|
|
 Posted - September 27 2011 : 2:19:23 PM
|
From a Dealer I use in the Toronto area:
We are letting you know that we are carrying a new product line, Hornby Rivarossi. As a result, we are sending you this message, so that you can see the products they are bringing to market in the next few months. Even though the C&O or UP may not be in your profile of interests, they each had the two largest steam engines ever built. You may be interested in adding one of these models to your collection.
Hornby who bought Rivarossi several years ago, is bringing in a new run of models this year. The first to arrive are Skeleton log cars in four roadnames: Milwaukee, Northern Pacific, Coos Bay Lumber and Westside lumber. These models will be followed in October by the Chesapeake &Ohio Allegheny 2-6-6-6 (with or without DCC/sound) and then coming in November is the Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 (with or without DCC/sound).
If you want links Google is your friend!
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
Country:  Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 2:36:47 PM
|
| hi gareth,nice detailing strong pullers,but here the allegheny costs £410 basic £538 with sound,big boy £324 basic £453 with sound,thats the right way round as well ken
|
Country:  United Kingdom ~
Posts: 8294 ~
Member Since: September 28 2006 ~
Last Visit: October 20 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 2:45:34 PM
|
Hey Ken:
I wonder what work if any Hornby has done on the RRosi's?
Would have been nice to get something a little smaller to start with. I think they are just too much pricewise.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 3:01:14 PM
|
see what you think ken
http://www.hornby.it/media/pdf/HR2006.pdf
|
|
Country: United Kingdom ~
Posts: 8294 ~
Member Since: September 28 2006 ~
Last Visit: October 20 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 6:41:17 PM
|
Oh gee....let's build ANOTHER Big Boy and charge even MORE than everybody else...great business model...OK, I'm done...
|
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 6:45:48 PM
|
Amen, SG!
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 7:10:31 PM
|
 What Idiots Are Going To Buy This. Id Rather Buy A Lionel 11415 Advance Catalog Set from the 50s Than Anything For That Price.
|
Country:  USA ~
Posts: 1102 ~
Member Since: July 28 2011 ~
Last Visit: July 01 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - September 27 2011 : 7:39:51 PM
|
Same guy who'll buy the Lionel I imagine! 
Personally I think it's insane, but I have debt and not enough income.
There are those who either are wealthy and/or can allocate money to this, or they have someone else paying their bills. Lucky them.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 09:23:38 AM
|
quote:Oh gee....let's build ANOTHER Big Boy and charge even MORE than everybody else...great business model...OK, I'm done...
Originally posted by shaygetz - September 27 2011 : 6:41:17 PM
|
At some point in time, the hobby will become soooo expensive that it contracts and new folks decide it isn't worth it.
Really- how do you acquire loyal, new customers? You develop an age in strategy and build products that are inexpensive "toy grade" to get folks to join the hobby. Then, when they have their own money, you offer them more detailed, somewhat more expensive "hobby grade" pieces. Would be great if some of the bigger names tried this approach.
If someone could build sets for under $50 dollars, offer a decent size number of accessories, and then market the heck out of them- I'm sure folks would buy it because it isn't a video game, encourages imagination, and develops an understanding of how machines work. Hook them when they are young!!!
Just my $.02. I'm stepping off my soapbox.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 201 ~
Member Since: March 14 2009 ~
Last Visit: October 28 2012
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 09:33:32 AM
|
| agree totally with JohnnyKane`s statement,since dcc came along,and the trains needed the extras ie lights sounds etc,makers have had to upgrade their locos,which i understand,but why not use the older tooling`s for a entry level sets,since athearn went rtr,their spares listing has gone up price wise as well,ken
|
|
Country: United Kingdom ~
Posts: 8294 ~
Member Since: September 28 2006 ~
Last Visit: October 20 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 09:53:49 AM
|
Hey Ken and JK;
Good calls. Couple times a year I make up a "Rascal" set to give away.
It comprises;
an Oval of track + siding and bump stop pieces
one switch
Transformer
two Tyco usually Action Accessories
One Locomotive (Usually an MP or MU-2 Tyco)
5 pieces of rolling stock
Print out of scanned Tyco Directions from their "Santa Fe Piggyback Set"
But, as ken said if Athearn used their old tooling or Bachmann to offer a $50 "Train Set" we'd have a lot more kids in this Hobby. Johnny, you're right that this hobby provides stimulation that a "virtual" hobby does not. Most of it to do with dexterity, imagination, and learning. A lot of these skills are transportable to other activities too.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
Edited by - romcat on October 01 2011 09:56:45 AM
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 10:21:22 AM
|
| someone with contacts out there should make a call to makers such as modelpower,bachmann etc to tool up there older moulds for a xmas special kids train set ken
|
|
Country: United Kingdom ~
Posts: 8294 ~
Member Since: September 28 2006 ~
Last Visit: October 20 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 10:34:51 AM
|
Yeah Ken,
BUT without making it a "Christmasy" train if you know what i mean.
