Model railway forums and online groups have been going doolally over the announcement from Hornby of their range for 2020. Froth, froth, froth everywhere. It’s the same every year for each manufacturer’s announcements.
But now the dust has begun to settle.
Hornby are celebrating their hundredth anniversary as a manufacturer of all things model railway. Quite an achievement I think, given the various challenges and take overs Hornby has had over its century.
They have presented some odd, interesting and nostalgic releases. Reintroducing the APT and Rocket into the range with completely new versions. The APT is sure to be a success I think, many enthusiasts seem to have a curious fascination with it – the background of innovation and political interference before its premature launch and demise is a fascinating story.
Hornby’s little Ruston, the 48DS, is a charming model. The release of this in GrantRail livery is of immediate interest to me as I started my railway career with GrantRail (now VolkerRail) though sadly the locos has been disposed of by the time I started. Contractors’ locos were superseded, it feels, overnight by the revolution which RRVs provided on jobs. It is a pretty niche release, I doubt most enthusiasts have any real knowledge of GrantRail – the yellow isn’t even a pretty livery! The yellow being Grant Lyon Eagre’s later livery; GLE became GrantRail following the joint venture between GLE’s owners, British Steel, with the Dutch firm of VolkerWessels. GrantRail’s livery was blue and orange, a scheme which a couple of the larger Ruston 165s received. But I digress slightly…
GrantRail Ruston 48DS
The selection of items is curious – the Floyd Zrt. class 56 will no doubt create interest as the class has a real following. Just hearing one storm passed with a train is a awesome sight. But I can imagine many people are modelling Hungarian railways in 4mm scale, in H0 yes, but Hornby’s model is not H0 and will tower over H0 rolling stock.
What we seem to lack in Hornby’s current range as well as their planned 2020 releases are the ‘core’ models. By this I mean things like triple grey class 56s and 60s, BR blue class 57s, a BR blue TOPS class 08, you get the idea. They’re the models which represent more common and everyday sights, ones that lots of people can use. They’re not here he glamorous ones. The situation is made worse by the short production runs we often see which means some second hand prices become inflated. Wagons fair no better – the only BR HAA Merry-go-round wagons is this with its horrible factory weathering and ludicrous graffiti.
BR, HAA wagon with ‘graffiti.’
Now, I accept that graffiti is part of life and think we should replicate it, but this graffiti is just silly! I’ve never seen rail vehicles which such things as ‘Funky’ or ‘Own it, Tag it!’ No, the last time I saw graffiti was on a DMU and in two foot high letters proclaiming that “Dave is a Tw*t!” But not all graffiti is offensive, so there’s nothing stopping Hornby, or anyone else, replicating it in a realistic way.
We have to remember that Hornby et al exist to make money – be under no illusion that this isn’t the case. The large ready to run manufacturers have to make money. So I have to presume that Hornby are basing their selections on sound business plans. Yet Bachmann seem to do better in having the everyday models in their range.
If anyone at Hornby does read this, could we please have some more normal liveries please? I think it’ll help the hobby which can benefit all of us.
And speaking of helping the hobby. Class 91s.
Cavalex Models Class 91
Cavalex Models, whose delightful BBA wagons have had a recent mention on here, have been developing a brand new class 91 along with a complete range of mark 4 coaches to allow accurate ECML formations to be modelled.
The class 91 has been a part of Hornby’s range since the prototype appeared – their original model isn’t bad at all, very much of its time but nicely shaped and proportioned. They have shown no interest in improving their existing model or an all new model. This is where Cavalex Models saw a gap and have been developing a new class 91 and the associated mark 4 coaches over the last year or so. The 3D printed sample Cavalex had at Warley looked superb! And a with the loco priced at £179.99, it is perfectly in line with other high spec locos in this scale, and actually the same price as Hornby’s own class 31 too, a model that fails to really capture the look of the real thing and is about fifteen years old too.
The new Hornby Class 91
So whilst Hornby may have had plans for its new class 91 already (though I have my own views and suspicions on this) to announce it and price it at £169.99 is clearly going for Cavalex Models’ market by undercutting them. But there are no new coaches in Hornby’s range to accompany it, in fact, there are no suitable coaches in any form to accompany Hornby’s new class 91 in the 2020 range at all! If you saw James May’s documentary on Hornby and Simon Kohler’s return to the company, you may recall what appears to be a similar situation with Rails of Sheffield and Hatton’s class 66. Make of this what you will but to produce just the loco and not the only items of stock they’ve hauled in their thirty year careers (testing and early days aside) seems a bit half hearted to me.
Given what else could have been tackled, I’m not sure what value Hornby’s class 91 adds to the hobby – Hornby should be applauded for producing the LNER Thompson Pacifics, these fill quite a gap and compliment many items in Hornby’s range as well as the ranges if others. But had they produced an LNER Peppercorn A1, duplicating Bachmann’s very good offer, it would have been just as pointless as their new class 91.
I really to feel for Cavalex as the have poured so much into their projects and really hope the class 91 is a success, I don’t wish any ill upon Hornby either – it’s frustrating to see duplication when so many other, ‘normal’ items aren’t currently available. This is not a case of us complaining that there’s nothing for us, we’ll be fine making, converting and repainting, but for allowing the hobby to grow as a whole, it’s not particularly great.
West Halton Sidings 