Does RailMaster have a future?

[papajulietdelta]

Hi

I have just noticed that a well known supplier in the NW has reduced the cost of R8144 RailMaster PC Model Railway Control System CD-Rom from a rrp of £69.99 to just £5.

Do they know something?

Cheers

[Yelrow]

Gosh, you are a tad slow off the mark. Many of us bought one as a spare, some 8 weeks ago.. But to be serious, there has been a long gap between updates etc, and questions have been asked. It may well be of course, that they are about to announce the release of Loco Recognition, (tongue in cheek) john

[Chrissaf]

As John said. The £5 RailMaster software from Hattons of Liverpool (it is OK to mention the retailer on the forum) has been the topic of discussion for some months now. That and the lack of any significant RM updates since April has had the rumour mill in overdrive. Multiple conjecture theories from RM being discontinued, to being replaced by a completely new version. Take you pick, but you will probably have to do what everybody else is doing, which is just to wait and see. Rumour is that something may happen around Christmas time (from a post made by PJ model trains).

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One would expect a big value retailer of Hornby products like Hattons would be advised by Hornby of pending products both new and obsolete. This may or may not have a bearing on the £5 offer. It may be just Hattons having a clear out of excessive stock that is not shifting. Who knows.....

[96RAF]

Logic says you can only flog RM standalone to someone who has an Elite or has bought an eLink off flea-bay, as it doesn't work with any other controllers.

 

If you bought a standalone eLink it won't work on its own and if you buy the eLink and RM package or both as part of a train set for around the RRP of RM quoted above, then the only only way to shift RM CDs is to sell cheap to people like us who want a second copy for testing, extra pc/laptop.etc.

[52train]

The question is what should we do and or where should we go, I know some people think hornby is a toy, but I would like to stay put if possible .I dont know if hornby read this but please don't let us down on railmaster.

[Chrissaf]

52 Train, I think you are being too pessimistic. I genuinely believe that RM will be around for some time to come.

[Slornie]

Multiple conjecture theories from RM being discontinued, to being replaced by a completely new version. Take you pick, but you will probably have to do what everybody else is doing, which is just to wait and see. Rumour is that something may happen around Christmas time (from a post made by PJ model trains).

 

Whatever Hornby's plans are the competition is growing. Have you noticed how similar Bachmann's new RailController software appears to be in look and function?  I almost want to think they're made by the same company! (maybe the developer had an exclusivity deal with Hornby which has now expired?)

[Chrissaf]

If you want to see something that truly has a look and feel of RailMaster then look at 'Big Bear'. Six months ago I had some quite extensive e-mail dialogue with the man who wrote 'Big Bear'. I can assure you he has nothing to do with Hornby or HRMS at all. Six months ago 'Big Bear' had no capability to read and write CVs (unlike RM when it works) can't say if that is still the case today as haven't been keeping up with the product. A quick look at the website seems to infer that is still the case (no integral CV functions). The 'BB' software author advised using a FREEWARE CV read/writing package such as DecoderPro instead. BB works with Hornby Elite, but NOT with eLink. I can also confirm from personal experience that DecoderPro also works with Elite, but not eLink.

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So for the pessimists out there, there are alternatives to RM, should in the unlikely event it gets withdrawn from new supply and all development work stops on it.

[52train]

I don't want to be that way but I used to work at a car plant in Dagenham its gone and I can see Railmaster going the sane way please I hope Iam so so so wrong .

[walkingthedog]

Things designed and/or worked by computer do look the same. Cars, aircraft, ship etc., slight differences but basically the same. 

[Fishmanoz]

This exact same question was asked a while back with exactly the same answer.  What is now wrong is Hornby's suggested price for RM.  I bought RM at this price to go with my Elite back before eLink was released.  As soon as eLink was released, at almost the same price as RM on its own, the bottom fell out of the standalone RM market and the problem became how to shift the stocks.  The chances are Hornby and Hattons got together to solve it with the £5 deal.

 

I'd go even further and save more, possibly passing it on to the buyer.  There is no good reason to send anyone the CD at all.  All it achieves is putting old versions of RM out there.  I'd do the entire sale online sending the customer only the licence code and soft copy installation instructions, including downloading the software from the link here.  All the CDs should go in the bin.

 

This has nothing to do with the future of RM, it's just an old stock clearance strategy.

[96RAF]

I suggested sending the code by email a while ago Fishy.

 

Its a standard practice in the software industry, even MS let you download a package and buy the code to release it.

 

I have several software packages bought this way.

[Yelrow]

So many emails go astray, we would have complaints there as well.  Heather answers emails from my sister in law daily. At least once a week, either we dont get hers, or our reply goes elsewhere. john

[96RAF]

We just had a big hoo-ha in Cyprus, due to 2 years worth of normal mail being purloined by a postal worker, but they are now delivering whats left, so its not just emails going astray John.

[Yelrow]

I only posted cos i had added a photo to my name after 14 years, only to find its not there. Why did i bother. john

[Fishmanoz]

I think needs moderation before it appears John.  And did it conform to the avatar photo size limits?

