What About The Bee
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Posts posted by What About The Bee
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Hornby lock in the price at the time of ordering when that order is direct from their own website.
There are additional benefits when ordering direct from Hornby beyond simply locking the price.
Before I realized that I could order direct from Hornby, I was ordering from XYZ. XYZ offered international sales and has a reasonable web presence. XYZ took full payment, at the time of order, for several separate orders. When you examine my interests [Lion] and compare that to the Thunderbolt, you will immediately see one kerfuffle. This forced XYZ to endure a terrible event. I was worried for them. I have another order there, fully paid for, yet now outstanding for 7 months. Hornby have not shipped the item to XYZ yet, but XYZ has my money. Benefit when ordering from Hornby: no payment upfront. Not even a deposit.
An additional benefit is the Hornby Rewards program. This provides a 10% discount over list price over time. A one time purchaser will not see this, but frequent flyers will. Benefit when ordering from Hornby: discount for repeat customers.
When combined with Hornby's policy of honoring the price at the point of pre-order, there is a clear advantage given to Hornby. A Hornby annual report stated that there is an aim to increase the web based store front. These benefits will help drive those sales.
Bee
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Here is an identical issue with stock alerts for a Hornby Dublo
An interesting comment by 5Dublo2, when that correspondent states
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I am kind of wondering if stock alerts only get triggered when something is actually in stock ( and also not already reserved for a pre-order the day it arrives in stock )
If correct then an item that has not yet been released becomes available to pre-order it won't trigger a stock alerts as it was never in stock
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You will note that 5Dublo2 is also using definitions to rationalize the apparent shortfall. Just as I attempted, albeit with a different rationalization. There will be no use in contacting Hornby, as prior querries about the processing flag and the unavailable status have resulted in nice sounding replies from Hornby that essentially mean "we have to look into that". These web pages have been around only since 2019, when the new CEO demanded a complete revamp and freshening of the Hornby web presence. This always introduces unforeseen bugs. It takes time to sort these.
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Here is another correspondent that says "No stock alerts"
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I would be astonished if Hornby has a unique silo of code that deals strictly with TT:120. That is, a stock alert is a stock alert, be it for Hornby Dublo or TT:120. The request by one of us for a stock alert, for any bit of kit, executes the exact same software. Why stock alerts are not triggered is not isolated to TT:120. It failed on Hornby Dublo as well. It will likely fail when my item comes into stock, an Era 1 bit of OO rolling stock.
I suppose one likes to think that Hornby are giving TT:120 the red carpet and ushering it through these pages with alacrity. Truth is that TT:120 is a product just like any other here, albeit a different scale. It will experience the same system wide issues that other products do.
Bee
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Hi Brewman
I agree, if we just use the 🔎 search function, then the results are sometimes erratic. This is a database issue, how it is manipulated and maintained. The closeness of integration of that database with these web pages.
Yet an exhaustive search is feasible on the Hornby US site. The number of models offered is far and away less than the numbers offered in the UK. A business decision, to be sure. Since the US number is so small, we can sequentially examine each in turn. No Lion. No TT:120
I'd be thrilled with a better search function on the UK site. For me, it is quite simple. I need only select Era 1. Yet I do understand for others, with broader interests, will want to cast a net in other ways.
Bee
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@96RAF
Indeed I do. If the US presence offered all the models available in the UK, I wouldn't bother with the UK web pages. It would likely offer me an incredible savings in shipping as well
Try looking for Lion (R30232) on the Hornby US pages. Not there, not found on searches, either by looking at the pages OR by computer search. I note it is still available on the UK pages.
Try getting any TT:120 on the US pages. According to Hornby US, it doesn't exist.
I do appreciate you mentioning this, as it could have escaped my notice. I make no comment on this business decision by Hornby. They can sell their products as they see fit, in the way they see fit.
Bee
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I've been buying and selling items on eBay for more than 20 years. I have perfect feedback. Many of my sales were far and away more than £1000. Some purchases have also exceeded that amount. These are not tiny transactions.
Each transaction is an agreement between the buyer and seller. The price realized is what the buyer is willing to sell for, and what the buyer is willing to pay. And that's it.
I've received the crazy lowball offers AndyMac describes. I've also seen the sellers who think their broken item is worth more than new in the box. Both situations I ignore.
@Deem, the loco you were looking at seemed ridiculously priced. Maybe it was. Maybe there's a guy desperate to have it, and money is no object. No one was forcing you to buy it. In a way, you are a better educated customer now, having seen what comments came forth. An educated consumer knows a fair deal and can recognize when the deal isn't worth it for himself.
