Generic Hornby Username

So there's some good news and some bad news. The last we heard from Hornby, in the Winter/Autumn magazine, the Swallow HST was due in late February. The GWR/BR Blue HSTs were due in April. How is it looking? It seems like the estimates were spot on. There's even a possibility of the GWR/BR HSTs arriving early! On the other hand, the Leviathan slips back two months to June. The last we heard for that model was an April release. So some good and some bad. Looking at the situation holistically, it's obvious that things are looking positive for TT120. The next 6 months are going to be great!

I’d recommend this video by @Peachy for a rundown on 6010. I learned about it from reading materials, but this tells you everything you need totally straightforward.

I'm hoping at some point that TT Class 47 body shells come up for sale. I would love to get one to experiment with painting it, weathering it, and placing decals on it. West Hill Wagon works has the bogies and engine, so I've thought about potentially having a scene where a Class 47 is partially dissembled. It would also be a good excuse to experiment with modeling locomotives. I'm a little apprehensive about altering a brand-new locomotive. One of the few disadvantages of modeling in a new scale is the lack of used/broken locos to experiment on. That will get better in the coming years.

Oh, that was much cheaper than I remembered. Was that for the fully assembled/painted product, or the kit? Either way I could have probably committed to that. 🤔 I could have dipped my toe into painting and model assembly if it was required. I remember the price tag scaring me off, but that's not bad at all.

This manufacturer is pretty small. The only two people they have listed under employees are (I assume) a father and son who handle all the design work. It's a neat family business! But it's sadly not too surprising they can't finance the projects like Hornby can. I was interested in the Class 25 myself, but I didn't want to commit to the project and leave them without follow through. The selling price was going to be in the 400 GBP range if I remember right. Not a cheap proposition, and I wasn't sure when it was actually going to happen. I do hope they're able to revisit it sometime in the future. Agreed, the difference between 1:120 and 1:160 is more drastic than British N. Though, I have seem German modeling outfits (like the stalwart Auhagen) sell buildings under "HO/TT" branding. Products directly related to railway scenes (like sheds) need separate products since exact clearances matter. But I think the N Scale Metcalfe buildings could just about get away with N/TT branding. I think if Metcalfe did introduce TT buildings they would either be over scale or too close to their N-Scale offerings to really justify having put in the extra work.

This is true. As Hornby's TT120 catalogue says: "The range shown will be varied in future years. Enthusiasts are invited to obtain their requirements while they are in current production." The possibility of some of the products being phased out in April is relatively high. I'm thinking Trigo, Nighthawk, Silver King, and Falcon are the ones to go. They'll obviously keep selling the models they have in the system, but I think new variants of the A3s and A4s are high probability. I think they'll keep The Flying Scotsman and Mallard around for the foreseeable future because they're icons. They could phase out the A1 Flying Scotsman for the A3 version. And they could release Mallard under BR. That would give modelers (like PeachyTT120 😆) who already own the Flying Scotsman and Mallard a reason to purchase new versions. It would also allow them to release a new A1. Phasing out the MK 1s seems less likely. Never say never, but those are a critical building blocks for passenger trains in Eras 4 and 5. Interestingly, all the Pullmans (except one last Brake 3rd in stock) have been delisted from the Gaugemaster website (no preorders). New versions of the Pullmans with different names are a high probability

I’m thinking Metcalfe should do something akin to what they do with their OO products. Many of those products are labeled “OO/HO.” Basically, the two products are close enough that they can fit in either scale. Metcalfe’s N Scale products at 1:148, is pretty close to TT. As RM pointed out, some have found that Metcalfe’s N Scale products are better for TT than N! All they need to do is adjust their packaging and branding to N/TT Scales. With that small trick, they will have increased their appeal.

We do know Revolution Models is planning to launch versions of their N Scale wagons in TT. They have made a wide selection of wagons. They seem to specialize in Era 10/11, but they also have made wagons and locomotives in earlier eras too. I'm looking forward to see what they announce!

Gaugemaster has both the BR Blue 08 and the Carless Petrol tanker available for preorder. As long as Gaugemaster doesn't have its wires crossed, it suggests additional runs will be released at some point.

