This part of the KOHLERcoms website is where Simon Kohler passes on his observations of what he sees happening in the model railway world. Some may disagree or believe he has missed a point, no worries let him know. We are keen to have a fair and rational discussion so at the end all can be enlightened. On the other hand, all could just agree to disagree but whatever the case we concur to remain civil and respectful of each other’s opinions.

    Kohler Confidential – January 2025

    January has been another very busy month for me but hopefully I am at last seeing the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

    I will hopefully be able to share with you before too long as to what I have been up to for the past few months that has taken up so much of my time.

    As for the world of Adi Pullen, well he has been busy with his reviews in respect of some of his recently purchased models.

    The first is his review on some 4 and 7 plank wagons: https://youtu.be/a6dnnfZNFi8

    His second offering covers off Hornby’s recently released Limited Edition Castle Class which was part of their Centenary selection: https://youtu.be/UbuneHw8hZ4

    What I like about Adi’s reviews are that they are simple and straightforward. There is no bias or unwarranted criticism just an impartial and always very honest review.

    Enwin’s Motors seem to be at one show or another each weekend and where possible they create a video highlighting some of the layouts they have seen in their travels.

    This month, Neil has sent me several videos one of which is a fascinating interview with Pete Waterman. Certainly worth watching.

    So here is this month’s list from Neil:

    Pete Waterman Interview

    2024 interviews

    Looking forward to narrow gauge steam in 2025

    West Lancs. Classic Model Rail Group Meet January 2025

    Diana on the Amerton Railway

    Enwin’s Sale (Extended to January 31st)

    So get yourself your favourite Beveridge, settle down and enjoy.

    See you soon!

    Simon

    KOHLERcoms ©2025

    Kohler Confidential – December 2024

    This year has certainly been quite hectic for me. As well as maintaining KOHLERcoms Consultancy I have been busy on various writing projects which have really soaked up a great deal of my time. Added to this, for the past two months I have had to split my days into handling some personal family responsibilities which I am pleased to say are now coming to a happy ending.

    With the above in mind, you can imagine my days have been totally full which has sadly meant that this particular communication side of KOHLERcoms has unfortunately suffered and for this I apologise.

    With 2024 coming to an end, I am now looking forward to 2025 with a degree of excitement the reason being I will share with you as and when it is appropriate.

    With regards to the New Year and the resolutions, I do hope to spend more time on improving this site as I am more than aware that it has a few marked limitations. This is mainly due to me not having the time to learn the basics of creating and maintaining not only the content but the actual workings of a website. Perhaps it would have been better to delay the launch but when the site went live, I did think I would have some spare time. Still there you go. Hopefully next year you will see some improvements.

    However, I was heartened to see my viewing numbers increase just recently thanks to someone who wanted to have a pop at me after an article I posted on this site entitled ‘You Tubers: Just doing it for clicks’. It seems that this particular chap took exception to some of my comments concerning his criticisms of a couple of Hornby’s recent releases in particular those models associated with The Beatles. He mentioned my website which encouraged some of his subscribers to see what I had written which I have to say was a welcome boost to my visitor numbers. Perhaps I should make a habit of criticising more of his postings if I want to hit the heady heights of those who ‘Just do it for Clicks!’

    More reviews by Adi Pullen

    What I like about Adi Pullen’s reviews is that they are simple, informative and quite frankly devoid of any biasness.

    Over the past few weeks Adi has been very busy reviewing not only brand new models but has also been talking a retrospective look at a couple of older models with some quite surprising observations.

    Do check out the following and let me know what you think.

    1 Oxford Rail 6plk wagon review: https://youtu.be/3cT0rQYgv7c

    2 Hornby Standard Cl. 7: https://youtu.be/9SG_WgMvvWM.

    3 Hornby GNR Original 1980s J13: https://youtu.be/PtXexaPGP-k

    4 Rapido NER H Class: https://youtu.be/lvI9EBG7hK8

    5 Hornby Hogwarts Castle: https://youtu.be/3DJg3kQmJS8

    6 Hornby tender drive ‘Flying Fox’: https://youtu.be/O0AMaTtaF2w

    7 Hornby Coronation coaches: https://youtu.be/uK0LzoqJwsA

    8 Hornby LNER Observation Car: https://youtu.be/Us6B3vRYpPM

    So, as you can see Adi has been very busy.

