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Simon has mentioned that he and Peco were in contact before they both announced their respective products.

And I do think some of these compromises will start being less frequent. Hornby needed to create wagons that could reasonably represent LNER/NER/ER, SR, GWR/WR, and LMS/LMR prototypes. Why? Because the TT market is small. And when Hornby was designing these wagons, the market was completely unproven. If Hornby got too region specific, they would have needed to tool up many more variants with corresponding increases in costs. And the individual tooling might not generate sufficient sales to justify the investment. If memory serves, these wagons also share a chassis with the mineral wagons. They wanted as many sales from the one tooling project as possible. Not because they're trying to cynically cheat people who are new to model railways or lower the standards people expect, but because this was a really risky investment that required getting as many wagons to the market ASAP. It's not perfect or ideal, but I think it was a sound decision. These same wagons can be rebranded as needed. As the market expands and sales increase, the ability to create narrower region-specific wagons becomes available. Each release seems to be an improvement over the last. There's good reason to be optimistic!

For those interested, a poster over on the Hornby Forum attended Key Model World Live. He took some great photos and video of the Class 50s, Class 66s, Duchesses, and the J50 prototype. Other items on display included the upcoming HAA and 21 Ton mineral wagons. It's worth checking out for anyone interested in the upcoming releases. https://community.hornbyhobbies.com/topic/35680-tt-at-model-world-birmingham-live/#comment-382162 Class 50s are set for a May release. Things are looking good!

I'm glad to hear you found a solution! I hope the move went well to your new place, and now you can enjoy the locomotives uninterrupted!

This was one of the Hornby CEO's stated objectives in one of their releases a few months ago. He said they were going to try reducing inventory while also not undercutting their pricing. I've seen the inventory reductions be handled in the following ways over the last 6 months or so. 1) Double points offerings- There have been multiple 2x points offerings over the last 6 months. The most recent was one last month. 2) Free gifts- Earlier this year, Hornby ran a campaign that featured a free small locomotive. They have done other promotions, like offering a free mug with a purchase. This has also extended to their international brands (Jouef, Rivarossi, Electrotren), which offered a free HO wagon or a free building depending on how much was spent. Arnold was also offering promotions for free N Scale rolling stock. 3) Seasonal sales- If memory serves, they ran a New Years sale and a Spring sale. These were done on Hornby, Hornby USA, Scalextric, Corgi, Arnold, etc. 4) Clearance- These have also been done by Hornby, Hornby USA, Scalextric, Corgi, Arnold, etc. 5) Bringing in new retail partners- Restoring Rails of Sheffield was a major win for the company. I think one reason that progress towards inventory reduction did not progress further, might have to do with the shipping delays. They mention a large shipment being delayed in China due to the mideast conflict. I assume they take delivery in China and arrange for shipping themselves. That large shipment could be worth as much as several million pounds. If the inventory is stuck in China or in transit, that might explain the persistence of high inventory. I'd defer to @Gallows-Bait on UK accounting rules, though!

I suspect that we'll see some concrete information on this product next week at the Key Model World NEC show. There should be new photographs of samples and probably a more solid date on when to expect them. They were aiming for April, but that's looking like it will slip. Either way, we should have a better idea by next week.

Again, a statement like "Hornby's new Black 5 is horribly faulty" requires evidence. He has no evidence to support such a claim, besides his single model. If he had simply said that his model was defective or poorly manufactured, no one would be complaining. I would actually agree! But he made an extraordinary claim. Here's another example. Chadwick Model Railway got a defective Class 37 from Accurascale. Would it be fair for him to title a video about Accurascale's excellent Class 37 as "Accurascale's Horribly Faulty New Class 37"? Absolutely not. His example had problems that were not impacting all models.

