Trains4U

Hornby are communicating, it’s just very to-the-point in a “we’ve changed your quantities and that’s final” sort of way.

I’m pleased to say that in addition to stocking the 13 variants announced in the general release, we will also have three previously unavailable versions of Railfreight BBA, exclusive to Trains4U. BBA 910045 Railfreight red and black, large central BR Railfreight logo and round buffers BBA 910342 Railfreight red and black, large central BR Railfreight logo with white infill and rectangular buffers BBA 910163 plain Railfreight black and red, no logos, rectangular buffers We are not set up to take card details for pre orders, but we will open an order form shortly to allow you to register an order for any of the 16 versions.

Once the wholesale customer retailers sell out of their current stocks, yes. (I still have a reasonable stock of snowploughs, tank engines and RHTTs)

Hattons ceased their wholesale operation in January. my stocks of Hattons products are dwindling and will not be replaced (which is sad as the little tank engines sell particularly well)

We have had notification of backorder reductions for the W1 and Network Rail DVT this afternoon. fortunately our customer pre orders are not impacted. This is being felt by (I assume) everyone, please don’t blame the retailers.

Trains4U 27, St.David’s Square, Fengate, Peterborough, PE1 5QA We will be reopening on Tuesday 13th April at 10:00 am. Opening hours will be: Tuesday -Saturday 10:00 - 17:00 Sunday 10:30-15:30 Monday Closed Capacity will be limited to SIX individuals or bubbles, though we would prefer customers to shop alone if possible. We are really looking forward to seeing you back in the shop!

The earlier chocks appear to be wooden and are either scalene triangles: Or isosceles triangles: The Isosceles type still seem to be in use. I guess it depends on what you can get your hands on...

I honestly have no idea. There have been delays in the factory for a number of reasons (Chinese new year, covid staff shortages, backlogs of existing orders) and there were a few issues to resolve with the finish of the wagons, so they haven't left china yet. I'm expecting airfreighted amended samples to arrive imminently, and I believe they were aiming to get the rest in a container in the next week or so. There is bound to be an impact from the issues in the Suez canal, but hopefully the backlog will be reduced by the time our ship transits. I'm not entirely sure. Pics I've seen of loaded PFBs seem to have wooden chocks (I'm still looking) The majority of images for KFAs have these metal chocs in use, so I'd say they are good from the early 90s, but I honestly don't know if they were used earlier. Rule 1 applies!

I'll just leave these here: (Brian Daniels pics)

Hi Trains4U won’t ask for payment until they are in the country and about to be dispatched.

There is quite a bit of variation in the KFA liveries, with plain green and yellow ended KFAs knocking around today as far as I know. some of these variations will be picked up in future runs of the model.

Thanks for the nomination It hasn’t been an easy year, so this is a nice morale booster! (I can’t wait to welcome customers back into the shop...)

One of my staff (John) got a resin 3D printer for Christmas and has been putting it to good use... these wheel chocks will be available very soon to buy separately. Available as packs of 12 for £10 painted or £7.25 unpainted. If you want to add any to your order, let us know!

I’ve just been lucky enough to have a close look at these, and they are outstanding (I would say that though wouldn’t I) The detail is phenomenal and raises the bar yet again. what is noteworthy is that in a side-by-side comparison with a competing version, the hopper of the Cavalex model sits correctly in the cradle and is a good 2-3mm or so lower, the hopper is also (correctly) 6mm or so longer and the solebar slightly slimmer, giving it a proper bulky look, rather than a short and arguably overbalanced appearance. The hood on the CDA is also an excellent piece of engineering with some lovely etched brass detail. I’m sure Cav and Alex can better explain, but it is worth noting that these are tooling samples to test variation and fit, so won’t be a perfect match for an existing prototype.

I’m surprised no-one has commented on the green colour. These are the top-secret Military versions. The MOD ordered several dozen to distribute coal for the strategic reserve. no-one ever saw them as they were so well camouflaged. Allegedly they are still hidden in a tunnel somewhere under Wiltshire. They’ll go well with the KFAs.

There may be something in the works... we are looking at the costs.

Coming soon...! A full update will follow shortly.

Dapol put the onus on the retailers to decide the quantities. The production run was made to order. Its difficult, most retailers knew they would sell well and ordered in reasonable depth, but there aren’t many retailers who can take the risk of making a massive order that might not sell quickly enough to cover the bill. on one hand, I wish i’d doubled my order, but on the other, if I had done that, and they hadn’t sold out, I’d be worrying about my ability to pay the bill (the order was placed pre-covid obviously). as it is, they’ve been a very welcome boost to business.

Now online... still some left. http://www.trains4u.com/c/709/OO-Gauge

We currently have only 8 of each remaining in stock. They are now at £159.95 I still haven't been able to get them online as yet, but we can take orders by phone.

Our TPE 68s have arrived - they will be online soon!

Ok I’ll try and make it simple. I have a locomotive that cost £50, with an RRP of £75. (Im leaving VAT out if this as it makes it messy) because of market forces, I price it at £62.50, giving a £12.50 profit margin. I can expect to buy a replacement for £50. Of the remaining 12.50, I have to pay rent, rates, wages, insurance, tax etc. the manufacturer raises the price of a replacement product by 10% (there have been larger increases) to £55 and the RRP to £82.50, I put the sale price of the item £70 if the retailer doesn’t raise the price of the existing model on sale, the cost of the sale, including replacement of the item, means you only have £7.50 to pay your costs. as before, it’s cashflow, the potential profit of the replacement item, whilst marginally better at £15, is tied up and not realisable until sale, and cannot pay a bill. By increasing the price, the cost of sale, including replacement, nets to a reasonable sum to run and invest in the business. However, the most important reason, and one that applies to lower value always-available items (like paint, or point motors) is that an Electronic point of sale system or website cannot differentiate between old and new stock. One price must be used and that will be the latest, highest price. personally, I don’t like to increase prices on rolling stock and this is not so much an issue as manufacturers are not often raising prices on existing inventory any more. but 5-6 years ago we were seeing 10-15% increases on held inventory, and if we wanted to pay our bills, there was no option but to immediately raise prices in-line. I take a different view to paint and accessories. Old stock is priced at the new stock price, for EPOS, labelling and simplicity.

Most of the Class 92s are now available online. We don't have any stock of the second CS or Railfreight locos. http://www.trains4u.com/c/694/RevolutioN-Trains

If it's TOPS era, it's definitely going to be a TLA

Retailers can deduct the VAT for ex-UK sales, yes.