GWR-fan

I have been considering these for sometime now for an analogue layout to operate my points. Currently eBay was offering a 15% discount on my purchases on the site so I picked up 24 levers, comprising a box of 12 levers and two boxes of six each, saving me $98.00. When one considers say using Hornby levers to operate points, etc., then the true value of the Cobalt-S levers is evident. Each lever has three sets of switches (passing contact, on/on and on/off), thus one lever would potentially replace three Hornby levers, which would end up costing more than a single Cobalt-S lever.

With the cost of pre-owned items increasing it is refreshing to find an occasional gem listed on the site. Two recent purchases have my head swimming as to how they were listed. First off was a Hornby R2124 Schools class "Dulwich" listed as a ringfield drive but the image was of a much later version with tender mounted DCC socket. Priced at GBP40.00 (around GBP33.50 with VAT removed). I took the risk and sure enough a mint DCC ready loco minus original packaging and brakerods arrived. Second loco was a Hornby R2505 BR "push/pull" M7 in very good box and apparently unrun for GBP49.00 (around GBP42.00 after VAT removed). This will go well with my Maunsell two-car set. I still await arrival of the M7, but confident that there will be no issue with it. I do religiously view the pre-owned items daily but with steadily increasing costs I do not anticipate seeing a bargain. What does irk me though are the many locomotives that were on firesale a couple of years ago now selling pre-owned for more than double the firesale cost. In particular are the Heljan prototype models like "Lion" which was available for GBP72.00 a couple of years ago now listed over GBP200.00. Those were the days.

From memory several years ago when it was suggested that the old tooling APT be re-released it was Simon Kohler who responded that the tooling had been damaged and was no longer available. I was not aware that it was a roof leak that caused the damage to all the old tooling.

With no disrespect to DPD or to Aramex UK, due the partnership with using DPD for shipping to Australia and Aramex Australia who handle the package once it arrives in Australia, I strongly urge any potential Hattons customers thinking to choose the DPD shipping option to ship to Australia to resist the temptation a save a few dollars and choose another option. As stated earlier I have used DPD on over forty occasions in the last few months and all was well until this last weekend when something went wrong at the Australian end. The incoming Aramex UK shipping label had my correct address however when the Australian shipping label is attached to the package the delivery address is different. My primary delivery address on the Aramex Australia website has changed four times since last weekend with no action on my part. As far as I was aware the address was still the address it had been the last six months. After numerous phone calls and many emails I have received two of the four packages and am hopeful the local shipping company has directed a third package to an alternate courier service, however, the fourth package has arrived at the Aramex destination facility with the wrong address. Forty eight hours ago I raised a ticket advising the incoming package was incorrectly addressed but no action has been taken as yet to remedy the situation. I just got off the phone with an extremely rude operator who when I told her that a ticket had been raised two days ago and no follow up action, her reply was "We have no time as we are on the phone all the time talking to people complaining about their packages". I suppose if they had a reliable service then people would not be contacting them. It is not DPD's fault nor Aramex UK, but they will no longer be getting any packages from me in the future. I have wasted nearly three days on the phone and multiple emails to try to sort out a problem that should never have occurred. My sleep the last few night has been severely disrupted as there is a sizeable amount of money involved in the remaining two packages not yet received.

There may be a silver lining for two of the packages missing. Aramex has responded that the consignments have been forwarded to StarTrack for delivery after I had raised a dispute with them. Alas, no information as to the final delivery address on these two packages. No word yet on the third package (the most expensive). I am getting too old for these sort of dramas in my life. Fingers crossed but still pessimistic of a favourable outcome.

I used Royal mail for many years, however, since making full use of the Hattons trunk facility my packages are usually between 3kg - 4kg. Using Royal Mail for these packages is not economical due the post covid price increases. Up to now DPD/Aramex has not caused an issue, being fault free, but with the last four packages now with incorrect delivery addresses I am not hopeful of receiving three of them. I do not know if they will be returned to the UK or disposed of. The shipping label has no return address on it, unless the barcode has that information embedded. I have used DHL many times in the past but got used to selecting DPD for my shipping. Obviously, I will now use DHL and hope their service is better than Aramex's most recent performance. DPD is not the problem as Aramex UK addressed the package received correctly, it is the local Aramex Australia contractor that has caused the issue.

On the package received I can see that the original shipping label raised by Aramex UK and the address is actually correct. The shipping ticket raised once the package arrived in Australia has been overlaid on the UK label and it is the Australian label that has the wrong shipping address. On contacting Aramex Australia I have been basically given the runaround and told to contact the sender regarding the issue. As the sender has no control over Aramex Australia misprinting a local shipping label then contacting the store would be pointless. Hopefully common sense prevails and the courier company do a little detective work and realise that my actual address can be worked out as a simple internet search using my street address and my postcode will highlight my correct suburb. However, I am not hopeful as the online product reviews on the courier company's service record are mostly one star reviews, with barely 100 five star reviews out of over 4000 reviews submitted. My advice to others who may intend using DPD as a shipping choice for Hatton's purchases to Australia is pay a little more and select DHL or Royal Mail.

i received a response from the store but unfortunately the liaison the store has with DPD ceases once the item leaves the UK as Aramex then handles the shipping to Australia. I have been advised to use a more reliable shipping service for future deliveries.

