Hornby's folly for 2009?...

"Chris" wrote

What proportion of Hornby's sales is actually in Europe? I've absolutely no idea of the answer.

John.

Surely it's the assembly work that costs the most money especially as modern models have so many fiddly bits.

Fred X

Hi John, I don't know the answer in any figures, but I buy European from Germany and have only come across 2 shops that sell "Hornby". Hornby was available from an importing shop in the 1970s-80s as one shop regularly advertised in a German Mag I got back then. A lot more sell Rivarossi, Jouef and even Electrotren, but normally only German outline.

Regards, Greg.P. NZ

Whhoooosssshhhhhhhh... When has *China* used the Euro, Duh! It's the price of raw materials, labour and shipping that are going to affect the price (either trade or retail) and those are USD, so it's the GBP to USD exchange rate that is the important one here.

Yes, but Hornby now owns Arnold, Rivarossi, Jouef and Lima.

Whhoooosssshhh... Hornby is international now and earns a lot from its European brands which are sold in Euros and made in dollars so they are cheaper to make which translates to higher GB pounds profit. Note Euro up against both the dollar and Euro. Pound has collapsed against the Euro not quite so bad against the dollar.

As I said the UK business will be adversely affected by the exchange rate changes you talk about but offset to some degree by gains in Euroland mentioned above. It would interesting to the business mix for Hornby now.

Chris

You just don't get it do you. :~(

China does business in USD, Hornby has to deal in USD regardless of wherever their dealers are. Have you see the latest GBP > USD exchange, it's nose-dived (in comparison to were it was even 3 months ago) and thus is costing Hornby more when doing business with China.

and Electrotren - I assumed we all knew that. Hornby seems to be putting most of their (European) resources into the French and Italian markets.

Aside: way back when Tri-ang/Wrenn were marketting MiniTrix British, Trix sold Tri-ang Rocket sets boxed as German Trix. Presumably this was a reciprocal agreement and Trix took the only item they could see selling in Germany.

I get the situation with the Uk but you don't seem to get that Hornby does a lot of business outside the UK where buying in Yuan (China) and selling in Euro (Euroland) is the important exchange rate. With the Euro rising against the Yuan and Hornby repratiating profits in pounds. You get more pounds for your Euro now. See

Chris

Heh, I have two worse even than that. There was Hornby's original condition GNR-built LNER A1 Pacific with N on the tender, correct for a period of between a few months and at most just under two years - depending on which one they did.

There's also Humorist that the LNER constantly buggered about with smoke lifting experiments - and Hornby didn't even model the final version of it so it depicts a period of a few months.

Come to think about it, the LNER Wartime Black 8F (IIRC) can't have run in that condition for too long either - can't remember which manufacturer did that, though.

IIRC, the Duchess is some kind of tie-in with a preservation project - I think one's been temporarily turned out in 'de-streamlined' condition prior to streamlining being restored.

"Graham Thurlwell" wrote

Hornby are responsible for that one too - surprisingly we still have stock of that model. Graham Farish also did an N-gauge version from memory.

John.

On Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:25:36 GMT, Graham Thurlwell said in :

As John says, Hornby. Good model, though, runs very well indeed.

Guy

Sorry, are we complaining or complimenting Hornby on this ?

cheers, Simon

It usually sells for a good deal less than LMSones. I bought two and re-lettered and numbered them. Can't think why more folk don't do this. I have five Hornby Black 5s none of which are carrying their delivered number.

Alistair

Wren did one also, in the 1970/80s, using the old HD tooling.

Because most people only seem to want to open boxes these days...

"simon" wrote

Quite ambivolent on that one Simon. It's a livery I would have considered for an 8F, but only when all the others had been well & truly exhausted.

John.

Theres me thinking for an 8F there was black and er black, but LMS loco profiles has 3 pages detailing differences in styles esp lettering and numbers. Would have thought LNER was good marketing choice for it though as it allows a whole swathe of extra modellers who can purchase one even if it was short lived. As said it is a nice model, and thats a good idea to buy the cheaper livery then renumber.

Cheers, Simon

"simon" wrote

Those that model the pre-nationalisation era are few and far between these days. I'd say we sell one pre-nationalisation liveried model for every

I can't tell you precisely when the 8Fs carried LNER livery, but it would be for a very short time span, which narrows further the sales potential of the loco.

But is that a good marketing ploy by the manufacturer?

I think the 8F is quite a creditable model and I do actually have one in my collection, although as one of Hornby's first super-detailed loco-drive models it id looking a little 'long in the tooth' these days.

John.