But again, he didn't claim his model was faulty. He described the Hornby Black 5 as "horribly faulty," which is untrue. His example did have faults, but that does make the model inherently "horribly faulty." Criticizing quality control is totally fair, but you don't label an entire product "horribly faulty" unless there is strong evidence. Why? Because you can't prove the claim as true. You can critique Hornby (I agree that their QC could improve!), while also avoiding statements that verge on lies. This is not an apples to apples comparison. If I say "Hornby's Black 5 is the best Black 5 ever", I'm basing that on certain elements of the product that are consistent across all Hornby Black 5s. For example, I can praise the separately fitted details, the choices in livery application, and the features. Those are all elements of the product that are consistent across all Hornby Black 5s. Similarly, a fair criticism that Sam made in the review was about the flywheel. The omission of the flywheel is something that impacts all new Hornby Black 5s everywhere. Even hostile titles like "Hornby's Black 5- An Underwhelming Model" or "Hornby's Black 5- Not Worth the Money" would be completely justified on the part of a reviewer. Instead, he made the extraordinary claim that Hornby's new Black 5 is "horribly faulty," with no evidence besides his single model. That's where he demonstrates overt hostility.

To be fair, he entitled the video: Hornby's Horribly Faulty New Black 5 This suggests that the product is somehow inherently faulty. Others have had the product, and have not found any issues. That title is misleading and damaging. It's making a claim that is untrue. If he had labeled it "The Faults with my Hornby Black 5," it would have been accurate. But instead, he suggests the entire product is "horribly faulty." Who is going to buy a "horribly faulty" locomotive? Criticism of Hornby is totally fine, but I think it's unfair to label an entire product "horribly faulty" when you have a single data point.

I think this a completely fair take. And as you say, for an end-to-end layout or a shunting layout a front coupler is a must. As @Johan DC noted, we received confirmation that a front coupler will be present on the final model. It's unfortunate that the rendering didn't feature this from the start. You weren't the only eagle-eyed person to note its absence, so it's certainly important and should have been featured. I also believe the Duchesses are supposed to have a front coupler too. It's good optionality!

The Blue and Grey Mk 3s have already begun arriving. My Blue and Grey Mk 3s are being shipped as I type. Hornby has planned for the LMS/LMR coaches to arrive right as the Duchesses are delivered. They've been delivering coaches within a few weeks of locomotives arriving. There's no reason to expect that to change. If there was one Accurascale locomotive I would be interested in seeing in TT, it would be the Class 55. That's one of the most iconic Accurascale releases. It's a great locomotive that would fit with Hornby TT:120's strong ER presence. I know that this is highly unlikely, but I would instantly purchase one.

We've done this debate over and over. People claim that TT:120 products are designed for simpletons who have no standards. Evidence is pointed to that TT:120 is not aimed at simpletons, instead it's for individuals with less space or those wanting to run longer formations. Then the original group of people offer a rebuttal in the form of the virtues of N Scale. TT:120 supporters then point out some of the compromises of N Scale. Then the N Scale supporters come out attacking the TT:120 supporters. The conversation then goes to Hornby's inevitable bankruptcy and ruin. At some point, Accurascale's superiority comes up. Everyone needs to accept that TT:120 is here to stay. Instead of the quality of the products being abysmal, there are indications that the products are improving with each release as Hornby adjusts to the scale. Moreover, the tempo of releases is picking up with 2 newly-tooled locomotives in the pipeline for release in the next 3 months. That's following the release of a flagship newly-tooled locomotive 2 months ago. By the end of the calendar year, Hornby will have launched 5 newly-tooled locomotives. Let's just enjoy these announcements!