The package delivered by the contractor who realised a mistake had been made was only delivered this afternoon. Fortunately, the incorrect delivery suburb was still in my postcode area. Alas, the other two packages are destined to be attempted delivery almost 400 klms from me and there is no valid address in that area so possibly the items may either be returned to the store or possibly vanish into oblivion. I have emailed the store but due the time difference between the UK and Australia I do not expect a return email for many hours to come. I highly doubt the store has altered my delivery address so must assume that a glitch has occurred which has altered my Aramex primary address on four occasions now, leaving my Aramex primary address suburb almost 400 klms from me and yet the postcode on the primary address is my correct area postcode. If not a glitch then I fail to see how my Aramex primary address could alter leaving me with multiple possible delivery locations. I feel that I can no longer trust DPD/Aramex to deliver my UK purchases. If a manual operator input on the shipping label then one mistake is plausible, but I cannot understand how the Aramex primary address changed to the incorrect suburb twenty klms from me for two packages and then the next two packages the Aramex primary address changed once again to the suburb almost 400 klms from me which also has a different postcode as well.

A word of advice to anyone recently using DPD to ship goods to Australia purchased from Hattons. The last four packages that I purchased have been addressed to the wrong suburb. The internal invoice from Hattons on one of the incorrectly addressed packages is correct as per my on file address. Fortunately, this last received package did find its way to me as the delivery suburb is only twenty or so kilometres from me (same postcode) and the delivery contractor realised a mistake had been made. I have checked the details on the three packages not yet received and unfortunately the delivery suburb is almost 400 klms from me. Speaking to Aramex (Australia), the delivery contractor for DPD, was pointless as it seems they wanted no part of it. I did not change my file details and the store's details are correct. I suspect possibly a glitch in the UK delivery system as the shipping label attached to the package received had the wrong suburb printed on it. I am not hopeful of receiving the remaining three mis-addressed packages. After using DPD almost forty or so times (without any issue) in the last few months, I think it wise to perhaps pay a little more and give DHL a go for my future shipping to Australia. It seems that if the delivery address suburb is incorrect then there is little that can be done to redirect the package in time. Aramex/DPD use the delivery suburb as the main criteria when sending packages to a delivery area (ignoring the actual postcode), while Australia Post uses the postcode irrespective of other details.

It is sound economic sense to broaden your horizons as a manufacturer but when you are unable to supply your current needs then what of all those new unfilled projects? Has Hornby found an untapped production facility that no one else has access to? Has everyone forgotten that Hornby cancelled a lot of pre-orders by retailers for announced 2022 products?

It is not the willingness to fail, it is the chosen method of direct selling, cutting out the hobby outlets and in my opinion severely limiting the market possibilities. The typical "newbie" would either see the product on display in a major store in the lead up to Christmas or see it at a hobby shop where a comparison could be made with other scale/gauges and see the potential of the scale. Some will be savvy enough to think about buying direct from the manufacturer and hopefully many do. Of late though, Hornby have been very tardy and unreliable in bringing product to market in a timely fashion. Failure to supply and support the scale will possibly hinder its development and future. There needs to be a major mind shift in the Hornby management to appreciate that the customer and not the shareholder is the key to overall success of the project.

What they save by direct sales is eaten up in advertising costs. Without the local hobby shop exposure or a massive and ongoing media blitz how will potential customers know the product exists. It is not intuitive for customers to buy from the manufacturer. Yes, the current new manufacturers to the hobby are mainly direct sales but this is to a customer base already informed. The future of TT120 is for an entirely new clientele who need to be educated. Edit: I actually like the scale and fifty odd years ago was sorely tempted but was limited by choice of what was available in Australia. Remember that the online auction sites and online sellers were a long time in the future then. If I was younger then I would more than likely have dipped my toes in the water.

I recently made several purchases from the "store" and while the product and service were extremely good, two points have turned me off future sales. Firstly, after the initial purchase I have been inundated with emails about store discount codes and new items instock. Secondly, being in Australia, the site automatically converts the price to Australian dollars. The actual price in GBP is not shown and the exchange rate the site uses is highly, highly exaggerated making the item seemingly a good price. Only after the sale is made do you actually see the price you are charged in British pounds. The last item I purchased was a Hornby coach at what seemed a very good price. However, after the sale was made and due the "actual" exchange rate, I was charged the normal retail. I would not have purchased the item if I had of known the actual price in GBP.