[Smithy58]

Afraid to say no, one of the many disincentives to using it has been the poor connectivity with the PC, I sometimes have to restart several times to get it to pick up on the correct usb port, then there is the programming of the decoders, it doesn't recognise some well known brands e.g. Esu sound decoders , gauge master and waiting for the software updates to reflect these.  All the hassle results in a loss of interest and as such I have decided to mothball the system and opt for the more reliable and better supported Esu ecos system.

i may find an alternative use for the elink / Railmaster setup for something else wher it can be used reliably.

[PJ_model_trains]

As John said. The £5 RailMaster software from Hattons of Liverpool (it is OK to mention the retailer on the forum) has been the topic of discussion for some months now. That and the lack of any significant RM updates since April has had the rumour mill in overdrive. Multiple conjecture theories from RM being discontinued, to being replaced by a completely new version. Take you pick, but you will probably have to do what everybody else is doing, which is just to wait and see. Rumour is that something may happen around Christmas time (from a post made by PJ model trains).

 

From memory I said that HRMS hoped to provide another update before Christmas (this year).

 

It followed a discussion with HRMS regarding the long standing issues with signals. I had carried out some tests which showed clearly an error with two aspect signals, for once it was nice to point to exactly where the issue was, which should have simplified HRMS finding and fixing the problem.

 

We can only hope.

 

Having said that, coming back to the main discussion of this thread, I personally feel, Hornby RailMaster is here to stay. Many of us will remember how basic RM was in the early days (years), then came a major upgrade/update to the software around two years ago. The upgrade certain enhanced the software and moved it forward a long way, but there were many issues for HRMS which have run on and on. I cannot help but think HRMS, which is a small team, had been reduced even further with Hornby's financial situation. 

 

There does appear to be encouraging news for the company in the statement made by the CEO, Steve Cook, in in the December Hornby Magazine, but although he did say many areas in the company had been restructured and they do appear to be now on the right track, there was no mention of RailMaster or Loco Detection! As for RM it will continue has it has with the occasional update, I think, we hope, as for LD I think we will have to see what is in the 2017 range which will be due soon. Let’s hope Hornby do not leave things to long as competitors will be considering their options, the world market and uncertainty has called all companies to be extra cautious but any company worth its salt will advance their products if they see a market for it.

[Yelrow]

Smithy, thats a bit like  comparing chalk with cheese. The  price difference, is eye watering. As for better support, thats in the eye of the beholder. I must say i have found Hornby support, fine. , and Railmaster/Elink, is for most of us, very competatively priced. . john 

[RDS]

I bought my first copy of RailMaster in February 2013 for £60, which I considered at the time, to be excellent value for the features it offered my layout.  I still think it has been a fantastic addition to my hobby and in my experience, both personal and from reading the Forum, the support from the RM support team, often referred to as HRMS, is excellent.  

 

There are of course some people who have problems but more often than not, it appears to have been their own system, rather than RM, that causes those problems.

[Smithy58]

Smithy, thats a bit like  comparing chalk with cheese. The  price difference, is eye watering. As for better support, thats in the eye of the beholder. I must say i have found Hornby support, fine. , and Railmaster/Elink, is for most of us, very competatively priced. . john 

While I agree with your comment about the price, I consider I would rather enjoy running the loco layout rather than trying to sort out the software pc issues which have been numerous leaving me totally exasperated and losing interest in what I was trying to do, at least with the ecos system it is up and running and dedicated to model railway without the issue of any pc involvment, this website is even hard work trying to edit the comments.

 

[PJ_model_trains]

I think RM is excellent value for money, especially since the Pro pack was introduced.

 

But the Pro pack with its advancements included a lot more work for HRMS. Not just the issues we have reported and some we are still waiting for fixes but, also for them to have to include signals and decoders from many third party companies. I am sure we will probably see many more in the next update.

 

The other item HRMS have had to consider is LD, a popular topic on thhe forum that at times feels as if it has been forgotten, but every change HRMS make to RM, they also have to test for working with LD. Because in time, some time, LD will come.

 

RM definately has a future, as it grows it remains flexible, I think, it can be as simple as some want to run trains, or it can include all the bells and whistles, so to speak, of all the extras. What ever level we choose, what ever we want from running our model trains, the software is suitable to suit most peoples needs with ease. At a reasonable price, again, I think.  😉

[papajulietdelta]

Glad to see that I sparked some debate!

Apologies for missing that the reduced price had been mentioned before. 

To my mind, we have all paid for our Elites, Elinks and the software.  Where is the revenue stream coming for further development? Are there that many new entrants to the hobby interested in computerised control? The competition has definitely increased since I abandoned my ZTC and dived into Railmaster.

It does what I want and I am fairly happy with the product. LD would be nice and the sale of the detectors might fund further development of the software. 

I do not see many newbies on this forum unlike a couple of years ago.

Perhaps the solution is a subscription service, like Microsoft have introduced for Office 365. How many of you would pay say £50 a year to have Railmaster maintained and enhanced?

Cheers 

[37lover]

PJD,

Any annual subscription would see me looking elsewhere, unless LD is released!

[Chrissaf]

I'll second that......subscription software is a no no.....I'd rather stick red hot needles in my eyes.

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I refuse point blank to pay for subscription TV services too.....like Sky for example.

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Wait till the first few weeks after Christmas......a torrent of newbie posts will appear from people trying to get their kids Hornby Christmas presents to work. Happens every year.........just like clockwork.