JohnR

55 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

I think thats false to assume the younger generation (10-25) are only interested in preserved railways.

 

The number of sell out unit railtours, coming to End of Life has to be seen substantial… and whilst its often middle aged at the lineside with cameras, on the platforms and onboard its deceptively different.. I’m seeing women, minorities riding these.. it wasnt like that in my youth (trust me I was looking for the women).

 

die hard images of my era really have changed, you can thank the internet for that.

 

But giving an 18 year old a Hornby play-trains set, isnt the way to harvest their interest.

 

As for 25/26/27… Ive only found 1 operational example within 200 miles of me, twice in a decade… and it was the same one both times at the GCR… If I had 500 class 313’s in 00 to sell in Brighton last year, I could have sold 1000, same too for 455’s, indeed just wait until SWR ends theirs, as I do predict a frenzy… its a different crowd of enthusiasts.. and that to me means market expansion potential…

 

To just disregard them and assume they will buy anything old something thrown at them is rude, even if a few exist rotting in some siding erstwhile not seen in a few decades, but labelled as preserved.

 

 

I didnt say they are ONLY interested in preserved railways. Just that for a lot of people, a preserved line is their main interaction with a railway, and hence rejecting the use of vehicles not currently on the main line would be restricting the potential. I'm not saying dont do modern units, I'm saying dont discount the appeal of stock only available on a heritage line.

4 minutes ago, Dunalastair said:

 

I have thought about it previously, and it would better suit my original interest of narrow gauge - albeit only narrow by a smidgeon. I didn't think that locos generally worked down the incline to the original terminus?

 

 

There is a nice 3D animation of the D&N and the Earl with its vertical drive at

 https://digitaldirtvirtualpasts.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/dundee-to-newtyle-railway-making-of/

 

Must have been some form of locomotive to move wagons through the streets to the harbour (as you can seen in the photograph, the line in the foreground)

49 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Thats been true since Bluebell and Talyllyn railway opened.

 

The hobby didnt stop in 1968.

It didnt stop in 1997 either.

 

No, indeed not. My point is that the argument that people will only model what they see on the main line (and hence wont be interested in a 25/26/27) is a false one - given people are more likely to visit a tourist attraction where they can see those diesels close up. 

A lot of people dont experience railways today on the main line. They experience them at a heritage railway. 

Could someone advise whether I could renumber 25 085 to 25 083? 

I've not turned my nose up at the cheap 0-4-0s that Hornby flog off at the stands - often its only to collectors club members. I've found it a useful way to buy new locos for my two boys. It probably indicates that these are too expensive to begin with - at the moment Smokey Joe is £50, and I wont be paying that for the kids to race about on their layout. 

Just had the news last night that Ian Sangster of Macs Model Railroading in Kirriemuir, passed away on Sunday evening, aged 71. 

Thoughts with his family and friends. RIP.

I'm assuming part of the stock mountain were Class 66s - Rails now offering them at 33% off £64.95 each. 

9 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

i blame it on the mugs…

 

Far too many

I prefer those mugs to the current design #justsaying

For further information, you cant do better than Naill Fergusson's recent book on the Dundee & Arbroath railway. 

54 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Changing the theme away from the surplus stock mountain a change at Hornby made public yesterday.  Lyndon Davies will 'for personal  health related reasons' step down as non-exec Chairman of Hornby PLC on 30 April.   John Stansfield will takeover the role pending seeking a new non-exec Chairman.  LD will remain as a non-exec Director

 

Some might say  that 'the changing of the guard'  is still gradually proceeding but I hope that Lyndon is not suffering serious health problems.

As reported by Oxford last month

https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/blogs/news-1/an-update-on-taff?_kx=X_INYaM5Xx0uzP7tlRHRUMZQzzlTlBdzAR6oYq5jowA.UvyHL7

1 hour ago, ruggedpeak said:

Some internet research may help give an indication of the extent of the issue.

 

In Kernow's Bargain section they have 118 different SKU of Hornby OO coaches alone - that is just individual product lines, quantities vary from 1 to "more than 10" aka shedload! The overall total number of Hornby 'bargain' SKU's at Kernow is 285. However put a guesstimate of the average quantity of each SKU and an average value of each item and you don't don't actually get much total value - a rounding error on the £20m accounts figure (say av. quantity 8 per SKU and £30 per item = 8 * 285 * 30 =£68,400). Even if a quarter of the £20m is OO gauge trains (£5m) then the total number of retailers carrying large quantities of these items will struggle to get to a £1m.

 

This is comparable to Bachmann who have 256 SKU's in the Kernow bargain section. Obviously quantities and values will vary so actual value of stock in the bargain bin would require a lot more work (or someone with some good coding skills to scrape the data).

 

But we can conclude

 

1) it is not just a Hornby issue and perhaps calls into the traditional blue and red business model for trains

2) even with a number of retailers carrying or having access to significant amounts of the surplus stock, it may not even be touching the sides of the problem.

