Hornby News

"Jane Sullivan" wrote

Excellent! Yes I too have a Railway to run Model Trains on rather than a model railway. This time round I am trying to stay GB (after all there's a lot of good stuff to choose from)....but there's a forthcoming Roco Br03 pacific in post-war blue that may yet tempt reservation from me,

but what's it gonna pull?

~Fil

"John Turner" wrote You'd just have been in time to buy the first round in the pub! ;-)

John.

I'll remember that for next time !!!

Andy

In article , Steve W writes

Still they did sell over 190,000 of them between 1957 and the end of

1977 (not to mention the almost identical TC yard switcher which used the same tooling and sold over 43,000) and it was only a body they had to tool up to fit on an existing motor bogie. 50,886 sold including a quantity to Holland.

Wasn't this produced as a give-away to members of the Hornby Collectors Club?

Probably not, but together they made a lot of money for the company.

Pat

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.

Thank you, Pat. That confirms my expectations, and I think rather helps make the case for producing a class 13!

For Hornby to produce and successfully market a new class 08, look at the three main obstacles they have to overcome:

1. Investment into completely new design and tooling of virtually every part;
2. The previous Hornby/Triang version has been produced for years and has presumably filled all needs in the existing toy market;
3. The equivalent super-detailed Bachmann 08 has been out long enough to presumably fill all the needs in the existing modellers market.

What I mean by 2. and 3. is that I don't suppose potential purchasers have held back waiting to see if perhaps Hornby might produce a super-detailed 08 at some point in the future. Hornby must believe there is enough potential meat in the future market to recover their investment, even going head-to-head with the Bachmann offering which remains extant.

Adding a class 13 to the mix would mean, I suppose, offering two units of

08, one of which has a trailer chassis and a modified moulding at the cab end of the body.

My case is that expanding the 08 to a 13 would mean a relatively small additional investment, and a much increased opportunity to recover the prime investment in the 08. In fact thinking about it, the intelligent thing would be to put the pick-ups on the trailer part of the unit, thereby discouraging uncoupling to use the motor unit as a standalone 08. This would encourage the purchase of both an 08 and a class 13.

Ultimately, to succeed in a niche market like model railways, the prime entity (which we are presuming to be Hornby) has to dominate the market with offerings which are perceived as being 1. desirable, and 2. unobtainable elsewhere.

Simply to follow Bachmann with another class 08 puts them right on the back foot, at least in this segment of the market. Not good enough.

Well, that's how it looks to me, anyway, but I'm no expert!

Cheers, Steve

through the washer on empty coaching stock and would not get in this state. Worn paint is more likely.

Tell me about it! I've got one on order! How do I justify an era III German steam loco on an Era V Swiss layout!

Nigel

In message , Nigel Emery

Not if you're Lima ;-))))

S.