andythenorth

I don't watch TV. I'm not 100% clear what Hornby's target demographic was though, large parts of the video seemed designed to appeal to Status Quo fans. I've bought some TT:120 on pre-order anyway. And some Accurascale HAAs in OO. Such choices we have in the hobby these days.

In order: they won't. It is. It won't be that much stuff. It's a huge launch because that's how a product range is launched: go big, grit teeth, hope for sales. They won't abandon OO, the relative sales differential will be huge. TT is not going to displace OO sales. Hornby have large amounts of tooling which is long-since paid for and clearly has an established model exploiting that. Factory capacity, I have no idea, but I suspect the TT volumes will be relatively low. As someone who has bought in heavily on pre-orders, hopefully the have prescheduled effectively. Even allowing for uncontrollable circumstances, I have accepted that I might well be on the receiving end of late deliveries and quality issues, but obviously I would hope these didn't happen.

In the 1980s and 90s having an interest in trains would literally get the crap kicked out of you, so I'd say social media has been a breath of fresh air for the hobby. Generally all geeky hobbies have a better rep compared to the 80s and 90s, and the people in them can connect more to other people with similar interests. 'Cool' might be a step to far, but it's a long way beyond 'getting the crap kicked out of you'. So off-topic sorry, but the UK RTR hobby was a dead duck by the late 90s. Lima had gone bust, Bachmann were only starting, and Hornby looked certain to disappear for anything beyond trainsets. How things have changed eh 🙃

But again and again we keep responding to the 3 or 4 who can't stop grinding the same axe. In another context, it would be classic internet trolling. They drop the line in, we swim up and bite on it. However I think for the people grinding their axes, it counts as reasoned debate, or simply helping out those of us who need to be corrected in obvious our mistakes. But if we keep responding, we only have ourselves to blame, so perhaps we should stop? 😉 TT:120 is clearly a divisive issue, maybe it would be better swept under the carpet and not discussed on rmweb?

The Roco stuff is, if anything, over-detailed for the size. With a price to match. 🙂

Oops, you are quite correct, I should have a word with myself because I also have Arnold TT:120 stuff. 🙃

So on a personal level, I'm fine with "you can have it in any colour as long as it's black". I'm not trying to model a specific era or location. The vision Hornby are laying out is a lot more completionist than mine. But that's marketing. I discount it. I've also read SK's blogs over the years, and I suspect Hornby's ideas of 'complete system' does diverge a lot from the ideas of people here. But again, that's marketing. Marketing is not hard to understand. Buyer beware = no buyer's remorse. But I'm buying anyway, eyes wide open. Unless sales absolutely fail, the secondhand market for TT:120 will almost certainly hold up, because even if Hornby exit, what they have produced then becomes collectable, and collectors can rely on support from European TT for e.g. track etc, so values will hold up. So I'm not worried I'm burning £10 notes here.

Been discussed in other threads, but eh. I have Hornby stuff that runs well and Hornby stuff that doesn't. I have Heljan stuff that runs well and Heljan stuff that doesn't. But nobody yet, outside of the supply chain, has any Hornby TT:120 stuff, so it seems a bit previous to be asserting that it's all bad and doesn't work. But eh here I am on rmweb, where this is just how the community thinks and acts. Maybe that makes me the daft one. 🙃

This is an odd comment. But eh, it's an odd community.

I am not 20, and as your advice is offered freely, I'm going to freely ignore it 🙂 "rmweb members, proudly gatekeeping other people's entertainment since 2007" 🙂

Was there an actual question? 🙃 My understanding is that AS do not see the case for TT:120 currently, and have plenty of worthwhile things to do in OO. I might be wrong, but eh. I'm buying into TT:120 personally, but does it need to be re-debated in new threads for every manufacturer? There are already hundreds of posts about it in the Peco thread and TT:120 sub-forum. Just my 2p 🙂

Osborns are doing a range of laser cut buildings rescaled for TT:120 https://www.osbornsmodels.com/arch-laser-1380-c.asp

