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Mallard (Sound Fitted) Discontinued


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Opens the door for a preservation version or a BR Green livery 😁
It would be great if the A4s etc were brought up to the standard of the latest releases too. 

Edited by Rallymatt
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6 minutes ago, Rallymatt said:

Opens the door for a preservation version or a BR Green livery 😁
It would be great if the A4s etc were brought up to the standard of the latest releases too. 

They could do an era 4 version to the current Duchess standard. Same with Flying Scotsman, I can see the current A1/3/4s being retired off once sold out.

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1 hour ago, Dave the Busker said:

I can't imagine them not returning to such an iconic loco in future runs, although possibly with a different variation. As to when that might be though, your guess is as good as mine.

The Flying Scotsman and Mallard are two of the most famous loco's in the world. I doubt they be gone for too long.

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Good catch! This makes TT3007TXSM the 2nd TT locomotive to be discontinued.  

I'm theorizing that this might be a move to manage inventory. They have 151 DC Mallards in inventory on the Hornby website. And I wouldn't be surprised if the stockists have a similar number in the system. That's a lot of product that is waiting to be sold. It probably doesn't make sense to order more DCC Mallards when they already have such a backlog of DC Mallards available. If my hypothesis is correct, once the DC Mallards get sold down the DCC Mallard could make a return. But from Hornby's perspective, why invest in more inventory for a product that you already have sitting in a warehouse? If they wanted to, they could offer a bundle with the DC Mallard and a Next 18 Decoder for a slight discount. This would require some assembly on the part of the buyer, but it would help reduce inventory. 

I wouldn't be surprised if Hornby miscalculated the split between DC and DCC purchasers when ordering from the factory. People really love HM7000!

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I wanted Mallard (DCC with sound) and may have to go with Falcon instead. I prefer the blue of Mallard, plus it’s an iconic loco. I hope it returns

Edited by ukpetey
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1 minute ago, Generic Hornby Username said:

Good catch! This makes TT3007TXSM the 2nd TT locomotive to be discontinued.  

I'm theorizing that this might be a move to manage inventory. They have 151 DC Mallards in inventory on the Hornby website. And I wouldn't be surprised if the stockists have a similar number in the system. That's a lot of product that is waiting to be sold. It probably doesn't make sense to order more DCC Mallards when they already have such a backlog of DC Mallards available. If my hypothesis is correct, once the DC Mallards get sold down the DCC Mallard could make a return. But from Hornby's perspective, why invest in more inventory for a product that you already have sitting in a warehouse? If they wanted to, they could offer a bundle with the DC Mallard and a Next 18 Decoder for a slight discount. This would require some assembly on the part of the buyer, but it would help reduce inventory. 

I wouldn't be surprised if Hornby miscalculated the split between DC and DCC purchasers when ordering from the factory. People really love HM7000!

 I had the same conversation with a friend last night. My thoughts were rather than have 2 separate products like we currently have, you just have the DC version. This would allow the manufacturing to be allocated else where. If you want a sound version you order a bundle where the sound version item number consists of the loco number and decoder or you get a discount for every decoder ordered with a new loco. I know why then did it the way they did was to promote the new HM7000.

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6 minutes ago, ukpetey said:

I wanted Mallard (DCC with sound) and may have to go with Falcon instead. I prefer the blue of Mallard, plus it’s an iconic loco. I hope it returns

can't you order a Mallard and 18 pin decoder?

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1 minute ago, Tim Allen said:

 I had the same conversation with a friend last night. My thoughts were rather than have 2 separate products like we currently have, you just have the DC version. This would allow the manufacturing to be allocated else where. If you want a sound version you order a bundle where the sound version item number consists of the loco number and decoder or you get a discount for every decoder ordered with a new loco. I know why then did it the way they did was to promote the new HM7000.

This would definitely simplify their warehouse and ordering from the factory. But it is mixed bag. Hornby TT:120 has been attracting new people to the hobby. A very good thing! But there might be some reticence amongst some of them about taking a screwdriver to a new locomotive and opening it up. Hornby has to reach people where they are, and the convenience of DCC options is pretty compelling. Even experienced modelers might just prefer DCC to be pre-fitted. It's tricky. 

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2 minutes ago, Generic Hornby Username said:

This would definitely simplify their warehouse and ordering from the factory. But it is mixed bag. Hornby TT:120 has been attracting new people to the hobby. A very good thing! But there might be some reticence amongst some of them about taking a screwdriver to a new locomotive and opening it up. Hornby has to reach people where they are, and the convenience of DCC options is pretty compelling. Even experienced modelers might just prefer DCC to be pre-fitted. It's tricky. 

