Kohler Confidential

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 – 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.

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!

Hornby and the Starlight Express – 1984

Taken from ‘Between the Lines’ by Simon Kohler

I was reminded the other day of Hornby’s involvement forty years ago with the original production of ‘Starlight Express’. Hornby had posted a picture showing their 2024 interpretation of the locomotive that was specially produced by Hornby in 1984. In fact, several were hand liveried in Hornby’s R&D department and used exclusively on layouts suspended from the Apollo Victoria theatre auditorium. The copy that accompanied the picture of their 2024 model only scraped the surface of how Hornby became involved with the original ‘Starlight Express’ but hopefully the following will prove to be a little more enlightening.

It was the middle of February, 1984. The London and Nuremberg Toy Fairs had been a success as far as Hornby’s toy range had been, having picked up an award for their ‘Flower Fairy’ doll range but little else. This was the time when the new management at Hornby had moved away from model railways and Scalextric in favour of dolls and all things toys. Sitting at my desk, just a humble Marketing Manager responsible for not only the marketing of the model railway brand but also ‘Scalextric’, ‘Flower Fairies’, plus an assortment of stuffed dogs under the brand name ‘Pound Puppies’. I was working on the 1985 Hornby Railways range, not easy when there was no money to be spent on new models when I received a call from the MD’s secretary asking if I could ‘pop up’ as there was a meeting and I was wanted. In those days I was a smoker so I grabbed my cigarettes and went upstairs thinking that the gathered throng had run out of their own and I was their back up source. Not an uncommon use of a Marketing Manager’s time in those days.

The MD’s secretary told me to walk straight in as they were all waiting for me. ‘All’ I thought, how many were there in this meeting?’ I knocked on the door and without waiting entered. The MD’s office doubled as a Board Room which was dominated by a long table with the MD, Keith Ness sitting at the head. On one side of the table was Frank Grant, the Exhibitions Director who had been with Hornby for many years and opposite him was the Marketing Director, David Bate, one of the new management team who had joined Hornby at the same time as Keith Ness, some two years previous. Both David and Keith had been a key part of the Marketing team at Pedigree Dolls & Prams based in Canterbury and during their time were heavily involved in developing the ‘Sindy’ doll range and other products specifically aimed at the ‘girl’ market. Both Hornby and Pedigree had at one time been part of the Lines group of companies and then later DCM, however after DCM had been dissolved both companies went their separate ways and were independent of each other. Keith Ness was enticed to join Hornby as Managing Director a couple of years or so earlier with a brief to diversify from trains and Scalextric. With his background in girl orientated product it was natural that he favoured the introduction of dolls and soft toys, hence ‘Pond Puppies’ and ‘Flower Fairies’. When he joined, he brought with him David Bate who had been his Marketing Manager at Pedigree and like Keith his marketing background had been specifically focussed on girl’s toys.

I was asked to sit down and told that me expertise was needed! Frank Grant, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table to me explained that he had been approached by the set designers of the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber production, ‘Starlight Express’. Frank told me that the producers had called him and said they thought that it would be a great idea to have a model railway track suspended from the auditorium ceiling of the Victoria Apollo theatre with a model of the ‘Starlight Express’ train running around the track prior to the show starting and could Hornby make it happen? Frank had many years of creating model railway layouts and if it could be done then he would be able to do as they asked. However, he did not know if Hornby had a suitable model that could be used as a ‘Starlight Express’ train which was where I would come in. Neither David nor Keith had much of a clue about model railways, in fact if a model had more than four wheels they were lost. Luckily, my knowledge was at least 1% greater than theirs but what I lacked in know how I made up with imagination.

I was handed a promotional leaflet showing what I assumed was the ‘Starlight Express’, with the main stylised image looking as if it owed much to an American prototype but Frank told me that the trains in the show were all based around a mixture of ‘famous’ international trains such as the French TEE, the Trans-Siberian Express and the Japanese Shinkansen Bullet Train. The UKs Advanced Passenger Train was also represented but unsurprisingly this train was ‘withdrawn’ part way through show’s long and most successful duration. Unfortunately, we had nothing apart from the APT in our current range that would be suitable but I said that I would need to think about what we could adapt, although I did have a rough idea.

