TT120 2nd birthday sale

[GMD]

Evening all

I've taken this from the Rails sale thread, as it is now clear that it is much more than just rails who are doing this - indeed Hornby themselves are pushing it as you may see from a a banner on this page. I know that certainly TMC have it as well as Rails.  

Chris and I had a good chat with Martyn today - which was pulled forward due to this sale announcement breaking. Hopefully the video will be edited and ready by tomorrow morning. The initial light edit has been done, and Peachy is working right now on the more finessed version! Some interesting snippets, including the rationale behind this sale. And, as the late Steve Jobs used to say - "There is one more thing..." Not a big thing in some ways, but I think you'll all like it...

[Ilmson]

17 minutes ago, GMD said:

Evening all

I've taken this from the Rails sale thread, as it is now clear that it is much more than just rails who are doing this - indeed Hornby themselves are pushing it as you may see from a a banner on this page. I know that certainly TMC have it as well as Rails.  

Chris and I had a good chat with Martyn today - which was pulled forward due to this sale announcement breaking. Hopefully the video will be edited and ready by tomorrow morning. The initial light edit has been done, and Peachy is working right now on the more finessed version! Some interesting snippets, including the rationale behind this sale. And, as the late Steve Jobs used to say - "There is one more thing..." Not a big thing in some ways, but I think you'll all like it...

Exactly the sale I needed.

How did Hornby know that I needed a decoder? I also took the opportunity to buy a few buildings for my niece so that her starter set wouldn't look so bare for Christmas.

This is the second order today. Among other things, I had to buy the new Streamline curves from Peco for my reconstruction project on the railway crossing at TMC.

 

Only thing about the free gift, I don't have any OO tracks...🤣

Edited 21 hours ago by Ilmson

[PeterM67]

Intriguing @GMD. I await the video with great interest 🙂

[Hobby11]

And me! Especially as the naysayers are out in force on one forum I'm on. I'll be glad to know what's going on!

[Silver Fox 17]

9 minutes ago, Hobby11 said:

And me! Especially as the naysayers are out in force on one forum I'm on. I'll be glad to know what's going on!

As in the video with Martyn everything looks good, a new steam starter set is in tooling, new liveries for the older locos.

Pity the motor issue was not mentioned as sorted out though.

[47606 Odin]

Well having missed out on the sale for my HST mk3 rake I bought literally the day before the sale was announced 😣 I have purchased the GB 08 from Kernows for the bargain price. I will respray it blue, hence choosing it over the DB red one. 

[dBerriff]

I too look forward to the video. After my initial concern I can now relax and perhaps buy a few more Mk.1s in the sale. Another 08? As the Class 66 TXS will not arrive in time for my birthday is that excuse enough?

[GMD]

1 hour ago, Silver Fox 17 said:

Pity the motor issue was not mentioned as sorted out though.

Hi Garry - It's on the list for the fuller interview planned with George and Martyn, which is still to come. We haven't forgotten it, but the technical questions are better asked either or Carl or George, so we have saved that. Probably another week or so before that one comes out.  As you could probably tell this was a rather hastily arranged interview, pulled forward due to the big sale event. 

[Pete82]

Was going to wait for the inter city 125 set but the flying Scotsman in the sale is tempting. 

[47606 Odin]

56 minutes ago, dBerriff said:

Another 08? As the Class 66 TXS will not arrive in time for my birthday is that excuse enough?

Yes it is.

[SMR248]

If what is on special offer at Rails is the barometer of the health of model railways then Heljan are in very serious trouble...

[Rallymatt]

An excellent point @SMR248 and some of us have seen before the astounding offers the likes of Hattons & Rails have done in the past. That’s their forte. 
 

It’s worth remembering that retailers are not museums, stock has to move off the shelves. It’s a good tactic to incentivise parts of the TT:120 range. It also has the effect of damping down the inflated used market too. That will significantly widen the appeal of the scale. 
 

[Task]

Could I just get the analogue HST and two of the decoders on sale? Would that have any downsides compared to the pre fitted HST? Am I missing something?

[Rallymatt]

No down side at all @Task. Easy job, take care with speaker wires when refitting the HST body, if you have a soldering iron it’s very easy to shorten the long wires that come in the decoder set. 

[Ilmson]

33 minutes ago, SMR248 said:

If what is on special offer at Rails is the barometer of the health of model railways then Heljan are in very serious trouble...

I wouldn't say so. Different rules apply for small series manufacturers, as they tend to produce high quality on demand, as can be seen, for example, with the TT (but also some N, H0 and G) manufacturer Kres.
Kres produces to order, so the railcars and articulated trains are rarely available for less than £500. However, I must also mention that, unlike Heljan, production has not yet been outsourced, but is made entirely in Germany, from the basic circuit board assembly to injection molding to assembly and painting.

Accordingly, small manufacturers do not accumulate large stocks that need to be cleared from time to time.

 

If you want to know more about Kres' production process, here is a video, but unfortunately it's only in German. You'll need a translator or subtitles. I couldn't find a translation on YouTube:

 

 

[Rallymatt]

@Ilmson I think the Heljan comment was a sarcastic one. But you are absolutely right about the difference between a big player and a small one.
 

[SMR248]

Definitely sarcastic!

The context is that there seems to be some anti TT feeling in the UK right now and some people are looking for signs that the new Hornby TT120 is failing.  If those same people were to apply the same tests to other scales then other interesting "conclusions" could be made.

I do hope that no manufacturer fails.

[Rallymatt]

Absolutely agree with the not wanting any scale or manufacturer to fail. That’s just not what the hobby is about. It’s very sad that some feel it necessary to rubbish others efforts. 

[happy tt]

Hi everyone i'm sad all  my points have gone  but i got a scotsman set for the grand price of £119 pounds plus 2480 odd points back .

if you go through the arnold page  you  can get double points that way just click on the hornby TT120 banner  there. wish me luck it  does  not need to go back to soon fingers crossed🙂 🙂

Edited 5 hours ago by happy tt
it made more sense

[LTSR_NSE]

Strange things have happened on my account too…
• all my points have disappeared
• an 08 costing £30 appeared in my basket
• then a benzol tank appeared & free delivery was offered
• now I have an invoice for the order

Quick question - what is willpower? 😂

[moawkwrd]

I’ve now got random people messaging me about my eBay listing for blue and yellow HST power cars telling me how cheaply they can get them from Hornby with points… no doubt expecting me to accept a ridiculous price just because. No thanks, order from Hornby then and stop bothering me on a Friday evening - I’m in no rush to sell and happy to wait until the offers are long gone. Thanks Hornby!

Edited 1 hour ago by moawkwrd

[96RAF]

8 hours ago, SMR248 said:

If what is on special offer at Rails is the barometer of the health of model railways then Heljan are in very serious trouble...

Are the Jadlam offers actually available, as they have a habit of offering pre-orders at bargain prices, then later saying they are not available so your order is cancelled, followed days later by the same items for sale at a jacked up price.

[ukpetey]

I’m really tempted by an 08 but no HM7000 decoder for a year! So I really need to show willpower but the DB Schenker one is calling me… I can hear it, ‘buy me, buy me, and you can even have free delivery’. Of course I wouldn’t  be able to run it for ages though!