Lifting the coal out of the new Duchess was a good solution to that, While its less fiddly to fit the decoder on the A1/3/4s with the tender being off you don't have to mess about turning it upside down.

In the two DCC locos I've bought you still have update firmware and sound profiles anyway. 

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19 minutes ago, Generic Hornby Username said:

This would definitely simplify their warehouse and ordering from the factory. But it is mixed bag. Hornby TT:120 has been attracting new people to the hobby. A very good thing! But there might be some reticence amongst some of them about taking a screwdriver to a new locomotive and opening it up. Hornby has to reach people where they are, and the convenience of DCC options is pretty compelling. Even experienced modelers might just prefer DCC to be pre-fitted. It's tricky. 

That's me.  New to the hobby and I wouldn't fancy messing about inside my first loco at £200+ a throw.  Definitely was only going get the DCC fitted model, even though I had to wait longer.

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These models are quite delicate. I personally prefer a pre fitted model rather than take the risk of damaging my new purchase when attempting to fit a HM7000 decoder. Also once you do fit the decoder and the model has a fault you have all the hassle of trying to determine if it's the decoder or the actual train. If my pre fitted DCC model has a problem I can simply return the item for repair or replacement.

Where possible all my purchases have been pre fitted. The exceptions being my diesels where the DCC fitted versions where released later so I already had pre orders in place at the original pre price rise price with the 15% discount and obviously the class 08's

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It's not just the DCC Mallard that went into the last chance to buy section and has subsequently been removed on being sold out. The LNER TOAD B brake van has suffered the same fate - it's no longer listed after selling out. The BR liveried variant simply went to being sold out so maybe that variant will come back at some point.

The 3 MK1 crimson composite corridor coaches are also in the last chance to buy section of the shop and have been there for a few months, so I wonder what people will do after they sell out if they want a rake of era 5 MK coaches. Maybe they will need to buy an Easterner set?

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Maroon MK1s will more than likely return with different running numbers and some alternative variants

I hope the early brake vans are getting some tweaks to the tooling/manufacturing process as they were badly affected by ‘draggy running’ like the initial 10t tankers. 

Edited by Rallymatt
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55 minutes ago, Rallymatt said:

Maroon MK1s will more than likely return with different running numbers and some alternative variants

I hope the early brake vans are getting some tweaks to the tooling/manufacturing process as they were badly affected by ‘draggy running’ like the initial 10t tankers. 

You’re exactly right about this. In one of the previous magazines, they stated they intended to release the MK 1s with LMR region running numbers. It’s possible Eastern Region fans should grab them before they’re gone. 

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I hope they do discontinue Mallard in its current guise for a couple of years and rotate it in and out of production. They could reissue that loco in the silver/grey livery, Silver Link, Silver King, Silver Fox (probably not since there is currently a version of this) and Quick Silver. Collectors like me would need one of course (sound fitted). 

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The DC Mallard and the MK1 crimson coaches probably have enough stock to remain in the shop for some months to come however I believe that Hornby should announce any replacements sooner rather than later as soon the range will start to shrink.

I had a BR green Mallard when I was a youngster. It would be nice to see one of these in the range 🙂

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11 hours ago, Tim Allen said:

They could do an era 4 version to the current Duchess standard. Same with Flying Scotsman, I can see the current A1/3/4s being retired off once sold out.

My preferred choice of Flying Scotsman would be the LNER apple green livery without smoke deflectors after it was bought for preservation https://www.flickr.com/photos/adogriff/50613385301

Seriously, I hope it won't be long before Hornby reintroduce the Mallard.  Maybe they'll iron out the faults found on the first batches. There's many liveries and names yet to be released

 

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A pre-war A4 with full valences. Now that is the classic “Buggati” look. LNER blue too.  For me, this is the best looking of the UK streamliners.

For anyone new to all this the A4 streamlining was inspired by the lines of Bugatti cars. 

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11 hours ago, Tim Allen said:

can't you order a Mallard and 18 pin decoder?

I can but like others have said, I’m new to this and would prefer it to have been done for me. I pay for the convenience! 

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I am not new to this but even so with TT:120 I would rather buy sound fitted. My eyesight is not what it used to be as I am reminded when I look at my photographs of these exquisite models. I cannot read the lettering in some areas without doing that. How quickly we can take all this for granted.

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1 hour ago, gc4946 said:

Maybe they'll iron out the faults found on the first batches.

 

They already did I think. The bogie design was changed as well as the whistle and fit of the roof cab. 

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