VESPA

I am not talking about anything different here from a base BR Maroon MK1 coach with "E" prefix for the car train and the same or similar in BR black or engineers red. Models already made that just need another paint job. Both Hornby and Bachmann have cranes and both have MK1's but none with "E" prefix. Both also have a plethora of steam and diesel locos to suit a straightforward passenger train. It 's a bit like buying a car without suitable wheels. End of conversation from me. I must get some L&M cattle trucks for a BR freight train as they will do.

Off topic but it could happen. If you want a part that is part of a unit as such, then the part may end up as that unit uping the price up to 10 fold and making more profits. Instance of a Porsche Boxster inlet at nearly £2000 because a broken plastic part isn't available new at what could be £5 (that is excessive for what it is) Trawll ing the internet for days and obtained for £30 secondhand. That would be a way if carefully done to get extra profits. Costings are always carried out with products in the making and suitably priced against similar competitors. There are many makers out there that are making tender locos for £149 and not £249 so that money is made in the initial rush to be first. Under production with a bad decision on initial quantities forcing a second run could be a flop. Far too much NEW models in a year are also crippling with say 7 or 8 items for new release. I think that the big makers are making far too much new design product for the market to cope with. I am at present looking at making up a 1960's Anglo Scottish Car Carrier" train. I have an ER restaurant car with 3 Newton Chambers vans on order but trying to find ER Mk1 coaches is proving impossible either new or secondhand. Why don't those making models have suitable other models ready to go or in production for the correct period?

This is what happens when you price your product far too high and that includes 99% of model railway makers. How can a loco be £250 on release and then end up at £110 to. shift them. The same thing happens every year. I bought 10 Bogie Bolsters from Hornby a few years back at about £3 in a mad sale to generate money. Now I think I would just manage to get One for the same outlay. Trying to up the price to absorb losses doesn'twork, it kills off your regular followers. I wonder who will be next?

Regarding saving for what you want I have always done that, I would love a brand new Bentley and am more than able to buy one to order. Then the brain kicks in and says it's not a sensible buy. I have a very nice Jaguar bought new which suits me at present. I wanted the Turbomotive so bought it and I await the Caprotti Class 5, which I will buy but nothing else so far,

60 years ago I first visited Hattons in Smithdown Road with Old Mr Norman Hatton. as time crept on he knew I was collecting Hornby Dublo and would put some items to one side to see if I was interested. I got a brand new 3 rail Diesel Shunter boxed with tested tags for £3 but refused a boxed as new 6 wheel brake van for £110.

I too have an interest in Mail trains. I have the Hornby LMS sets and GWR sets along with Bachmann sorting vans and TPO mechanism vans These are based on MK1 coaches and are really scale items. My plan would be to run 2 netted ate the front and sorting vans behind with full brakes or two open corridor and a brake 2nd. If that was a real set up the interconnecting corridor doors would have to be locked on two adjoining carriages. Many years back the 7.30 pm Mail train from Crewe would stop at our town station to collect mail bags by the hundred and proceed all the way to Perth through the night. From what I remember these were just full brake/ parcels vans. The loco was always a "Britannia" class until diesels took over in the mid 60's as they became more into use, usually a class 40. You couldn't move on the platform those days, at that time, for trolleies full of sacks and GPO workers. They appeared about 7.00pm and were gone by 7.45 and all trollies stored away. Some of my photos in the National Archives show this merry dance with Britannia 70010 Owen Glendower at the head of the train.

I predicted this to my wife 18 months back. Every visit and no customers. The problem now lies with prices and peoples pockets. Mine is no longer big enough to fork out such vast amounts. I bought 2 Bachmann Royal Mail special club offers and a Hornby Turbomotive last year. I am sure there are many like me who have pulled the pursed strings closed. Watch out now for others to fall by the wayside including the big makers leaving just a few smaller brands struggling to survive. £289 for a loco ????? that is in fantasy land.

In the 60's travelling to Crewe with a 3 coach train, we calculated the loco 70044 Earl Haig travelled at 108 mph for about 3 miles. When the driver was told he said his speedo recorded 112mph. That was the 10.26 am from WBQ and usually had more coaches.

I really did think my post would be removed within a couple of hours. Thank you to the moderators for letting it stay. I watched something on TV recently about the Margate factory when it was Lines Brothers/ Triang Toys. They quickly turned their hand to making Thompson Sub Machine Guns by the thousand during WW2. It was one of the biggest toy factories in the world making all sorts of fantastic toys, so why not get back into other "Toys", take on the Chinese and make model railways exactly that without gimmicks, such as girraffe cars and rocket cars

Methinks there is mid teen to mid twenties person organising lots of Hornby things and failing dramatically. No way am I using teenage websites for a hobby followed by mainly over 40'S ( being nice there when I meant grey aces of the fat wallets) I don't see any other makers in the mags making silly toys for model railways. No, they are going for excellence in accuracy without gimmicks of having a chance to win a Beatles or Cocoa Cola pop van fron tooling made in the 60's. No longer is Hornby Railways a toy at the prices being asked and should be Hornby Model Railways and the cheaper stuff rebranded from Railroad to Toytown Trains, with regular competions in the Beano. ANNOYED you bet I am annoyed. "What would you like for Christmas Johnny, a trainset of the latest XBox gizmo with loads of games?" "Oh I would like Smokey Joe with a Beatles wagon and circle of track as nobody else will have one at my age" Hours of pleasure discussing it on Thick Tok, Poo Tube and Clatter. Christmas for me this year, a very cheap, almost give away price LMS Turomotive and two Bachmann Royal Mail club specials vans. Miserable present now my new Aston Martin has just become a tad expensive. Johnny has changed his mind and is now getting the XBOX a new 65" tele and a new Iphone S6000 with inbuilt tardis technology for time travel to avoid airport queues. I doubt this post will last until Christmas

Well this is an old thread with the same theme as many before. If you have no, little or poor advertising to get customers will be nigh on impossible. As the thread is from 2019 when locos were about £108, then to try to sell choo choos will be nigh on impossible at £260 at todays rate. I can see prices increasing a lot more as customers find other hobbies such as collecting Ferraris and Lambourghinis which will soon be cheaper than a loco.

