The annual 'what will they do next year?' thread.

It's a Jouef model of , I'm told, either a locomotive built by Kerr Stuart for use in France or built in France based on an older KS design.

 

This week's Kernow email states that the gate stock will go with the already announced 02, and an unannounced loco......Adams Radial? Would be the next logical step for them.

 

Oh heavens I hope so.

 

Oh, dear, my bank account!

 

Maybe so, but as a purely personal choice I really fancy 30757 and 30758, the ex-PD&SWJR 0-6-2T's; that really would complete the Callington branch set, and how much more Cornish could they get?!

 

Looking on the Hornby web site today. I see they are asking customers to submit their most wanted loco/product. All ideas are read by the Hornby marketing team. You never know your most wanted loco/product may make it in to production?


Hornby Model Railways - Forums

Anyone going to submit a request

 

I've submitted a model or 32424, H class tank and an Adams Radial tank.

 

As they already make the Gresley A3 I suggested the Gresley O2

 

Does anyone else think it's a bit of a misnomer to ask for people's ideas for 'next' year when it takes so long to bring a new product to the shelves? The Bachmann 3F was 'launched' january before last but is only just hitting the shelves. The Hornby B17 was announced at a roughly similar time. The KMRC/ Dapol Beattie well tank took over 2 years (though they did give a bit of feedback as it went through the process- scanning the original, building the CAD model, initial prototype etc). Sometimes I almost wish that they wouldn't announce any of their plans until the calendar year of their release. For example the Brighton Belle clearly wasn't going to be ready within 2011 so why not hold it until the first quarter of 2012. Or the Dukedog, with a far greater level of detail, will probably be released at the back end of 2012 so why couldn't they both be included in their respective 2012 calendars.

 

Part of the reason is to gauge interest and scare the competition off

There have been several occasions where an advertised model was never released... Lima announced a V2 2-6-2 once, but dropped it because of Mainline.. Who went bust before it was released.
Another example being the Lima class 45,46's.. But Bachmann scared them off.
Hornby was also persuaded away once when both Bachmann and Hornby displayed the same new model on their stands at the toy fare once many years ago, though sometimes they do go head to head, like the class92 and Tornado.
Replica held Bachmann at bay for many years releasing mark 1 coaches with its Mark 1BG.


At the end of the day today they come out of the same factory in Dongguan and they will make models for anyone, if you have the drawings, around £30k commitment to development, an order of around 3000 models divided into as many paint jobs as you like, at around £30 a piece and a trip to Hong Kong.?. There's about 4 main Chinese companies, a vietnamese and a Hungarian one... Pretty much everyone else is now either a marketing brand or owned by one of the above... Names like Roco, Brawa, Hornby, Athearn, Walthers, Heljan... The models are made in the PRC.

As an FYI I recently saw a fake steam loco model... It was a BR 52, supposedly by Liliput, but it wasn't quite as it seemed, but it was clearly not a Piko, Roco etc version. That was in Hong Kong... I also saw an new British model prototype, who, what, where and when I've no idea... But I put the hint in this thread a page or so back to see if anyone knew.
For those who frequent Kowloon I can give you an address of a shop who always seems to be in the know... It's a typical Chinese garage style outfit... Those who kowloon will know what I mean.

 

The Bachmann 46 was one of my first ever models. It was miles ahead of anything Lima or Hornby was producing at the time.

 

I think that was the GWR Grange - announced by both companies, then Bachmann changed tack and went for an original Hall. Note that the Hornby Grange hasn't been seen now for a few years whereas Bachmann has the choice of many more 'Hall' names to choose from.

Regards,

Dan

 

That'll go nicely with the new Gresley suburbans.

 

I must admit it's pretty frustrating when either Hornby or Bachmann make these announcements what models there going to produce only for then to have to wait months if not perhaps a year or two to actually see them hit the shops. The two most eagerly awaited models for me are the C class and Dukedog which were first publicised back in around January/February and yet we've not even seen a prototype model of either. Yet in the mean time Bachmann can do a limited edition of the Midland Compound, don't get me wrong a superb model, but you just can't but think and wonder why couldn't they have just got on with a model that they actually advertised at the start of the year? I do agree that I wish they'd not make these announcements until they have at least a prototype model that they can actually show.

 

Bachmann do say their catalogues cover an 18month period of releases so anything announced in the March (which they do every year) should appear by Sept the following year - assuming all goes to plan. Delays to one model in the tool room will have a knock on effect to others (just like real loco works really), look the the Bachmann A2, it was about to be released and apparently the tool was dropped so needed some work to bring it up the scratch again.

As for the Compound this loco was worked on in the background for a while, DELTIC, Truro and the Compound were all released shortly after the announcement. All this means is more work was done before the public were informed as opposed to the norm from Bachmann which is an announcement before the model is even tooled up hence the shots of real models in the catalogue.

 

In the past at the toy fairs in January a prototype, mock up, or sometimes a djh kit were usually used on display.Warley is occasionally the place to see nowadays.When it came to the good old days of Lima, quite often the guy from replica railways, among others, used to spray paint up the mockups for Riko prior to sending to Italy.I am fortunate to own a couple of those mockups, including a couple that never made it to production stage. (a Lima Black Warship being one).He used to quite often do his own batches of repaints and sell them under his model shop name at the various open days in the 1990's, very good quality resprays.

 

I would have thought one of the most wanted classes is the J15? It's often been mentioned in the wish lists of model railway forums.

Stanier Moguls & GWR 2-8-0T's also seem a favourite too.

Although in my wish list i would have to say a Q class would go down very well or perhaps the 3MT mogul, namely 77014, or even an N7. I would love to see a J15 finally done though.

 

I don't know what will come up as new from the UK manufacturers next year, and there isn't much likelihood that i would be buying much next year, i already have $1,500 plus in pre-ordered Canadian equipment between two FP9 locomotives and the entire Canadian train from Canadian manufacturer Rapido Trains. The one UK outline piece i did want, and that seems to have gone awol, is the London Transport Pannier from Bachmann, i can't even figure out if the L94 that was supposed to be released this year was or wasn't, but if not my wish for 2012 would be that it comes out so i can get one!!

 

L94 was very popular! It's stated on www.rmweb.co.uk that Bachmann intend to do another LT pannier next year.

 

Bachmann have done several LT Panniers over the years, including an LT freight set as well.

I'd take a look around ebay.