Major New Announcement: Accurascale Acquires Heljan

[Colin R]

A BIG WOW on this one! I know that Heljan are very good at producing limited-run locos across all the scales, some good and some not so good, but I think they will be a great fit for the ever-expanding Accurascale empire.

I know we will all have our own wish lists of what we would like them to produce. Still, I can't help thinking that since Heljan's attempt at making the Lynton and Barnstaple locos in 009, there might now be a possibility that there may be an introduction of some OOn3 models, which might be based on Heljan's work in TT scale ( RTR Isle of Man 2-4-0T and rolling stock for starters and what about the West Clare Bogie Deisels and 6 wheeled clemson stock?).  

A modelling friend of mine, who just so happens to model European railways in 3mm scale, tells me that there are some interesting developments in that market as well.    

[ttc0169]

Murphy models next ????

[Mol_PMB]

7 minutes ago, ttc0169 said:

Murphy models next ????

Nah, small fry. Hornby...

[Colin R]

If you really want to dominate the model railway world and you have the nous (and the money) to do so, I would take on the Markit range of components, such as wheels, axles, and locomotive and rolling stock detailing parts that can be used on whitemetal, resin, brass etch or 3d print models besides your own products.  

[Mol_PMB]

This does open the door to a lot of developments, and when Accurascale said they want to do 'everything' it's a good step in that direction.

This may not have originally been in the AS long-term strategy, but it sounds like the best option to keep the Heljan tooling going which will ultimately be a significant benefit to modellers. It buys AS greater experience and market share in scales other than OO.

It's interesting to see the Heljan OO brand being repositioned loosely equivalent to the Hornby 'Railroad' - i.e. lower cost entry-level models for those who don't demand the expensive full-DCC and extremely fine detail options. That does make a lot of sense in the short term and perhaps in the long term too as a parallel range once some Heljan prototypes have been 'promoted' to the main AS range. We may even see more 'budget' models developed - perhaps including some Irish ones?

I do think Accurascale will have to be careful to distinguish between the two product lines and manage buyers' expectations to avoid damaging the excellent AS reputation for accuracy and detail. 

I shall wait to see what transpires, but first I might just pop over to the Heljan website and see if there are any O gauge bargains...

[murphaph]

That IRM-Heljan co-branding thing escalated quickly lol. Nevermind that O Gauge 121, when are you doing them in TT? In all seriousness, good luck with the new venture  

[Horsetan]

3 hours ago, Colin R said:

If you really want to dominate the model railway world and you have the nous (and the money) to do so, I would take on the Markit range of components, such as wheels, axles, and locomotive and rolling stock detailing parts that can be used on whitemetal, resin, brass etch or 3d print models besides your own products.  

World domination can come at considerable cost, as I'm sure the Middle East might agree at the moment....

[jhb171achill]

On April 1st, IRM / Heljascale will be taking over Irish Rail, NIR, Greenland, Iran, the USA & Ukraine also, I have heard from a very reliable source.

[Patrick Davey]

26 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

On April 1st, IRM / Heljascale will be taking over Irish Rail, NIR, Greenland, Iran, the USA & Ukraine also, I have heard from a very reliable source.

Is the DCDR going to be excluded because it crosses the Quoile?

[Horsetan]

23 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Is the DCDR going to be excluded because it crosses the Quoile?

It'll be waiting like a Quoiled spring 

[west_clare_wanderer]

Wow! Accurascale/IRM continue on the path to world domination! 

This could open the door to a lot of interesting developments. I look forward to seeing what transpires. 

[Mol_PMB]

The team at AS / IRM are certainly going to be busy! There must be a huge amount of work to integrate the Heljan ranges and to decide how to take them forward. 
And there have already been some strong hints about how many new AS projects are in the pipeline. 
Hopefully some new Irish developments are occurring in the background too. 

[DoctorPan]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

On April 1st, IRM / Heljascale will be taking over Irish Rail, NIR, Greenland, Iran, the USA & Ukraine also, I have heard from a very reliable source.

That's one way to fix the packaging issue with the Park Royals...

[Aodhán.N]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

On April 1st, IRM / Heljascale will be taking over Irish Rail, NIR, Greenland, Iran, the USA & Ukraine also, I have heard from a very reliable source.

 from another forum chat but works here

[Georgeconna]

5 hours ago, ttc0169 said:

Murphy models next ????

expect that will be on the cards surely.

time to get rid of all the "old" stuff......

[DJ Dangerous]

29 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

expect that will be on the cards surely.

time to get rid of all the "old" stuff......

I’ll take anything you plan on binning, @Georgeconna.

[irishmail]

Just received this email from Gaugemaster.

 

An Important Update Regarding Heljan at Gaugemaster

As you might have already heard, Accurascale have today announced the acquisition of Heljan which was concluded last week.   As there has been no communication to us from Accurascale and given that they already have their own distribution structure, we are working on the basis that we are not part of their commercial strategy moving forward.    We have of course, requested some dialogue with them on the situation and if our assumption is incorrect then we will of course, communicate this to you in a timely way.