There is a short film on the Hush Hush out there from ??? Pathe News or similar. I saw it mentioned the other day and thought to look later but was busy later modifying my car a bit.

As RAF states the Turbomotive rarely ran in reverse with a load, due to its lack of power in the right hand turbo.It's main reversing being to manouvere itself and very light loads if required locally ie within a shed or yard. It was only used between Liverpool and London Euston on trains such as "The Red Rose" As it was rarely used I think leaving it off the model is a good idea (although it is supplied in my box). I can never get to grips with couplings on the front of passenger locos in 00 guage. All mine do not have one. Hornby Dublo never fitted them either. OK I can see an LMS Class 5 hauling a train in reverse but even that was "usually" a rare event. I have two volumes of info on the Turbomotive which makes great reading of this loco from it's initial idea by Stanier to development of other country's efforts. Sweden built three turbo trains and all are preserved. The US had quite a dabble into their design and made some MASSIVE locos with that method of propulsion. It is a fascinating subject.

Well Hi! my name is Diana Prince and I already do a similar job for free. I am fully aware how to handle cookies, cup, cakes, muffins and fries. I have the skills to make buildings and wagon loads from these and how to use a choc drop for a caboose tail lamp. OOOOOOH I have just had a bad dream.

No thank you. Why would I want to waste time on that when I mention on a webpage a comment made in a newspaper. I would rather read War and Peace. I also wish I hadn't bothered wasting my time on this website again.

check out the drop in share price over 12 months https://www.hornby.plc.uk/

Reading today's finacial section of my paper Hornby has had a bad year with sales. Perhaps it is not just the current general financial climate but a combination of prices being far too high as well. New products look good but to introduce yet another range in 00 with locos at £370 is suicide. Shares are massively down and investors will pull out furthur if they think they will lose their money. New makers are making similar scale products at lower prices so maybe it's time for a management rethink.

@deam, Thank you for the revised timings. Lets just hope we are not broadcast another Secret Weapons of WW2. Worse still, a programme about the Beatles incorporating Hornby Beatle wagons.

Nothing for me now I have done a set of Railroad Teaks that look fine to the eye stained up with correct colour underframes. Just around £110 inc paints and stains and a few wheels I already had (even though I bought another pack by accident) for 8 coaches. I have the NRM Bachmann Deltic and am more than happy with that. I have no interest in Beatles myth junk. The only thing I can see that I will buy is the catalogue at present as I have evry year for about 30 years (inc that poor relation one from a few years back) Far too much regenerated Triang toy stuff still being made at ridiculous prices. Eg last year the Ex Dapol 12 wheel Restaurant Car was RRP at around £66, now it can be picked up new at a more sensible £24. Price is the point where I draw the line and that is about £150 for a loco and about £35 for a coach. Edited because I forgot the 2 brake coaches to make 8 in total.

Perfect repair. Well done Rapido and it is the same model as returned and not someone else's.

Modelmaster transfers are excellent. I have used most makes. I use also, Cambridge Custom Transfers as he has some hard to get transfers. https://www.cctrans.org.uk/

I too had issues with Locomotion models and it was made worse with UPS. Sadly, even though the issue was sorted to some extent, I was still £8 out of pocket and had a very stressful few days trying to contact them and the idiots at UPS. Needless to say I will not buy from them again via the post but if there is anything that takes my fancy, I will try to get it from the NRM York when I visit. I ended up getting a S/H Mallard early version without commerative plaque off Ebay. It needs a bit of work but it is in very good condition otherwise. The box is a bit tatty.

Chinese rubbish with no recourse is normal these days. We bought two expensive cerastone coated frying pans from a well known British maker (Chinese made) only to find that everything stuck to them. In the end they were good enough to send us a Toastie maker and keep the pans. The Toastie maker was broken and must have been that way from China. They replaced that with another which was OK and works OK so far. Sorry to take it off topic to make a point that QC in China is a myth.

I have just completed upgrading a set of 8 old teaks but decided not to put lighting in. Some were China made and the others Margate. I must have been lucky getting them apart but the glazing being glued to the body in the Chana made versions made staining that bit more difficult as they had to be done with extra care. I have just ordered the steps for under the doors, which are brass, so will need 2 pack to fix them. From the same place I managed to get nonworking table lamps for my 12 wheel Restaurant Cars. That project was from a few years back and until now the lamps were impossible to find. Hopefully they will all be here in the next week or so and the workshop reopens. Along with those jobs I have a "Mallard" loco that needs doors fitting, cylinder drains cocks and the flanged rear Cartazzi truck wheels fitting. Oh and my Breakdown mess van needs overhead warning flashes applying and a spot of weathering arond doors and windows. That should keep me going for a few days.

I remember the 70's when Hornby Dublo fetched high prices. A Dorchester with box could get £450 also the E3002 at a similar price. Work that at todays prices and it would be £ks. I remember Norman Hatton putting things away for me that I was trying to get. He offered me a 6 wheel Stove Brake van at £110 which I declined. The full brake Mk1's were fetching up to £30 until he found a few hundred of them in storage and the price dropped to £1 as there were so many. I will sell my Hornby Dublo 3 Rail (genuine via the factory and Eames of Reading) for £5000 if there are any takers (inc box)