I suspect it was known. Anything else requires improbably coincidences. 🙃

Standard Twitterati then 😉

I think you called it and are the fair winner of the sweepstake 😀

It has the ingredients to be a whole other thread, but as it's related directly to Hornby's TT:120 sales channel strategy....let's continue here. Personally I don't care if there's no retail future for the hobby. We have one remaining model shop here (it's a good one, well known, well-stocked, good staff), but the experience is frankly dour. Peering at boxes of stuff and display cabinets and racks. It's all very Victorian. 🎩 Of course, it's a big world, and fortunately my views don't have to be everyone's views, and for that we're all better off. 🙃 On the bigger picture, I think it's probably moot, some of the best retailers have always done mail order, and do a good job with the internet too - a physical shop with a big stockroom and an eBay account does the job nicely. But obviously that becomes a different story where Hornby are pursuing a direct-to-consumer channel strategy, the retailer is out of that picture, whether or not they have big stock room, a physical storefront and an eBay account. The channel dilemma is as old as the hills by the way. Or at least 99 years old - Claude C Hopkins wrote about it in 1923 - dealers are a route to market, but ultimately aren't incentivised to push your product, so you end up spending on advertising to support them, but you don't have full control. So that tends towards D2C, but then you're inevitably in competition with your own dealers, which de-incentivises them to push your stock, and incentivises you to de-prioritise dealer support. So ultimately, for certain products in certain markets, D2C will win: Book is here: https://www.scientificadvertising.com/ScientificAdvertising.pdf (specifically Chapter 16 "Leaning On Dealers") It's not a cut and dried strategy. Huge brands like Apple and Lego prioritise D2C online or in their own stores, but are obliged to have lots of shelf presence in other retail channels, and with box shifters like Amazon. Meanwhile in our hobby, where possible I'd always buy direct from some brands - for example, Accurascale or Revolution, who have fantastic D2C channels - but sometimes the only remaining stock is in the dealer channel, the D2C warehouse is empty for the stock I want. Whereas trying to buy direct from Dapol or Bachmann would be a waste of time, either it's just not possible, or the dealers will simply have much better discount prices and service.

Having it arrive at the door in a package, usually from a cheery (in our local case) Royal Mail postie? Even better if it's a pre-order from months ago that turns up as a surprise. I get out quite enough ferrying my kids around and going to Tesco. 😬 Each to their own etc. 😉 We could have a sideshow diversion into the different kinds of instant gratification and consequent effects on behaviour of model train purchasers. I'm happy enough to wait a week or a month for actual delivery of trains. But I want to click 'buy' with no delays and no faff. But eh, it's hardly the thread topic 🙃

Each to their own, but the internet has pictures....my eyes find those good enough. Won't work for everyone (meaning this genuinely, some people just don't have the eyesight, or can't make sense of a 2D picture for other neurological reasons). Less genuinely, could the mods add a poll: "And I won't be buying TT:120 because [Option A], [Option B], [Option C]." Would save wear and tear on the server.... 🤑

Heljan appearance demystified, thanks 🙂

I would limit my hopes / opinions to the actual engineering prototypes shown, not the catalogue / store images. But then again, that's not controversial. The Arnold TT stuff is pretty good, if there's any overlap of knowledge / approach / production, the UK TT should be ok.

Kof picture also: I haven't run it yet. Mixed reviews on performance from European TT modellers, so we may not be without teething issues, but we'll see. It's certainly nice to look at.

Continues the fine long-standing tradition (at least in OO) of MK1 and Mk2 production runs having as many BCK or BFK brake coaches as any other type. 🙃 Everyone from Lima to Bachmann seems to have done this 🙂 Having bought 2 full HST rakes (swallow, blue-grey), it's notable that there are enough MK3s in the range for a full 7+2 or 8+2 consist without repeating numbers. Not that I'd have minded repeating numbers, doesn't bother me much 😀

Can't dispute that, it's well put 🙂 I deliberately didn't mention Cavalex, because I don't want be doing manufacturer comparison (internet forums seem obsessed with Mac vs. PC, Cat vs. Komatsu, Volvo vs. Scania, Deere vs Case etc). But I do really like Cavalex packaging, it's minimalist, space efficient, reminds me of Matchbox cars etc. But also I think comparisons of this type can be unhelpful, each manufacturer naturally wants their own style of presentation, and Accurascale does ooze premium presentation. 🙂

I would hope they use the Arnold wheels. Surprises are possible of course 😛

There's some video evidence for this in either the Peco TT:120 thread, or the TT:120 sub-forum. The summary was 'seems to work, might not be perfect'.