In October 2022, Hornby released information that they intended to create KFA container wagons in TT:120. They have now followed up with CAD images of the project. Because of this confirmation of further development, I think now is the time to launch a separate thread. The CAD Images are here: https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/tt120-kfa-cad-breaks-cover

Lots of negativity here. By the end of the year, multiple compelling criticisms of TT120 will have been alleviated. 1) "It's all Pacifics" - We will have the J50, and at least two more are in the pipeline. 2) "The 08 shunter should have been in an early British Railways livery"- We will have have the 08 shunter in BR green. 3) "It's all steam"- We will have Class 43, Class 50, and Class 66. 4) "There's nothing for the Class 66 to pull"- We will have modern container wagons. There's still a lot missing from the range because it's early. But a lot of critical components are coming together. Some of those puzzle pieces were announced today. I'm optimistic. I'm expecting 2025 to be the year of GWR. That's when the Pannier Tank and the Castle Class should arrive. And of course, the Class 37 will also make its debut in 2025 too. SR is probably 2026.

Actually, this may explain something I had been confused by. About a month ago, the new container wagon liveries were yanked from the Arnold website. I didn't know what to make of that... If Hornby TT now has custodianship of the tooling, that would explain why they're no longer on sale with Arnold. From now on they will be sold by Hornby. Not that it makes a difference from the Hornby Hobbies Group macro perspective, but you're right that it will impact the availability of the items in the UK. How many local model shops are stocking Arnold TT:120? Probably not many. While Hornby TT:120 is not in most model shops, its reach is rapidly expanding. It's better to have it included in the Hornby range to get the models into the hands of more modelers. This was smart.

I really hope this works for you! It's very frustrating to get a model that doesn't work (I know from personal experience). Whether or not this fix works, I would recommend emailing Hornby about it. While you might not need anything fixed or replaced, it's good for them to hear about any abnormalities in their design/manufacturing processes so they can be addressed. I'm guessing this was a problem in early batches of the Mk 3s. Some might be afflicted while others are fine. But whatever it is, the sooner they hear about it the better! Moving can be a pain. I hope your move goes as smoothly possible!

Your HST looks great! And your video's title was sadly all too relatable... 😅

Yeah, the hypothesis floating around is that it's going to be revealed on April 2nd. Those updating the website just accidentally launch the page before the event. It's set for an Autumn release.

On this one point I'm willing to sacrifice accuracy. I don't want my TT people to fall out of my High Speed Train!

That does seem to be a mistake. There may have been a few months of overlap where TGS and power cars without an exhaust deflector could have run together, but it would have been a very short window. Oddly, Hornby actually had the correct exhaust deflector in their renderings for the TT:120 HST Yellow Grey in their catalogue. It's still on their website. Hornby also has released the same power cars in OO with the correct exhaust deflector. You can see that here: https://www.hattons.co.uk/69478/hornby_class_43_twin_pack_e43062_e43063_in_br_blue_grey_eastern_region/stockdetail This is somewhat frustrating. We know they have the tooling to ship the correct product. At some point they must gotten their wires crossed. It's possible they caught it in time... But we'll find out soon enough.

Haha I know what you mean! I'm doing an Eastern Region early 1980s layout. I need those Class 47s! I think there's reason to be optimistic that at least one 0-6-0T is released by the end of the year. Maybe two. We first received news that an 0-6-0T had entered tooling in a (since deleted) Q&A with Simon in January of 2023. We're now 14 months from when we heard that it entered tooling. This locomotive should be the "mystery 0-6-0T." By March, we knew another 0-6-0T had entered tooling. Obviously, production constraints may hamper their launches. But I think these 0-6-0Ts are a priority. It's pretty clear that the 0-6-0T was supposed to be announced in the Autumn magazine. The video released in September also teased a "surprise," but nothing was released. I think Martyn's arrival as head of brand changed things. He seems to have directed the teams not to announce the 0-6-0T until it was closer to production. The 0-6-0T, the new set, and new liveries of existing products should be sufficient for 2024. The Class 50, Class 66, Duchesses, the LMS coaches, the Mk 2fs, Mk 2es, the HAAs, and the 21 Ton mineral wagons will do the heavy lifting. I could see an additional wagon or two thrown into the mix though. Hornby has already tooled up an MHA wagon. That could be released... You're right that in that particular quote it's not specifically mentioned it's a 0-6-0T, but from the same issue of the magazine: "In response to demand from modellers, Hornby will also be announcing several additions to its proposed 2024 range. A need for 0-6-0T locomotives for use on goods trains and also to allow operation of end-to- end layouts, is to be addressed with a brand new tank locomotive - details will be revealed next issue." It seems pretty unequivocal. But you never know! 🤣 So many types of 0-6-0Ts! I'm inclined to think that Hornby is going to go as "generic" as possible with their locomotive choice so it will work on as many layouts and time periods as possible. Unlike OO where there's a huge installed base of buyers to support more unusual prototypes, Hornby has to please as many buyers as possible. Of course, I might be letting my love of "generic" things get in the way of my thinking. 😅