What I had in mind was to use an Australian train which featured a Class ‘S’ Co-Co locomotive and three matching silver coaches. I knew that we had the models in a Hornby Railways Trans-Australian set last produced in 1977 which had been produced exclusively for the Australian market, with a sample hidden away in the Marketing storeroom which I headed towards once I left the meeting. Having found the set, I removed the locomotive and three carriages and headed towards the R&D department and Tom Carfrae.

Tom Carfrae was a genius. Tom was for me the ‘go to’ modeller in the R&D department who would transfer ideas, especially mine into actual models. He was another one who had been with Hornby for many years and was quite simply an amazing modelmaker. Tom was able to not only create amazing model prototypes from flat pieces of polystyrene sheeting but was also able to paint and livery them up all by hand to an unbelievably high standard. His lining of a model locomotive, all done by an incredibly steady hand was something to be not only admired but envied by seasoned modellers.

I placed the Class ‘S’ loco and three coaches on his bench and said that I had a very important job for him. He, as always eyed me with suspicion and asked what impossible task I wanted him to perform. I showed him a picture of the ‘Starlight Express’, which was as mentioned a very much stylised artists impression and told him what had been said to me about a train track being suspended from the Apollo’s auditorium ceiling, adding that I wanted him to repaint the locomotive and coaches to replicate, as best he could the image shown in the picture. To be fair to Tom, I did say he could also use his imagination when applying the livery as the image was to say the least a mass of lines and no real livery at all! He looked at me to see if there was a glimmer of a smile on my face but he could see I was serious and then he smiled. ‘Leave this with me,’ he said, adding, ‘When do you want them by?’

‘Well,’ I replied, ‘As quickly as possible because Frank needs to take the models to the theatre to get them approved.’

What I liked about Tom was that he was never phased. He never made any adverse or sarcastic comment especially if there was a deadline, he just got on and did the job. Within two days Tom gave me a call and asked me to come to his bench as he had something to show me. I dropped everything and quickly walked to R&D and pushing open the door walked straight to Tom’s bench and spied four yellow tissue wrapped parcels which he gently unwrapped and there before me was a ‘Starlight Express’ train. It was amazing what he had done. Of course, there were and had to be quite a few variations from the image but the overall effect was spot on. I carefully re-wrapped the parcels and gathering them up I went straight upstairs to show them to Keith Ness. As it happened David Bate was there as well and I showed them Tom’s handiwork. I could see that both were impressed and Keith asked if I could take the models straight over to Frank Grant’s office as he had a meeting at the Apollo that evening, which I duly did.

I could not have been happier. Within 48 hours of being asked to organise a suitable model, one had been produced and would soon be on its way to the Victoria Apollo to be shown no doubt to Andrew Lloyd Weber and I guessed, several others.

The next morning I was asked to once again ‘pop up’ to Keith’s office as Frank Grant had some news about the model. Once again I walked into his office and once again, I was looking at all three gentlemen as David Bate had also been summoned. All had a rather subdued look on their faces which for a moment puzzled me but then Frank spoke.

‘They don’t like it’, said Frank with a stern face. ‘What don’t they like?’, I asked. ‘I mean it is as close to the ‘Starlight Express’ image as we can get it. ‘All of it’, was Frank’s reply.

I was stunned, I just could not believe it. I then asked if they had given any indication as to what they were looking for and Frank replied that they were thinking more of a steam train. A steam train? Now that did throw the cat in with the pigeons. Obviously, I was both shocked and disappointed thinking that perhaps it would have been useful if they had said that at the beginning but I picked up the rejected models, muttered something about having another think and left the meeting.

Returning to my desk I made a grab for the Hornby catalogue and started flicking through the pages looking for a suitable candidate that would look good in silver and blue. The 1984 Hornby catalogue was far from the brands best brochure, in fact it was probably the worst being a mash up of a stripped back 1983 catalogue with some new model images added, plus for good measure, the orientation had been changed from portrait to landscape. Certainly not Hornby’s finest hour as far as catalogues were concerned which is a dubious ‘honour’ it keeps to this day, although in the following years there have been a couple of close seconds!

