Moccasin

@SMR248 The TT130 66 has always been somewhat of a price anomaly in the range, possibly due to it being shared across Arnold & Hornby ranges so they have a higher number of sales to spread development and tooling costs. When launched it was priced below £100 & I recall that Simon Kohler was asked about it early on. I doubt Hornby are overpricing either the 08 or J50 beyond their accepted margins so they will have good reason for the prices being what they are.

Waaaaay too much info 😀 I see you’ve been told off already on RMweb. 😀 they do seem very prickly over there. *clutches pearls*

Too late to change. Thanks for clarifying. Edit -: apparently I can now edit for longer so the original post is amended to highlight the error.

Construction contractors are a very different beast and irrelevant to a small currently loss-making model company. Model railways aren’t Hornby’s whole business but by volume and value probably the biggest. Pocher have higher value products but are much smaller in sales volume. Other than a few expensive sets, Scalextric sell much cheaper products.

Maybe so, but the TT120 club has had no discount for 6 months for many of us, but a good number in this forum are still buying and pre-ordering direct. Hornby will of course know this in intimate detail as they will see the level of drop off in orders from individual accounts. I note as well that they have started web exclusives for the first TT120 range, starting with the TXS HST train set.

I know it’s not a direct comparison but the TT120 HSTs with a dummy power car are only £60 more than a single diesel locomotive like the Class 50. Even at the class 66/08 extreme of £140, the difference is £80.

Given the perceived (by some) lack of incentives to buy direct, it’s interesting that these sales continue to grow. This is why they can reduce/remove discounts etc - they are doing fine without them. I wonder if the high value container delayed from March to April was the one bringing BG & GWR TT120 Mk3s? Maybe the OO Black Fives too? Some companies must also love the fact that Easter moves from year to year. They can use this repeatedly to explain better or worse than expected sales in Q4 and Q1!

When travelling around by train over the weekend I saw a few even now. Mostly 66s which quite often get moved around as a positioning consist of 4 or so locomotives coupled up as light engine moves. Would also be good for populating depots.

I guess the point I was (badly) aiming for is that those starting out in TT120 using HM7000 without a DCC controller are unable to use their 08s until the HM7000 decoder comes. Anyone with a starter set either has to buy a better analogue controller or a Select/Elite if they can’t use the 08 on HM7000

While you can use the dongle, that pre-supposes people have a Select/Elite. I’m lucky that I do but many don’t.

Agreed. Distribution of the catalogue would have been quite an expensive, unnecessary hit to their revenue. The initial printed 2022 version was clearly a loss leader to demonstrate their commitment and draw people in. The cost to them this time around will likely be much less. They’re trying a different tack with TT120 and with no tradition, would likely not have wanted to create expectations of them printing an annual catalogue. This way was a good compromise and the track plans and geometry were a nice addition. No doubt both Hornby and Key Publishing will evaluate the success of the initiative and see if it met expectations on both sides.

Yes but that will require a licence. Point being that they are associated by sharing the name. Hornby have also supported them by providing pre-production models for their TT120 model. So relations are clearly pretty good.

Surely they are associated though? Hornby Magazine will have a contract to use the manufacturer’s name. With the TT120 club gong digital only, they were unlikely to print anything themselves. The PDF will presumably be available with the next 10 days or so.

Surely it’s the GWR version for you? Or is it just the 800 in GWR green that you hanker for?

Your prevarication is quite short compared to mine.

I’d be the same. Call customer services and ask for a returns number (if bought direct) or your retailer if bought from a third party. They’re pretty expensive pieces of kit and should not be misbehaving when brand new.

I do appreciate that and also that I’m looking at this from a domestic market lens. Much more difficult (costly and long winded) from across the Atlantic or in the Antipodes! Without seeing Hornby’s returns figures, it’s hard to know how common these faults are as you say. There are probably hundreds of happy HST owners already who have no problem and this forum is naturally the place people come to when they have a problem. It’s worth contacting Hornby direct with your specific points because they’re all valid. With their own sales in the US, there must surely be a way of dealing with at least some repairs within the US & Canada otherwise these problems will recur.

You do seem to have been very unlucky David. I’ve not heard of this happening before, but others may correct me. Luckily Hornby are very good at fixing things under warranty - faults shouldn’t happen though! Just to help others understand any factors that might cause this that they need to watch for, what track system are you using? Hornby? What radius curves are being used? Is the derailment happening in the same place?

Just for balance, my four coaches coupled well last night. There is one that I need to keep an eye on -it suddenly uncoupled and I subsequently found an unconventional HST arrangement going around the oval (coach - dummy - power car - coach-coach-coach) I think this was down to poor/hasty track laying as the decoupling happened twice in the same place and a jolt from a larger than desirable gap could have caused it.

Sadly nothing that can fit this behemoth! Anything wanting to have a proper spin will have to stay on the lake. Time to put away before the kitchen is used for its proper purpose.

All is well. HST running across a frozen lake.

Interestingly it seems like it’s the restaurant/buffet that’s more likely to be sent on its own after the rest. It’s the case with mine and I notice someone on RMWeb has the same. Maybe they’re in different parts of the warehouse?!🤷🏻‍♂️

Out of interest, how do these arrangements compare to OO coaches? Are they scaled down or quite different? Just curious as to how they developed the solutions.

Checked my order despatch dates and yes 3+1 for mine too.

Looks like they’ll both arrive at the same time. I’m assuming that these two deliveries contain the four coaches between them. I could of course get two more notifications. As far as I’m aware, there’s no way of checking what’s in each consignment. As you say, it’s a waste of time & packing etc.