[Mol_PMB]

3 hours ago, irishmail said:

Just received this email from Gaugemaster.

 

An Important Update Regarding Heljan at Gaugemaster

As you might have already heard, Accurascale have today announced the acquisition of Heljan which was concluded last week.   As there has been no communication to us from Accurascale and given that they already have their own distribution structure, we are working on the basis that we are not part of their commercial strategy moving forward.    We have of course, requested some dialogue with them on the situation and if our assumption is incorrect then we will of course, communicate this to you in a timely way.

They sound a bit miffed!

[Colin R]

20 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

They sound a bit miffed!

Yes, but Gaugemaster are a box shifter, and maybe this could work out well for all concerned.  Accurascale makes them, and Gaugemaster moves them, shades of Dire Straits, Money for Nothing

[west_clare_wanderer]

It shows how successful Accurascale have become when they can acquire a big, well established company such as Heljan. I'm taking that as a really good positive for our little niche corner of the world

[Ironroad]

59 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

They sound a bit miffed!

Well they are or were responsible for the sale/distribution of Heljan spare parts and I don't think anything has been said as to whether this arrangement will continue (probably not), nor is it clear what support may exist for Heljan products sold/purchased  pre-acquisition. I think AS have said that products purchased from this point on will be subject to the normal warranty offered by Heljan, not the AS lifetime warranty

[Horsetan]

48 minutes ago, Ironroad said:

Well they are or were responsible for the sale/distribution of Heljan spare parts and I don't think anything has been said as to whether this arrangement will continue (probably not), ...

I suspect Heljan spares will become unavailable. This is a shame, as they were useful for other things.

[Colonel]

Accurascale have a stand booked at this year's Chatham Show in July.

[Mol_PMB]

14 hours ago, Aodhán.N said:

 from another forum chat but works here

I see that the Navy has been sent to Cork to defend it against Donald’s thinly-veiled ambitions!

Or is it the French hiding their ships so they don’t have to go to the Straits of Hormuz? 

 

[irishmail]

9 hours ago, Colin R said:

Yes, but Gaugemaster are a box shifter, and maybe this could work out well for all concerned.  Accurascale makes them, and Gaugemaster moves them, shades of Dire Straits, Money for Nothing

Only problem Gaugemaster wont be doing that as they are going direct sales only!.  Hornby tried that initially with TT and look what happened, retailers now selling it.  Accura/IRM/Hel obviously do not want to support the model shops/ retailers. 

[Dawn Quest]

The new Heljan website has discounted some of the range of locos at £99.  I cannot imagine this will be taken well by the trade.

 

Edited March 27 by Dawn Quest

[irishmail]

13 minutes ago, Dawn Quest said:

The new Heljan website has discounted some of the range of locos at £99.  I cannot imagine this will be taken well by the trade.

 

I think Acuura/IRM/HEL are being a bit hypocritical here, from one of their post yesterday they were criticizing retailers for selling at a discount, but they are doing it their selves now!   We are often told to use our 'local' model shops or risk loosing them this going to direct sales is not going to help at all. 

As you say, none of the retailers were made aware of this yesterday!    Maybe the announcement should have been put out next Wednesday lol...   

"Unfortunately this is the only way we could save Heljan as a range and brand. When there is discounting of up to 62% in places it is absolutely killing the manufacturer".

[BosKonay]

In fairness, where is the hypocrisy? Massive discounting undercut small retailers, and hurt the manufacturer, leading to the closure of small retailers (we've lost 14 this year alone) and a downward spiral of customers waiting for the massive discount, again hurting the manufacturer. Any direct retailer customers of Heljan were given a heads up before the announcement. 

The only way to 'fix' it is a commercial reset. Which is what has happened. Anything else is just rose tinted goggles unfortunately, and we're enormously excited about what we can bring to this 70 year old Brand and legacy.

[DJ Dangerous]

26 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

In fairness, where is the hypocrisy? Massive discounting undercut small retailers, and hurt the manufacturer, leading to the closure of small retailers (we've lost 14 this year alone) and a downward spiral of customers waiting for the massive discount, again hurting the manufacturer. Any direct retailer customers of Heljan were given a heads up before the announcement. 

The only way to 'fix' it is a commercial reset. Which is what has happened. Anything else is just rose tinted goggles unfortunately, and we're enormously excited about what we can bring to this 70 year old Brand and legacy.

No hypocrisy at all. The move and the logic make perfect sense.

Scenario A:

Heljan go bust and retailers lose the opportunity to sell their products, and any associated non-Heljan products.

Scenario B:

Heljan are saved by going direct-sales-only, and peple who buy Heljan stuff then go to their model shop for their other bits.

The range being discounted NOW is because it's being sold without the retailers mark-up.

The range being discounted by retailers two weeks ago means that somebody, more than likely Heljan, is getting hit financially.

