The son of Triangman

I agree Moawkwrd. However if I was CEO I would want to clear that stock down to the barest minimum as soon as possible, it's dead money sitting around doing nothing, better to get it sold and out the door, if that meant discounting to encourage small retailers to buy more then so be it. Better to clear at cost plus a small margin that have it sitting around taking up space, a percentage of that £22 Million could be used for putting the company into really good shape. The main range desperately needs a cull, it's far too big, too much to produce in a year, better to reduce the range of loco's and rolling stock, natural wastage is best letting the stock get down to a level where what's left can be discounted or discount heavily to small to medium retailers to clear the stocks. A £1 Million to £2 Million stock holding is plenty.

Yes some scales have died out. TT very nearly did, Tri-ang gave it a good try in the past and until Simon K decided to give it another go it was a minority scale.

A point missed, just because one manufacturer has seen a growth in sales does not mean the market is generally buoyant. £22 million at cost in at hand product stock is a lot of models to have laying around.

The tooling for James is much older, the loco body mould dates from 1958, it was the 3F tender loco from the Tri-ang range, Hornby put a bigger front running plate on it and modified the cab windows, they then fitted it with a School's tender. Devious Diesel is another ex-Tri-ang moulding modified by Hornby, the mould dating from 1956. Bear is an ex-Tri-ang moulding from 1967

Your old loco's may have issues with R.8000 series points. The R.8000 series points have shallower flangeways than their R.600 predecessors

How about a Flockton Flyer Set? 6412 GWR pannier would be a nice addition, Hornby have suitable rolling stock, you only need Minehead Station and a new pannier tank loco. The filming was on the West Somerset Railway in it's early years.

How about a fun working model? An Ivor the engine set would be good, complete with decoder and Ivor sounds. It's a simple 0-4-0 chassis so should be easy to design and Ivor is quite bland apart from decoration. You would have to include Bluebell, Meg, Idris and the other dragons, Bluebell's flat wagon and Dai Station. There's plenty of scope for an Ivor the engine range there. If the owner/s of the rights agreed.

I noticed the almost inexhaustible box of track that Gromit used is missing.lol These will sell by the shed load, someone will work out how to motorise the loco. Surely Hornby can make a fully working one?

Historically Hornby and Tri-ang used 8BA as a standard size, the modern equivalent would be M2.2. If you can't get sorted you might be able go find some M2.2 nuts in the likes of ebay etc.

I see another retailer is giving up in the west country

How old is the model? Do you have a picture of the loco and set? There are multiple variations of this loco made over the decades.

We used to machine crimp these at work by the shed load. They are a fiddly job to crimp by hand, but as can be seen from Bee's post it is quite possible

Sorry to hear about your 3D printing page, 81F. It sounded very promising.

Perhaps next year we can have a track system, fishbelly rail and stone block sleepering. Just an idea?

I fear more will follow, some will be big names. I hope it isn't the case RT.

Has anyone seen the posts on various groups, it looks like Warley is giving up the NEC??? Can anyone confirm either way?

I think the biggest disappointment in this years range was the use of the 0-4-0 Thomas moulding to produce Connie, Nellie and Polly, they would have been better 3d scanning an old Tri-ang Nellie 0-4-0 and producing a new mould and more detailed chassis, with smart design they could have made the mould so it could also produce the C14 the Tri-ang Nellie is based on, thus Hornby could get two models out of one mould. However that's just my opinion, all in all it's a good range this year.

An excellent showing from Hornby, this year is a consolidation/catch up year where manufacturers do a few brand new releases rather than many. Considering the very poor economic times I think Hornby has done well. A new early locomotive too that will sell by the shed load. I don't know how some of today's modellers would have survived in the 1960's and 70's with a new release every 3 or 4 years.

A lot of customers in their late 50's, age is catching up with them, not enough young blood coming through. There are far too many new models chasing too few customers, too many rival big box moving operations and competition from the manufacturers themselves, high prices of new models, a deep recession, overseas production delays, high business rates, high taxes, high utility and insurance costs, high staffing costs. Put it altogether and you have The perfect storm. Companies that have expanded in good times are fighting for survival, keeping lean and small is key in today's market place. Interestingly Tri-ang faced a worldwide toy market collapse in 1970. Unlike Tri-ang, Hattons is viable, but sensibly seem to be getting out whilst the going is good.

Sign of the times. Companies can go too big, fine during the good times, but bad times can come along and can wipe you out. Better to stay small and lean and ride the storm. It's very tough out there right now, every penny is being battled over by retailers big and small, the fittest will survive.

Hornby R.8000 series points have shallower flangeways compared to their R.600 predecessors. You don't need to file the frogs down, just increase flangeway depth if you are using R.8000 series points and older stock. Pre-1966 Tri-ang stock will have "pizza cutter" flanges and will need flanges turning down or replacement wheelsets.

Spares for the older models are out there, just a case of looking. The China made models aren't so easy alas. Yesterday I picked up two unused brand new 1973 to 1975 LMS 2P loco bodies.

Hi Topcat, sorry to hear about your partner, glad she is on the mend. Seems to be the time of year for serious illness, I'm waiting for a big op that is normally keyhole, but my op is an open up job, my cousin whom I live with now has Cancer, my mum is in a care home now due to dementia, and a friend has terminal cancer and is near the end. I use Dell as they do some nice refurbished systems, you can find them on their website and on amazon. Saves me a fortune on new tech.

Hi Brew Man, apologies, the site doesn't let me upload a video alas, it's frustrating. The first tests of the custom gearing I have fitted to a commercially made gearbox and motor combo work well. End stops and they fixing points are next, then it's casing design. I've already designed the motor mounts. Motor current consumption when working is just 4 milliamps since the new gearing went in. Just got to set up a manufacturer reconditioned pc to replace my old one, I never buy new computers nowadays as you can get start of the art manufacturer reconditioned machines for a fraction of the price and a year's warranty. A member and friend here has seen the first tests of the new gearing. I may have to post some links when I get everything sorted.