New Hornby 2007 catalogue

"simon" wrote

Yes but look at the improvement in quality - allow for that and its a bargain now !

cheers, Simon

Please tell me, why is it a bargain paying £4 + for a booklet that will be no use in 12 months time when I may only buy one loco a year from their guide (With my wages) and can get it all for free with my pre paid internet account on line ?

If your a collector, or have a huge rainy day fund for buying this and their products once a week and can then afford to purchase 3 or 4 SWD decoders at any one time, I am in awe of you and your pay scale, but frankily, I think we have done well to get a 3% pay rise from Unison, but hey, I now see that is going towards my council tax.

So tell me, why is it a bargain and I'll get one. ?

Andy

"Andy Sollis CVMRD" wrote

GBP4.00 would be extremely acceptable, but the 2007 catalogue is GBP7.00 (admittedly down from GBP7.50 in 2006).

John.

"simon" wrote

I think we need to disagree on that Simon - a catalogue is a selling aid for the range it advertises. I want to be informed not entertained by a manufacturer's catalogue.

John.

"John Turner" wrote in news:12rfr2fb0bagqe8 @news.supernews.com:

I found it hard to believe as well but Mrs W needed some busines cards and other sundry business stationary printed. After a quick peek on the net she went to a firm in Belgium (she didn't realise this until she'd placed the order!**) ... anyway long story short, the material was back with her in a matter of days, print/materials/cut etc exactly as per spec.

Really couldn't be faulted because to cap it all it was very inexpensive. If the buggers could do it for Mrs W on a small and fidly order then I'm sure they could even more easily pull the same stunt for a large company like Hornby.

** Like me Mrs W prefers to buy British and even locally if possible but she hasn't quite worked out that the internet connects you with the whole world - she's ordered from the US before now - *without realising it*.

"simon" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

..

Why rhetorical? Hornby has done more to promote the hobby in the UK than anyone. In a general sense the quality of their products is constantly improving and yet they still produce what could be described as budget items generating new interest and keeping the hobby afordable to youngsters especially.

Indeed, the UK model railway market would have all but died off in the early 1970's if it had not been for those who saved Hornby (when Rovex went bust), true there would have still been Peco, K's kits, and Wills (along with the other 'cottage industries') etc. but I very much doubt that we would have had Airfix and Palitoy entering the market and thus would not have Bachmann now - if things had been different we would be either modelling the German railways with RTR stock or kit/scratch building the UK scene. One thing would be certain though, OO (4mm) would have died and what would be available would be to HO (3.5mm) standards...

"Chris Wilson" wrote

I won't dispute that, but the reality is that some of the items they've produced over the years have been of such poor quality that the excellent marketing has been totally negated by product which simply didn't work and as a result the buyers have been put off the hobby.

John.

I think that is a bit harsh, by today's standards you are completely correct but not if you consider the standards of the period - in the same way as K's kits were considered a good model then (and I'm only talking about the early 1980's) because they used a 'proper' chassis whilst Wills Finecast used RTR chassis - many non Hornby models that were praised back then but are now considered utter crap by the standards of Hornby even 5 years ago (I'm thinking of the Airfix Class

31 or the Mainline Class 45, never mind many of the old Lima models).

Expectations were lower then, you can't judge an old model produced then with a model produced now unless it's still in production, no one - including Hornby - would ever call their Class 37 a decent [scale] model or one with a modern chassis but then it hasn't been marked and priced as such since the Bachmann effort if not the Lima effort....

I'm reminded back to when we (brothers and me) built our first 2-rail layout, finally ditching the old Hornby-Dublo 3-rail layout [1], Peco track with mostly Trix [2] and converted H-D stock with a sprinkling of Triang-Hornby thrown in, guess what loco always worked, could go anywhere and never de-railed... A Triang-Hornby Brush Type2, it only ever looked vaguely like the prototype (even to our child-hood eyes), it sounded like a metal grinder in operation BUT it worked were the Trix stuff wouldn't!

[1] how I wish we had kept it now! [2] the LNER A1, 3 and 4

":Jerry:" wrote in news:45ba193e$0$97221 $ snipped-for-privacy@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net:

Couldn't agree more

BTW I also had a Brush Type2 and I thought it was the absolute dogs b******s, likewise the now much derided Princess, even my little red dock shunter - never failed, dogs b*****s? It was the bees knees as well, indeed every major erogenous zone of any beastie you would wish to think of - I even had some Transcontinental stuff (which my dad now runs!).

Yes, by today?s standards the models of the day fail in almost every respect but I think that it?s very wrong to impose today?s standards on those of the past.

