Hornby 2012

 

 

 

Hornby's Simon Kohler revealed the manufacturer's exciting plans for 2012 to the media at the beginning of December at the company's Margate HQ.

 

This year, the embargo was set for today (Tues 3rd Jan) as it's the first day back after the Christmas and New Year break, and allows retailers the opportunity to contact Hornby and have any queries answered rather than having to wait a week or more as in previous years. It's also allowed more time to brief sales teams and retailers ahead of the embargo.

 

Simon revealed that 2011 had been an interesting year with a number of interesting changes. These in turn had given them a fresh zest and new ideas.

 

Availability had improved in recent months... Tornado arrived to much acclaim ... the GWR Horsebox had been really popular and the Hornby Railmaster DCC software had proved to be a really significant product during the year.

 

There are just 14 items from 2011 that won't arrive until later this year including the LNER B17 steam locos (5 versions), the Railroad Class 31 , Railroad Class 42 Warship, Eddie Stobart Class 92 electric loco and the LNER/BR Full Brakes.

 

The B17's have been delayed due to supplier issues in China (this loco was being produced by an alternative manufacturing base). Whilst the press conference was underway, a batch of B17's were on their way to the UK for testing and thorough Quality Control. It's possible that if this batch proves not to be up to scratch, supply of the models may fall back to Summer 2012.

 

That said, the target for 2012 is NO MISSES! The company is working hard to ensure that all production work has been squeezed into 8 months which means that production can be turned round in China before the year is out!

 

 

The programme for 2012 includes four BRAND-NEW steam locos designed for heavy mineral traffic, namely the Thompson O1 and Great Western 42xx, 52xx and 72xx locos.

 

In terms of Train Sets, HM the Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated with a number of itmes available through the year, including The Diamond Jubilee Train Set featuring the Princess Loco with 'Gold-effect' finish on wheels and valve gear plus 3 coaches and an oval and siding. This will be Limited to 4,000 and will include a resin makers plate to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

 

 

There will also be a Diamond Jubilee Train Pack comprising BR 'Britannia' with white roof and 3 Mk3 Royal Train Coaches. This will be a Special Edition of just 1700.

 

To celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the LMS, a special pack featuring LMS 6220 'Coronation' in LMS Blue livery and 3 Coronation Scot Coaches will be released. This will be limited to 2,000 pieces.

 

The Northern Belle Train pack will feature the ex-Lima Class 47 in Northern Belle livery named 'Galloway Princess' and will also include 3 Mk2 Northern Belle liveried coaches. A separate Northern Belle Class 47 will also be available in the RailRoad range with an alternative running number.

 

 

The BR Pull-Push train pack will feature a BR M7 loco '30029' in BR Black and the newly-tooled 2 x Push-Pull coaches in BR (SR) Green livery as Set 610. This set will feature the correct 'pull-push' loco and will be available shortly during Q1.

 

Other Steam loco highlights include a 40th Anniversary of Hornby Railways edition of the Evening Star 9F. This Evening Star Special Presentation Pack will be limited to just 1,000 pieces and has been chosen as it is a model which has spanned the years through Tri-ang and Hornby.

 

Another anniversary being celebrated this year is that of 40 Years since the end of the Golden Arrow Boat Train which ran from London Victoria. To commemorate this a special edition of BR Britannia 'William Shakespeare' wilol be available - just 1500 models being produced.

 

 

The LNER 'Flying Scotsman' will be available in both 1943 Wartime Black livery (503) and in 2011 NRM LNER Green livery. Both were exclusive to the NRM, but this exclusivity ends later this year, so will be available generally after that.

 

Whilst on the subject of the NRM the 'Duchess of Hamilton' will be available this year in model form. It will be a special limited edition of just 1500 models. Hornby are also working to make the red livery closer to the NRM version with a Gloss finish.

 

Other steam locos planned include the BR King loco 'King Edward II' in preserved BR Blue livery (1,000 ltd edt), BR Class A4 loco 'Bittern' featuring Double tender (1,500 ltd edt) and the BR Class A1 'Tornado' in BR late Crest Green as a Special Edition with etched nameplates. The BR 28xx also makes another appearance in the range as No 2845 in BR Late crest livery (weathered) and BR early crest liveried 2-8-0 No 3864 will also be released in weathered finish.

 

The newly-tooled locos mentioned at the start of this report will feature prominently in the range this year. The O1 loco will feature the new 5-pole skew wound motor and tender permanently coupled to the loco. It will be available in BR late, BR early (weathered) and LNER versions.

 

 

The GWR/BR 42xx, 52xx and 72xx models will be available in GWR and BR liveries as appropriate.

 

The SR King Arthur locomotive will be available this year as No 771 'Sir Sagramore' in SR Green livery. The venerable M7 loco will appear as No 249 in wartime Black Southern 'Sunshine' livery, plus there will be a couple of extra T9 locos inn the form of '30313' in lined Late Crest BR Black livery and as No '708' in wartime Black Southern SR 'Sunshine' livery. The BR Unrebuilt West Country loco will re-appear as '34001' 'Exeter' in BR Early Crest Green livery. The BR Standard 4 will be released as No 75071 in BR early crest black livery.

 

 

 

For modern modellers, the Class 67 (which was erroneously hinted at in last year's price list) makes an appearance with an impressive 'high-spec'! The loco is now complete and finished samples were available to inspect at the event. The loco includes see-through etched grilles, switchable LED lights, heavy all-wheel drive chassis (ala Class 60, Class 50, Class 56 etc) and excellent underframe and bogie detail.

