Model Rail magazine have an interesting exclusive in the latest edition. Hornby's marketing manager Simon Kohler talks to Model Rail's Ben Jones and answers questions sent in by Model Rail readers. A whole army of Model Rail magazine readers sent in questions and their help is acknowledged with their names listed. The 6 page feature includes a picture of Simon prooving to Ben that Hornby's latest model, the Class 390 Voyager, can power a complete nine-car set with a single motor power bogie! There are also pictures of the Margate factory and the production team in China assembling our models!
The feature is required reading for those who want to learn more about the thinking that goes into which models to produce, the development process for new products and the future plans.
There are 2 pages of the article devoted to Hornby Digital and it is a very interesting read with Hornby answering questions from experienced DCC users. Hornby do not see the mass market going for a £300-£400 digital command console however if there are enough mass market customers who are prepared to pay this sort of money then Hornby will develope a console for this market. Hornby do have plans for sound.
Simon talks about Hornby's future plans for Airfix and Humbrol and how new products could be developed for railway modellers around the products of these recently aquired brands including the potential of self assembly kits.
There is discussion about new locomotives and why Simon had a hard time selling the Q1 to the new product development team and which has subsequently been one of their most successful new releases. There is talk about Blue Pullman's and Garratts. Scalextric models are for "now". Hornby have to think about what they can do with the model 10 years down the track as development costs are so much higher for a model railway product than a slot car product and the return is realised over a longer timescale.
Live Steam is on hold for the moment as Hornby have so much planned for the electric market!
There are some interesting thoughts and answers for all the internet based Hornby "knockers" who get a buzz out of "knocking" Hornby in public and those who have read the feature will find it difficult to knock Hornby in future! Simon makes the point that if you have a complaint about a Hornby product then please contact them directly. They cannot do anything about your complaint if you talk about it in a forum! If they get one complaint about a product then it is an isolated issue. If they get 200 complaints about the same thing on a product then they realise they need to make some adjustments.
The article is well worth a read and you should all rush down to you local newsagent and pick up a copy of Model Rail if you have not already done so!
Happy modelling
Gary
PS There are a number of occassions when Simon makes the point that poor track laying is the cause of a large number of "complaints" that they have so wisen up on this area of our modelling guys and we will all have a much better model railway and DCC experiance!
The feature is required reading for those who want to learn more about the thinking that goes into which models to produce, the development process for new products and the future plans.
There are 2 pages of the article devoted to Hornby Digital and it is a very interesting read with Hornby answering questions from experienced DCC users. Hornby do not see the mass market going for a £300-£400 digital command console however if there are enough mass market customers who are prepared to pay this sort of money then Hornby will develope a console for this market. Hornby do have plans for sound.
Simon talks about Hornby's future plans for Airfix and Humbrol and how new products could be developed for railway modellers around the products of these recently aquired brands including the potential of self assembly kits.
There is discussion about new locomotives and why Simon had a hard time selling the Q1 to the new product development team and which has subsequently been one of their most successful new releases. There is talk about Blue Pullman's and Garratts. Scalextric models are for "now". Hornby have to think about what they can do with the model 10 years down the track as development costs are so much higher for a model railway product than a slot car product and the return is realised over a longer timescale.
Live Steam is on hold for the moment as Hornby have so much planned for the electric market!

There are some interesting thoughts and answers for all the internet based Hornby "knockers" who get a buzz out of "knocking" Hornby in public and those who have read the feature will find it difficult to knock Hornby in future! Simon makes the point that if you have a complaint about a Hornby product then please contact them directly. They cannot do anything about your complaint if you talk about it in a forum! If they get one complaint about a product then it is an isolated issue. If they get 200 complaints about the same thing on a product then they realise they need to make some adjustments.
The article is well worth a read and you should all rush down to you local newsagent and pick up a copy of Model Rail if you have not already done so!
Happy modelling
Gary
PS There are a number of occassions when Simon makes the point that poor track laying is the cause of a large number of "complaints" that they have so wisen up on this area of our modelling guys and we will all have a much better model railway and DCC experiance!