Huge gamble by Hornby.
i get the gist that this is aimed at people who want to run trains rather than be the concerned with the finescale aspects of modelling. It also railway modelling from a clean slate with commercially available correct gauging and compatability with overseas products.
So lets hope that:
products are detailed, but not overly-detailed so that things break off easily when you are doing simple things such as getting them out the box for the first time.
relative cheap alternative to OO. Less detail, less raw material, smaller size means cheaper freight from China?
mechanisms are simple and accessible so you can service them. Loads of my more recent 00 stuff just sits there as they are either dreadful runners through rubbish design or malfunctioned and I don’t have the ability to see what is wrong to repair them (even removing the body is a faff on lots of them). Older 70s and 80s stuff is bulletproof and even a cack handed clown like me can repair
no mazak rot.
I’ve got shedloads of 00 stuff, so I’m probably too far gone to make a complete switch, but might try a perspective layout with a 00 branch or industrial line in the foreground where I can do my ‘serious’ modelling, with the running express trains in the background at TT scale,
Also, wonder if this is the start of the gradual phasing out of Railroad, as Hornby pushes towards TT for newbies? Leaving OO for finescale modellers.