Hroth

And at a price approximating to £335 for an electric outline loco alone, its out of the price range of most people. An interesting gimmick, and it would be wonderful to see approaching trains, etc, in real-time but if you've ever gone to the trouble of putting a small DV recorder in/on a wagon and trundling it around your layout in front of a loco, you'll find the results less than overwhelming. I particularly like Rocos photoshopped "cow on the line". They really need to put in disclaimers like "not actual game footage"! On the other hand, their control software with the loco-appropriate skins is a lot more interesting than the interface provided with Hornbys "Railmaster" software, which has positively Speccy era graphics... Ho hum. I'll stick with JMRI and Engine Driver. Its a bit cheaper! :-)

Well, the "big" layout is code 100 Peco Streamline. However my 8x4 "tabletop" layout is a double oval of entirely Hornby sectional track, mainly used for running in and programming DCC locos, though it also serves as a DC layout for running legacy locos which are either well down the list for DCChood or will never get converted. In terms of locos, the majority are Hornby, followed by Bachmann and Heljan (a weakness for unsuccessful Pilot Scheme diesels...).

Hornby isn't the only one having problems. Like the Independent (who illustrated their article with a loco from 1999), the Guardian is having circulation problems and may well follow the Indy into "digital only" diistribution. These damn computers are more trouble than they're worth!!!

If it wasn't for the detail and the headcode box, sizewise it might be taken for the Playcraft/Jouef HO "model", but no, its a Hornby R2122 (D6130) with the two tone green livery, produced 1999-2000. Must be someone with big hands! Or it might be R2122A, D6119 (2000-2001). Squinting at the photo, the cabside number might end in 9!

Any clearer than the completely different box designs/logos they currently use? I hope it isn't that Railroad products will be sold in blister packs like the Lima models displayed at the Nuremburg Toy Fair, or that they've managed to repurpose the Triang tools that were lurking at the back of the Margate factory. The mind boggles... As an aside, I was thinking about the description "full-fat" used by some to indicate that a model is top of the range. Perhaps Hornby could divide their models into three parts (like Ancient Gaul) and call them Skimmed Hornby, Whole Hornby and Jersey Hornby. With Green, Blue and Gold stars on the boxes. We'd know where we stand there! Think I'll have a lie down...

Perhaps that could be funded in Hornby PLC shares?

Well, Model Trains (OO at that!) is the context we're dealing with here. I was mainly thinking aloud about how Hornby might make their UK railway brand more understandable and acceptable to potential (and current) buyers. Ok, with a few gripes about the dreadful 0-4-0 locos! If we try to sort out the continental brands, and Airfix, and Scalextrix, AND Humbrol we'd get even more predictable. And then there's Hornbys relationship with direct selling and the traditional retailers. But "parochial" matters - after all, its the grassroots of the hobby in the UK, and if Hornby, the group implodes, all the parts will be sold off/go under. For Hornby (the model railway company) to survive without retreating to an expensive niche, they have to have products that have commercial value across the spectrum, not just high end models. But yes, lets remember the wider perspective of potential managerial incompetence and poor decision making too. And the currently awful world financial turmoil that has nothing to do with Hornby...

That hits the nail squarely on the head. Threr'e no progression. Railroad was a good idea, but its boundaries have become rather fuzzy and then there's a huge leap upwards, into the ranks of the super-detail models. Only sometimes there isn't, because the boundaries of "super-detail" are also fuzzy. At the very low end, there's also too much reliance on generic multi-liveried 0-4-0s that should be consigned to the scrapheap of memory. Whats needed. perhaps is a reconsideration of the layers, to produce a structure something like: Young Hornby: Thomas, Santa Express and starter sets using selected locos and stock from Railroad. Hornby Railroad: Robust, representative models that include "iconic" locomotives and rolling stock from Grouping onward. Hornby: The "main" range. More detailed models, that might overlap with Railroad but also include models exclusive to the range. Hornby Plus: High detail models with all the bells and whistles that could be desired. Aspirational. DCC should be standard across ALL the ranges (perhaps excepting starter sets, which would be DCC ready), with TTS available on selected Railroad models, and standard on main range models. Naturally, Hornby Plus models would have a higher end sound system fitted as standard. The TTS system might also be made available as a generic upgrade for current DCC Ready models. Onr thing I would suggest is essential as a first step would be a reconsideration of the basic trainset/pack offerings. Just ditch the 0-4-0 locos (unless there's going to be an Industrial pack or two utilising the Sentinels or the Peckett). The diesel shunter pack already uses the old 08 loco, the steam goods pack would be better off with a Jinty in a realistic livery. The same goes for the sets. Rather than the overused Caly Pug and GWR 101 with fanciful liveries, the 08 and Jinty could be used more effectively and give a more sensible upgrade path. Given the current turmoil, such a wholesale rebranding is most unlikely to take place any time soon, but when considering the future of the range thought MUST be given to giving grandparents, parents and children a realistic entry point and an aspirational route onwards and upwards.