 

Thats probably why it will prove difficult to offload some of that stock in the Hornby warehouse - the retailers are already carrying some of it.

Of course, in years past, Hattons would have taken a lot of stock of Hornby's hands (at the right price), and bailed them out of a mess. Thats not an option any more. 

7 hours ago, MikuMatt81 said:

 

Hi Richard,

 

   I would very much like to go ahead and try it out, there are two things i need to clarify in my head first.

 

1. I would obviously need a template to work from, could this be put together in something like Templot (which I obviously have no experience of yet) ? or perhaps I could simply base the build off a template of the Peco set track point? (im not sure if Peco might have one handy?).

 

Peco have templates of all their points available for download from their website. 

Youi will find that the code 75 streamline points have a different geometry - so the track needs to be spaced aprt by 50mm, rather than 67mm, and even the small radius points have a larger radius that settrack points, so they will take up more space. 

You're probably going to end up taking up a lot of your trackwork in order to fit them in. 

5 hours ago, Steven B said:

Given Rapido's history of producing fun but not quite prototypical liveries, can we expect an up-to-date interpretation of Lima's infamous "Grimsby Fish" van? "Margate Fish" perhaps?  😉

 

Perhaps one branded for JR Hartley? With a headboard for the Flying Kipper?

Having upgraded a Hornby 101 with updated bogie frames to get NEM pockets, I can confirm that even on the dummy car, you can swap over the frames without issue. 

2 hours ago, Geep7 said:

Sadly the 59ft Corridor Brakes were only ever used in 3-sets with the other 59ft coaches and never used as loose stock, afaik (i'd have to check my Southern Bulleid book to be absolutely sure). I'd be up for buying a couple at £17.99, but only if I could guarantee getting a 59ft composite to go with them, and in the correct livery too. The Southern Railway and BR Southern were quite strict about keeping is coaching stock in sets. If one coach had a defect, then the whole set was pulled. And they would go to works to be repainted as a set too..... Just one of the quirks of the Southern which makes them stand out from the rest (apart from the affection for live rail....)

The other thing to note is that these cheap bargains are of the Southern Malachite livery - effectively 1946-48. The BR(S) Green ones were sold out long ago. 

I'm guessing Hornby made too many of the SR Malachite ones. 

DCC Concepts are specifically marketing theirs as a plug and play replacement, as they took have a socket on their decoders/stay alives. 

18 minutes ago, PMP said:

Parkside already do an excellent kit (PC53) of the Dia.800 with both types of axle boxes as options within.

I know, and I've built some. However, I know they're not painted as well as an RTR version would be. 

Given the problems with Hornby's 1/800 van, heres hoping Rapido follow up there 1/801 van with a model of that too. 

I have to say I do prefer @Harlequin version - it has a much better "flow" to it, and the bay/siding is better sited with regards the run round loop. 

Have you tried fitting the blanking plug the other way around?

Its hardly much of a saving, is it?

Looking on ebay, a Dapol O gauge pannier "From China" is listed as £178. The Royal Mail (or whoever delivers it to your door) will charge you for the VAT - 20% - taking the total up to £213. They may charge extra as a "handling fee" - Royal Mail's is £8, others pay be cheaper or more expensive.  The exact same model is in stock with a certain Sheffield based retailer for £223. 

So you are saving maybe £2, and loosing the customer support if something is wrong. Fault with the model, are you going to send it back to the seller in China?

A list of the locos launched by Triang:

1957

Jinty 0-6-0

GWR Castle 4-6-0

1959

Original Merchant Navy 4-6-2

Class 08 0-6-0

Class 31

1960

Britannia 4-6-2

1961

GWR Prairie 2-6-2

1963

Class 104 DMU

So 8 locos released over 5-6 years. 

51 minutes ago, J-Lewis said:

It might be worth bearing in mind that it’s only been 18 months since the launch of the range.  So Hornby have made pretty good progress despite having all the same supply chain headwinds as all the other manufacturers.  Unless I’m mistaken, the TT range has seen more brand new models released in that time than any other manufacturer in any scale?

 

We know 5’s are on the list of upcoming locos, along with 0-6-0 tanks etc. so it would seem reasonable to expect them to appear over the coming years.  Let’s see what the next 18 months bring?  At that point we should have a good spread of locos across a number of eras, and if there is still no DMU announced by that point then you can say ‘told you so’. ;)

Also worth comparing with the roll out of TT3 by Triang in the 50s. It took a few years for that to get going as well - and it seemed to be killed off before it had reached a reasonable level. 

5 hours ago, RyanN91 said:

Gutted to gave missed this! An accidental leak? If anyone is interested, It's also the first time Hornby will have produced an original BR Blue Class 43 HST as a train set since 1983! And the first time since a British Rail Class 43 HST train set was released since May 1996 (the limited edition 20th anniversary set with additional MK3 buffet car) and the standard uncatalogued InterCity 125 set 1996 -1997. 

I dont think its something you've missed - its more a case of it went live too early - the TT120 announcement is next week.