Why Hornby Don't do O gauge

[old gezzer]

Hi everybody good evening

I was sat at my coumputer thinking about 7mm gauge and the companies did do the gauge Now and I thought why don't Hornby dip their toe's back into the 7mm Pool?.

Just a thought what do other people think.

Best Regards

Michael

[poliss]

Wasn't that long ago they dropped the Bassett Lowke range. Don't know why.

[Wobblinwheel]

I'm wondering why Hornby doesn't do HO gauge,to match the scale of the track they run on! I guess that's the same mindset as driving on the wrong side of the road while sitting in the wrong side of the car.....baffling....

[ModelerXYZ]

I know why they don't do HO gauge. The track then becomesw american standard gauge instead of british standard gauge, and then british modelers are left out of the market. OO is easier to work out as well. O gauge would be great for modelers who like building railways outside, but a lack of locos ect. is a problem for some of us. An O gauge outside train would ideally be wind up so that there is no problem with rust on the track either. XYZ.

[LCDR]

 I don't know the reason, but I can guess, Hornby are the market leader in OO, which they do very well, and to do anything else might jepordise their position.

 

O gauge is still very much a niche market, because it tends to be too big for the average householder to have a decent 'roundy-roundy' train set, which still remains the average modeller's idea of playing trains.

 

 O gauge is more the province of wealthy who can have a layout in an outbuilding or a loft or cellar in a large house. It has a place in garden railway modelling of course, but British weather is not very helpful in getting the best from your model! I am planning a simple fine scale O gauge shunting layout for showing off my Dapol A1X and a couple of scratch built 0-6-0s and this will exceed 4 metres long, including fiddle yard etc.! I probably get to play on my O gauge coarse scale garden line between May and September on about ten occasions each year.

 

Hornby don't do British N gauge either (well hardly) with just the Arnold Brighton Belle in their list.

 

Hornby DO do HO but not under the Hornby brand-name and not British outline. As we have discussed in other threads HO tends to be the World Standard for everywhere except Britain. The British, just to be awkward, adopted OO and kept the Pound. -- Nuff Said!

 

Maybe Hornby ought to look at complementary system to OO such as OO9 ?

 

 

 

 

 

[Buz]

I'm wondering why Hornby doesn't do HO gauge,to match the scale of the track they run on! I guess that's the same mindset as driving on the wrong side of the road while sitting in the wrong side of the car.....baffling....

I think you mean HO scale to match the track

It is actualy a technical issuie that goes back to when HO and OO scales where first created 1930's I think.

Real UK trains are very much smaller than every one elses real Trains.

When they tried to fit the electric motors and clock work motors that could be manufactured at the time,

into English  HO model trains they where way to big in the trains the only soloution avalable at the time was the funny comercial basis scale gauge combination.  that's how the UK comercial OO came to be.

An instance where the US version on 19mm gauge is closer to scale no idea why it did not tale??

regards John

[LCDR]

 Actually both OO and HO are peculiar scales (1:76 and 1:87), so why not  1: 64, 1:72, 1:75 or 1:96?

 

Why mix metric and Imperial measurements? 4mm to 1 foot or 3.5mm to 1 foot?

 

1:76.8 or rounded up to 1:77 is 5/32 inch to 1 foot, so 4mm scale is approximately right for the proportion. It is still a bit clunky though. The only problem is the rails are too close together.

 

O gauge is 1:43.5 scale (7mm to 1 foot) in the UK but it also can be 1:48 (1/4 inch to 1 foot). My Lima O gauge Mark 1 coaches are 1:48 scale. 1:43.5 should use track of 33.75 mm. and 1:48 should use track of 29.9 mm. 32 mm is therefore ALSO a compromise

 

Confused?  You ought to be!!

 

I think I shall stick to what I know.

[Buz]

Hi LC&DR

No not confused yet,  but it will only take one more scale to do it 😆

I think a choice of the outline etc you like and the compromise you can live with when it comes to comercial models and us that use them. 

Those that don't like it end up in the fine scale versions often with the skills for the master crafted models that make us mere mortals drool.

regards John

[Buz]

 O gauge is more the province of wealthy who can have a layout in an outbuilding or a loft or cellar in a large house. It has a place in garden railway modelling of course, but

Hi LC&DR

Which is why I built a big shed in my back yard for OO I can afford the shed but not the "O" scale to go with it 😢

I think Arnold is perhaps a bad example before Hornby they made European trains after Hornby they still make European trains.

All the brands Hornby now has in its box with the exception of perhaps Lima No more Australian models and the English ones folded into the Hornby brand range.

The others seem to still be servicing to one degree or another the market they had pre Hornby.

There was Lydle end and Horrnby minitrix at one point for the English market in "N" scale

regards John

[walkingthedog]

American drivers sit in the wrong side of their cars. Stagecoach drivers away sat on the right with the shotgun rider on the left. They only changed because they bought their first cars from Germany. 

