2014 range

[ba14eagle]

I dont normally pay much attention to announcements by manufacturers of the next years range, but as I have been on the Hornby website every day this month entering the advent calendar competition, today it has been difficult to avoid the 2014 range announcement.

Firstly, the new items seem to be listed in amongst the existing range, making it a bit tricky to easily spot what is actually new.

Overall, its not very exciting - maybe, those of you with a hankering after some obscure steam loco will find it so, but for the diesel enthusiast, its a bit bland. And, is it just me, or, are they really just duplicating parts of the Bachmann range? All new Mk2e coaches ( still the same old boring variants which the world and his wife of manufacturers have produced or have announced they will produce ) and there are even a few coal wagons with P.O liveries that Bachmann already produce.

There may not be a huge number of pieces of rolling stock that havent been produced r-t-r, but come on Hornby - surely you should be able to do better than this

There are some new items in the Skaledale range of ready to plant buildings, which actually were the most interesting items for me, although, how many more ancient looking signalboxes and loco sheds do we need?

Oh, and before anyone asks, this is a personal wishlist of items I would like to see made available r-t-r (and would gladly purchase) - sorry all "modern" :

1) Class 116 DMMU - new tooling to replace Lima model,

2) 4TC set (from the "green railway"),

3) BR Mk2 D BFK (I know, its very similar externally to the BSO but Im lazy ) & FK & TSO(T),

4) BR Mk2 C TSO & TSO(T) - new tooling to replace Lima model,

5) NLX (Newspaper Paper packing van gangwayed),

6) PRA china clay wagon

7) PGA hopper wagon - all new tooling to replace Hornby & Lima models

8) "Cartic 4" wagon - new tooling to replace Hornby model

[mick]

I can't get my head round the Hornby site either. Like you I clicked on a link promoting their 2014 range and was taken just to the online catalogue where I was left to sort the new stuff out from the old. Not good.

Anyway, back to the announcement and it would seem that smaller, more obscure, steam loco's are indeed the order of the day these days. Perhaps all the larger ones have been done to death already. I do actually prefer it when there's little of interest to me and I know we comment on this year after year but the prices.......yikes! The Railroad loco's are now at a level comparable to where the main range loco's were not so long ago. Also, it seems that a 125 HST in blue/grey livery has just increased by almost £35 from current models. Even the box shifters are now advertising newly announced mainline diesels such as the class 60 for just a little bit short of £150 each. Annual moan regarding apparent price increases over.

I'm probably in a very small minority but after Bachmann's release of the Blue Pullman set I'd like to see complete sets of coaches that ran behind famous trains of the day. I'd really like the LNER Coronation and Silver Jubilee sets providing they were done authentically and not just a repaint of some existing models as Hornby have attempted to do previously. Can't really see anything like that happening just yet but surely they'll run out of other things to model before too long we should never say never.

[Riddles]

It's the economy sound locos that I am looking forward to. A Duke of Gloucester fitted with sound for under £140.00 is a must. I may be tempted by a Tornado as well.

Biggest disappointment for me is that the Devon Belle observation car is still not being released in the livery it carried on The Welsh Chieftain after it moved north. It's already been done in the simple livery it carried when used on the Kyle of Lochalsh line and only needed a new paint job.

Still, there's plenty of Bachmann for me to buy if there are any spare funds.

[IanR]

Quote

I'm probably in a very small minority but after Bachmann's release of the Blue Pullman set I'd like to see complete sets of coaches that ran behind famous trains of the day. I'd really like the LNER Coronation and Silver Jubilee sets providing they were done authentically and not just a repaint of some existing models as Hornby have attempted to do previously. Can't really see anything like that happening just yet but surely they'll run out of other things to model before too long we should never say never.

Golden Age models do some beautiful sets. Prices between £250 and £350 per coach!

http://www.goldenagemodels.net/LNER-Coaches-OO-Gauge.html

[mick]

IanR said:

....Golden Age models do some beautiful sets. Prices between £250 and £350 per coach!

http://www.goldenagemodels.net/LNER-Coaches-OO-Gauge.html

I've seen those Ian, they're stunning, and taking into account the prices I've paid for some of the items in my collection they're starting to look like a decent deal!

[chris]

mick said:

I'm probably in a very small minority but after Bachmann's release of the Blue Pullman set I'd like to see complete sets of coaches that ran behind famous trains of the day.

Hornby are beggars for this. They keep producing train packs and coach packs that don't make the whole train.

Network Rail NMT HST. Two power cars, two coaches. It runs as a 2+5 or 2+6. Two years on they are now producing a couple more coaches...

EWS train managers train. Train pack had a coach missing which you could buy separately. Why not sell all 5 in the pack rather than 4 and then you had to track down the extra.

Northern Belle. Train pack: Class 47 + 3 coaches. Another 3 in the coach pack. Another Class 47 sold separately. But the Northern Belle isn't 6 coaches top and tailed by a pair of 47s, it's 9 or 11 coaches. A 3rd coach pack is required.

Cross Country HST: one coach never produced.

Hornby still seem to have a "train set" mentality rather than a "model railway".

I recognise that we are not normal modellers in that we have more room than most to run scale length trains, but there must be a demand out there to build the whole train.

Now't in the 2014 range for me. But I'm still waiting for stuff from the 2012 line up to make it to the UK...