"Andy Sollis CVMRD" wrote

GBP4.00 would be extremely acceptable, but the 2007 catalogue is GBP7.00 (admittedly down from GBP7.50 in 2006).

John.

HE HE ! Shows when I last purchased one then !! £7.00 ? They're having a laugh... it should be free ! They manage to have the A3 size ones as drop on the floor items in the boxes, why waste it there (cos no doubt it will go straight in the bin with all the other junk mail items) and have these as freebies in shops ??

Andy

which will only continue to be the case this year, as even if they knock 50p off the rrp and its not definite that price cut will universally find its way to the consumer - Hattons still quote it at 7.50 for instance - its still about 3 quid too much than it should be, its a catalogue meant to advertise and promote their products, why on earth do they think people will pay 7 quid to own a glorified book of adverts, especially when the same info is essentially offered for free via many other sources.

Aw

Perhaps they're anticipating how much they'll go for on E-Bay in a few years.... Brian

"Chris Wilson" wrote

I'm not imposing today's standard, I'm relating issues from the past. At the risk of repeating myself it's not that long since Hornby produced a new version of 'Thomas the Tank Engine' which steadfastly refused to negotiate any sort of curved track and constantly derailed, and the current train set controller has only recently had its plug in transformer uprated from 0.25 to 0.33amp because the original version repeatedly cut out as it couldn't supply enough current for some of the larger locos which Hornby included in sets powered by that unit.

Now I think you'll all agree that train set items, especially items from the 'Thomas' range which are released onto the market without proper and extensive testing, and which prove to be consistently faulty does nothing to keep people interested eventually graduate into our hobby.

John.

It was TIC, but .... Its not a bargain for you as it doesnt have enough contents to justify the spending of its cost. To me it costs about the same as 2 monthly magazines and I enjoy drooling over the pictures on and off for a few minutes over a month or two. Then I occasionally use the older ones to see what liveries have been produced in the last few years (super-detailed onwards) or what is the livery of a particular model. The picture helps to see exactly what it is as opposed to a description of lined black - theser lining and lining. I have avoided a couple of purchasing mistakes by looking at older catalogs so have saved money.

THREE PER CENT THIS YEAR - thats nmore than I've had in total over the last

4 years. Dont know what this years will be as its not due in the pay packet till end of feb - may find out mid feb.

Hope that explains.

Cheers, Simon

Cos too often get replies with rants in that contribute nothing and arent worth replying to. So that was an attempt to reduce such ones whilst still taking the piss.

Wasnt expecting anything like yours !

Cheers, Simon

"simon" wrote

It was TIC, but .... Its not a bargain for you as it doesnt have enough contents to justify the spending of its cost. To me it costs about the same as 2 monthly magazines and I enjoy drooling over the pictures on and off for a few minutes over a month or two. Then I occasionally use the older ones to see what liveries have been produced in the last few years (super-detailed onwards) or what is the livery of a particular model. The picture helps to see exactly what it is as opposed to a description of lined black - theser lining and lining. I have avoided a couple of purchasing mistakes by looking at older catalogs so have saved money.

Cheers, Simon

Each to their own... I choose not to, but you give very valid points as to why it is economical for you to do so, and full respect for that !

I just think it could still be done cheaper !

Example - Anyone here ever seen the Souvenir guide for the North Norfolk Rly? Full colour A5 booklet, full of info, not an advert inside and costs £2.50 (of top of my head). having writen the guide books for our railway (The CVR, Staffs) I know how much it costs per guide - we can't come anywhere near the quality (yet) and yet it costs more. The only answer I have to how they do it (And we have a sponsor advert to cover some costs!) is they must order into the thousands ! hats off to them ! They make the Hornby catalouge look like a poor relation to Argos !

"Andy Sollis CVMRD" wrote

Bachmann's 2006 catalogue was either GBP4.00 or 4.50. Sure it wasn't quite such a glossy or elaborate beast as the Hornby publications, but it pretty much did the business of telling what the company were going to produce (if not when) and that's all *I* want from a manufacturer's catalogue.

Others clearly think differently, but in Hornby's favour they did produce some free marketing sheets, and only those who *wanted* the catalogue *had* to buy it.

John.

I've never been convinced it does anyway. It's just another "toy" to be played-with until bored then discarded in favour of something else.

(kim)

When you last posted that I didn't have the figures but I've since learned that every for every £10 spent at a local post office, a further £16.50 is generated in the local economy. In addition to that, the presence of post office saves local businesses a combined total of £85,000 in annual costs.

(kim)