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

Discussion in 'Model Railways' started by Bulleid Pacific, Nov 7, 2011.

  1. guard_jamie

    guard_jamie Part of the furniture

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    Well, the secrets are out! My Model Rail magazine plopped onto the doormat this morning, to reveal Hornby's 2012 plans.

    An interesting selection of locos and stock, with only the LM and Sc Regions missing out.

    For GW enthusiasts, the 'biggy' is undoubtedly the announcement of 42, 52 and 72xx 2-8-0/2Ts.

    For the Eastern region we have the Thompson O1 2-8-0 announced, no doubt a welcome match for Bachmann O4s. Thompson non-gangwayed suburban stock will complement the Gresley suburban stock hitting the shops now.

    A very welcome addition to the SR range is the Maunsell push-pull set that will go nicely with the BR M7s, also an 'unconverted' second open is in the offing, and the SR full passenger brake is finally getting the modern treatment, the triang vintage one presumably due for relegation to the Railroad range (in which, whilst we're on SR, the 1980s Schools will be making an appearance with new loco-drive)

    Finally for modern-image modellers, an all-new 67 is being produced.
     
  2. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    This could be an expensive year, with Kernow Model Centre's LSWR gate stock as well...

    Although a Maunsell push-pull set, that reminds me... ;-)
     
  3. SG-Canada

    SG-Canada Member

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    Well, that's good it was released, if i am lucky maybe one of the dealers will have one at the Great British Train Show in April, the biennial British Train show in Toronto, and if not, i can try to grab the next release whenever it comes out.
     
  4. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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    Any info on Livery/Numbers ?
     
  5. guard_jamie

    guard_jamie Part of the furniture

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    Only thing specified was that both the 2-8-0Ts and 2-8-2Ts will be available in GWR green, and BR black early and late crest.
     
  6. David-Haggar

    David-Haggar Member

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    Looking forward to the Maunsell push-pull set but more than a little disappointed they couldn't have brought out an H class Tank to go with them.
     
  7. Bulleid Pacific

    Bulleid Pacific Part of the furniture

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    I hope they release some more Maunsell carriages in BR green, as they disappered from the range a year ago. The push-pull set is a good addition, though. They don't seem to have been particularly adventurous with the new locos; nothing out of the ordinary there. Hopefully Kernow will pick-up where Hornby failed in that one...
     
  8. Robert Heath No.6

    Robert Heath No.6 Well-Known Member

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    In the (predictable) absense of any proper industrials, I might justify a 42xx somewhere... :p
     
  9. Dan Hill

    Dan Hill Part of the furniture

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    I had found out on another site about the GWR 42xx, GWR 72xx and LNER but they don't really interest me plus I don't have much of a layout other than a small circle on a board. I bought Model Rail to see if any sets or locos appealed or interest to me and there was.

    6023 King Edward II in BR Express Blue

    92214 Cock O' The North as a Railroad model

    60019 Bittern with Two Tenders (my only correct prediction)

    4491 Commonwealth of Austraila (might mean we could be getting a Bittern with 2 tenders but as 4492 Dominion of New Zealand and there is another A4 listed as garter blue meaning it could be full Coronation trimmings such as chromed name plates and stainless steel letters)

    Diamond Jubilee pack with 70000 Britannia and 3 Royal Mk3 coaches (forboding another steam Royal Train outing and also who will be rededicating 70000 when she's repainted)

    Tornado Pullman pack with 60163 Tornado and 3 Railroad Pullmans (not sure which version of Tornado this will be hopefully BR Express Blue as Apple Green and BR Brunswick Green with early crest have been done and a Special Edition Tornado in Brunswick Green with late crest has been announced for 2012)

    70014 Iron Duke (listed as Golden Arrow so it looks like it will have Golden Arrow regalia already fitted)

    I may only get 6023 but maybe the Tornado Pullman if it is Tornado in BR Express Blue.
     
  10. Bulleid Pacific

    Bulleid Pacific Part of the furniture

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    There's also Late Crested T9 30313, whilst Bachmann are progressing with their Southern 'Pillbox' brake van. Reading the press release (OO Scale SR Pill Box Brake Van), it looks like they're doing a Rolls-Royce job of it. About time, too! It might make me invest in the freight side of things rather than passenger. At least I have another year to get things I was meaning to get from the current range (if I can afford them, that is!).
     
  11. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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  12. Bulleid Pacific

    Bulleid Pacific Part of the furniture

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    Still a bit unimpressed. It has been said on another forum that Hornby seems intent on scrabbling for a foothold in Bachmann's markets by releasing the Thompson O1, which is pretty damn close to the O4 (in fact, 58 were rebuilt as such), so one could almost argue that this is a 'non'-release. If Hornby bases its annual releases upon the previous years' takings, then I fear for 2013.
     