This is correct. In November of 2022 Simon stated they intended to launch a Terrier at some point. I'm inclined to think that the Terrier would launch alongside some future SR Pacific locomotive. Admittedly, it is possible that the Terrier could be the mystery 0-6-0T... That was actually my original suspicion. But I'm inclined to think it will come later. An SR locomotive would not compliment the Duchesses which are coming in a few months. I'm thinking that Hornby wants a large locomotive and an 0-6-0T for each region ASAP. It gives flexibility for modelers to have more choices in locomotive size. The range would be A3/A4 and J94, Duchesses and Jinty, and Castle and Pannier. You're exactly right once again. Hornby's head of brand, speaking at the Rails of Sheffield event, warned us not to expect anything huge. He told us to expect some new liveries and a few surprises. He reiterated the point at MRS. He might have been underselling the launch, but I'm inclined to take him at face value. There's no doubt the Jinty is still speculative. But it fits a few things. It compliments the LMS Rolling Stock, it was widespread, and it was in Triang's original TT range. Hornby under Simon was an extremely nostalgic organization. While he is gone, the mystery 0-6-0T was approved under his tenure in early 2023. It's the natural locomotive to go for. Moreover, in both the Summer and Winter TT magazine, they were teased as reasonable additions to the range. Not confirmation, but it does lend credence. I wouldn't be shocked if it's not a Jinty, but I think it's the highest probability. The Sentinel would be a great addition to the range! These ones are known to be tank engines, but I would welcome the addition of 0-6-0 diesel! "B􏰜ut far and away the most requests are for steam era tank locomotives and the good news is that by this time next year there should be at least three different types in the range. At least one new tank locomotive is planned over and above those already promised in the first four phases of the range development􏰈 but you will have to wait and see what it is􏰑..." Summer 2023 I'd just add that we should expect some delays on the the timeframe. I think by the end of 2024, we should have one or at best two 0-6-0Ts in the range. The Pannier and J94 were in the roadmap from day one. They were initially planned for Phase 4. You can see this screenshot on the Internet Archive Page from November 30th 2022 with both the Pannier and J94 mentioned in the Phase 4. https://web.archive.org/web/20221130172709/https://uk.Hornby.com/hornbytt120/future But in this case we do know that at least one additional 0-6-0T has jumped the line. This is the mystery 0-6-0T: In response to demand from modellers, Hornby will also be announcing several additions to its proposed 2024 range. A need for 0-6-0T locomotives for use on goods trains and also to allow operation of end-to- end layouts, is to be addressed with a brand new tank locomotive - details will be revealed next issue. Summer 2023 "B􏰜ut far and away the most requests are for steam era tank locomotives and the good news is that by this time next year there should be at least three different types in the range. At least one new tank locomotive is planned over and above those already promised in the first four phases of the range development􏰈 but you will have to wait and see what it is􏰑..." Summer 2023 The three small-tank locomotives are the J94, the mystery 0-6-0T, and the Pannier tank engine.