However, I digress. Slowly I turned the pages looking at each locomotive very carefully. I immediately discounted all the diesels and focussed on the steamers. I needed something that had some ‘shape’ to it rather than a round boiler and a prominent chimney. I hesitated when I saw the streamlined Coronation and again with the A4, ‘Mallard’. They were just too streamlined. What I was looking for was a loco that was streamlined while at the same time had an eclectic mix of looking futuristic while also appearing to be retro and would suit the blue and silver livery. Eventually my eyes settled on the R374 Battle of Britain Class, ‘Spitfire’. A flat sided streamlined model which would make the applying of a livery reasonably straightforward should the locomotive go into production, while at the same time having a period appeal about. On top of that the model was in production, unlike the ‘S’ Class and consequently finding a donor model would not be an issue.

My next challenge was to find suitable coaches and for those I settled on two LMS Composite coaches and an LMS Brake coach. These two items were part of the Hornby range and had been since their introduction back in the early 70s. Added to that and thinking ahead I was sure that the coach lighting unit Hornby had produced in the past could be fitted to the coaches as I had a feeling that would no doubt be requested. To complete the rake of coaches I thought that the freelance long wheel based van that had first been introduced some years previous with its relatively smooth sides, would make a great ‘canvas’ for Tom to work his magic on.

I quickly gathered all the models together and took them to Tom. I explained that the ‘Starlight Express’ decision makers did not like the ‘S’ Class locomotive and coaches and that they wanted steam. I agreed with Tom when he said it would have been nice of them to mention that simple fact before he spent so much time on the ‘S’ Class train, however he liked my suggestions for the replacement models and said he would begin work on the new ‘Starlight Express’ models straight away.

A day or so later I popped into see Tom just as he was finishing off the LWB van and what a brilliant job he had done. The locomotive, coaches and the van looked absolutely stunning in their new blue and silver ‘Starlight’ livery. The models were then individually wrapped in the familiar yellow tissue paper and handed to me and from R&D I went straight to Keith’s office and showed him Tom’s livery conversions. For someone who really did not know a tender from a boiler I could see he was suitably impressed. Relieved that Keith was happy, I then went to find Frank Grant to give him the models as Keith had told me that Frank would once again be visiting the Apollo theatre that evening. As I handed over the models to Frank, I did say that I needed approval as quickly as possible because if more changes were required then such alterations would take time and I guessed time was not on our side.

That evening I was at home when the ‘phone rang and it was Frank who told me that the models had been seen by all at the Apollo, including Andrew Lloyd Webber and had been approved, however Frank added that there was just one small thing. ‘What was that’ I asked, more than a little concerned.

‘They don’t want just one train but four!’ I slept very little that night.

The next morning I met up with Frank who told me that the original thought was to have a single track running around the perimeter of the auditorium but this had been modified to having four oval shaped baseboards measuring something in the region of 14’ in length by 6’ wide and suspended from the auditorium’s ceiling. Placed on the outer edge of these baseboards would be strips of plywood ½” thick by 6” wide on which the track would be pinned down and these sections would then be positioned in a large oval running along the edge of each of the baseboards. This was a challenge in itself but Frank believed it was achievable but then again he was not the one who would be climbing the very, very long ladder to get to the baseboards and I could guarantee that I wouldn’t be either.

Having taken all this in I went to see Tom to break the news that we needed another three sets of locos, coaches and vans, plus a spare locomotive just in case of a failure. Again, Tom just took these demands in his stride and said that he would get onto it immediately as time was now getting very tight.