Bee
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Hi Simmo
You have just described my exact situation. I'm only interested in a small group of models. Within that group, all are in the "must have" category. I'm not about to be left out.
The Smoke Generator models have a degree of interest for me, but I am very unlikely now to submit to temptation. I have more discipline than that. Maybe when it comes to my area of interest I will purchase a smoke generator. Ha! Who am I kidding? You would be well advised to not stand betwixt me and that model! 🏃
I could save a bit of money by ordering from a retailer. The only local hobby shop that carries Hornby product isn't local to me, at all*. I'm in the USA, so of consequence, almost any OO order, Hornby product or otherwise, will be via the internet.
The small savings I might incur are negligible when compared to the certainty of acquiring those must have items. So you will find me scrambling about Hornby's web pages, securing the models of interest, on launch day.
Bee
*In the most shocking of developments, a model train store just opened a few weeks ago, within walking distance of my home. Call me flabbergasted. Naturally, this being the USA, he carries 3 rail O scale Lionel Trains. Not much Liverpool and Manchester Railway in that kit.
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To experiment with this, I went to one of my pre-orders. In recent communication with Hornby, they tell me it should be arriving at Hornby soon. Hooray!! I will get it soon! I'm happy.
I also just now requested a Stock Alert for that item. I've checked, and under my account, it shows this alert. Hornby's website says I will be notified when this item "is back in stock".
Okay, it never was in stock. So, my first dilemma is one of definitions. Must the item come into stock, and then go out of stock, and then come "back in stock" for the alert to be triggered?? That is, since it was never in stock, how can the item come back in to stock?
Hopefully, more data will follow shortly. If Hornby charges my card and ships the item, WITHOUT A STOCK ALERT, then the alert really doesn't function as a user would expect. If I do get the alert ...
Bee
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Hi TT-Man 👋
This question belongs better in the "Forum and Website Feedback" section, at least to me.
Your question isn't about TT at all. While the Stock Alerts you set up may have been for TT items, your question is really about the Hornby web site performance.
I am interested in your question, and I too would like to hear an answer to this. It just seems out of place in this area.
Bee
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What we have asked for is a big notification box to flag up centre screen which then has to be accepted by the poster before they can continue. The current notification is a one liner at top of screen and may even be off screen out of user sight, nor does it require acceptance.
Your description, 96RAF, is more concise than my description and is indeed the same solution. I am often caught out by the top of screen notifications, as they are just as you say, off screen.
There is one important thing that should be made clear to the web team. That center of the screen box should appear without interaction from the Hornby server. If you rely on the frequency response of that server, your issue will remain.
Here is why.
(This is an observation not a complaint. Treat it thusly). When we type characters here, each character appears to be sent to the server, and the server sends it back to your screen for display. This is fine for text only, there is near instantaneous response. The frequency of response is quite high. But images reduce the frequency response below 1 hertz into the fractional hertz range. The millions of bytes that represent an image must also make that bounce, for each character you type. I can prove this to you.
Load up a post with ~10 to 20 images and try typing. If your experience matches mine, you will find that pressing characters lags on the screen. This is low frequency response.
So far so good.
So here is the acid test for the web team. Load a post with a few images and text. Press the POST REPLY button. If my local web page is reliant on the server, the user will still be able to press that button before the server responds causing the center of screen box, due to the frequency response of that server.
That is, the server is still performing the task, and I am pressing that button repetitively*, because I still think it didn't work!
Bee
* whilst laughing maniacally over the havoc!!!! (A joke, obviously!)
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threelink wrote: I have come up with a device which couples and uncouples link couplings remotely and for all practical purposes invisibly, at the pull of a lever.
Sir! I am all ears!! If you can find it suitable, please share this in a separate thread. I am sure many would like to see this!
For me, this is why: The Wapping Tunnel at the Liverpool end of the railway was too steep for the locomotives. A stationary engine was there to haul carriages up by an endless rope. Down hill was a rollercoaster, with the guard feverishly applying a brake. I've worked out how to do the down hill without smashing carriages and wagons into a hard stop. It is the uphill attachment of the rolling stock to the endless rope that I'm still puzzling over. The guard attached the rolling stock to the endless rope by a shorter rope but tying a thread to string is entirely too fiddly for a model railway!
Your solution, threelink, may be the thing I am after!