    Do take your time and enjoy. Putting these reviews together is not an easy task but I feel Adi pulls it off on each occasion.

    That’s it for now. Enjoy and do please let me have your views on what Adi has put together. He really would like to know.

    In the meantime, have a Very Merry Christmas and I wish you health and happiness in the New Year.

    KOHLERcoms ©2024



    Welcome to the latest update of Kohler Confidential.

    Latest update w/c 7 October 2024

    Once again I must apologise for such a late update on Kohler Confidential. Currently I am on a strict deadline with regards written copy that is required by the end of this month.

    As there are only a limited amount of hours in the day I am afraid keeping this site up to date has proven to be that bridge too far.

    Hopefully, I will shortly be able to break the back of this time absorbing commission but until then KC will have to be placed on a back burner for a while. Please accept my apologies and hopefully normal service will be restored before too long.

    In the meantime check out ‘What Say You’ and take a deep dive into the YouTube videos that my friend Adi Pullen has put together as well as Enwin’s Motors.

    Enjoy your modelling – Simon

    Many apologies to you all for the lack of anything new appearing on Kohler Confidential for several weeks, this is because I have been working on some external projects which were and are time sensitive, plus I had a week off in The Cotswolds!

    Anyway, hopefully I have plenty for you to see starting with a review by my good friend Adi Pullen. Now I know Adi has been subject to some unacceptable online bullying over his reviews, particularly with those associated with Hornby’s new Black 5 locomotive. Bullying in what ever form is not only unacceptable as mentioned but those who do are both ignorant and cowards and to those who are you need some serious medical help.

    Having said all that do check out Adi’s latest review which this time concerning the GNR Gunpowder Van: https://youtu.be/jibyk21453E

    Next for you to check out are several bits and pieces from Enwin’s Motors. In this series of articles Neil focuses on some of the new and latest 3D printed models available for both 009 and TT:120 modellers. https://youtu.be/oktVC95Ci0g?si=Ccn5QdigM_mSBlic

    And finally, my good friend Rodger has sent me a video where he is showing off his new Hornby TT:120 Cl. 50.

    Enjoy!

    Simon

    In this bulletin check out the interview that I had with Mac and Peachy. As you will see the discussion revolves around TT:120 and Hornby’s latest announcement. Simon Kohler interview with PeachyTT120, Hornby, TT120, HM7000, Model Railways (youtube.com)

    Staying with TT:120, have a look at A Postman On The Rails and his adventures with building a TT:120 model railway layout. Getting Started – A Postman On The Rails (weebly.com)

    Adi Pullen has been busy reviewing Hornby’s latest and, in my opinion, their amazing model to date and that is the extraordinary detailed ‘Black 5’. This model took over a year to design and what an accomplishment. https://youtu.be/a8wiwjR7g-Q

    Finally, Enwin’s Models have been out and about and are keen to share their latest videos.

    So, sit back, grab whatever drink takes your fancy and enjoy!

    KOHLERcoms ©2024

     

    ‘My Favourite Child’

    I was asked the other day what I thought my greatest achievement was during my many years at Hornby. I always hate this sort of question because as I have said before, it is like asking a father which child is his favourite. However, I knew the person asking the question expected a serious answer so I told him that I needed a little time to have a think.