Argos had R1179 (the 2015 Santa Set) at £49.99 before Christmas, so you missed the "stupid price" offer! Yep, I got one too and Argos sold out of their stock well before Christmas. R1179 had a 3rd Radius OVAL of track. The 2016 edition is listed as having a 1st Radius CIRCLE, which is more suited for a Christmas layout and its on pre-order at £49.99. You can still get R1179 but its £69.99. I don't think R1185 will end up being discounted much (a fiver perhaps) below its pre-order price, but if you're a club member, the club discount brings it down to £44.99 anyway! When it came out, I thought it was pretty much a waste of space. However, it has a place in the Hornby scheme of things, even if some folk regard it as being a bit infra dig!

It's all so confusing for us Bears of Little Brain (Tm, probably), and the arguments are becoming increasingly circular. There's not much anyone who posts in forums like this can do, unless we all pool our pocket money together and try to stabilise the Hornby share value. And that would require some pretty deep pockets... As I see it, the woes being suffered by Hornby Hobbies are collateral damage from the current panics in the world financial systems, compounded, it must be said, by some self-inflicted problems due to less than tight managerial control of stock, distribution and IT systems, in addition to conflicted sales priorities. Perhaps we could send the management team an atlas. They might be able to finally locate their nether regions. All we can do is cross all the appendages we have at our disposal and hope for the best and in the words of Corporal Jones, DON'T PANIC!!!

OTOH, we might get another email announcing an addition to "Last Chance To Buy": R0001 Hornby Hobbies: ONLY £12.25 Million! (Was £17.45 Million) Last one in stock!

Surely that should be "Sand in the Luncheon"? What I want to know is whats going on out of shot to the left of the picture. "I don't know m'dear, they might be waving or sinking!" On the other hand the reactions of the pic-nic party give the impression that they've just been visited by a swarm of wasps.....

There's a rather nice article in the February 2013 issue of Railway Bylines featuring the two Peckett 0-4-0 Saddle Tanks Employed by the British Aluminium Co at Burntisland. works no 1376 of 1915 and 1579 of 1921. There's no indication of the type, but the saddle tanks are in two sections, rather than the 3 sections of the type modelled by Hornby. There's a colour photo on the front cover of the older loco, in an unlined green, darker than the "leaf green" and more akin to their MSC green, with lots of polished metalwork, including the makers plate, the British Aluminium company plate on the tank, the dome and the copper chimney top! This must have been exceptional for an industrial loco in September 1968. Its also a tiddler, the cab roof is barely higher than the top of a steel 16T mineral wagon.

Looking through "Castles and Kings at Work" by Michael Rutherford this morning, and was struck by the similarity of your weathering scheme for 6008 with a lovely picture (in the group of pictures associated with chapter 4) of 6007, "King William III" with double chimney and early crest in a filthy state that bordered on the "completely uncared for". More muck, MORE MUCK!!!!

Nahhhh - must be Balfour Betty hides, awaiting the brickbats of derision... edit for damn typo.

I see that Hornby are expecting more "Suttons" and are offering them for preorder to arrive around the end of March.

If only. You can get three or four (dependent on pricing) Caly Pugs/101s/other 4 wheel oddities for the price of a Peckett. There will always be a place for Smokey Joe at the bottom of the pecking order! The interesting thing is that Hornby seem to have someone on board who likes the Manchester Ship Canal company. There's a Sentinel on the way in their livery, and now a Peckett. I suppose you could run both on the same layout, provided the Peckett looked really run down...

