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Ronny

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Posts posted by Ronny

    Hornby's financial updates to the Stock Market

    in Hornby

    Posted

    David, it's hard to compare since I don't live in the UK.

     

    My opinion is that the hobby shop is in a stronger position here than the UK and there is much less reliance on manufacturer direct online selling, though doubtless this is increasing. I doubt that much of Bachmann USA's business is through their proprietary website. A big difference is the presence of Walthers - a very big Milwaukee based distributor and reseller, who are now also a model railroad manufacturer in their own right.  Walthers have a huge mailing list and send out a monthly catalogue.

     

    Besides the Walthers' catalogue there are other companies who also 'curate' a selection of items and offer these through a catalogue as well.

     

    Another difference is that pre-ordering is a big thing in the US market. This of course can be done with local retailers.

     

    Hornby have a US version of their website. (it's the same infrastructure as the UK site.)  I suspect it has very little real presence. They don't sell the full range of Hornby Railway items, but they do sell Hornby International brands (like Rivarossi*) and brands like Scalextrix and Airfix. Hornby USA maintains relationships with retailers. There is a hobby and games shop very close to me that stocks Scalextric and Airfix.

     

    * Rivarossi has re-released their UP Big Boy. For years the RIvarossi model was the definitive plastic RTR Big Boy model and it has been updated to provide DCC/Sound, but I believe the Athearn Genesis model is superior.

     

    Totally different here where I live. I know a lot of modellers and to a man (& woman), they buy their kit over the internet. Why on earth wouldn't you? It's cheaper plus has zero sales tax, arrives at your door (usually free postage) in a couple of days and if anything is wrong, a simple return to get your money back.

     

    Local hobby stores are used for paint & glue. I don't know of any in a couple hours drive that would past muster as a UK railway store. A couple of general hobby places where radio control is king with a section for Woodland scenics & paint.

     

    Just re-reading and wondering how popular internet sales would be in the UK if no sales tax (VAT) were charged :-)

    The Engine Shed

    in Hornby

    Posted

    .

     

    Interesting that the Peckett liveries were due to be in the next "Engine Shed"  -  maybe they've cleared that edition such that they can do a "spoiler" edition just before Bachmann's Announcement ?

     

    .

     

    The Peckett liveries were described in the 5/2/16 edition. Or am I missing something here?

    The Engine Shed

    in Hornby

    Posted

    I subscribed to modeling magazines for decades. Pretty much all of them at one time or another (never Hornby tho). Airfix was my favorite for many years, especially when they had regular railway content. Also Model Rail.

     

    But two things happened. I found I was reading the magazines less and less. I was getting news from the internet so there was never, ever any surprises when I finally got round to ripping off the plastic. In fact it was kind of silly. Blaring headlines about an exclusive story or scoop referred to something that was old hat. And if I wanted advice on how to solve the tricky modeling problem du jour, it was a heck of a business going through thousands of stacked magazines looking for the right reference. Google was instant. Forums took a bit longer  to respond but still a shed load easier. Plenty to chose from.

     

    The second thing was that I retired and money came in shorter supply. These magazine subscriptions started to look rather expensive. Especially after paying through the nose to have them shipped here to the US. So I Iet my last subscription (to Model Rail) lapse without renewal.

     

    No withdrawal symptoms. I get regular emails from the manufacturers and leading retailers. I get notification of Facebook posts or manufacturer blog updates (like Engine shed). All manufacturers seem to post the latest news there. I logon and read forums like this once in a while when I'm in the mood. I feel better informed. All for the princely sum of exactly nothing.

     

    So no, for me at least, there is no need for Hornby or anyone else to spend money on communicating with the printed or online press. I say use the money to produce more and better models. Which they appear to be doing!

    • Like 1

    New Hornby Collectors Club?

    in Hornby

    Posted

    Ronny, you can see the Union flag in one of the illustrations above. I do set the version to Hornby.com/uk-en/. You can see the links I embedded in my post to the /uk-en/ version of the site.

     

    We have this dialog going over two threads. Specifically, the issue for me is this:

    This happens in multiple browsers - Chrome, Firefox and IE9.

     

    I have never seen prices listed without VAT - only the Hornby Collectors' Club discount of 10% (and that doesn't always get set). When I actually placed an order, (already seeing the 10% discount when I added the item to the shopping cart) my credentials were lost and this discount was not applied, nor was the VAT removed.

     

    Well I give up. I played around yesterday for some time and didn't once get any of your problems. One for Hornby to sort out.

