Hattons!!!

[Calnefoxile]

Hattons have stand here at Ally Pally, but before you all get excited there's no stock it's just a dcc fitting service plus they're taking pre-orders for a wagon they're commissioning.

They are going to produce the ICI hoppers in OO. But when I approached them all excited and said "Oh great, are you going to produce them in N at some time??" The answer I got was a categoric "NO, there's no plans to do anything in N!!"

Needless to say I was shocked and just stood there like a lemon, open mouthed at the persons arrogance that I dared even mention N gauge, myself and my friend said, loudly enough to be heard,"Well that's the last time we buy anything from you lot" and walked off, the person who spoke to us, just shrugged his shoulders and went back to doing what Hattons do best, taking money!!!!

I must admit I was gobsmacked, not necessarily at the response, but the way it was delivered, almost as if Hattons have disdain for anything other than OO, because it's they're main revenue stream.

Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest, But I won't be buying from Hattons again.

Regards

Neal.

[Roy L S]

Sounds very arrogant and dismissive, I wonder if that is definite Hattons policy communicated there by someone in authority.

If it is it would appear very short sighted albeit on reflection no different to Kernow or others currently do.

In fact the only N commissions I can think of are those the NGS has undertaken now I think about it.

Thank goodness for Ben and Mike's RevolutioN crowd sourcing venture!

Roy

[scruff]

I can think of a few Roy

Class 86, mk3 coaches and 156 by C&M models

Class 60 and 121 by Kernow

Class 60 by Buffers

Class 37 by TMC

The only thing is that these are all reliveries of propriety items and as far as I know there has never been a new tooling aimed at N gauge. Seems we should be used to being the poor relations now! 



Cheers
Mark

[Roy L S]

Sorry, yes I was meaning newly tooled models rather than exclusive liveries run from existing tooling.

Roy

[Paddy]

What about the China clay wagons from Kernow?

Paddy

[Roy L S]

What about the China clay wagons from Kernow?

Paddy

Hi Paddy

Yes, you are right, the Kernow Clay Hoods, I had completely forgotten about them...

Fair play to Kernow then.

Roy

[austinbob]

Hattons have stand here at Ally Pally, but before you all get excited there's no stock it's just a dcc fitting service plus they're taking pre-orders for a wagon they're commissioning.

They are going to produce the ICI hoppers in OO. But when I approached them all excited and said "Oh great, are you going to produce them in N at some time??" The answer I got was a categoric "NO, there's no plans to do anything in N!!"

Needless to say I was shocked and just stood there like a lemon, open mouthed at the persons arrogance that I dared even mention N gauge, myself and my friend said, loudly enough to be heard,"Well that's the last time we buy anything from you lot" and walked off, the person who spoke to us, just shrugged his shoulders and went back to doing what Hattons do best, taking money!!!!

I must admit I was gobsmacked, not necessarily at the response, but the way it was delivered, almost as if Hattons have disdain for anything other than OO, because it's they're main revenue stream.

Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest, But I won't be buying from Hattons again.

Regards

Neal.

Maybe you just happened to meet a couple of hacked off salesmen who would rather be spending their weekend somewhere else.. My personal experience of all my contacts with Hattons staff has been good.

[sparky]

My experience of Hattons has been very good...not sure stamping of feet always helps even if at the time it makes us all feel better !

[Richard G Dallimore]

Neal is only reporting the response and attitude he received in a face to face situation in a public arena so lets not jump on the the defend Hattons at all cost band wagon. If they were rude they were rude, that is not excusable and if it showed contempt for our scale it is even worse. It may not be company policy but it has been portrayed as such.

[simong]

If you are looking for a different model shop to buy from I have just ordered a fair bit from Model Railways Direct (http://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk).  Having checked the prices between Hattons and MRD, MRD were actually cheaper overall.  Better still the order was placed Friday pm and I have had a email to say it will be delivered on Monday.

[mark100]

Sorry, yes I was meaning newly tooled models rather than exclusive liveries run from existing tooling.

