My name is Bond

Slightly puzzled that the analogue Silver King bundle has been listed again and available for £251 at the same time as The Easterner train set is available for £194. If it was a digital HM7000 bundle making a debut I could understand but I can’t see the logic of offering the bundle at £56 more than the train set other than you get a Pullman coach and Silver King rather than William Whitelaw and a maroon coach. With the digital Easterner set out of stock why not offer an HM7000 bundle? If Hornby did I might be interested as might others. Am I missing something here?

As a West Midlands train traveller, the 4 coach platforms are for use by the local 4 carriage multiple units. Anything longer does not stop at these stations. You do have to change trains at a station with a long platform if you are on a multiple unit with more than 4 carriages and you are travelling to a local 4 carriage station. Could be a potential reason for some mainline passenger working on a suitable TT:120 layout with a long platform and a short platform. As for a layout that is suitable for a baseboard that is 750mm wide to accommodate radius 3 track with all working and sidings within it looks OK to me. The only critique might be that the siding lengths are on the short side for wagon and coach storage which could limit shunting operations. The left point on the R3 circuit entering the diamond crossing could be place in the R2 circuit which would permit longer sidings on the right for the goods yard.

Just curious but do the latest batch of A4 locos have cab roofs that are flush with the boiler body and a whistle in front of the chimney? There is a report elsewhere suggesting this is the case but would like to double check. It is also reported that Simon Kohler offered a method of taking apart and reassembling the A4 body so that the cab sat correctly relative to the boiler body. Has anyone done this and if so how?

You can’t see underside detail when the wagon is on the track. I wonder how much cheaper the wagons could have been had the underside of the wagon been plain. I would prefer to pay £3 less and not have underside detail but that is me. However Simon Kohler stated that TT:120 would never have a Railroad range. It might happen though in 10 years time to monetise older TT:120 tooling. Just wish Hornby had offered an appropriate loco at launch to haul the freight rolling stock from any manufacturer.

Not an unqualified review though. Noting the comment about bowing wagon sides it did make me wonder if Peco were using the same cellulose acetate plastic for the body that Tri-ang used in the early 1950’s. Would be interesting to see if this gets worse as the wagons age. Those who know what I am referring to Tri-ang wise will know exactly what I mean! Sets were even sold with contents in this condition as they were produced months in advance of Xmas and the bowing occurred whilst they were stocked at the retailers prior to being sold as Xmas presents. Fact is kids and parents were not to bothered about appearance as long as they had a train set and it worked! And Tri-ang sets were almost half the price of Hornby at the time and had 2 rails rather than 3 so looked proper. Notwithstanding this nice wagons from Peco though and I will be ordering a few.

Just to confirm that the double straight track is not an accessory included in the double points promotion. All the other in stock track is. The double straight track appeared in stock 1 day after the promotion was announced. As indicated in a previous post, keep any double points offer order separate from other orders. The issue of course is the free shipping threshold of £50 so both orders if split need to be offer £50 to avoid shipping charges. Best to order through the promotion header at the top of the shop home page to make it clear what is included in the double points offer.

Always interesting to view images of layouts to get ideas. When posting images it would be a good idea to indicate if you are powering the layout with analogue power and control or digital DCC or HM7000. This can affect how you wire the layout and track isolation and power boosting requirements. More so when there are reverse sidings on a layout as shown in the image above. I may be right or wrong but I suspect a digital power arrangement is being used. Must admit digital power does make layout planning easier with fewer issues to think about.

Useful information. Thankyou.

A scrolling flyer has now appeared at the top of the shop page promoting the double reward points offer so it is available to all. I have checked the pending points for my order and so far only 10% of the order value has been allocated. The order did include items in addition to double straight track but the whole order value has the 10% allocation. So will it be doubled up in the future? Are others placing reward points offer orders currently only being allocated the 10% or is the full 20% appearing?

I entered the club code NCLUBHORNBYTT2023 included in the welcome email into the discount code box for Hornby Club members for ticket entry to the Great British Railway Gaydon show and it was not recognised. There does not appear to be an individual specific member code for Hornby TT:120 Club members. Not one I could find anyway. Or a discounted entry code of any type for the above show at which Hornby are appearing for TT:120 club members. So if we want the exclusive access to the Hornby VIP lounge we have to pay the full ticket price.

Whilst the Hornby TT:120 Club is now free to join with future web based online only content, the original Hornby Club is still charging £30 with print magazines, exclusive models and various other benefits. One of which is the higher 15% reward points benefit. Which I assume is doubled to 30% when double reward points offers are announced. Now the question is, if you join the paid subscription Hornby Club, do you receive the higher reward points benefit when purchasing items from the TT:120 range? I assume you will receive the benefit on HM7000 purchases which are for both Hornby scales where previous TT:120 members did not. Just to be clear all reward points members receive a 10% reward points benefit regardless of not being a club member of either paid for or free. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Link to email pass through home page with points offer top left. Assuming sent to all Reward Points members:- https://uk.hornby.com/catalogue/hobby-rewards-offers?langPath=hornby-uk&filters%5Bin_stock%5D=true&filters%5Bmandatory_filter_by%5D%5Bproduct_group%5D=Hornby%20Double%20Points&page_id=139236&sort-by=8&page=1 As an aside noted that the track cutters are a Hornby Club exclusive not a Hornby TT:120 Club exclusive. So my suggestion to spot the TT:120 club exclusive in my opening post was in error. I guess Hornby are not going to make track cutters available to TT:120 club members until Hornby introduce their own TT:120 flexible track range. And that will require the rail joiners to be in stock. Bit of joined up thinking here!