Later that week I had reason to visit Frank Grant in Hornby’s Exhibition department to see for myself how his team of two were getting on with the track build. Frank’s team of accomplished layout builders consisted of Steve Peacock who was in his late twenties and a 21 year old Kevin Jones who was a relatively newcomer to the department. Frank took me over to see what the lads were doing and I have to say it was quite impressive. There was a whole pile of neatly stacked ½” x 6” strips of plywood painted top and bottom in matt black paint. Pinned in the middle of each strip was a single line of track. There were also sections of plywood that had been cut into an arc which also had track pinned into position. It was obviously quite a task with a huge amount of cut plywood, plus track being put together in an orderly fashion, reminding me of an assembly line, with all eventually destined to be shipped to the theatre but of course that was only half of the story.

As Tom progressed with the creation of the four ‘Starlight Express’ trains, Frank Grant with his two layout builders were planning to spend several nights piecing together the track sections on the four suspended layouts on which the trains were destined to run.

Several days later and with only a few to go before the opening of the show, Frank and his team arrived at the back door of the Victoria Apollo theatre in the early evening of the 12th March to start the fitting of the plywood strips to the suspended layout boards. The sections of cut plywood strips with the track in position had already been delivered to the theatre earlier that day but work could not commence until the rehearsals, which were in full swing had finished and that was not going to be at the earliest until 10.00 o’clock in the evening. With such time restrictions it gave Frank, Steve and Kevin the chance to sit in the stalls and watch the actors whizz around the stage and the auditorium on roller skates at what seemed to be frightening speeds, and all choreographed to be in time with the music. Kevin told me later that it was an amazing spectacle but not without the occasional accident which on one occasion had sad consequences when one of the actors crashed to the floor and broke his leg.

Eventually the rehearsals stopped and the team could get to work. As mentioned, there were four oval baseboards painted mat black with each board held in place by four rigid stanchions that had one end been anchored to the auditorium’s ceiling while the other ends were positioned at equal distances around each of the baseboards. The result was that there was only one way to get to the baseboards which was by a very, very long ladder.

Frank was by no means someone to avoid a challenge but his strength was in organisation and not piecing together track while perched on a ladder which left Steve and Kevin. Steve looked up at the first baseboard and the ladder propped up against its edge and said that he was terrified of heights and that there was no way he would set one foot on the ladder, and that left Kevin. Now it is worth remembering that although the Health & Safety Act was ten years old it was still very much in its infancy and such things as safety harnesses and cherry pickers were certainly not a consideration. Faced with the inevitable Kevin started to climb the ladder with an intense degree of trepidation, holding in one hand the first of many track sections while the other gripped each rung in turn as if his life depended on it, which of course it did and he slowly and deliberately climbed towards the baseboard.

As each section was positioned Kevin had to pin a separate piece of track to join each section together and section by section the first oval began to take shape. At the beginning this was a long, laborious and dangerous job but eventually Kevin gradually completed the first circuit and as the week progressed his confidence grew. By the fifth and final night he was running up and down the ladder as if he had been doing it all his life, busily connecting each section of track together with huge confidence much to the relief of Frank and Steve. Eventually, each baseboard was fitted with its completed circuit, tested and with Tom’s finished ‘Starlight Express’ trains in position and running, Frank and his team’s job was completed by the early hours of Friday the 16th. In all there was something like 1500 feet of track laid over those few nights and all carefully and professionally put together by Kevin while perched on a ladder many feet above the stalls.

The plan by the theatre’s production team was for the trains to be set running an hour before each show which certainly was quite a talking point for those waiting for the performance to begin. The only issue was that with the lights in the auditorium being so subdued the only way the trains could be seen was from the lights in the coaches which Tom had fitted as an extra bonus and at my request.

On the Monday morning, 19th March I was called into Keith Ness’ office once more as he needed to see me urgently. As I climbed the stairs and headed towards his office I did wonder if something at the Apollo theatre had gone wrong. Frank had assured me over the weekend that the layouts were all completed and were operating as they should so I just hoped that Keith wanted to see me about something other the ‘Starlight Express’. Wrong!

I was told to walk straight into Keith’s office which I did and as I entered Keith looked up and without hesitating said that he had been invited to the gala opening night of the show which was the coming Thursday evening and he had been given permission to present to HM The Queen a model of Hornby’s ‘Starlight Express’ locomotive suitably, mounted on a plinth, and could I organise it? I simply replied that I would, turned around, walked out of the door and headed towards R&D and my friend Tom, thinking if anybody should present the model to Her Majesty it should be me, Tom or probably more importantly Kevin!

