Hornby Spares

[Howard-376722]

Hi Guys

New to this forum but felt, through frustration, more than anything else, That I needed to say my piece re Hornby spare parts.

The Mallard, loved & owned by many & a status symbol of masterful engineering of its day. Why is it so hard to get replacement parts for the (00) model, which is still one of the top sellers today?

I’ve read & understand peoples arguments regarding various reasons for this but in todays market & the cost of NEW Hornby models, surely model railway enthusiasts will want to preserve their collection for as long as possible by replacing worn parts.

Time over use is normally the culprit with model rail, as parts become brittle and naturally worn etc. There are loads of locos out there up to & even over 40 years old for sale, that have ‘ stood the test of time’ as well as a countless number fondly owned by enthusiasts who, as the hobby dictates, want to not only keep their stock in good running order, but also carry out necessary repairs & replace worn parts when required.

Many of Hornby’s parts are also interchangeable with other models that they produce. A good business strategy, but which surely puts a greater demand on the need for more of the same part to be made available.

However Hornby, by so called ‘improving’ or ‘changing’ production details, are creating the need for more replacement parts to be made available

I have been given a Mallard which is approximately 35 to 40 years old which needs replacement parts & it seems that whilst the components are supposedly available, all suppliers are out of stock! Will my Mallard ever run on the rails again I wonder?

Oh & this 1 model alone has many build variations.

So Hornby, please give your customers better opportunities to access spare parts to keep enthusiasts happy, or they may decide to buy from your competitors who, may be dearer but will know that they are able to get the replacement parts they need when they need them. Food for thought?

[RDS]

Howard, welcome to the Forum. I have changed the title of your post to better define, I hope, the points you raise.

I have also removed all the extra line spaces within your post. This Forum automatically adds a line space when you press enter.

[atom3624]

Welcome to the forum.

You are obviously experienced enough to know / have experienced many of the shortcomings we all experience - probably read on here as well.

Many you will still regularly find on Ebay.

Many of the larger stores may have a 'repairs section', or possibly a sort-of 'lost-and-found' area where they may actually have some parts you require.

Directly to Hornby - contact them directly. They will occasionally review this site, but do not regularly monitor it. Sometimes when you contact directly, you might fall upon the right person / right model and they'll remember there are parts somewhere which could fit.

As far as Hornby routinely making 'repair / replacement parts' - it hasn't happened for years, unfortunately. It's a difficult one to anticipate. They could run out of group of parts quickly, whereas others thought to be required could be within 1,000's sitting on shelves never to be used. Fine line.

There are an increasing number of skilled operators of 3D printers who can help with some parts.

Local Model Railway Clubs can often help as well - may have tried that one before but always worth a try.

Al.

[Simon-372339]

My curiosity is piqued as to which parts on the OP's Mallard has worn out.

[96RAF]

I love the way folk expect Hornby to keep parts for every model up to several decades old when they probably weren't even Hornby then. That is what specialist spares suppliers are for.

[Rallymatt]

Supporting products after 35/40 years is unrealistic for manufacturers, walk into a Ford dealership and ask how many parts for a Sierra they have on the shelves 🤣

At least now the internet and 3d printing makes searching a lot less painful. Good luck 👍

[Going Spare]

When your Mallard was released (you say 35-40 years ago), production was in Margate and to organise a re-run of a replacement part (if it was offered - even then, not all were), was a relatively simple matter as the production line was virtually under the same roof.

But over time the model specification was improved and Hornby - not the big company many people believe it to be - can not be expected to maintain a stock holding for every part for every model that has ever been produced since the mid-1950s, probably now numbering well over 12,000 items or packs for 00 railways alone, and then there is Airfix, Scalextric, Corgi.

The spares situation was exacerbated by the move of model production to China towards the end of the 1990s, the Chinese factories/sub-contractors apparently not being prepared to produce a further quantity of any given part at an acceptable price until it was again required to form part of a complete model, and with the constant revision to specifications, that need probably did not arise again.

Having said that, it would appear that there is now a greater flexibility in obtaining re-runs of some parts in China but that by no means covers everything and certainly not components made to UK specifications.

No doubt there are exceptions, but try getting a replacement part for a domestic appliance of anywhere near that vintage.......

[Tony57]

Whilst understanding your frustration why not ask does anyone know where I can I get ? part from for locomotive Rxxx.