Bee
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I've looked at those Steam Generator models with great interest. Getting a steam generator into a tiny LMR locomotive may prove challenging. The lengthy wait for your models, DRC, will seem brief when it comes to my anticipated wait!!
Bee
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Likely old news for correspondents here, but I cannot contain my excitement! Hornby have sent us the 2023 Range Announcement.
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We are pleased to announce that our 2023 range launch is just around the corner!
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, January 10th at 7:00am (GMT) and be sure to visit the Hornby website to see our brand new releases and guarantee your pre-orders.
In the meantime, we would like to thank you for your continued support and we look forward to celebrating 2023 with you all.
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A hope for something for everyone. Good luck and I hope your top wish is in there!
Bee
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Hi Going Spare
Yes, my error. Apologies.
If one must use a pencil, the softer the pencil, the better.
The pencil specifed will not be a common one. A artist supply or craft store will have it. Yet if I am making the trip for a special pencil, why wouldn't I just make the object of the trip to be powdered graphite (Actual Lubricant)!
Bee
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@Topcat. The modern Hornby undercarriage is modeled with leaf springs for the buffers. Its a reasonable representation of the undercarriage depicted by both Lecount, Practical Treatise on Railways 1839 and Wood Traite Practique Chemins de Fer 1838. I've not seen the 1930s reproduction carriages at the museum other than in photos, but I assume the models match them with reasonable accuracy.
@threelink the Accurascale chaldons use actual chain, albeit with a magnets to allow coupling & uncoupling. The behavior of the chaldons is most amusing, as the slack in the chain is taken up upon acceleration, each wagon being jerked into life sequentially. Upon deceleration, each chaldron smashes into the one ahead. This behavior matches early passenger complaints vis carriages. The bashing is fairly rough on the chaldrons. I'm happy with Hornby's finescale chains as they restrict these impacts. Its a reasonable compromise to keep detail bits from launching themselves.
If not mistaken, the customer complaints about the rough ride led to the development of sprung buffers and other arrangements to soften the ride.
@RDS I understand that the moderators are on top of this issue and look forward to the resolution. We aren't repetetively smashing the button with reckless abandon, laughing maniacally about the havoc created. (Well, most of us).
I will take this moment to show appreciation. Being a moderator is a lot of work and comes with unpleasant responsibilities. Your role, in particular, comes with scrutiny and complications from a commercial enterprise, Hornby. So thank you!! You are appreciated!!
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I'd like to add, this is an issue for images. Text only responses are small and lightening quick.
The addition of one or more large pictures changes the message from a few hundred characters to possibly megabytes for detailed images. It is the extra time it takes, the inherent delay, that causes the screen to appear 'hung'.
So again, did I press the button? Or is the Hornby server still digesting the million bytes?
I dunno. I will try counting to 50 before pressing the button on a post with images, before a retry. Maybe that will help for me, but will not change the behavior for everyone else with images.
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Hello RDS
It was certainly not done on purpose. I know pictures must be approved and am comfortable with that.
With a touch screen, it is often difficult to know when the button has been touched or I missed it. On my android phone screen, I can see the buttons and that is about it. There is no state change in the buttons, no indication the button has been triggered. I see from other threads that this is a common issue. For us and specifically for the mods.
Now if I were a moderator, with access to the web team, I would ask them to have the 'post' button CHANGE to something else (like 'submitted'), locally on my phone, instead of waiting for a bounce back from the Hornby server. Even with the bounce back, there is no feedback mechanism for small screens. This means nothing happens when I think the button has been pressed. So did I press the button?
Hopefully, that mountain of words is intelligible. The issue is the use-case of the page, not in many users.
Bee
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Hi NoPe88
I understand your question better now. This is about conductivity, not really about lubrication.
The locomotive in the video is a split frame chassis and therefore, the electrical path flows through the axles and not via wipers. This is an important distinction for your question.
Graphite is electrically conductive while oils are generally considered to be an insulator.
The electrical path is therefore improved with the graphite and degraded with the use of oil.
The softest pencil will have the highest graphite content. So a 9H pencil would be best, as it is the softest. The hardness of a pencil is adjusted by adding clay to the graphite. Let us avoid the clay! Either obtain graphite lubricant (like lock lubricant) or use the softest pencil you can find!
Thank you for clarifying your question.
Bee
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Graphite is a known lubricant and has the advantage of not becoming a sticky mess over time.
