Hornby-Triang-Lima-Triang

"domi --d" wrote

If I recall correctly there was an intention to move (some?)production to Slovakia before the finanical problems, and I believe that the cost of building and equipping the Slovakian factory was a major cause of the crisis.

Anyway with luck that's all behind them now, and assuming that the Slovaks can achieve similar quality levels to the Austrians then I think Roco potentially have a positive future.

John.

I've virtually given up buying anything on Ebay now, because prices are just ridiculous. Occasionally, I tend to bid what I think an item is worth and just forget about it until the end of the auction only to find that in a frenzy of bidding in the last 10 minutes the price has risen to about 3 times what I was prepared to pay.

It is good news for sellers (as long as the buyers are genuine), but there is a strange mentality to some buyers who seem to be determined to outbid any rivals at any price.

wrote

I think that's an over-generalisation.

I reported on here some time ago that I'd found the market for ex-Southern locos to be extremely poor. Out of a desire to turn dead stock into re-useable cash I listed a number of Hornby Q1 0-6-0s and original condition BB/WC Pacifics on eBay and every single one failed to achieve trade price let alone anything like normal retail price or 'ridiculously high figures'.

I'm not complaining about that don't get me wrong, it was a commercial decision to shift dead stock, and I've achieved my aim of shifting them.

It did however also confirm my thoughts that demand for ex-SR locos is patchy to say the least, and doesn't bode well for Hornby's plans for 2006 new loco releases if the market is genuinely as small as it appears to be.

John.

this is probably correct because I don't see how a last minute transfer to slovakia would have allowed the company to restart this quick ...

Some production was already being done in Slovakia and I seem to remember the plan was to move small amounts more. The financial problems were probably caused by the building of a brand new factory in Hallein Austria which coincided with the downturn in the German Economy. The plan was eventually to have a visitors center etc. I heard earlier this week that Hallein has now closed completely and the remaining staff are working out of a different office in the Salzburg area.

There does appear to be a problem with supplies to UK retailers at the moment. New locos which have been on sale in Germany for weeks aren't for some reason available in the UK. Hopefully this will be soon be sorted.

Nigel

The Trix development team is still in business, creating models that gain the Maerklin name as well as the Trix name. The specification such as; 4 axle drive, can motor, flywheel etc is usually a givaway of the design origin. Wagons are recognisable in the Ma catalogue by their replacement wheel type with Trix series numbering. Ma also gets small production run models made in Hungary or Czeckoslovakia. Those are mostly the ones with coreless motors. The tinplate specials like the Rheingold set and Maxi I scale tinplate are sourced there. (wherever precisely 'there' is) Ma proper mostly sticks to it's traditional style coffee grinder mechanisms in it's products.

Regards, Greg.P.

In message , John Turner writes

Indeed. I recently bought a pair of AF 0 gauge passenger cars for £6, and tonight saw a third, matching car, which sold for £12. Four times the price. Very odd.

There seems to be little rhyme or reason for price variations. When selling, sometimes I am delighted, others disappointed. The same applies when buying :-)

"Graeme Eldred" wrote

There is some sense if you think about it. Once an item has sold for a 'silly price' then one of the people willing to pay a premium is potentially removed from the equation for future sales. Either that or the original purchaser thinks he got a good deal and still wants more of the same, and is willing to pay a still higher price.

I was recently successful in buying a scarce Roco HO-scale 4-4-0 on eBay at a time when three identical models were on offer from the same retailer in Hamburg. I was fortunate to secure the first of the three models for Euro168.00 whereas the second and third examples made E217 and E207 (or something very close) respectively. I suspected that the first might be the cheapest, but that demand for the other two might increase as the number available reduced.

John.