I was wondering if the old Molds still exist? A lot of companies destroy them. Heck the US Gov't had destroyed the tooling for the F-14 Tomcats, so the Navy couldn't try to go back and get more. Course now they have nothing that can carry a 2,000lbs bomb long range! Near sighted.
According to the guy now running Bowser (is that John English?) most manufacturing capacity in China is owned or controlled by one company Kadder(sp?). It's why Rapido a Canadian company had their own plant built in China... Kadder has delayed Bowser new C-630M's by over a year.
I think there are sets out there still, but they should be sold virtually at a loss, the same way HellMart gets you there by selling you 2 gallons of Pickles for $3! :P
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 11:03:53 AM
|
| yes i mean a union pacific and other railroads,not a fictitious north pole,south pole or any other pole they can think of,so that kids can add to it,expand it with the standard ranges,it makes sense to me,its how most of us stated i would think,the sets that have no standard track or trains usually end up the following year as tree decorations i believe,and the kids go back to there psps etc
|
|
Country: United Kingdom ~
Posts: 8294 ~
Member Since: September 28 2006 ~
Last Visit: October 20 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 11:19:20 AM
|
Yeah, I thought thats what you meant ken.
We had till recently those Mehano/IHC based Presidents Choice sets. Cheez has several if I remember right. They were over $100 leading up to Christmas then dropped significantly after.
I think that price point of $50 you mentioned was about perfect....
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 2:34:43 PM
|
Im Not Into Video Games. I Like Model Railroading. Gotta Biuld A Layout. Ill Get Some Track And Start Soon.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1102 ~
Member Since: July 28 2011 ~
Last Visit: July 01 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 4:41:49 PM
|
The Chinese Gorilla of model RR manufacturing is Sanda-Kan. They are Kader's (Bachmann's) parent company, but they also do the contract work for many, many, many other Tier 1 vendors including Atlas, Proto, Lionel, and others. Recently they axed over half their contracts and stated they would only be supplying to a smaller core of "customers". Not only did this leave a ton of smaller, specialty outfits holding the bag without product (and in some cases, the tooling bought and paid for by those companies was held hostage)... you can bet this conveniently factored into the escalating cost of business in China. A lot of vendors are complaining lately, but it's hard to pity such spite.
I agree with the perceived "need" for inexpensive sets, but it's a war that's been lost. Recall a few years ago, for 2 or 3 years there was an honest effort by several major retailers to stock nice train sets for the holidays - including Athearn Warbonnet (general RR), John Deere and Coca-Cola sets in HO, in addition to Bachmann's much improved offerings. Most of them retailed for around $75 before the holidays (IMO $50 is way too cheap... would be a killer price point but you WON'T get a quality set for that. Model Power sells a cheap, crappy, horrible set in a plastic hanging blister for $40, you'd all go running from it).
Anyway, those $75 sets - nice, hobby-quality sets without any holiday cheesiness - turned into $30 blowouts after the holidays because there were few takers at retail (or even the preceeding $70, $60, $50, $40 markdowns)! Even with media fluff/news reports about the charm of the hobby. I snapped up a few extra myself at that $30 price to give as random gifts to friends as opportunities warranted. I'm down to my last, reserved for a dear friend once the kids are old enough.
But I agree, this pursuit of the latest and greatest tooling and detailing and minutiae for boomers to waste their 401K's on is short-sighted and ridiculous. That Rapido caboose is simultaneously a marvel and a joke - who really needs that level of detail? But the next Athearn caboose is set to make that $65 Rapido look like a bargain.
OTOH there was more than enough Tyco, AHM, Kader, and LifeLike stuff made to fill swap tables for several lifetimes. String a few of those behind a Bluebox engine and that's the best start you can get a kid.
But it's still a losing battle. The PC game "minecraft" has become a cult to itself... with *millions* of people building and creating and solving self-made engineering problems in low-res 8-bit 3D graphics. I've had two coworkers endlessly hounding me for 18 months now to play this game. They regale me with tales of many sleepness night invested in creating wonderful (and admittedly impressive) flights of fancy on their computers. But it's all virtual- delete that file and their 18 months' work is zapped. To his credit, the one coworker is dangerous with all manner of tools. But the other couldn't tell a jackhammer from a chainsaw and that game hasn't taught otherwise. Sigh.