    As I mentally flicked through my brain’s memory banks, I found I began to compile quite a list. Would it be the fact that with little or no investment during the ‘80s and into the ‘90s I managed to keep compiling a new Hornby release schedule each year using old and tired tooling, or was it the tough negotiations I went through with David Boyle to purchase the Airfix / GMR tooling which heralded Hornby’s return to once more making models? Then there was DCC and the introduction of the ‘Select’ and then a year later the ‘Elite’. This of course is ignoring the fact that Hornby introduced the first digital controller, the Zero 1 followed by the Hammant & Morgan HM5000, a unit I was involved in developing some twenty years earlier. Both the ‘Select’ and ‘Elite’ broke through the veil of digital mysticism which up until then had been more of a black art than a way to control a model railway. Then of course there was ‘Live Steam’, and what achievement that was. The original idea and working model was created by model engineering genius, Richard Hallam but working with the Hornby Development team and the engineers at the factory in China a working prototype was turned into a commercial and viable product. My part in all this was the creation of the packaging which was not only unique for its time but visually stunning. I was also responsible for all the marketing material and supporting video that was created for a truly amazing product launch on the 5th September at the Goodwood Revival, with Pete Waterman doing the honours. Keeping the secret that Hornby was working on something as amazing as ‘00’ Live Steam for over a year was incredibly stressful and very nearly gave me a heart attack and I mean that. As great and wonderful as Live Steam was, I feel the one achievement I can be best proud of would be the introduction of Hornby TT:120.

    For many years I had found ‘TT’ quite fascinating. To me it answered the need for so many would be model railway enthusiasts who did not have the room for a ‘00’ model railway of their dreams but found ‘N’ gauge too small and fiddly for their ageing eyes and hands. From the very first time I became aware of this table top system back in the very early ‘70s I was simply fascinated by its size. At the time I was unaware that what I was looking at was once again like ‘00’ and the UK ’N’, a compromise and a country mile away from a true scale and it was during one of my first trips to the Nuremberg Toy Fair, before Germany’s unification that I came across, at that time an East German company ‘Tillig’ who majored in the true scale of 1:120 ‘TT’. Like many European model railway companies, they had a truly staggering amount of track pieces in their range, not to mention mainly East German locomotives and rolling stock. Each year I would visit their stand and see how much more refined and detailed their models were becoming and I just wondered what it would take for Hornby to pick up where the old Tri-ang ‘TT’ had left off.

    In the early 2000s I had an abortive attempt at trying to convince Hornby’s then CEO to invest in a ’TT’ system and although I continued to advocate and press for the introduction of such a scale it was not until I returned to Hornby after a three year absence that I was taken seriously.

    In 2017 Hornby’s future was not looking particularly good. There had been consecutive years where the company had been making a loss and it was at this time that Lyndon Davies was appointed as CEO to help steer the company back into profitability. Lyndon brought with him Tim Mulhall who had a huge amount of sales experience and a strong knowledge of the European model railway market and of course me. All three of us had worked together in the past so we were a natural fit. Under Lyndon’s guidance we created a strategic plan that would bring the company back to profitability and part of that strategy was to introduce Hornby TT:120.

    Work started in early 2018 and several months prior to Hornby relocating back to their long-time base in Margate. The meetings were initially restricted to just three people but as the months progressed then the circle expanded until all in the Hornby Development team were included. Even before the first meeting it was decided that the scale we would use would be the accepted International scale of 1:120 because what we wanted to produce was a system that would be truly International rather than the hybrid scale of the old Tri-ang system. This international uniformity extended to couplings, buffer height and wheel flanges, all of which we had experience with due to the Arnold range of ‘TT’ models. I had created a three year plan which later was extended to 8 years and beyond but the focus was on the track and those locomotives and rolling stock that were to be available in the first, through to the third phase of introductions. As with the scale we decided that the Hornby TT:120 track geometry would be in line with the brand leader, that being Tillig but with some subtle improvements and additions.

    Over the following four years, we overcame several challenges including the frustrations of Covids and in October 2022 Hornby TT:120 was announced to the whole World with much applause, as well as the occasional naysayers. There were, as one would expect the odd frustration especially once the models started to become available in December of the same year, together with some rather unfair comments and judgements from those who wanted to see Hornby TT:120 fail. However, judging by the continued sales growth they will be sorely disappointed.

    So, to answer the question, I would have to say that the creation and launch of Hornby TT:120 would most likely be the highlight of my Hornby career. I would temper this by adding that without the help, support and dedication of the Hornby Development team I am more than aware that Hornby TT:120 would not have happened.

    ©KOHLERcoms

    Posted: 1st February 2024