2013 range

[doublecee]

Looks good, but server is being hammered at the moment, so page loads are sloooow

[mick]

doublecee said:

Looks good, but server is being hammered at the moment, so page loads are sloooow

Agreed. There's certainly a couple of steamers among the new offerings that will be heading this way. I really wasn't expecting much from Hornby this time around - taken me a bit by surprise. Love the look of the 6 x A4s in the 'free' display unit but it's going to be about £900 all told by the look of it. The P2 and the Duke are on my list and I'm glad they've finally decided to do a large logo blue class 56 so I may be tempted with that too.

I'm still trying to get on the site to have a proper look but as you say, it's chocker at the mo.

[mick]

The Hornby site is a bit quieter this morning so I thought I'd go and take a look at the new announcement.

The Duke of Gloucester was a welcome new addition for me but looking at the Hornby listings it seemed I must either take the (R3168) 'Railroad' version on its own or buy the 'proper' version as part of a (R3192) train pack along with 2 x MK1 coaches. However, Hattons' website lists the Duke as a single loco (R3191) so that's a yes from me.

The P2 class Cock of the North is another yes and it's good to see that both these loco's are available (discounted prices of course) for less than £100.

Must say once again just how good the 'gathering' of those 6 A4s look. That complete set, including the attractive display case, will doubtless become a highly prized collectors item. Each of the 6 loco's has a RRP of just under £170 but they're available for pre-order at around £135 in the shops and you need all six to be eligible for the free display case (though I've not seen any mention of the postage costs for the case itself).

More good news is the introduction of the elink interface. Hornby's Railmaster operating software looked very inviting when I first saw it but it required the addition of a Hornby Elite controller in order to be able to use it. That's no longer the case as far as I can see, and the elink interface now sits between your layout and PC giving you computer control of the whole layout. It's also smartphone compliant allowing use of up to 8 phones or tablets.

Well done Hornby - it looks like being an interesting New Year.

[cleanerg6e]

I too had a look at the Hornby 2013 range. It's very large and I doubt if a lot of the range will appear in 2013. Hornby seems to have a habit of announcing a huge range of new models but actually getting them made is something else. The "Duke" and "P2" look interesting but I'll adopt a "wait and see" policy.

It wasn't that long ago that Hornby said they had some exciting new developments with their live steam range, but it's all gone very quiet on that front to the extent that the live steam range seems to have quietly slipped into the pages of model railway history.

Roy.

[cleanerg6e]

I was talking to Richard Foster of Model Rail and he wrote in the mag of the bad rendering of the GWR 42xx 2-8-0 and the 72xx 2-8-2. He told me that Hornby has a new system called 'Design Clever" but it seems to be a retrograde step with a lot of molded on detail and bad printing. In other words the days of superb locos of the like such as the T9 and King Arthur seem to be gone and now we are to be asked to buy shoddy quality locos at even higher prices.

Bachmann doesn't seem to be having the same problems.

Richard also told me that he's probably off Simon Kohler's Christmas card list for the bad rap.

Roy.

[mick]

cleanerg6e said:

...He told me that Hornby has a new system called 'Design Clever" but it seems to be a retrograde step with a lot of molded on detail....

Those were my thoughts too Roy when I read about Hornby's plans for keeping prices in check. Have to admit that moulded parts are much finer these days than they used to be and it is often difficult to distinguish between some moulded details and separately applied parts. The separately applied detailing bits really do make the loco's stand out from the norm but for outdoor use then I'm okay with the more resilient moulded details providing they're done well enough. If it helps to keep prices down too then perhaps that's the way we need to go if the hobby is to have a future.

[mick]

Just thought it would be interesting to post a message today as it's one year to the day that I finally managed to get a good look around the Hornby website at the annual announcement made 12 months ago. Out of all the products that caught my attention on that occasion it would seem that only the e-Link product has made it to the shelves so far, though I believe the Great Gathering of A4's are imminent. Good things come to those who wait......