Latest ill-informed grump on YouTube

[GMD]

Hi all

Once again Charlie (Chadwick) is having a Hornby-directed grump. Just alike another recent prominent YouTuber, he lumps in SteamPunk, and TT120 (and Live steam?) as expensive mistakes from Hornby and gives the very poor advice not to pre-order anything from Hornby. He seems to make the mistake of believing that anything pre-ordered from Hornby puts your money at risk in case the company collapses. Surely he must realise that monies are only collected when the item is in stock and ready for dispatch?

He is also obviously guilty of not actually discerning the very positive impact TT120 has had on the company’s bottom line but instead chooses to use his sizeable platform to mislead modellers. Grrrrrrrr.

Sorry, but needed to vent somewhere…

[Rallymatt]

‘Right Charlie’ could be on very sticky ground, if Hornby Hobbies decided to make a legal challenge to his comments regarding pre- orders and monies being at risk, it might not just be his work at Peco that he ends up losing….

[Postman On The Rails]

I hope someone has put him right.

[sxbiker]

Actually Charlie, didn't say that money was at risk if you pre-ordered. Mind you I think he and others seem to have a problem with Hornby and will take every opportunity to criticise.

[happy tt]

hi GMD i am glad i did not hear charlie's comments i might have been tempted to start a new thread about him

i had a lot of good comments but some. i watched it a total of 5 or 6 times to check the first 3 min of his post before i started the new thread . to check if he had said what he had about TT120.+steam punk

Gmd go have a look at my thread and read comments good and bad .

you might get a way with all round good comments i think charlie's is not has popular as sam .

GMD well done for sticking up for TT120 i would like to shake you hand

CHARLIE and SAM we all love model railways from TTT to g scale and above so whats wrong with TT120 joy

[ColinB]

Just watched the video what is the issue, it is just what a lot of us think. Yes, you don't pay for pre orders but all he was saying is be wary, meaning sending items back. Show their balance sheet to anyone and they would come to same conclusion, the clear out of old faces endorses that. Hornby though is a bit like the Morgan Motor Company the normal rules of business don't seem to apply. Hornby though isn't only a model railways there are many strings to their bow.

[taunmarc88]

It baffles me that we are still getting this kind of rubbish content about TT:120 when many of us have a loco running around a track at home quite happy with it.

If anything, TT might salvage hornby going forward. It’s a brand new start from scratch… not many companies get this chance and Hornby will run with it. The hobby is changing, that affects the YouTubers the most it would seem.. reduced revenues is everyone starts watching TT endeavours instead !

[BritInVanCA]

I commented on Sam’s video about lumping TT120 in with Steam Punk (which was a badly thought out idea). I don’t think he said it would fail but said “ only time will tell “ in a way that implied he would say I told you so if it did. I’m probably in the minority as I normally like Sam. His reviews of the OO P2 were very positive

[Aussie Fred]

Unlike here in Australia where you have to pay up front for pre-orders and then if the store goes bust (as one did with me) you have done your dough - Whereas back in your land, if you pre-order direct from Hornby (and don't pay much in postage) you don't get billed UNTIL the order is ready to go.

So stop grumbling, please.

EDIT and in case anyone is interested I got myself a punk loco and 2 carriages when they were half price and put them on display on top of my display cabinet. As it is DC, I can't run it.

[happy tt]

hi britlnvanCA I like sam to ,its was a good review of p2 prince of wales i would love to have one in TT some day .it's like TT120 has the plague and all loco are at risk lol

i wish you all a happy bank holiday monday yum

[John-L]

Well so far TT seems to be off to a good start. I’m very impressed with my models and looking forward to getting my various pre-orders.

I really dont get the negativity, it’s almost as if some people take a dislike to a ‘new’ scale even though they don’t intend to use it. Model railways are a hobby. Its supposed to be fun. Honestly, just enjoy your own models and don’t worry about what scale others of us are using.

[moawkwrd]

It baffles me that we are still getting this kind of rubbish content about TT:120 when many of us have a loco running around a track at home quite happy with it.

If anything, TT might salvage hornby going forward. It’s a brand new start from scratch… not many companies get this chance and Hornby will run with it. The hobby is changing, that affects the YouTubers the most it would seem.. reduced revenues is everyone starts watching TT endeavours instead !

 

 

This is my train of thought also. People keep mentioning the £5.9m loss as if it’s all due to TT when the accounts don’t say anything like that. If anything the loss seems to be from either non-railway business or OO.

[ntpntpntp]

Unlike here in Australia where you have to pay up front for pre-orders and then if the store goes bust (as one did with me) you have done your dough.

 

 

Do you not have the equivalent of our UK Consumer Credit Act "Section 75" protection if you paid by credit card? I've used this in the past to get a refund on event tickets when the promoter went bust. Failure to deliver the goods or service paid for.

Whilst I use Paypal for quick convenient payments to trusted firms, things like pre-orders where I pay up front always go on the credit card.

[Rallymatt]

I won’t give either of these half wits the satisfaction of a click on their content but I will say, real modellers are only interested in seeing people enjoy the hobby in whatever way they wish and support manufacturers who help make that possible. Every now and then we have bad experiences and sharing those specifics can be helpful, the opinions of an angry little old man are valueless. There are better model railway content makers 😁

[Steve-353799]

All I got from it was precarious! lol

[John-L]

Kind of weird to suggest not preordering? Pretty sure the charge only goes through on dispatch so you’ve literally nothing to lose (and everything to gain in terms of avoiding prices rises) by preordering.