All the in stock TT:120 track and accessories are included when filtered so I would assume that would include the one additional item of track added on the same day as the email was received and in stock. It does say pre orders are excluded. But yes I agree that there is room for doubt!

What I would say is that the double straight track is not showing in the list of TT:120 track and accessories when you click through the 20% Reward Points email links. But all the other “in stock”track is showing. So worth checking that double reward points are credited in due course. I have purchased a quantity together with a few other track pieces to enable certain track formations to be laid so will check in due course.

Just had an email from Hornby offering double reward points up until 19th November on TT:120 track and accessories. That is the equivalent 20% of the current order value to be discounted against a follow up order after the points are credited. It is a general email covering all scales and some Scalextric products and when clicking on the Hornby link it takes me to both TT:120 and OO scale products. Initially got excited when viewed that a double straight track section was in stock among the TT:120 items but puzzled by the price of £6.70 when I thought it was £5.99. Was about to order when realised it was OO and not TT:120. A warning to others not to make the same mistake and in haste ordering the wrong double straight track out of concern it might sell out fast! If you filter TT:120 only it all becomes clear. PS there is one item available to club members only. See if you can spot it. As club membership is now free is there anybody who is not a club member? Seems a bit pointless offering club exclusives now when I think about it.

I had the same thoughts this morning when pondering over what the phases meant to me. Hope to still be around when phase 20 is released!

Maybe lack of Southern railway kit suggests Hornby research found that smaller scales are more popular with those living north of Watford. There is enough N gauge source research material in terms of sales and what is popular and what is not to provide feedback simply by viewing retailer websites over the years, without having to obtain consumer survey research. Those who want Southern kit will stick with OO for the time being. In addition I think smaller scale sales are driven more by modellers and layout builders and operators and not collectors of models that stay in boxes or sit on shelves so given limited production capabilities a more focussed range with larger production runs is required, rather than a large number of limited edition collector models which we see in OO. As for the phases patience is a virtue. It is unfortunate that much of what I would like arrives beyond the point of obtaining the 15% club member discount. I don’t like pre ordering for reasons I won’t go into so the chances are when things are eventually in stock the retailers will provide the discounted prices so my money will go their way unless Hornby come up with some significant benefits of buying direct over and beyond the award points system. After all the way they calculate their shipping charges somewhat overrides the award points benefit based on their ad hoc when in stock delivery arrangements.

My renewal is not due until December. Do I still get the member discount on TT:120 purchases between now and then or has that been stopped from today? Do not want to take up free digital membership immediately if it means loosing the balance of my 12 month discount period.

Still in the track planning stage and viewing images posted in various places for ideas over and beyond the the Hornby track mat layout. For a prototypical type layout do you require more left hand or right hand points? Or are point requirements simply down to the direction of any goods and loco yard? I am guessing that to switch from each mainline radius and back requires a minimum of 2 sets of each point so 2 left hand and 2 right hand. Are there any other prototypical point requirements to be aware of, or other than the above are there no set rules?

The issue is what happens when Hornby sell out of bendy point clips as a result of the HM7000 TT:120 train set users buying up all the remaining stock? If it’s the same scenario that has happened with the rail joiners (caused by out of stock straight track and Peco flexi alternative being used) then it is going to be a long wait before fresh stock turns up. And then what? By including a pack of clips with the sets it would encourage set buyers to quickly snap up more points and track packs. Lack of forward thinking by Hornby but such is life. A tip is to bend staples using needle nose plyers into an appropriate shape, although they don’t have the same springiness as the Hornby clips.

I don’t know how Facebook advertising works but I keep getting promotional advertising for Hornby TT:120 train set bundles even though they are no longer offered. OK I am a member of the Facebook Hornby TT:120 user group which explains the advertising, but, assuming this advertising costs, why are Hornby wasting money promoting products that they do not offer or are out of stock? I assume I am not the only one here who happens to be a Facebook user who also happens to see this pointless advertising. I would rather they advertise those TT:120 items that are new releases and available to buy.

Likewise although Tillig rail joiners now required as Hornby out of stock of their own. Also used flexi track for passing curved sections for which the geometry of set track does not work out.

Not forgetting VAT at 20% but this is relative as all manufacturers have to include this in their list price and retailers have to include this in their shop prices. Just pointing out that a fair wad of what is paid for coaches goes directly to HMRC.

I recall that Simon Kohler did say that in one of his early interviews when TT:120 was launched. A lot has happened since then though. SK gone, Montana Hoeren going, and a new Hornby chief is at the helm. And TT:120 was one of the success stories that Hornby highlighted in their annual report to shareholders.

Given the now obvious production capacity limitations that Hornby have, it seems that train set production is being prioritised over loco, rolling stock and accessory production. If Hornby have more train set pre orders than they can fill with single production run of 440 or so per set then something has to give. It is fundamental that train sets have to be in stock and available to buy off the shelf both for Hornby online sales and from those retailers wishing to stock Hornby TT:120. Especially with Xmas coming up. It could take two more productions runs of all the sets for Hornby to achieve this. As such something has to give and I suspect some of the delivery dates for locos, rolling stock and other items will ultimately be pushed back. What I am slightly puzzled about though is that Hornby OO train sets and other items seem readily available. Now does this mean that interest in OO is on the decline now that a smaller scale has been launched which is easier on the eye than the step down to N is? And if this is so how easy is it for Hornby to switch production from planned OO gear to TT:120 gear? For the moment it does seem that Hornby and it’s retailers are well overstocked with certain OO lines and the Hornby website well under stocked with TT:120 generally. And I suspect that those retailers selling Hornby TT:120 online are having their orders shipped from the Hornby warehouse, rather than from their own premises. Just curious but do any of the retailers offering TT:120 actually have any stock at their premises for visiting customers?