Model Railway Forum

Hornby and the price decreases

Hornby LMS Patriot I mentioned at £115 from Bure Valley is now £102.00 and free post from The Model Centre, I am glad I waited

I suspect that the Hornby stuff that’s seeing big price reductions is being discontinued. I say that, because a couple of websites that I looked at for my coaches flagged them as being discontinued. That could be wrong, of course. It could just be a clearance of slow-selling items, but if that is the case, won’t that lead to those items being culled anyway?

When I compared the Hornby 2020 and 2021 catalogues I couldn’t really see that much difference. I think that the pandemic has played a part in that. It’s not the time to play fast and loose with your product ranges, especially if there are manufacturing delays, which there certainly seem to be, along with the hold-up in the Suez Canal. Hornby do change their ranges, witness the range of second hand gear, ranging from 0-6-0 locos. to early class DMUs that surface periodically. The 2022 catalogue will confirm or deny my conspiracy theory!

Buffer Stop wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:52 am I suspect that the Hornby stuff that’s seeing big price reductions is being discontinued. I say that, because a couple of websites that I looked at for my coaches flagged them as being discontinued. That could be wrong, of course. It could just be a clearance of slow-selling items, but if that is the case, won’t that lead to those items being culled anyway?

When I compared the Hornby 2020 and 2021 catalogues I couldn’t really see that much difference. I think that the pandemic has played a part in that. It’s not the time to play fast and loose with your product ranges, especially if there are manufacturing delays, which there certainly seem to be, along with the hold-up in the Suez Canal. Hornby do change their ranges, witness the range of second hand gear, ranging from 0-6-0 locos. to early class DMUs that surface periodically. The 2022 catalogue will confirm or deny my conspiracy theory!

Maybe the Hornby forum would be a better place for your conspiracy theories.

Possibly. But I see conspiracy theories wherever I look.

Buffer Stop wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:52 am I suspect that the Hornby stuff that’s seeing big price reductions is being discontinued. I say that, because a couple of websites that I looked at for my coaches flagged them as being discontinued. That could be wrong, of course. It could just be a clearance of slow-selling items, but if that is the case, won’t that lead to those items being culled anyway?

When I compared the Hornby 2020 and 2021 catalogues I couldn’t really see that much difference. I think that the pandemic has played a part in that. It’s not the time to play fast and loose with your product ranges, especially if there are manufacturing delays, which there certainly seem to be, along with the hold-up in the Suez Canal. Hornby do change their ranges, witness the range of second hand gear, ranging from 0-6-0 locos. to early class DMUs that surface periodically. The 2022 catalogue will confirm or deny my conspiracy theory!

Everything is batch produced; the new locos announced for 2021 are in the R38xx, R39xx and R3xxxx ranges; presumably the R38xx ones were held back from previous years yet the catalogue is inlcludes locos with catalogue numbers 400 earlier which were produced some time back and are listed because their are significant stocks of them and shops will be having sales to try to get cashflow on them. All models are sold to shops in qauntities and the list price becomes defunct in terms of making a profit after a while and rather is a guide to how much a shop can now charge. A dozen J15s for example will have been paid for as part of a larger order; lets say that cost the shop £x. They then sell the items at their markup and eventually will have received more than £x; what is left over can now be cut significantly in price as much as they are prepared to do as they are now into profit on the order.

I know when I have looked at the different hornby Pecketts, Hattons prices are around £10 more than the same loco,s at Peter's Spares.

Yes, Hattons does seem to be a bit more pricey, and I’ve started to notice that their range of the key stuff like locos. and rolling stick is a bit limited in places. But then so is Rails of Sheffield. There’s only so much stock that these companies can hold, or want to hold, I suppose.

I found another Hornby carriage, an ‘A’ model to match match my ‘Cs’ on Hereford Model Centre’s website, same price as that that I paid on Kernow. The box is a little tatty in places, and the coach is clearly old stock. It even had a faded price sticker on it showing £31.75. The lettering on the coach is a little lighter in colour than the other coaches that I have, but for what I paid I’m happy. I’m assuming that it’s a new item. It looks it, and wasn’t marked as second hand. The Hereford website does list a lot of stuff that other sites don’t seem to have. I was tempted to grab a Hornby steam loco. that I’d been considering, but decided against in the end, as the engine looked a bit ugly. It certainly pays to hunt around though. I have my eye on a couple of locos. on the Rails website. I hope that they’re still there when I can afford to buy them. They’re getting on for £10 cheaper than Hattons.

I’m chuffed with my bargain of the week though. I popped-in to my local B&Q to buy some 12-way 3A terminal blocks so that I can start wiring-up my points. They wanted £2.50 a pop! I knew that I could get them cheaper online but a quick search on my ‘phone showed that my local Screwfix also had them in stock. A pack of 10 12-way 3A strips: £4.15! Needless to say I grabbed those PDQ.

There are bargains to be had, for sure. It’s a case of having to look for them.

Interestingly, Screwfix and B&Q are both part of the same group and their offerings often overlap with SF being cheaper.

Strange isn’t it. When you go to B&Q you feel you are entering a DIY shop, but SF is a professional shop.

I suppose that Screwfix operates more for builders than DIYers. B&Q has more floor space to pull in the punters, but Screwfix relies on you knowing exactly what you need. Anyway, lesson learned. I’ll check Screwfix first!