I was curious to see whether I could find one of the power banks online at a stockist. They're sold out at all the big online retailers. I found only one website that claimed to have them, but I'm 99% sure that the website is a fake/scam. Buyers have searched out every last one. This is obviously a suboptimal situation. Hornby launched two blockbuster products in early 2023. Both TT120 and HM7000 have found their footing and devoted followings. In the longterm, that's fantastic. In the short-term, there are growing pains. These products are selling out due to higher than expected demand. People have really enjoyed the decoders and power banks. This high demand was made worse, since there were serious manufacturing problems in the Far East in 2022/2023 due to pandemic containment measures that were adopted in certain regions. The last thing Hornby wants is to leave you without a helpful product. Hornby has strong incentives to get the power banks back in stock ASAP. Admittedly, this doesn't really help you in the short term with your problem. But that's the explanation for how we got into this situation. It's probably good to know that this is transitory, and that in the future Hornby will try to have critical products like these in stock constantly. I'm sorry I couldn't share happier news. It's just a waiting game now.

I gave your video a look. That was a nice long train it was shunting! I give the video a score of 08 out of 08! 😉

Yeah, this was misstep from Hornby's marketing team describing them as Mark 3Bs. I noticed this when it came out last year, and I found it curious. The mistake is repeated in the TT120 catalogue from around that time period. Someone must have alerted them to the issue, as they have subsequently referred to them correctly as Mark 3s. The big questions is where the Mark 3B terminology came from in the first place. It's actually possible that the TT120 Mark 3 tooling project encompasses Mark 3/3A/3B. The author could have heard references to the Mark 3Bs and assumed that they were all Mark 3Bs. If that is the case, which isn't an absurd hypothesis, we might well see variants of the Mark 3Bs in future years.

Early on (1970s early 1980s), HSTs were in fixed formations. 253XXX of the Western Region were fixed 7 coaches. 254XXX of the Eastern Region were 8 coaches. Eastern Region were the first to start splitting the formations apart. Generally the Eastern Region kept things in the 7 to 8 coach range. Western Region were slower to split the formations apart, but also tended to stick to 7 coaches. I don't think this was super common, but there are always exceptions... 😉 Here's a picture of an Executive-liveried HST with three coaches: http://www.penmorfa.com/Archive/HST%203%20car%20Abergele.jpg It's an edge case, but if someone gives you grief you can always pull up this picture.

Oxford Diecast are an impressive team. You look at some of the diecast vehicles that are released out of Germany for 20 GBP, and then you compare it to Oxford Diecast's for under 10 GBP. And the Oxford models can regularly be discounted down a few more pounds. I'm sure there are some quality tradeoffs with that price difference, but Oxford fills an important niche. For railway modeling, you usually want a decent number of vehicles to create a lifelike scene. Spending 200-300 GBP for vehicles on your layout is pretty rough. Oxford gives you good-quality models at reasonable prices. It lets you develop interesting scenes for a fraction of the price. It was good that Hornby was able to leverage their ownership of Oxford to help with TT120. Oxford's range is still obviously fledgling, but it is adding newly-tooled vehicles. I expect that it will become more robust over the next few years.

Fantastic news! The TTA wagons were noted as "due imminently" on Gaugemaster on January 17th. So, if the same thing holds, we could start seeing people get charged for the Swallow HST in the next few days. Get ready!

The new wagons looks great! I’m looking forward to the 9F making its appearance in High Fell. That will be the day!

You’re on the money, BritishRail! Class 60 is part of Hornby’s plan for TT120. Last we heard it was going to be phase 4, though that is subject to change. Things are really quite murky right now. We know the HSTs, Class 50s, The Duchesses, and Class 66s will be here by this summer. But after that it’s hard to figure out what loco is coming when. But rest assured the Class 60 is on the list! The 3 liveries we know are: 1) BR Livery -Era 8 2) EWS Livery- Era 9 3) GBRF Livery- Era 11 Cheers!