I was a little hesitant in asking Tom for one more model as he had already produced four, one for each layout, plus a spare and I just wondered if by asking for yet one more, even if it was for Her Majesty, it might just push him over the edge but I need not have worried. Having asked him, I admit quite hesitantly, he smiled and opened his work bench cupboard door and pulled out a parcel wrapped in the familiar yellow tissue paper and said, ‘It’s a good job I painted up a spare’ and handed me one more ‘Starlight Express’ model locomotive!

Very soon after the model was mounted onto a wooden plinth and with a suitably inscribed brass plaque fitted, I delivered the model to Keith’s office, already for him to hand over to Her Majesty on Thursday 22nd March after the gala performance.

As all are aware ‘Starlight Express’ was a record-breaking success and ran from 1984 right through to its closure in 2002. An amazing achievement and a credit to both Andrew Lloyd Webber who wrote the music and the lyricist, Richard Stilgoe.

However, what of the models? Firstly, although it was discussed for Hornby to produce a ‘Starlight Express’ train set this never happened. From memory, I believe that the production company wanted Hornby to produce an accurate characterised model of the main locomotive character, ‘Rusty’ a steam shunter of questionable heritage. Unfortunately, Hornby were not prepared to invest in the tooling for a special non-standard model and consequently further discussions failed and the set was shelved. Similarly, there was talk of Tom’s Class ‘S’ being available for the overseas market but this again fell foul of the model not representing the shows central character. Added to this, by the summer of 1984, Hornby were making overtures to Britt Allcroft and the rights to produce models of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.

Of those models that ran around the auditorium layouts for so long, there is no trace. I am told that the model presented to Her Majesty is now in the possession of the National Railway Museum in York and although I have been a regular visitor to the York Museum, I have never seen it. The ‘S’ Class and matching coaches are part of a private collection as is one complete set of the Battle of Britain ‘Starlight Express’ locomotive, coaches and the van.

With the new ‘Starlight Express’ show starting in June this year but this time at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre I did wonder if Hornby would once again try and recreate what Frank, Tom and all involved with the Hornby ‘Starlight Express’ trains had achieved some forty years ago. I am sure this would be an interesting piece of history repeating itself but I suppose I shall just have to wait until June to find out.

My thanks to Pat Hammond for allowing the use of his images and supplying some additional information. I would also like to thank Kevin Jones for reliving his experiences during those five nights piecing the four layouts together. Hopefully, and after several sessions of therapy he will get over his nightmares in time!

©KOHLERcoms 2024

YouTubers: Just doing it for ‘clicks’?

The other night a friend called me and said that I really must check out a specific YouTube channel as it was having a ‘pop’ at Hornby. This particular channel has an incredible number of videos listed that range from product reviews to general comments associated with the world of model railways.

I was more than aware of the channel as well as the YouTuber and because, in my opinion many of the reviews were either biased or inaccurate, I have tended to avoid viewing the vast majority of them. No matter what my thoughts are, the site in question has a good few thousand followers which does amaze me somewhat as his style of presentation is far from being of a journalistic nature but one where he often expresses opinions which tend to be at best unbalanced and at times inaccurate. A trait which makes him an ‘Influencer’ rather than a journalist. One other reason I avoid the channel is that this YouTuber seems to have a real fixation about Hornby and not in a positive way. I am not too sure what his particular problem is with Hornby because as far as I can tell his comments tend to be designed to be deliberately inflammatory. Some might say ‘click bait’, which I am reliably informed is ‘content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.’ My friends who are quite savvy with such things tell me that the more visitors one gets to a site the greater the payday, so I am naturally drawn to the conclusion that maybe this particular person is really mining for cash rather than being objective!

Whatever the case the video I was asked to view was entitled, ‘Hornby The Beatles’ with a subtitle, ‘Beatles Tat’ and ‘Just WHY Hornby?’ I must admit I was intrigued by these headings as they seemed to me to be deliberately provocative and as my friends say, ‘click bait’.