    New Hornby Collectors Club?

    in Hornby

    Posted

    Ronny, if it's not too much trouble could you please navigate here by clicking down through the hierarchy from the Hornby home page.

     

    I made sure I was logged in - though the credentials don't always get applied if I sign in from the home page - they reliably do when signing in on the forum page.

     

    For the club page I get this, clicking from here:

    attachicon.gifHCCclubs.JPG

     

    For the competition page I got this:

    attachicon.gifHCCdenied.JPG

     

    For the exclusive models page I usually get this:

    attachicon.gifHCC404.JPG

     

    I don't particularly resent having to start at Hornby.com/us-en. Of course if you change "us-en" to "uk-en" you get the correct page, but there's no way the site 'should' direct you from the UK site to the US site.

     

    All this of course depends on what location your IP address broadcasts. I don't spoof the IP address of the computer I routinely use, and nor can I.

     

    I am using Chrome as my browser.

     

    It's subtle but anytime a link points to Hornby.com rather than specifically Hornby.com/uk-en/ there will be problems of some kind.  For me, "Hornby.com" almost always resolves to "Hornby.com/us-en"

     

    I do apologise. I only just read your post.

     

    I usually use a bookmark to get to Hornby.com but I didn't this time and just typed in Hornby.com. I then clicked the US flag at the top of the page to change to the Union Jack then scrolled to the bottom to click the collectors club which took me to the collectors page. All worked perfectly. Same for the competitions page. No problems at all.

     

    I started over and logged into my account and once again all worked perfectly while keeping me logged into my account through all the changes.

     

    Perhaps you are not changing the US flag to the Union Jack? The collectors club is a part of Hornby UK (there isn't a US club) so you need to connect to Hornby UK via the UK flag.

     

    One thing I really like is that when I login, all prices show minus VAT. The site is smart enough to know that I don't pay it so I don't have to perform mental arithmatic to see how much I will be charged. Makes a big difference. I sure hope the US never joins the EEC, a 20% surcharge on everything would be a tough pill to swallow (and that's a joke, not a political statement!!)

    New Hornby Collectors Club?

    in Hornby

    Posted

    You might try e mailing Hornby voicing your concerns.You may not get a result but you'll lose nothing by giving it a go.They may not reply directly but they do listen.

     

    It's weird. I spent 30 mins this morningand I haven't been able to reproduce any of their complaints. The website works perfectly for me from my home in Arizona. Doesn't matter whether I sign in or whether i don't.

     

    I wonder if they have an old cookie or two that are gumming the works. If I were them, I'd delete all Hornby cookies and start over. I say this because I've had a new 'puter for the last couple of months and that may be relevant. Also on Windows 8.1.

     

    Good luck chaps.

    New Hornby Collectors Club?

    in Hornby

    Posted

    Assuming they offer something you want of course. They are asking for suggestions for what makes a good "Collectors' Club" model.

     

    Their website is a royal pain in the neck (for people in the US) after they relaunched their USA site. It constantly navigates to "us-en" versions of the site. The only way to get to some pages, (including the club page), is to manually change URLs to "uk-en" versions.

     

    I don't have any problem with their website. Maybe the error is at your end?

    Bachmann E4

    in Bachmann

    Posted

    With its Thomas The Tank Engine "face" what a little marvel this one is indeed.Solid and well finished,its haulage capacity is truly phenomenal.IMHO,Bachmann have a winner all the way  with this model.Yes,it is expensive but it is a quality product.

     

    Good to hear from a happy camper! I'm enjoying mine too. Excellent model.

    Rapido/Locomotion Models GNR Stirling Single

    in Locomotion Models

    Posted

    Speculation. A divisive subject.

     

    Political rant follows. To avoid it, jump to *** below or skip this post!

     

    Under certain circumstances of imperfect markets, it can be argued that a degree of arbitrage is helpful in oiling the wheels. Again under certain circumstances, futures speculations can even out market fluctuations. But, even then, a high price is or can be paid by those not privy to the market. In extreme cases it leads to the starvation and food riots across the developing world as we've seen in the past couple of years.

     

    In general, spivs and profiteers, who are people who rely on or even generate imperfect markets, are despised, for good reason (particularly but not only if the goods involved, such as food, are more critical than model engines). In many countries, especially but by no means only in war time, it's a death sentence.

