Hornby Announce TT120

[DJ Dangerous]

28 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Considering the Class 66s are expected to hit shelves Jan/Feb next year and the Class 31s mid 2023, they were well into production by the time Heljan announcing their interest and opening the order book. Indeed it seems that Hornby have been quietly developing this range since 2017, considering how much they have in the pipeline for the next 12 months of TT.

 

Hornby have practices to be rightfully called out on, this isn't one of them.

 

You are speculating.

Heljan announced CAD in June. Peco were already in production in June. Hornby announced the launch months later. No CAD, no samples, nothing.

If Hornby had been planning this in advance, why was there no mention in their 2022 range? Or any mention at all before now?

It stinks, that's why.

I'm not saying that Hornby were not working on this the past five years, as you claim, just that there is no evidence nor indicators of the same. We can only judge based on what we know.

[BosKonay]

Hornby are literally years working on this. They've had samples in hand since long before it was a twinkle in the eye of the others. Hornby can often be labelled as bullies, but in this instance, they are rather building a whole new scale to dominate rather than pushing others around in OO

[DJ Dangerous]

11 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Hornby are literally years working on this. They've had samples in hand since long before it was a twinkle in the eye of the others. Hornby can often be labelled as bullies, but in this instance, they are rather building a whole new scale to dominate rather than pushing others around in OO

 

I stand corrected!

[Broithe]

All this TT stuff - will they be doing Manx Railways then?

 

I'm not sure about TT120, but I had a pair of TT100s on the Honda once, and they were OK.

[Branchline121]

11 minutes ago, Broithe said:

All this TT stuff - will they be doing Manx Railways then?

I know that was a joke, but maybe it’d be interesting to see Manx railway models, as they do have a small (mostly-closed now) railway network over there. But there probably wouldn’t be an enough of a demand to justify it.

[Broithe]

17 minutes ago, Branchline121 said:

I know that was a joke, but maybe it’d be interesting to see Manx railway models, as they do have a small (mostly-closed now) railway network over there. But there probably wouldn’t be an enough of a demand to justify it.

We used to think that about Irish railways...

[Ironroad]

1 hour ago, BosKonay said:

Hornby are literally years working on this. They've had samples in hand since long before it was a twinkle in the eye of the others. Hornby can often be labelled as bullies, but in this instance, they are rather building a whole new scale to dominate rather than pushing others around in OO

Regardless as to who gazumped who, it seems like there was foul play (industrial espionage !!). And in effect Hornby have managed to bully a competitor out of the market.  On the face of it Hornby do not deserve the benefit of any doubt simply because they did not announce. It's a bit similar to Bachmann's recent attempt at one up man ship on Accuracscale. But it will come back to bite them, the more manufacturers involved the greater the choice, generating greater consumer confidence, and creating a  greater chance of success. 

 

[connollystn]

This is an interesting video by Chadwick Model Railway giving his view on Hornby TT120

Hornby TT 120 and my views on Hornby's marketing strategy, at Chadwick Model Railway 181. - YouTube