  13. Robert Heath No.6

    Robert Heath No.6 Well-Known Member

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    I wonder, if representatives of any of the main manufacturers read this forum, whether they'd be interested in commenting on the absolute lack of industrials (other than hornby's austerity) available in RTR? I know it's clearly a vested interest for me, but it always seems to come up in wish lists - I'd struggle to think of any layout which couldn't (at a push) justify a medium sized Barclay 0-4-0, for example! Just about infinite scope for re-releasing with various liveries, etc... Considering some of the obscure prototypes released in recent years it just seems odd... I realise it'd never outsell the A3 and the like, but compared with an O1 or a Co-Bo?
     
  14. ADB968008

    ADB968008 Guest

    I know One does, occasionally when viewing via my login ID.
    He doesn't represent UK outline RTR models however and the post below isn't an official quote, just based on closer than average knowledge.

    Heres some explanation..

    everything is down to mass production, tooling costs versus total projected sales (in all possible variants)

    A new mould is highly expensive to develop, and needs to be balanced against "how many" can be produced. It's not about paint jobs.. The Chinese reduce price solely on quantity produced... 10k units may well be little price difference to 15k units etc. (expectations are a life of around 30k units for some plastic injection moulds) but few rarely achieve this...

    when talking units... That's not finished locomotives (that's a run)..it's how many body shells,wheels, motors, frames etc etc... The raw parts are then painted, printed, assembled by hand the finally packaged and shipped, the time to assemble isn't much different for an industrial to any other tank engine.

    The costs associated with a tank engine model are much the same as a tender engine model.
    It still has a body shell, parts, motor, wheels, frames, packaging etc... Just not a tender.

    The difference being invariably the tender moulds can be reused with several different locomotive types, the wheels are invariably reusable on different model types), the motors, couplings are by far the most standardised part.

    Smaller locomotives cost more to develop due to :
    1. the less flexibility in space to compact the motor, gearing and now a days the DCCchip. (this is why n gauge is no cheaper).
    2. Less reusability of components (the wheel sizing, gearing etc is more unique to the one model)
    3. For some less simple types, the detail and intricacy is very hard to achieve.
    4. Weight, it needs this for traction (as tyres are outdated, reduce conductivity and affect balance).. Weight cost £'s to ship.

    This then has to be balanced against how many can be realistically sold...

    Flying Scotsman would sell for ever, it would be a brave man to do 71000... How many paint jobs and variants could be done ?
    Take that down to an industrial... Then the most numerous is the J94... Dapol did this years ago but it's not exactly flown from the shelves.

    The mitigation is to increase the price.... which reduces demand more... Or reduce the profit margin in order to sell more.

    Industrials aside.. How many new mould mainline small tanks have been made in the last few years ?.. There's more demand for these then industrials.

    Then there's dad buying a model (for himself), or mum and son shopping for a model for dad... They see the big green steam engine, the similarly sized but slightly cheaper tank engine... Or the tiny little one for much the same price...which one are they going to buy ?

    Final food for thought.. I have at home an old model of a class89 electric.. For the same reasons above it never went into production... But never say never, in today's market the shops, the producers and even the chinese manufacturers are all being squeezed by market forces, which is why suddenly runs of 100-200 are becoming possible at realistic prices when only a few years ago a minimum was a premium priced run of 600-1000 and a production run was around 3000.. Which would then sit on shops shelves and swap meets for 2-3 years....

    And now we have one offs (albeit shops owning the risk...on models like 10000 ).. But at premium prices reflecting the overall lower volume of units. (it remains to be seen if either party will break even on this model, even if there's a possibility in the two ultimate producers reducing cost in order to go head to head.. Either way I doubt either party will do it again!)
     
  15. ady

    ady Well-Known Member

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    Still no E4 0-6-2T and 64xx 0-6-0PT then :(
     
  16. Robert Heath No.6

    Robert Heath No.6 Well-Known Member

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    It's a fair argument, however considering Hornby and Bachmann both produce 08s, jinties, etc - how do these face up against the same criteria? Admittedly the thought only occured to me earlier while weathering the former!
     
  17. David-Haggar

    David-Haggar Member

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    According the the Bluebell's latest e-Newsletter they are expecting Bachmann's models of 9017 and the C class locos in their shop by Easter!
     
  18. guard_jamie

    guard_jamie Part of the furniture

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    Bachmann are revealing their 2012/13 lineup around about the 13th March according to their website. Here's hoping for what we want!
     
  19. eddief

    eddief Member

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    Sorry to dissapoint anyone expecting these soon, but the C Class is down on Bachmanns website for Aug/Sept and the Dukedog has no date yet. The tooling for the C Class has been started but we have not yet seen anything physical from it whereas the Dukedog has not had any info released yet - Bachmann do tend to release CAD Drawings etc. as work progresses.
     
  20. guard_jamie

    guard_jamie Part of the furniture

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    An astonishing 2012/13 range from Bachmann - Bachmann Europe Latest News

    Comments about getting announced models out before announcing new ones aside, I'm very excited by a few of the forthcoming locos - LMS/BR Compounds, brand new 4F, Lanky 2-4-2T, J11, D11 - popular with the Scottish modellers no doubt!

    And the GraFar range if you're into N looks pretty good too!
     

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