Over thirty years ago a large department store chain in Australia, Grace Bros., made a market decision that the Australian public was ready to accept LGB model trains. Back then the manufacturer's products were very, very expensive and yet the store thought that with good marketing they could sell this expensive product to the masses. Well, it was a total market disaster. It seems that unless you actually visited the store you would not know that the items were for sale. The store's lack of sales was my good fortune. LGB starter sets, which at the time retailed for $795.00 (roughly a week's wage) , were being sold off at $199.00. I headed off into the city and came home with three new starter sets, commencing me on my LGB journey. If not for the sell off then I would never have been able to afford to enjoy the scale. How does this relate to the Hornby TT120 range? Well, without massive media exposure and by limiting sales to direct online transactions, then the future of the scale is not assured. Hornby cannot afford to have this scale as an "exclusive" niche scale to succeed. TT120 needs to be associated with Hornby and only after media exposure will the public be aware of the product and directly associate TT120 with Hornby. People will not normally go online direct with Hornby to purchase and simply assume the product will be at their local model railway store. When they ask the proprietor what will be his response, "Sorry, never heard of it"? The potential customer will walk away disheartened, most likely thinking that the hobby store does not know what they are talking about. Perhaps in a few years time there will be a massive discontinued product firesale at the usual outlets unless Hornby comes to grips with their market campaign. As regards the current Christmas season would the stores not have already filled their order books for items for sale with existing (non-Hornby) stock. No point announcing a new product if will not be available until next Christmas, or the Christmas after, or....... Another point which may annoy the retail stores is did Hornby sacrifice their 2022 pre-order allocation to provide production capacity for the new range? Not only did they potentially take away their allocation but the company has restricted their access to the new scale.

Last year I was ready to spend a couple of grand on "O" scale items to get a feel for them. I was heavily involved in garden scale railways fro many years and felt the urge to try something a little larger than "OO". At the time the cost of "O" scale locomotives and goods rolling stock was just a tad more than the same thing in "OO". My overriding concern was what about all the "OO" stuff that I have. I was not going to sell it and would it simply languish unused? Similarly with TT120. Some may take up a passing interest and others switch entirely, but is there really a market ready to embrace TT120 and sway them away from their current scale? I do not see many "N" scale modellers sizing up. Does Hornby really believe that there is an untapped market out there who had no interest in "OO" due the area required but suddenly are inspired to take up the hobby, embracing TT as being more "practical"?

Not aware of restrictions in other countries but glue and paint ordered online must be road transported. I would believe these restrictions to air travel would impact importing these items from overseas as well.

You answered your own question!!!! If not for the local hobby shop, finding those items you refer to could be very difficult online. It is ironic that Hornby would not even qualify as a tier 1 or 2 retailer and yet they rate retail outlets on their ability to serve the public.

The big selling point of TT is obviously the space saving. A 10' X 4' "OO" layout in TT is a little over half the footprint of the larger scale. However, to understand the size difference one needs to be aware of the larger scale. For some one already modelling in "OO" it is obvious, however, for a newcomer, particularly a millennial, will they even be aware of "OO"? Is it even cool these days with millennials living their lives on social media platforms to admit they have a model railway hobby interest? From my recollection, even back in the days of Meccano and Hornby Dublo, any interest in model railways was perceived by others as a childish interest that one would grow out of. Without extensive media coverage it is all pie in the sky shiny object stuff to distract us from the Hornby mainstream issues.

When I was a young teenager Tri-ang TT appealed to me (as did Minic Motorways) but it looked too toylike (not that the "OO" model range was that realistic). The planned TT120 release actually look like models and this will be a selling point. Everything plus more to fit a smaller area. If I had a good few more years left and felt assured the range would still be around then I could have been tempted (but unfortunately it seems more flash in the pan, look the other way a nice shiny object).

A brave move by Hornby at a time of financial distress for the whole economy, but the elephant in the room is will it be supported in years to come? Is it a sound financial decision or something else for SK to sign off on his wishlist? Without a major advertising campaign who will know of its existence? Hornby states online sales only but surely major exposure in large department stores leading up to Christmas is warranted to launch the product (assuming sufficient stock actually exists).

I wanted this model but unfortunately as the thread progressed it became apparent that what was stated to be forthcoming was not going to happen. It seems that after the "success" of the GT3 the Fell was rushed into production. If not a "crowd funded" project would the end result have been more diligently researched and all the boxes ticked before the green light was given? At least it seems that the manufacturer was "honest" in stating that although aware the CAD/tooling was not accurate they were happy to accept the Fell project with the known issues. Will the promised changes to the other projects actually occur or will once again increased costs to correct the tooling outweigh the "need" for accuracy? Every pound of crowdfunded money spent to correct issues is one pound less in profit. If not done correctly then it is unlikely another manufacturer will release the model as the market will be satisfied (at least for those prepared to accept a less than accurate model and it seems that is most of us).

Being the devil's advocate, Hornby cannot meet demand for current "OO" announcements, so where are the finance and production venues going to come from.

Ten flanged wheels and a close coupled tender cab!!!!!!!! The Fell to me is a far simpler model, mechanically. There is nothing complex about the Fell other than getting the body correct. The Europeans do reliable ten-coupled designs but then they engineer them correctly and price them accordingly.

Given the issues with the latest release and the complexity of the announced 0-10-0 banker, then I would be very surprised to see the item manufactured.