That's not sustainable.

This is the best, longterm, for modellers and retailers.

 

 

[Mayner]

23 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Nah, small fry. Hornby...

In a way it would make sense for Accurascale to acquire the model railway division of Hornby in order to achieve a dominant position in the British model railway market.

Irish multi-nationals incl CRH, Kingspan, Smurfit Kappa, Kerry Group have become global players in building materials, packaging, food ingredients, so why not model railways?

Back in the day Ray O'Rourke (an Irish subcontractor) bought Laing Construction (a major British loss making main contractor) for £1 in 2001 and transformed Laing O'Rourke into a profitable multi-national business, the largest privately owned construction company in the UK. No doubt Accurascale directors have seen a similar opportunity with a take over of Heljan.

[Broithe]

Commercial entities can very rarely be rescued and restored into a previous state. Attempts to carry on as in the past will almost always end in utter collapse, sometimes badly affecting the rescuing party, also.

I worked for what was, in my time, the largest private employer in the UK, it was clear then that it was just living on past assets, with little real investment in the future - and, indeed, it has essentially evaporated entirely now. Very little of the real business is left at all, mostly it is a few small sheds on trading estates, moving on equipment from other manufacturers - box-shifting, I suppose. What tiny bits are left of actual 'factory work' are only there because they already existed, mostly with facilities from the 1960s. 

The biggest things can fail - Woolworths, for example.

Railtrack is another example, they essentially had a captive markets with bottomless pockets...

In UK terms - coal, steel, shipbuilding, aircraft, cars, motorcycles, etc. - the list of attempted, and failed, rescues is long and depressing.
 

Not being privy to the insider information, it does, however, seem to me that Heljan could just disappear entirely in the future, if things had carried on as they were.

Perfection is rarely possible, but failure is always available.
 

Whilst not to everybody's taste, this could well be the best available outcome.

Time will tell.

[Georgeconna]

It would be interesting to see how many locos from the Heljan Stable people have bought on this forum, will it really hit the shops big time?

I have only 3 OO Gauge ones

Class 33 - Lovely runnner, cant complain

Met underground loco my Dad bought for me, Zero interest in it personally but was admiring it in Cheltenham model shop and he snuck off and bought it for me, bless him!

Class 15 bought on a whim and cant it get rid of for 100 notes and equipped with decoder

and 2 009 Lynton and Barnstaple disasters that never ran and could not get them repaired so did not tip my toe back in that scale again. 

 

 

 

 

[GSR 800]

Rails and TMC just put out an email regarding supporting independent retailers:

... Imagine a hobby with no visibility: no shops, no exhibitions, and no clubs - where everything is conducted in isolation online. That’s not what we want for the future - do you?

Dont think its a coincidence..

[DoctorPan]

Maybe its a different beast here to over in the UK but I don't have a model shop local - there's Marks in Dublin but understandably they don't stock 009 stuff - it's a nicheish gauge I model. Fourdees and Westcliffe Works aren't available in retailers, only direct from them/ebay store. And I don't expect Dundas are going to appear in Blackrock or Wexford shows anytime soon. 

My 00 gauge stuff I didn't fly over to NZ to inspect Mayner's kits before ordering Tin Vans and sides. Likewise I've ordered off Lesile via email with no issue. 

 

I do think it is somewhat alarmist that the withdrawal of Heljan products from retailers will lead to the death of the exhibition circuit and the clubs. Not demographic shifts, cost of living or the changes to modern life but the withdrawal of one of the midfield companies from the retail space will lead to the death of society leaves me a little bit skeptical. 

[GSR 800]

53 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Maybe its a different beast here to over in the UK but I don't have a model shop local - there's Marks in Dublin but understandably they don't stock 009 stuff - it's a nicheish gauge I model. Fourdees and Westcliffe Works aren't available in retailers, only direct from them/ebay store. And I don't expect Dundas are going to appear in Blackrock or Wexford shows anytime soon. 

My 00 gauge stuff I didn't fly over to NZ to inspect Mayner's kits before ordering Tin Vans and sides. Likewise I've ordered off Lesile via email with no issue. 

 

I do think it is somewhat alarmist that the withdrawal of Heljan products from retailers will lead to the death of the exhibition circuit and the clubs. Not demographic shifts, cost of living or the changes to modern life but the withdrawal of one of the midfield companies from the retail space will lead to the death of society leaves me a little bit skeptical. 

I'm in a pretty similar boat buying mainly from smaller batch builders, kit suppliers, etc, all online.

That said Accurascale themselves have an increasingly large range of Accurascale exclusives, available via direct purchase (AFAIK anyway, open to correction) so I think it's that combined with the likes of Hornby TT, retailers are panicking they'll be cut out altogether over time. So Heljan is the straw that broke the camels back I suppose.

I try to buy off Marks as often as possible but otherwise I'm almost entirely buying stuff online. 

Heljans TT range gives some hope for Irish 00n3

 

Edited March 27 by GSR 800