That's a great link, Dodge! I decided to go to the manufacturer's website, and they have a whole host of TT storage options. Some affordable, with some ranging to hundreds of pounds. I'll keep this brand in mind! https://www.feldherr.net/railway/tt-gauge

Exactly right. Though, I suspect that the sale of the toolings would be pretty cut and dry. One of the advantages of toolings is that they are a physical object that are more easily able to be appraised and sold. Hornby has tooling experts who can go visit and inspect them. If any were of bad quality they could negotiate the price down. I don’t think there is much additional value in buying the Bachmann name. The Hornby brand is strong in the UK. So, it would be as simple as shipping the toolings to the Hornby storage facility after haggling over price. Not too bad. I really wish we knew who used Kader for manufacturing. I tried looking it up and didn’t find anything. That’s not surprising. Some people who don’t know how manufacturing works might wonder what the difference between brands are if they’re all made by the same factory. Not good for Kader/Bachmann, or their clients. In the event of Kader going belly up, other firms would also need to sell toolings in order raise money to survive the manufacturing shutdown. Or they might just disband. That means not only Bachmann’s toolings could be for sale, but also other British firms. Hornby could have a field day buying discount toolings. As bad as Hatton’s shutdown was, it would not compare to the disruption that would occur because of this. The British market is saturated with great models and brands. Possibly oversaturated. This would winnow the field.

Fascinating, RM. This is the first I've heard of all this. Do we know which firms rely on Kader for manufacturing? If Kader were to collapse, it could result in significant disruption across the industry as various firms look to find new manufacturing partners. I could easily see it taking 2-3 years before you could reenter the market after losing your main manufacturer. And that's only if you survive the financial shortfall of not releasing new models. In order to restart production, you'd have to fly out to China and spend a significant amount of time finding a reputable factory that can create the highly detailed models we enjoy. Then you'd have to establish a rapport with the factory and sign on. Then you have to adapt your workflows and have your teams work with the new Chinese firm. Only then can you enter production. And even after all that you'd still be low on the priority list for them. Like any other business, the factory will prioritize their existing and longstanding customers over a new one. You'd go straight to the back of a one to two year queue. All the while your business is losing more and more money waiting for production to start up. And did I mention that initially you can expect higher than normal warranty claims and product faults as the factory gains familiarity with your toolings and design processes? It would take a robust business to survive a series of shocks like that. I do agree that Hornby would be the obvious candidate to buy some of Bachmann's OO toolings. They could also buy some of Bachmann's HO toolings from Europe and America for Hornby International. Part of Hornby's success over the years has been to opportunistically purchase the toolings of distressed firms. Lima and Dapol toolings have served Hornby faithfully for decades. That Lima Class 66 is the gift that keeps on giving (even if it is not up to the quality Hatton's version)! I don't think we'd see them pick up any of the Graham Farish stuff. If there was no TT120, I would be urging them to buy it and enter that market. But TT120 is now firmly going with millions of dollars invested. I doubt they'd want to jump into another market. But who knows? All interesting to think about. These are turbulent times.

I can confirm that the Hornby OO pins (item R207) do in fact fit into the predrilled TT120 set track holes. They look okay too. Not too far off from the color of the track. I would recommend screws though. Attempting to remove the pins to reposition track can be extremely irritating and even result in damaging the set track.

I’ll stow this video away for future reference!

Edit: I defer to 96RAF always!

Wow, you’re right that two of the three versions are showing as unavailable. I’d check back to see if their status changes. Alternatively, you should find model shops still will have some supply. Very impressive start for these. If we keep this up maybe Arnold will get the message! 😉 The last version still available is the DFDS version. You can preorder here: https://uk.arnoldmodel.com/products/touax-4-axle-container-wagon-sffgmss-45-container-dfds-ep-vi-hn9751 Edit: I double checked a few websites. Gaugemaster still has each livery available for preorder. The German website Modell Bahn Shop Lippe also has them available for preorder too. If you’re looking to buy them, it might be wise to grab them while you can.

I mentioned this on another thread, but I have the 2x points iteration of TT120 Club. It’s still saying I’ll get 1370 points instead of 2740 points. I’m not getting this green 08 product, but it is definitely not coded in correctly. The new DCC Leviathan is showing 4460 points back as it should. I don’t think this a nefarious tactic. It does however seem like there is a communications breakdown between the web team and their customer service team. Peter’s approach seems like the right one from my vantage point.