Splatz

DPD app just notified me they have my order details and are expecting to pick it up shortly from Hornby. So R3983SS is starting its journey to come to me. Getting a bit excited now.

Just received my email from Hornby telling me R3983SS is now in stock and will be dispatched shortly. It will probably be a few more days as I live in Northern Ireland where everything takes longer - and that is all down to their carrier DPD, who are not very good where I live.

Nice images Ninja- I like them. I usually take screenshots from Hornby’s website for the locos when I buy from them (cropped to fit in app), but your images look great next to a shed. With advent of the dongle arriving, other locos images might be needed in time, which may not be on Hornby’s current website, so I might keep an eye out on your images 😉

I haven't got my email from DPD yet, but this is not a surprise given I live in Northern Ireland, where everything seems to take longer to get to me 😠.

If I have signed into the Hornby site and click a link called Hornby Forums, I expect to be taken to the Hornby Forums, not a landing page where I see 3 of their brands and have to select Hornby a second time. If I was signed in Airfix I see a link called Airfix Forums, and this takes you to the same landing page with 3 brands, where you need to click Airfix again to go to their forums. It is the same if you are signed into Scalextrics too. You see a link called Scalextrics Forums, but this takes you to the landing page with 3 brands where you need to select Scalextrics again to go to their forum. The extra step of duplicating the selection of what you want to see, is not needed because you actually need to be signed into each brand first to access their forums. So this has introduced a usability issue due to how this was put together, compared to how it used to be. The extra brand step introduces more friction in getting to where you want to be. It is definitely worse than before.

I can confirm it has no firebox flicker (that was a disappointment)

Totally agree Colin. In my early career I used to fly out a lot back when I was a designer of things being built in China. I was only going out to check that things were being built correctly.

It is shame the 2024 catalogue says Flying Scotsman Steam addition is highlighted as NEW, however I looked in my 2022 catalogue when this was first announced as NEW. Does Hornby Marketing have a very short memory?

I have now cancelled all my pre-orders at Hattons, and have created new pre-orders for same things at Rails of Sheffield and Hornby. That will cost me a little bit more than my Hattons original pre-order prices, and I won’t get that time back cancelling and reordering everything elsewhere. Feel sorry for employees impacted by this decision.

I had quite a few items on pre order with them (most were on pre order for 6+months) but I guess I won’t see them being fulfilled now. I just checked other shops/manufacturers for the same things and some have pre orders for same items and were sold out, so I doubt I can get some of them. I am pretty annoyed by this.

Hornby are not checking their website details diligently. R30268 85th anniversary Mallard details originally mentioned it had 21 pin and 8 pin in two different places of the Tech Spec section. Whilst waiting for this loco, I pointed this out to them, and they eventually corrected website to just say it has 21 pin. Sadly who ever did this did not change the TXS decoder code in the Hornby Decoder Compatibility Primary field, as you can see here (e.g. HM7000-8TXS is actually the 8 pin TXS code not the 21 pin TXS code): You couldn't make this stuff up. No matter how many people point these problems out to them, they still cannot get the details correct. Maybe they should pay me for proof-reading their website details. When I ordered Harvester it had the same problem of conflicting website details where it showed 8 pin and 21 pin in Tech Spec section (and I eventually received an 8 pin version despite the box end showing 21 pin). Even the loco instruction sheets for other 2023 locos I purchases show both 8-pin and 21 pin decoder fitting diagrams in the section on how to fit the decoder. So this tells me they definitely know the factory is sending incorrect tender pin configurations. However, displaying incorrect details on your website (like the above incorrect TXS code) is pretty much unforgivable.

Thank you for that RAF. Both of new 2023 Castle class have the same problem on the Hornby website.

I was looking at R30328 GWR Castle Class on the Hornby website, and in the top part of website it clearly mentions it has 21-pin socket, but in the description below it mentions it has 8 pin socket. You would think they would be checking all their copy on their website, given they have been told about this a couple of times now with other loco details on their website. It is so easy to spot these discrepancies and it should be easy to correct.

Are you suggesting Hornby only put a 21pin socket in this loco to future proof anything I might want to add to the loco?

Recently bought R3997 Princess Coronation City of London from the Hornby site, and whist it is a great looking loco, I noticed it had a 21 pin decoder socket, and I was wondering what was the point of fitting a 21 pin decoder? Surely this is a pointless decoder choice which comes with way more functions and none of them are usable in this loco.