Edvard4

As a member the benefits need to be worth something. Membership = 15% on all purchases online AND pre orders Membership = 20% discount in person at the HVC or an official Hornby outlet/retailer Membership = A "steal" deal on club models, not some crappy loco. Membership = £1.50 for Tea and Coffee at the HVC! I have quite a few thousand reward points, but do not know what to spend them on as most of my purchases are pre order. Assume the points can be spent across brands?

Hornby will put up prices by 10% each year without fail. Even old stock. Best bet is to pre order and they honour the price. As you know some things take two years to arrive so you will save yourself 20% in two years time!!! Trust me I buy a lot of Hornby and track the prices year on year.

Good to hear about the changing format. I see that the HVC (Hornby Visitor Centre) is now closed for a long refit. I think the timing is odd?? I would have waited until after the summer holidays and then cracked on with it between mid September and early November. I wonder what it will look like ?? Personally I think it should have a repair desk and perhaps a window into the area where the technicians fix things? I would like to the HVC stocked to the rafters with all products in the range. Oddly at sale times you find things that are "out of stock" .Luckily the HVC is only 30/40 minutes from me so I will get chance to see it. As for up country retail, I did see the Hornby outlet at Swindon, but prices were almost retail then. I think the McArthur Glen outfits would do well, but they need to be filled with end of lines and reduced price stock. Lastlty, I think its time for some new models. There are some great new aircraft to have in kit form both Civillian and Military. There are new warships and submarines, plenty of new military hardware too. What about the all the new modern cars for Scalextric, Teslars, or a whole range of """" Electric"""" cars or Formula E. The list goes on....perhaps I need to apply for the Marketing Directors role !!!! Happy days...

Well deserved retirement I think. I met Simon on quite a few occasions at the Margate HQ in the last 5 years or so. One downside is that he still owes me a cup of tea! The upside is that things do need to move on and of course they always will. I would welcome some new models in everything, Airfix, Corgi, Hornby and Scalextric. There is a whole world to model out there and the times have changed. I sent my suggestions in for each brand....... Simon and I exchanged mails many times, some really quite funny, others quite serious and at times we agreed to disagree too. Great bloke, knew his stuff.

Spent a few pounds over at the Hornby Visitor Center last week. Picked up x3 Loco's x1 Loco set and a rake of carriage....skint now until Christmas!

Most are as bad as each other, I get deliveries from Evri, DPD, DHL,TNT, Fedex, UPs and a host of others, the best is UPS by far, at the other end of the scale is DPD. I have complained to Hornby Customer Services on a number of occasions over a number of years. Everything from crushed boxes with boot prints on to boxes with "stab" wounds. I think there is little regard at the sorting depots. That said they all had a tough job pre Christmas with the Post Office strikes and each company picking up extra work. You would be bonkers to think that ordering something, say on the 20th December for example it was going to make it for the big day. If it was delivered on Christmas Day I would have given the driver a big handshake and hug, a mince pie and perhaps a carrot too !

Most are as bad as each other, I get deliveries from Evri, DPD, DHL,TNT, Fedex, UPs and a host of others, the best is UPS by far, at the other end of the scale is DPD. I have complained to Hornby Customer Services on a number of occasions over a number of years. Everything from crushed boxes with boot prints on to boxes with "stab" wounds. I think there is little regard at the sorting depots. That said they all had a tough job pre Christmas with the Post Office strikes and each company picking up extra work. You would be bonkers to think that ordering something, say on the 20th December for example it was going to make it for the big day. If it was delivered on Christmas Day I would have given the driver a big handshake and hug, a mince pie and perhaps a carrot too !

I would normally have spent at least £3k per year with Hornby, Online, HVC and the odd retail unit. As prices have risen I have made the choice to down size my purchasing on my hobby. This of course impacts Hornby and their sales if lots of people take the same view. But at the same time the cost of loco's etc have risen, Hornby have generally raised their prices by 10% year on year as a flat line increase, but of late there appear to have been some exceptional prices applied to some new locos, reaching over £500.00 a go!

Just to clarify the discount popup. Is that buy something now and you receive discount off the following order ? Does that count on pre orders ? Diesel Electrics for me, although they are now out of my "big pre- order" price range. I could easily spend £1500/£2000 on pre orders but that is now £1950/£2600. It has had an adverse effect for me, I will now only but the odd loco, just can't afford the £300 to £500 price tags now. Gone are the days of buying a Class 43 set and 9 coaches !

As far as I am aware the R4895 in quite new 2019/2020 ? It is the same as the R4895A, but with a different running number. Hornby magazine did an article on these some time ago. They explained the "rakes" by R number. R4895 belongs to one rake and R4895A belongs to another of the same GWR MK3 carriages. Question is was the item from ROS new or second hand ? If you get really stuck I will dig out my R4895 and check. I only collect , not run trains and mine are all from HH direct brand spanking new.

R3750 Belmond British Pullman, Class 67 and 3 Pullman coach pack, collected from the post office today (Sunday). Really nice, This one was from the Hornby agent in the North West as was my Northern Belle that arrives last week. Christmas has been expensive in more ways than one !

Have to say the modern loco range is getting much better. I have 18 different class 43's and one more on the way in Spring 2020. There are some gaps though, class 57's are a bit thin on the ground especially those still hauling sleepers. A whole range of 66's especially after the fast re-release of Hornby/Lima liveries versus the Hatton series. I have some of each, they are poles apart ! but so is the price. I think there is an increasing interest in OTM's (On Track Machines) Come on Hornby, get your teeth into 09 Tamper or Pandrol Stoneblower..... set the path for others to follow !!!

I just think Hornby need to re-think their strategy on rolling stock. Too many old and bold wagons appearing. The more modern hoppers (secows) are few and far between, Clam's and Rudd's come and go all too quickly. On the otherhand there are a lot of smaller producers knocking out some very nice steel wagons, flask flat wagons and such like, even the JNA's are easy to get hold of. Perhaps a new release of Biomass wagons too. As someone said above, its not hard these days with CAD and 3D printing.......!

Hi, pre orders are like London buses, there are none and then they all arrive at once. I have a lot of pre orders with Hornby and it is a little like feast or famine. Dont try to budget, just tuck your cash away as one day the heavens will open and you will get them all at once. Thankfully some of mine have been put back to 2020, just as well as Christmas is just around the corner.....

R3772 RAF Northern Rail, Just to add to my post above, the wrapping is really good, but it is let down by no lights and a poor egg box packaging, the box is really quite flimsy.