Edited by - spiderj76 on October 01 2011 4:45:56 PM
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 2798 ~
Member Since: September 17 2010 ~
Last Visit: July 22 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 5:04:41 PM
|
Tony- thanks for the insight into the suppliers! Makes perfect sense.
Maybe the problem is more with the culture and less with the products. People drive the economy through consumption of goods and services. Alas, what sells is related to what consumers want.
And... in a culture of entitlement and immediate gratification- it's no surprise that a morally bankrupt society doesn't go for a toy that has to be put together.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 201 ~
Member Since: March 14 2009 ~
Last Visit: October 28 2012
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 5:29:02 PM
|
Tony:
I sold my Rapido CP Van (Caboose) for $80! To modern and other things I could work on. I think you're right. I'm gonna look for several Athearn BB Diesels to put aside to build those Rascal sets we've been talking about. The problem is giving a kid a "used" train set is sometimes met with :(. When I was a kid, it was how I started. Throwaway pieces from the after Christmas Department store (Eaton'e) clean up.
JK; as to your post, that's where our job as mentor's comes in. It's often shirked. But it is the most rewarding thing. It's wonderful to share that excitement. I like to get kids interested in building by taking a box full of really cool paper airplane designs to the park and throwing them and letting them take some home....
Displaying trains at a local my town day helps to, cause they'll see and perhaps no place else. Maybe Dad doesn't go to arts/Craft/hobby/shows rather take there kids to see UFC Gawd Help us!
We can save this.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 7:23:28 PM
|
Hornby has done absolutely nothing to promote the Rivarossi brand they bought. I believe the only upgrade they have made is to give the Riv Hudson bronze pickup wipers instead of the sprung plungers, but from what I've heard the Big Boy Hornby is offering still has reduced electrical pickup, a cost-cutting measure Rivarossi made to some locos in a last desperate move that left them unreliable performers. About all they've done is over-weather the Big Boy.
As far as I know, only the Allegheny, Big Boy, and Hudson are still in production, and the market is already flooded with better versions of the latter two. How about an upgraded Casey Jones 4-6-0, or the retooled U25C or Krauss Maffei that modelers have been asking for? Those 3 off the top of my head were the only plastic examples of those locos.
Hornby has so little interest in the RR line, that it makes you wonder why they acquired them in the first place. The only thing they've improved so far is the price, from their perspective. I paid $300 for my Allegheny some years ago and it was worth every penny, but the $500 plus Ive seen them going for lately is ridiculous.
The Tyco Depot
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3927 ~
Member Since: June 20 2007 ~
Last Visit: November 19 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 7:34:42 PM
|
There'sa RRosi Mallet what a 2-8-8-2? for well under $100. is that worth grabbing?
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 8:03:51 PM
|
Old or new production? If it's the new one with a can motor it's a steal, if it's the older one with pizza cutters, it's not bad.
The Tyco Depot
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3927 ~
Member Since: June 20 2007 ~
Last Visit: November 19 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 8:44:42 PM
|
I'll have to llok, I will probably take a run by there tomorrow...
I seem to remember it being $59-59.00, maybe $79
I love Mallets.
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
|
|
Country: Canada ~
Posts: 4200 ~
Member Since: January 08 2006 ~
Last Visit: November 09 2021
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 8:46:45 PM
|
One other observation: I noticed recently some Alleghenys were going new or virtually new on eBay for well under $300. I assumed the prices had come down, so I don't know how Hornby is going to sell them for what they're asking if the demand isn't there.
The Tyco Depot
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3927 ~
Member Since: June 20 2007 ~
Last Visit: November 19 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 9:34:10 PM
|
See, you Dont Need A High Dollar Model To Start. Model Power Is Smart. Hornby Is Also. They made A Military Train Set For $75 Dollars With Tanks, Tucks, And Military Items.
That Might Get Someone Hooked.
BTW, Anyone Have A MP Rail Cannon? The Very Big One.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 1102 ~
Member Since: July 28 2011 ~
Last Visit: July 01 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - October 01 2011 : 10:23:34 PM
|
Bachmann makes quite a few sets, and their standard line locos are huge improvements over the old pancake drives.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?page=0&act=viewCat&catId=73
They can be had at a significant discount with a Google search, for e.g. the Overland can be had for $150 through Amazon. (I notice a lot of complaints from people who don't understand how fragile HO scale equipment is, and that it's not intended for 4 year olds.)
Athearn has a few as well, and they consist of their RTR engines (slightly upgraded Blue Boxes). Personally, I agree with what Gareth is doing, because you can get old reliable Blue Boxes and put them together with some cars and track for very little.
The Tyco Depot
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3927 ~
Member Since: June 20 2007 ~
Last Visit: November 19 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
Home
Forums
Events Calendar
Forum Admins & Mods
Register