[Generic Hornby Username]

As someone modeling from America, some of the complaints from guys like Sam's Trains just don't make sense. He lambasts Hornby for offering a poor value constantly. Ironically, one of the reasons I decided to model in British Locomotives was the value of British trains relative to US ones. In order to get a truly fair comparison for US trains, you need to consider the difference of VAT.

Bachmann US has recently announced newly tooled N-Scale diesels. They come standard with a stay alive, sound, and a DCC chip- so it's a good setup. It will cost you $459 USD RRP, or the equivalent of 364.84 pounds! And that's before any VAT would be added. Just the n-scale diesel would cost 437 pounds at the RRP with VAT! Bachmann has a variety of trains at different price points, but this is their new top of the line spec. For 249 pounds (VAT included) you can get a newly-tooled TT train set with DCC and Sound from Hornby. It's not even close! Add to that the 10% back in rewards (assuming you're not a member of the club) and you could throw in a wagon for a few extra pounds.

I'm mystified by the way Hornby is attacked again and again for exorbitant prices when they're not even profitable.

[Alan-365435]

well, here we go another Hornby bashing from YouTubers who think they know better than everyone else Hornby has had some very brave innervations in the last few years good on their TT scale their blue tooth decoders and their magnetic couplings just a few of the top of my head. Where would we be if manufacturers did not take some risks and innovate

There are far too many YouTubers who are too ready to criticize Hornby you ask any child to name a model railway manufacturer and 9 out of 10 would say, Hornby is part of my childhood and a great part of our history and long may they continue 🚂👏👏👏well done hornby that what i say

[Rallymatt]

Just for some balance, HH biggest competitor posted a loss in fortunes too, drop in group sales by 11% and an operating profit of HKD24m in 2021 turned to a loss of HKD22m in 2022, Im sure the model railway experts in YouTube land have some views on that…. (They haven’t the first clue on how to read a balance sheet 🤣)

The reality is all businesses are currently under intense pressure and luxury items like model railways are not top of most people’s shopping lists. Hopefully all the manufacturers can continue to make the things we like buying and playing with.

[Alan-365435]

quite agree Hornby has taken a chance and innovated with some of their products and good for them Where would we be if they did not take a gamble with new innovations There are far too many YouTubers who take themselves far too seriously stick to running your trains and stop pushing your own agenda

[Skelton Junction]

Just for some balance, HH biggest competitor posted a loss in fortunes too, drop in group sales by 11% and an operating profit of HKD24m in 2021 turned to a loss of HKD22m in 2022, Im sure the model railway experts in YouTube land have some views on that…. (They haven’t the first clue on how to read a balance sheet 🤣)

The reality is all businesses are currently under intense pressure and luxury items like model railways are not top of most people’s shopping lists. Hopefully all the manufacturers can continue to make the things we like buying and playing with.

 

 

…or some Company will buy out another, or two.

[Fredoxford-344906]

Charlie's videos are pretty popular and didn't he win and award as best youtuber? Personally I think Hornby tt120 have a bright future, oo gauge is definitely a bit too big. Charlie seems to assume that tt120 has been unsuccessful? Is that true? Seems to be wishful speaking. I'll have to say though Sam's trains videos are hard to beat, he must create a lot of interest from younger viewers. Although like others I don’t understand why he is 100% convinced that prices are too high? Hornby are obviously not making a massive profit!

Something.

[Les-345151]

One aspect of Sam's Trains that I do appreciate is the reveal of the mechanisms- something a few publications and other reviewers would do well to emulate.

[Barry-350851]

The great thing about YouTube is that you are allowed opinions.

I don't agree with absolutely everything Charlie says or does but I still watch and it doesn't stop me enjoying. If you don't like his opinions, don't watch him.

[ColinB]

The reason Sam thinks Hornby's prices are too high is because he does what I do, looks at the competition. He uses Accurascale, both make detailed models, both use contract manufacturing in China, yet the price of a Accurascale class 92 is about £40 to £50 cheaper than Hornby's class 87. The real joke is for that cheaper price you get electrically controlled pantographs which have got to cost more. You can do the same with Dapol comparing their locos with Hornby, again substantially cheaper and often better. Charlie made a comment which he is entitled to do. I don't know where TT120 is going but he is allowed his view, to me there isn't enough out there and what happens when they go wrong. N gauge took years to take on, given Hornby's interest in new projects seems rather short who knows? When did they do a major upgrade to the Elite, that has got to be late 90s technology. Just for information, I criticise Hornby a lot but I also buy an awful lot of their models, generally because I preordered them several years ago at a very much cheaper price. I bought the latest class 87 and was horrified that it didn't even have sophisticated lighting which is standard on a new Bachmann, Accurascale or Dapol mode and I think the price was virtually £220. Given that they redesigned the PCB for the new HM7000 they could have improved the lighting at the same time. The new P2s are good, again I bought mine on preorder but the current price is about the same as a sound fitted Manor from Accurascale. So make up your own opinion?