Can't do any modeling at school... Speculating takes up less space in my room! 🤣

I'll preface this is speculation and I could be off enormously. I've gotten things wrong in the past, and I'll continue to get stuff wrong in the future. But I think this is how Hornby is approaching these based off of things we've heard... Ultimately, we have to remember this is the 2024 range event. Hornby is probably not going to want to highlight products due in 2025 or 2026. Phase 3 seems like it was supposed to encompass Class 47, Class 37, and the 9F. The 9F wasn't ever explicitly confirmed as part of Phase 3, but I think based on the literature it was implied. And while Hornby is moving away from "phases", I think they're still useful in giving us a rough timeline of when things were supposed to be released. The Class 50s, the Duchesses, and the Class 66s will be arriving throughout the Summer and Fall. By November/December Hornby might have an opening to launch a new product. We know that two 0-6-0Ts (Jinty and J94) had entered tooling in Spring of 2023. They might just arrive by the end of the year. The other contender for a 2024 release is the Class 47. It's a long shot though. We know Hornby is targeting early/mid 2025 for the Class 37. It's possible that the Class 47 beats it to market and arrives in 2024 (I'd love that!), but I think it's still pretty precarious. If the Class 47 arrives in 2024, I think it would be a November/December release. This is my rough guess for 2024 and 2025 releases. 2024: -Class 43 -Class 50 -Duchesses -Class 66 -Jinty -J94? -Class 47? 2025: -Class 47 -Class 37 -J94 -Castle -Pannier -9F -Class 31 2024 is the year of the LMS/LMR. 2025 should be the year of GWR/WR. They'll get 2 locomotives, coaches, buildings, and wagons. I wouldn't be shocked if the GWR locomotives jump ahead of the 9F. What about the SR? That could be a while... Your point about wagons is absolutely fair. The range needs new wagons. We especially need LMS freight wagons and brake vans for the Jinty that is probably arriving this year. But I think the elephant in the room when it comes to needing freight wagons are the Class 66s. Unlike the Class 50s and 47s, that saw extensive passenger work, the Class 66 is the ultimate freight locomotive. And while there was overlap with the HAAs, those modeling modern layouts won't have much optionality. Arnold's container wagons are great, but we need the KFAs ASAP. If there's any wagon that Hornby might release in 2024, it has to be the KFAs. It's an essential wagon. But I'm not too optimistic about there being a surprise announcement of some new product. The head of brand has repeatedly told us not to expect much. Unfortunately, the marketing team is playing April 2nd up as a huge event.* I'm worried that people are going to be disappointed when they see the event. *The marketing team needs work. Not only are there errors in product materials, but they also regularly fail to control expectations. Take the Play Trains brand relaunch. Instead of carefully controlling expectations, they simply released a statement that said "a new train is arriving." This led people to speculate (reasonably!) that a surprise locomotive was being announced. When the Play Trains set was released, people were confused and some upset. Hornby could have remedied the situation by changing the teaser to "A New Play Train is Arriving." Another problem with the relaunch of Play Trains was the lack of communication on how and why they were relaunching it. Hornby had previously communicated that they were ending the Play Trains line. What they meant to communicate was that Play Trains as we know it was ending (no more characters). Hornby should have had a blog post ready to go explaining their strategy for Play Trains moving forward and why they made the decision they did. But all they did was release a picture of the set with no insight. Getting a competent individual as head of marketing should be priority one. I'm hoping Martyn realizes that these problems exist and that he works to remedy them. Hornby should also consider hiring someone who is a bit of a railway history nerd (I use that term with loving respect as an amateur railway history nerd). I know the people making models know their content area well, but they need to be well represented to the community by a spokesperson who understands the prototype. I think the public relations win from having someone who cares about little details would be totally worth the salary.

I'm still optimistic about the Mk 3s coming much sooner than Summer. Hornby's website is pretty unreliable for determining dates of when things are going to ship. I fully expect that in the next few weeks we'll receive an un update on Mk 3s arriving. Maybe it will be April, but no later...