     

    We live in a liberal, or neo-liberal, society: speculation is permitted, under considerable protest. However; restricting a market to help speculators (as opposed to, say, protecting patents) is almost universally a civil or criminal offence in most ordered countries. Again, in China, it can be punished by death. That, living in a neo-liberal society, we suffer an increasingly insoucient, divided and economically inefficient society, may have come to your notice; some of the more left-politically driven amongst us may feel aware of an unhealthy link between a neo-liberal government (which claims to be deristricting the economy) and precisely those speculators benefitting from restrictions, including speculatory, which remain untouched.

     

    *** So. What to make of admitted, if not proud, speculators who want to see the output of models trains restricted, so that people who want the models go without in favour of those who want to make a profit? Well, nobody is going to starve or go without necessities as a result, so a death sentence would probably be a bit ott.

     

    But I hope that in my poor way I have demonstrated why I don't find speculators attractive. And I hope that some people, reading my post here, may agree with me that another post, seeking speculative restriction of our little market, has actually been profoundly political, as well as provocative and - frankly, to me - offensive. And, by the way, I didn't like spivs long before I understood why, which is why there are one or two shops I won't touch, even though it means cutting off my nose...

     

    PostScript: it would be quite wrong to take my rant here as in any way seeking to deny anyone's right to have a diametrically opposed opinion to mine, or to try to stop them from expressing it. But, if you express provocative opinions, even unitentionally, you may expect that someone like me will rise to the bait. I hope, of course, that you will either argue your corner or concede. Or you can just ignore me, of course!

     

    Edited for typos.

     

    Read this three times and I'm pretty sure all you said was that you don't like "speculators" because you don't like "speculators". And the Chinese REALLY don't like "speculators".

     

    I also think you popped in a claim that "speculators" could or would prevent modellers from buying this latest offering.

     

    I suspect your problem is with a hypothetical scenario something like where Rapido offers a never to be repeated limited edition which are all bought up by an unscrupulous individual who resells them for a huge profit i.e. totally different to what is actually happening.

    Kernow commission ex LSWR Gate Stock Pull Push Sets

    in Kernow Model Rail Centre

    Posted

    I think that had more to do with it being 'as preserved', 'pretty' and a loco that many have travelled behind on the Bluebell Railway in that condition than anything else.

     

    Relatively few of the r-t-r pre-group locos so far produced would ever have been seen together when in service. That tends to reinforce an impression that pre-group models (as opposed to models of pre-group items in later liveries) are primarily aimed at collectors of preserved favourites. 

     

    That's probably just as well because, the range of pre-group models produced in r-t-r form has always been heavily biased towards locomotives until the recent emergence of a surprisingly comprehensive range of heritage railway buildings, some finished in pre-1923 colours. 

     

    Even taking all the OO examples from Tri-ang onwards together, there hasn't been enough of anything else to create more than the barest bones of a layout based on any single pre-group railway.  

     

    John

     

    You are very mistaken if you think the market for pre-grouping is confined to only collectors!

    Hornby king

    in Hornby

    Posted

    So what we knew was going to happen has happened although presumably the announcement has been brought forward by a week to counter the excitement created by Hattons last week.  No need to really add what will happen on Saturday as we knew  a long time back it would be coming and what it would be - and the flexibility of options ;plus some detail shown on the CAD show that to be the case (although I suspect it will inevitably cost a bit more than Hornby's price).

     

    Swindon have obviously had an input regarding the standard and level of detail (they said they would) and this also appears to reflect in the mechanical spec as well where Hornby would seem to have been taking note of comments in RMweb (and maybe elsewhere?) about brass bearings and motors.

     

    But then we come to the new bit (or reintroduced old bit) where the detail and flexibility of detailing to match different prototypes would seem to match what Hornby achieved with the 'Castle' - where there was also Swindon involvement as far as one version was concerned.  Hopefully it means the lessons of the 'Star' have been taken to heart and acted on.  But does it also show a determination on the part of Hornby to make sure that they will stay in the more demanding  (and higher priced) area of the market?  One engine, especially one produced and designed in slightly unusual circumstances, does not of course reflect a wholesale change in policy but if nothing else it provides an interesting test of the marketplace for Hornby and as far as modellers are concerned a potential indication that they have turned a corner and are listening.

     

    One can but hope that their design endeavours are matched by production, quality control, and delivery but somehow I have a feeling that the company will be working particularly closely with the factory to ensure those things match the design and expectation.  We do indeed live in interesting times.

     

    By "Swindon" do you mean "Steam"?

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