[RB51]

VW's presumably. No testing then. R-

[trainlover23]

 I don't know the reason, but I can guess, Hornby are the market leader in OO, which they do very well, and to do anything else might jepordise their position.

O gauge is still very much a niche market, because it tends to be too big for the average householder to have a decent 'roundy-roundy' train set, which still remains the average modeller's idea of playing trains.

 O gauge is more the province of wealthy who can have a layout in an outbuilding or a loft or cellar in a large house. It has a place in garden railway modelling of course, but British weather is not very helpful in getting the best from your model! I am planning a simple fine scale O gauge shunting layout for showing off my Dapol A1X and a couple of scratch built 0-6-0s and this will exceed 4 metres long, including fiddle yard etc.! I probably get to play on my O gauge coarse scale garden line between May and September on about ten occasions each year.

Hornby don't do British N gauge either (well hardly) with just the Arnold Brighton Belle in their list.

Hornby DO do HO but not under the Hornby brand-name and not British outline. As we have discussed in other threads HO tends to be the World Standard for everywhere except Britain. The British, just to be awkward, adopted OO and kept the Pound. -- Nuff Said!

Maybe Hornby ought to look at complementary system to OO such as OO9 ?

Should read one of the leading 

[LCDR]

 I think you will find Hornby are head and shoulders out in front in OO.  Bachmann have a huge backlog of production, way more than Hornby ever had. I am still waiting for a load of promises from them which should have appeared last year (or the year before), and are not yet at the CAD stage yet. They seem to be putting all their effort into N instead.

[AndyMac1707817969]

I guess it depends on what you mean by the market leader. Hornby seem to put a lot more effort into some areas than others I can only assume that is where they sell the most items. For example comparing their mainly steam era coaches to their BR Mk1, M2, Mk3 and Mk4 ranges, they are worlds apart.

[GreenGiraffe22]

I always use to wonder why my trains were 1/76 and my model planes were 1/72, I thought  why don't they just pick one? As for O Gauge, I assumed they don't do it because it's not very financially viable? I don't know what the market is like, but I'm sure not too many enthusiasts can afford O Gauge models compared to 00??? 

[LCDR]

 Certainly O gauge costs more but you do get a lot more for your money. My ready to run O gauge A1X0-6-0T  cost £199, and a Guards Van cost £62, considerably more than the OO equivalent, by up to three times. The amount of detail you get nowadays is a lot more.

 

If you want a highly detailed limited edition Stanier Princess Royal Pacific there is one advertised in the Gauge O Guild Gazette for £2,850. however a E class Peckett 0-4-0ST will cost you £255.

[Postman Prat]

Fazy is always on about the Princess - perhaps someone should tell him !!

[Fazy]

Sorry PP I'm 5p short this month maybe next

[Postman Prat]

Hi Fazy

 

I'll loan you the 5p, providing you promise to repay it out of your next pay cheque

[old gezzer]

I don't think O gauge is to dear now Dapol £165.00 for the Terrier and the Class 08 out soon can start of a O gauge movement I mean a high oo gauge loco can cost more than the O gauge like dapol.

I just don't see the augument that Hornby are best at OO gauge. remeber the old saying all your eggs in 1 basket.

regards

[LCDR]

 You do get a lot more 'bang' for you buck in Gauge 'O' that is true but unless you live in a fairly large house or go into the garden you are fairly restricted as to layout size.  Most people with large houses can also afford to buy their Gauge O from established specialists.

 

I have Gauge O round my garden, but with such lousy weather in the UK there are only a few days a year I can play with it.  Mine is coarse scale three rail, I run a mix of Ace Trains, Darstead, Bassett Lowke and Hornby tinplate.

 

I am planning a small gauge O finescale layout and it will be a fairly modest affair but will still be over 12 feet (4 metres) in length by half a metre wide.

 

There is no way I shall be able to accomodate a Pacific, or even a decent sized Mogul and will operate it mostly with 0-6-0 or 0-4-4T locomotives.

 

Hornby seem to specialise in BIG locos, that is what their customers seem to want.  They are also a volume producer, and rarely make short runs of anything (except where it is only a paint job required) . There are already some good manufacturers  making inroads into O gauge RTR. The Dapol locps have already been mentioned, then there are Ixion, and Minerva, who make excellent industrials. But then not everyone wants branch lines or industrial railway shunting layouts . I bet if you had a poll of Hornby users the majority operate oval shaped continuous run layouts, and include at least one Pacific in their fleet.  In O gauge this would need a minimum space of  4 metres by 6 metres, just to run a 4 coach corridor train hauled by a Pacific.  Are you lucky (wealthy) enough to  have a room this size?

 

So it isn't just the direct cost, but the ability to shoehorn a mainline railway in O gauge into a modern house that would make this unattractive to Hornby's main customer base.