A disadvantage would be the graphite migrating from the intended areas of lubrication to visible parts of the model. This might be unsightly.
Unknown would be the abrasive quality of graphite v plastic gears. Graphite is very soft, yet so are plastic gears. It becomes a question of relative hardness and wear.
The graphite would simply not be an issue betwixt metal axles and metal sleeved bearing surfaces. Metal hardness of axles v graphite, I believe, is not a concern.
I think the reason you have not received replies is that the use of graphite may not be as common as the use of light oils. Most will be conservative, and use the commonly recommended lubricant.
I think the graphite solution interesting, and am hopeful that more experienced modelers might provide some guidance.
Bee
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Many will have Hornby's older Liverpool and Manchester Railway rolling stock. It came in various incarnations and sets from the early 1960s to about 1980. The carriages were individually available as R621, but appeared in sets R346, R651 and R796. It was a novelty that was quite popular.
The three coaches in those ancient sets were Times, Experience and Despatch. They always used a tension lock coupling.
When Hornby brought Rocket back in 2020, there were two sets, R3809 and R3810. R3809 was the throwback Triang Tribute set, including Times, Experience and Despatch. R3809 remains a very expensive set, even in aftermarket sales. Buying this set just for those names seems like a poor choice, I already have those carriages.
R3810 offered other carriage names. Both of these sets used fine scale chain couplings. The fine scale chain coupling is incompatible with the tension lock coupling.
Behold, generation one of my tension lock replacement. I have gently removed the tension lock from the ancient carriage and replaced it with a 0.8mm wire bent to the shape shown in the inset image. The wire is typically used for bead work, and comes in various diameters and colors. I chose black!
I measured a large number of the fine scale pegs that are on my existing modern stock. It appears that Hornby have selected 0.92mm as the fine scale peg outer diameter and 1.1 mm as the fine scale chain hole inner diameter. The peg, after close examination of so many of them, is a separately applied part.
My peg at 0.8mm and Hornby's peg at 0.92 mm is a delta of 0.12mm (~0.005"). So while not perfect, it is fairly close. Being slightly smaller, it is slightly easier to thread the chain onto the peg.
No issues yet with my wire peg deforming under tractive load. The fine scale chain remains coupled and is proving equal to the task.
Mixing the old and new carriages is easily explained. The LMR experimented with all types of carriages. You can see the appearance of this mix in the lower inset image. Note the absence of tension locks and the presence of the fine scale chains inter-carriage.
I'm calling this generation 1 because I am not perfectly happy with the peg vertical height on the ancient stock. I think it needs to be a pinch lower. Generation 2 is likely to appear after a true endurance test.
More to come
Bee
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Hello Aldebaran
Thank you for sharing that snip of your railway. I did find it enjoyable.
Your color preference must be yellow, and I do support this first class choice!
Bee
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Hattons retains information, even with the item no longer in stock.
Hopefully, this is the information you seek.
https://www.hattons.co.uk/12258/hornby_r1021m_east_coast_express_complete_trainset/stockdetail
Hornby R1021M "East Coast Express" complete trainset
"East Coast Express" complete trainset with Britannia class loco "John Of Gaunt" in BR green with 2 BR maroon Mk1 coaches, 1 BR maroon Gresley coach, oval track with siding.
Bee
Edit: I copied the text from the Hatton's website. No idea why it would be so huge. Sorry about that!
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Hi P-Henry
Today I learned: I can navigate back to the appropriate level directly! Thank You P-Henry!
The red text on top escaped my notice and I appreciate you taking the time to point it out to me.
Bee
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Unfettered Power.
First, Sam promotes himself to moderator, then he approves his posts !! Heavens, what's next !!!!
[Tongue in cheek, I'm sure Sam will be responsible]
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To the Web Developers
Firstly, thank you for the addition of the PREVIOUS and NEXT buttons to the forum. That is a thoughtful addition.
What this is missing is a button that returns to the TOPIC page, where each thread is presented as a menu.
Consider a three page thread. I want to remind myself of the prior discussion, so PREVIOUS. After reading page 2, I press NEXT and finish the thread on page 3. So to return to the TOPIC page to select another thread, the only way back is via the browser back button, which pops the stack, leading me thru page 2 then page 3 again and finally to the topic page.
If there was a button that would simply return to the topic page, without retracing the entire stack, that would be nice!
Bee
Firesafe Dynamometer car ...
in General Discussion
Posted
I do like a good run by. Looking sharp Atom!
Bee