 

 

The model will be produced in EWS livery, as well as the latest DB Schenker 'red' livery with Maple leaf , named 'Keith Heller' and in the short-lived Wrexham and Shropshire Railway silver and grey livery, named 'A Shropshire Lad'.

 

 

 

In terms of other modern models, the Class 423 4-VEP electric multiple unit will be released in BR Blue/Grey livery. Notably the first class compartment partitions (the subject of much criticism when the model was released) are to be re-tooled and will also be available as a spare part in due course.

 

 

The Class 101 DMU makes a re-appearance this year, in the much-requested orange livery of Strathclyde Passenger Transport as a 3-car model. Previously this livery was produced as a limited edition by Lima as a 2-car set for a number of Scottish retailers.

 

 

Coach-wise, fans of the BR Southern Region are in for a treat with the release of the Maunsell two-coach pull-push set to pair up with the company's M7 locos , and also an 'unconverted' SR Maunsell Open Third and BR Maunsell Open Second. There's also an all-new model of the Southern Railway bogie passenger brake (the previous version being a hold-over from the tri-ang range) which is also complete, and again liveried samples of all these models were available for inspection. This model is due in Quarter 1.

 

 

Other coach highlights include LNER Thompson steel-panelled non-corridor coaches, hot-on-the-heels of the very popular recently-released Gresley suburban stock. Three versions of each are being produced in LNER and BR maroon liveries as a Comp (lavatory), Third and Brake Third.

 

In terms of wagons, it's pretty quiet on all-new models... but the veritable feast of new liveries continues...including a Network Rail 'Super GUV' in yellow livery, the 75 ton Breakdown Crane in BR Red livery, the GWR Horsebox will appear in GW Brown and BR liveries, with slight differences from previous editions and the Hornby 2012 Conflat & Wagon will appear as Hornby's 40th Anniversary '2012' wagon... more wagon livery releases can be seen on the Hornby website now.

 

 

Other excitements include a 'steam' expansion for DCC Sound enthusiasts, which will see BR Britannia 70040 'Clive of India', BR Rebuilt West Country 34040 'Crewkerne' and BR Rebuilt Merchant Navy 35023 'Holland-Afrika Line' all receive the necessary make-over. This will include the re-engineering tof he DCC socket to the tender of the locos, permanent connection to the locomotive and installation of a speaker and DCC Sound Chip to the tender. An impressive number of extra functions have been added to these sound-chips to make best use of the technology now available, and this will be accesible via Hornby's Elite DCC controller, as a new firmware version is available for download which will allow the playing of 29 DCC functions. (More on this later)

 

Other DCC improvements include the fitting of DCC decoders to the following locomotives this year:

 

  •     LNER J83 0-6-0 loco
  •     BR J52 0-6-0 loco
  •     GWR 2721 0-6-0 loco
  •     BR Blue Class 08 0-6-0 loco (Railroad version)
 
 
 

Hornby's Skaledale Range continues to expand and includes a veritable cornucopia of new items including many styles of shops and retail premises, plus a large number of railway-related items as shown below:

 

  •       Deal Signal Box
  •       Carriage Access Steps and Platform
  •       Disused Signal Box
  •       Covered Footbridge
  •       Rail over River Bridge
  •       Depot Office (based on a model on the layout 'Airthrey Park' to match the Traction Shed
  •       LMS Water Tower
  •       LMS Signal Box
  •       Signal Box and Ticket Office (NER)
  •       Weighbridge    (NER)
  •       Waiting Room (NER)
  •       Platform Shelter & Store (NER)
  •       Small Outbuildings (NER)
  •       Signal Box (NER)
  •       Water Tower (NER)
  •       Waiting Room (NER)
  •       Goods Shed (NER)
  •       Platform Shelter (NER)
  •       Booking Office with Platform / Ramp (NER)
  •       Station Building with Platform section (NER)
  •       General Office (NER)

 

 

The above models marked (NER) are a range of North Eastern Railway buildings inspired by structures on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

 

The Railroad Range continues to expand with a new model of the 'Flying Scotsman' being produced to a similar spec as that of the Tornado last year. In addition, an old favourite gets a revamp, namely the 80s version of the SR 'Schools' Class loco.

 

 

Cross-pollenation form within the Hornby family of brands is more prevalent this year with a number of Corgi trackside models appearing in the catalogue and a selection of weathering powders from Humbrol, which looked particularly impressive on a hand-weathered Class 08 diesel shunter! A full range of colours and shades are offered.

 

DCC has proved incredibly popular for Hornby since the introduction of their Select & Elite DCC controllers 5 years ago, and the recent introduction of the Railmaster software has continued this trend.

 

The very latest version of the Elite Firmware (v1.4) is now avilable from the Hornby website as a free download. This features major improvements including:

  •         Allows operation of up to 29 functions
  •         Fuel simulations (in conjunction with the Hornby Sapphire Decoder)
  •         Automatic Train Operation (in conjunction with the Hornby Sapphire Decoder)
  •         Easier control
  •         Revised sequences  

 

The latest Railmaster software update (V1.30) is also now available as a free download and this features more improvements including:

  •          Allows multiple PC networking (allows use of laptops/tablets/wi-fi onnection)
  •          Some new icons replaced /added
  •          Now caters for up to 26 functions
  •          New way of programming points (allows reverse polarity)
  •          Programmable floating buttons
  •          Write long addresses in one operation
  •          Scale clock operation
  •          Timed programme

 

More features and functionality are to be added to Railmaster through the year... watch this space!   

 

These are just some of the exciting plans Hornby has for 2012 - see their website from today for full details at www.hornby.com