Some of us may have contacts who may be able to supply the parts needed.

From someone who loves older models it is easier to get parts for a 40 year old locomotive than brand new one made last year.

[ColinB]

I can understand your frustration, surprisingly spares for a loco that old are quite often easier to get than spares for a recently released model. I have been down this road before. Surprisingly when I was fixing my old Bachmann split chassis locos I got the spares off Bachmann UK and they were as old as your Mallard. Incidentally Ford are required by law to keep spares for vehicles for 10 years, if you go to Daventry you will see this huge warehouse where they keep them, plus after 10 years the aftermarket starts making them. With a lot of their models Hornby does share parts, but it does need a bit of detective work to find them. The thing that really annoys me is in the motor industry we have spares which are called fast moving parts, basically parts we know will break so we make more spares available for them. Hornby does nothing of the sort, couplings, buffers, bits that drop off while you are trying to fit DCC, try getting them as spare parts.

What parts are you after exactly? If I knew I could possibly point you in the right direction.

[AndyMac1707817969]

What size of market is there now for spares especially for locos decades old? Unlike previous generations may people lack the skills to diagnose faults and repair locos. Simple cost of labour nowadays makes having a loco repaired uneconomical if it’s going to take several hours of work (as it does for most things). It might be viable to have additional parts made as spares when items are first produced but to expect Hornby to bear the high cost to commission a third party to manufacture new spares on demand for models years old is quite unrealistic just to satisfy a handful of people. Exactly how many of a particular spare for a 35 year old model would you expect Hornby to actually sell? Set up a whole production run to knock out 30 or 40 of a particular spare part. Guess it might work if you were ready to pay several hundred pounds an item

I think yet again this is people looking at something only from their own point of view and failing to realise from a business point of view it’s a non-starter. Even if these were produced the cost of producing them would only bring howls of indignation. For you it might be a hobby but for Hornby it’s a business and if there is absolutely no business reason to do it them they should not.

[ColinB]

As I said spares for a 35 year old model are probably easier to get than for the latest Hornby release, Peters Spares has very many of them. I don't think Hornby make additional spares when they do a production run, what spares that are available seem to be what was left after a production run. I have even purchased DCC sockets as spare parts in Hornby packaging which have obviously been used. Trouble AndyMac your arguments are perfectly valid or were when the locos were about £100, now that many are £230 plus not so much so. Incidentally most locos with the right spare parts can be fixed within an hour, even using an emergency plumber, that is cheaper than a new loco.

[AndyMac1707817969]

Repairing might be cheaper than buying a brand new loco but it’s not hard to pick up a second-hand Mallard for less than £100, for Margate made ones, less than £50.

I just buy either the part of a spares / repairs model from eBay, remove the bit I need and then sell the remainder on, quite often for more than I paid for it originally.

[Rana Temporia]

Andy Mac, my strategy too. Although I must say I found some spares I wanted on the Hornby website recently, in stock and less than half the price of any of the other sellers on the Internet. One seller seemed to be suggesting that they use the Hornby website and then add their 50%+ on top! Everything arrived within a few days well packaged and as described. For the bits I got I can’t fault Hornby.

Long gone are the days of Blackwells of Hawkwell, East Kent Models and the incredibly unbelievable excellent Modelspares of Burnley who seemed to have everything from the very early Tri-ang locos right through. I think the person who owned Modelspares is still clearing some stock on eBay but the person who bought his business didn’t make a good job of it. I do hope those spares are with Peter’s now or some other seller, it would be a tragedy if they had been lost.

[ColinB]

I must admit I so far haven't had that much issue fixing my locos, Hornby generally use a lot of the same gears and motors across models. The strategy of buying broken second hand strategy works unless it is like the Royal Scot/Patriot where the valve gear is incredibly flimsy and most second hand chassis have them broken as well. I too have found what spares Hornby do are generally cheap it just annoys me that they don't do replacement buffers for most models which on a lot of their models have a habit of pinging out. The thing I do find interesting is the varying prices for the same part. As I said many parts are spread across their locos so the part will appear for many different locos and will have a different part number and price.

[The son of Triangman]

Spares for the older models are out there, just a case of looking. The China made models aren't so easy alas.

Yesterday I picked up two unused brand new 1973 to 1975 LMS 2P loco bodies.