Hornby Design Clever

[TVR1707822112]

Hi all

This is probably gonna sound really dim, but I'm doing some Hornby History and have heard about the 'Design Clever' stage so I have multiple questions

• What exactly was the design clever stage?
• Which were the locomotives produced during it?
• Are there any of them still in production?
• How did they differ from regular locos?
• Was it a success?

Any help appreciated

Thanks and best wishes

[96RAF]

Probably a question best asked direct to Hornby.

[TVR1707822112]

Not that they'd be a huge amount of use...

Edit: Mods please don't kill me for that...

TVR

[ColinB]

Clever, Hornby, somehow the two don't mix. I assume it might be the period where they tried to cost reduce their models, Sam of Sam's Trains was on about it. The Duke of Gloucester was one of its products. I think in the end, it cost more than it saved. I repair a lot of Hornby locos and clever is not a word I would use to describe their design. One I have been repairing lately is a Royal Scot/Patriot where someone thought to save a cross member on the valve gear, they would come up with an arrangement where it pressed into the chassis. Now I don't whether it was meant to be a tight fit but on the ones I fixed they full out. Unless you tie the top of the valve gear together with wire, you cannot run the loco without its body for fear of it falling out and jamming the valve gear. It probably explains why you cannot get them as spares, they broke so often that they got used up quickly. Then we have the really amazing arrangement of how the motor is held in, then using a self tapping screw on an undersize post to hold it. Even without Mazak rot it was never going to work that well.

[TVR1707822112]

Hornby? Cost reducing? Are you sure you're not making that up?

joy

[ColinB]

I think they did when under the previous owners. By cost reducing, that is not the final price but how much it costs to make it, that way you can make more profit. Unfortunately as my company realised a badly planned cost reduction can cost you more as the warranty claims go through the roof. I think that is also what happened to Hornby.

[The Doc]

I was quite cynical and scathing about the "design clever" concept when it was first publicised, because it seemed to me that the models were going to go back to 1970s-80s level of detail, with far fewer separately fitted parts, particularly hand rails, but also plastic buffers. The argument was, I suppose, that these were details that many Hornby customers weren't too fussed about, and it would save on production costs, though I did wonder how much money was actually saved. However, I'm prepared to say I was too harsh and ought to eat a bit of humble pie, because in that era Hornby produced some decent (though not exceptional) models that were outstanding value for money. These are the ones I am fairly sure about that fitted the Design clever remit:

P2 Cock o' the North

A1 Tornado

Flying Scotsman (second Railroad version)

Duke of Gloucester

GWR Hall class

These are all big locos and were selling for a similar price to tiny superdetailed models like the Peckett 0-4-0. I have a P2 and Tornado in my collection, and they are both good models that were irrestible at the time because they were such good value. Both are good runners, though the P2 is even better after I replaced the original 3 pole motor/flywheen with a 5 pole skew wound motor - it gives a much better smooth start, but once the loco is moving is no better than the original 3 pole motor.

[ColinB]

The only thing I noticed on my P2 and Tornado was the lack of pickups in the tender but that was easily rectified. I did as you did replaced the 3 pole motors with the 5 pole motor in the P2 and Duke of Gloucester. The only thing I do like is the sprung buffers but not for £50 more. The sprung buffers do have a tendency to "ping" out so that is a bit of a downside. As you say they are good models.