As I waded through the video which incidentally, I found excruciating to watch, I was struck by the apparent inability of the presenter to look further than the actual product and examine the reasons why Hornby were producing such a model. My personal feelings are that a true journalist / reviewer would actually pick up the ‘phone to Hornby and ask the question and then produce a balanced review. Sadly, it seems ‘Influencers’ have no such concerns and certainly not in this case. I will not go through the actual video but suffice to say he illustrated quite clearly how little he knows about the actual business of model railways and it is really for his benefit and education that I will explain, ‘Just WHY Hornby!’

I think we can all agree that the world of model railways has changed quite dramatically over the last twenty years or more. No longer is a train set on the top of a child’s Christmas list but instead it is more likely to be an all singing, all dancing mobile ‘phone or the latest whiz bang, shoot ‘em up, car stealing video game in full glorious colour. Unfortunately, this a fact as being in the position to draw on over 50 years experience in this hobby I have seen the gradual decline of train set sales, and most significantly over the last ten years or more.

I cannot stress enough how important the sales of train sets are for the furtherance of this hobby of ours. Ask any railway modeller and 10:1 they will all say that they started their railway modelling passion with a train set, and more than likely a Hornby train set at that. An interest in trains at an early age is not only important but are the grass roots of the hobby and although a train set may be put away during the teenage years when girlfriends and cars take control, it is quite common that in later years the interest in modelling is once again awoken and perhaps this time taken more seriously. Now if the initial interest in ‘trains’ is not instilled in those formative years then the grass roots are non-existent and consequently other marketing devices must be employed to attract potential enthusiasts.

In 1985 Hornby introduced a full range of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends train sets, both electric and clockwork in a positive effort to entice youngsters to play with trains, and it did work. Years later I lost count of the number of railway modellers who would come up to me at shows and exhibitions saying their interest in trains started with a Hornby Thomas the Tank Engine train set. Such statements certainly confirmed that Hornby made the correct decision to invest in Thomas despite at the time the wails of anguish from established modellers! Unfortunately, the power of Thomas, as far as Hornby was concerned tended to wain as the years turned into decades, as it seemed by the time youngsters were of an age to play with electric trains they had moved away from Thomas to the next level of cartoon characters such as Power Rangers and the like.

Some years ago and recognising the signs, plus being very much aware of the need to entice new blood into modelling railways, Hornby began to think differently, or as they say, ‘they needed to think out of the box’. Well Hornby certainly did do just that with the introduction in 2008 of their Christmas Train Set, later to evolve into Santa’s Express and quickly learnt that a good number of the sets were not put away with the rest of the Christmas decorations after 12^th Night but became the nucleus of a model railway. Learning from this the Hornby team extended their thinking to see if there were other areas which could be examined that would act as a steppingstone into this great hobby of ours and a chance conversation with regards the Coca-Cola TV ad that always appears on our TV screens at Christmas evolved into the production, just in time for Christmas 2019 the Coca-Cola® Christmas set.

Coca-Cola® branded product certainly has a strong collector fraternity and many sets were purchased as part of the collector’s market but many were equally purchased as a Christmas decoration which were then morphed into a full blown model railway. For me, this is what I call a double bubble and one that attracted additional Hornby Coca-Cola® branded rolling stock, indeed one of the most popular wagons amongst several was the R60170 Lowmac carrying a Coke® bottle! Strangely, the YouTuber in question criticised the wagon without realising that pre-orders for the model had outstripped expectations within a week of it being announced!

In the same year as the launch of the Coca-Cola® Christmas set, Hornby re-introduced the Hogwarts Express train set, along with individual locomotives and coaches as well as a series of buildings associated with the mythical Hogsmeade Station, aka Goathland Station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and all designed to attract new enthusiasts.

