as I don't have the actuals I can only guess.. Looking over the numbers, it doesn't look like manufacturing, the product or product cost is the issue. Where I'm going is operational efficiency is one problem. Marketing seems to be another. I don't begrudge a higher paid exec, if he's adding value, but What I can't get my head round the marketing departments £12m figure and rationalising that to decisions on advertising spend, product promotion and feeding back to the company results of market research...especially when so many modellers, retailers and even industry publishers have voiced their frustrations here..it's obviously a problem... Sales and Marketing are the deliverers of a companies lifeblood...Money. Bringing in sales is the measure of success..the results they are paid for. Results are the equation of Skills + Activity. It is clear the figures haven't delivered. The next step is to look at Activity..and given the negative feedback across the industry this too seems to be a problem, there's only 1 angle left in this triangle.. That's skill...are the sales and marketing people truly inline with the hobby or generic sales /marketing professionals or is it just outsourced consulting ? It's worth pointing out, that until a few years ago, the person occupying this role was a industry respected individual with decades of experience and in every sense a passionate enthusiast. It feels to me there's a huge gap been left since his departure and trying to fill that gap with cash isn't necessarily the answer. Operationally in my industry, a headcount to revenue ratio is approx 15x average salary. Transpose that ratio to Hornby, 230 staff costing the company £11mn should support a company with revenues of £165mn.. Not £55m. That is why I conclude Hornby is in some measure a company sized to operate based on past glories. It's got some hard decisions to make across the board, as long as it has support of its shareholders they can pull through, but it's time to recognise Charles darwin's theory that the ability to survive isn't by being the largest or the strongest, but the one with the best ability to adapt to change... That starting point has to be their customer and understanding their needs. It could also take a look at how their competitors are doing things and finally understand how the market has changed around them and look how they can best adapt to serve it... It's not hard... By understanding a customer demand, recognising what competitors are doing and looking at what's popular we the customers have successfully been offered a 4TC to join our class 33/1 and class 71s... We're also on the verge of a 009 revolution by several manufacturers... Whilst we gripe about price, ultimately if just enough will buy to make it financially viable then that's sales and marketing at its best. That brings results and ultimately sustains a larger business.

230 staff, cost £ 11mn... That's an average £47k in salary, tax etc. That 230 staff produce average £240k per head to the revenue figure of £ 55mn. In my mind this figure is drastically too low.. Employees are not adding enough value to the sales total. (At let's say a trade price of £60 a loco.. That's 4000 loco's per person ). The £55mn revenue against production costs of £ 33mn, it's low (40%) but profitable until you look at the operating costs.. The one that stands out is sales & marketing costs of £12m... Must be getting expensive paying for magazine adverts ???.. £1mn a month - and they don't give out free samples any more ??? Distribution costs have gone up £3mn in a year too... (And I thought oil prices had gone down). It seems that the problem isn't in manufacturing or in margin, but more related to the costs of administering the products once the goods are here. £13mn in stock... @£60 a loco that's 216000 loco's in stock...(so taking into account the 000's of items in the range that must be in the millions of pieces of stock items across everything)... That's a lot of stock... When other suppliers are manufacturing to order, have personnel in low numbers, and maximise their marketing at minimum costs, It feels to me Hornby are still trading in an ethos that goes back to the 80's rather than modern reality. All of that is before we start to question the wisdom of what models they are actually making and in what quantity.

Me too... I have ordered twice, but not received any confirmation. Don't want to do it a 3rd time, as i'd be unfairly skewing the sales figures, as I only want 1... but at risk of unknown ?