Roy

It would be nice to see the N Gauge Farish Peaks commissioned as marker light and split head code variations, Model Zone got Bachmann to retool them in 00 Gauge to marker light variations, so it can be done if a retailer thinks they can shift 514 models

Mark 

[Ben A]

Hello all,

The attitude of Hattons's stand staff as reported is poor, but at the same time not entirely unexpected.

N Gauge does not seem to do well in the repaint commissions market - Kernow commissioned the green IKB Class 60 and it struggled to sell (it did not help that the real thing blew up within days of the model coming out!) while C&M's excellent blue Class 86s also took a lot longer to shift than a comparable OO model - so investing in new tooling is an even bigger gamble.

I am not sure why this is, but I suspect there may be two key factors:

1)  The market is smaller

2)  It tends to be more "adult" (most kids or "casual" hobbyists will go for Hornby size) and in this market people are more set on what they want, and more likely to only buy items they specifically need.  So the skill, IMO, comes in selecting your prototype.

With the NGS I have been careful to select items (with the Committee) that have a very long service life (ie Qm brake - 1936-present) or offer something a little different (eg Snowplough), or are a complete train in themselves (Inspection Saloon) or just complement other items (Collet BG goes with parcels trains, standard passenger trains and even with milk tanks.)

The NGS has discussed the ICI hoppers before funnily enough for a kit, but the bogies are one-offs and that dissuaded us a little!

However, if you were interested in sponsoring such a project for Revolution then my recommendation would be to wait until Oxford have the OO CAD designs (probably in around 6 months) then, assuming Hattons still have no interest in N, ask Oxford what their minimum order would be, and how much each wagon would cost, and then see if it sounds viable.

cheers

Ben A.

[mark100]

Hello all,

The attitude of Hattons's stand staff as reported is poor, but at the same time not entirely unexpected.

N Gauge does not seem to do well in the repaint commissions market - Kernow commissioned the green IKB Class 60 and it struggled to sell (it did not help that the real thing blew up within days of the model coming out!) while C&M's excellent blue Class 86s also took a lot longer to shift than a comparable OO model - so investing in new tooling is an even bigger gamble.

I am not sure why this is, but I suspect there may be two key factors:

1)  The market is smaller

2)  It tends to be more "adult" (most kids or "casual" hobbyists will go for Hornby size) and in this market people are more set on what they want, and more likely to only buy items they specifically need.  So the skill, IMO, comes in selecting your prototype.

With the NGS I have been careful to select items (with the Committee) that have a very long service life (ie Qm brake - 1936-present) or offer something a little different (eg Snowplough), or are a complete train in themselves (Inspection Saloon) or just complement other items (Collet BG goes with parcels trains, standard passenger trains and even with milk tanks.)

The NGS has discussed the ICI hoppers before funnily enough for a kit, but the bogies are one-offs and that dissuaded us a little!

However, if you were interested in sponsoring such a project for Revolution then my recommendation would be to wait until Oxford have the OO CAD designs (probably in around 6 months) then, assuming Hattons still have no interest in N, ask Oxford what their minimum order would be, and how much each wagon would cost, and then see if it sounds viable.

cheers

Ben A.

It would be nice to see the old UKF Fertiliser wagons in N scale, I was looking at the Lima OO Gauge model the other day and was thinking a rake of those in N would look great.

Mark

[StufromEGDL]

Hi Gang,

I tend to agree with Neal (for once!) that recently Hattons have been showing an arrogance unbecoming of their previous behaviour. Adding this episode to their disdain over the pre-order price fiasco and they have shown themselves to be more akin to the large trader than having any empathy with modellers.

I too, will now look to other, smaller traders who appreciate the business more and respond in a quick and friendlier manner. The prices are broadly similar these days too....

Luckily, I didn't go to Ally Pally, as that sort of attitude shown to Neal may have ended in both barrels coming their way.

Later,
Stu from EGDL.

[EtchedPixels]

For the UKF fertilizer wagons take a look at

https://www.shapeways.com/product/FGLVBX2CT/pwa-uk-fertiliser-wagon-n-scale

Add bogies, clean and paint. No connection - just a satisfied customer.