Unless dates slip, September/October are going to be heavy months, given todays Engine Shed and that from 11th December last year..... Better get a big loose change jar!

The Hornby Engine Shed blog 05/02/16 is up, with an announcement of the Peckett W4 liveries. http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/news/the-engine-shed/the-peckett-w4-liveries-are-here/ In order, they're: Works Leaf Green MSC Green Huntly and Palmer Blue Whist they're all rather nice, I'm afraid that i'm going to be wanting the Huntly and Palmer variant. It just takes the biscuit! Sorry......

In the Hornby 2014 catalogue, the only prices mentioned for any item are for the Collectors Club locos. As well as the club prices we are all familiar with, the locos are listed with production run numbers and non-member prices including: R3247 Whitechapel (1000) £64.99 R3248 Sutton (1000) £64.99 R3249 Manston (750) £157.49 R3250 Flying Scotsman (500) £162.99 So the £59.50 quoted by Rails is a bit of a discount on the original non-member price. But if you want a Whitechapel, you're still better off jointing the club!

There's a nice selection of inexpensive "continental image" stock there that might get the creative juices flowing if they were made generally available here. Hornby take notice! The E464 set is probably the Italian version of one of Hornbys starter sets, along the lines of the current West Coast Highlander/Caledonian Belle/GWR Passenger Freight offerings!

Heatsealed plastic cocoons. What a strange way to merchandise locos and rolling stock! I suppose thats Limas equivalent of Hornby Railroad - can't see any fine detail parts surviving the unpacking process. Or, looking more closely, are they additional to the Junior range? I do think the "Junior" plastic track is a bit of a dead end, especially if you want to encourage "Junior" customers to eventually progress to even the cheaper end of mainstream model railways. Unless there's something dodgy about the wheel geometry of the Junior range, they ought to run on conventional track quite happily. It'll be interesting to see how far Hornby take the r/c battery train idea. If inexpensive enough, the mechanisms may have potential! I rather like the Airfix Engineer Radial Engine model, but given the size of the box, I feel it must be in the same price bracket as their rather warped looking loco. The wooden set seems to be confused as to what is a road vehicle and what belongs on a railway. In 15 years time, we're going to have more drivers believing that cars and trains can co-exist happily on level crossings....

I suppose now we're well into the New Year, it must be renewal time for some Club members. What was your reason for ponying up 20 quid? Was it to: Gain access to a particular club model Obtain the £20 voucher to discount a desired club model Get an ongoing 10% off non-sale items on the website Receive the wonderful club magazine Given that Hornby has only just completed releasing models promised over the past couple of years and hasn't (to date) announced a new high value club model, will you be immediately renewing your membership? Or will you let it lapse until something comes up? My club membership expires at the end of June, so I've a few months to decide. I'll admit I only paid up because I had an unreasoning desire to own an unsullied BoB for "only" £105. I've bought a couple of other club locos as well (Down boys!!!) but none of my recent Hornby buys have attracted the 10% discount and the one model I am interested in, which may turn up towards the end of this year is a few quid cheaper to pre-order from a certain Liverpool vendor (inc carr) than the Hornby offering with club discount and free delivery! So I'm in two minds. Renew, or wait until something interesting turns up, THEN renew?

Somewhere in the mists of time, when the Terriers were first announced as club models (about 2013, I think), it was stated that there would be 1000 Whitechapels and 750 Suttons. If Hornby stuck to those production figures, then its possible that all the Suttons have been spoken for and that Whitechapel is not far behind. Esp at £35, which is a bargain compared to the plonking 0-4-0s (excluding the Caley Pug, which I quite like!).

Only because Scalextric have finally embraced a degree of computer control. Hornby trains have had eLink/Railmaster with PC/Tablet/Smartphone control for a while now, so its not news. At least the trainset side of Hornby got a lookin with the opening shot of Flying Scotsman lugging some teak coaches around.. And its just clicked what the Product Tit business was about.... Doh! You do know its just a generic boxtop with space for a Product Title...