In late 1999 I was called to a meeting at the Apple Corps. offices, the company that had been formed by The Beatles back in the late 60s. The purpose of the meeting was to have Hornby produce a model of the Eurostar replicating the full size train that had been ‘wrapped’ with images taken from the newly remixed ‘Yellow Submarine’ cartoon. Unfortunately, we could not go ahead with the project because the technology to recreate the cartoon images onto the side of the Eurostar vehicles was simply not available, neither did we have all of the coaches necessary to depict all of the ‘Yellow Submarine’ cartoon images. In 2019, when Hornby’s Commercial Director was visiting the New York Toy Fair he had a chance meeting with the company that handled The Beatles merchandise worldwide. At that time Corgi diecast had been producing several vehicles featuring the artwork of The Beatles album covers and had been doing so for some years. At the chance meeting in New York, the licensing executive handling The Beatles merchandise asked why Hornby had never produced the ‘Yellow Submarine’ Eurostar? There then followed a transatlantic ‘phone call where I was asked the question and I explained why Hornby had not gone ahead with the model some twenty years earlier. While talking I did say that if the licensing team were willing to let us be inventive with the livery without compromising the actual cartoon images, then we could most certainly produce a model. The Beatles licensor readily agreed and we set about working on producing a model and selling it as not only a train set but also as a train pack, that is to say just the vehicles.

One of the reasons I was keen on going ahead with the ‘Yellow Submarine’ was not that I thought it would appeal to the modeller but rather to The Beatles memorabilia collectors, as well as those of an age who were fans of the Fab Four back in the day and who would now most likely be retired and maybe, just maybe find having a Beatles train set the perfect excuse to have that layout they had always wanted.

I was correct that the set and indeed the train pack that Hornby produced in 2020 was not that popular with the serious modeller but what it did achieve was draw people into the hobby. Many sets were purchased as gifts and arguably given to those who remember the 60s and of course the Fab Four and I lost count of the number of emails and letters I received from such people who had either bought the set themselves or had it bought for them and were now contemplating building a model railway.

While developing the ‘Yellow Submarine’ set I was positive that a market existed for other Beatles railway orientated models and not just in the UK but Worldwide and especially in the USA. Taking a leaf out of Corgi’s play book I had produced for the Hornby 2021 product range four long wheel base vans that were limited edition of 1000 each, with each van featuring artwork from one of The Beatles album covers. As will be noted to recreate and apply the graphics convincingly a relatively smooth sided wagon had to be used and really the only one suitable was a van whose history dated back to 1974, simply because there was literally no alternative. The take up was excellent on both sides of the Atlantic which emboldened me to add a further four vans in 2022 featuring the artwork from a further four Beatles albums.

Flushed with success, and by now it was obvious that fans were collecting the wagons I added in the same year, 2022 a bold Beatles addition. I introduced a Beatles train pack which included a Beatles branded Class 73 locomotive and three Mk1 parcels vans. When coupled together the sides depicted in chronological order the artwork of all the Beatles No. 1 singles from their first to their last. Once again, the take up was almost immediate and I could see, as I and others had suspected that we were broadening the customer base of model railways. There was obviously a collector market out there other than the standard railway modeller and it was up to Hornby to ‘mine’ this new market and hopefully expand the interest in model railways. While all this was happening the range of Coca-Cola® models had also extended and were equally been absorbed into the Coca-Cola® collector enthusiast market. Once again Hornby was expanding the market and creating interest external to the normal and well-trodden road of model railway enthusiasts. For some of these collectors, both for Coca-Cola® and The Beatles this collecting extended into actually creating an operating layout so they could run their models, and for some their collecting led them into actually creating a model railway which in the end was the ultimate goal for Hornby. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZmJKLj1waw

So, with new modellers entering the hobby from several directions what is there for the so called railway ‘influencers’ to criticise Hornby for? In my opinion absolutely nothing, in fact Hornby, as well as Bachmann with their Thomas the Tank Engine range should be applauded for their efforts. While they do that the naysayers and so called industry experts with their obvious shallow awareness of business should avoid passing comment in an effort to mine ‘clicks’ and leave the professionals to do what they do best, expand the hobby and open it up to as many as possible and by whatever means is practicable.

Posted: 21 March 2024