Quote from: Newportnobby on June 08, 2026, 06:47:46 PM

Quote from: Mr Sprue on June 08, 2026, 06:07:02 PMI guess the best of this hobbies days are pretty much over!

I won't believe they're over, but they do have more competition. People love the latest iPhone/pad and a 70" TV on the wall while paying through the nose for streaming extra channels. They have, to my mind, nothing to moan about. How each person disposes of their income is up to them.
These days, we have more than a couple of model railway manufacturers producing high quality (mostly) detailed models for us to spend our income on. Yes, prices are higher but we have to forget the good old days of low prices. They are long gone

Were prices ever that low, or do they just seem it compared to now? Have a look through this price list for Farish from October 1998.

https://tinyurl.com/y2j2nbe6

Black 5s, £79.95. Halls, £69.25. Using BoE's inflation calculator, they come out as pretty much £160 and £140 respectively today. The RRP for the latest Black 5 is £175 and £190 for the Hall. But the Hall back then was bloody awful!

A J94 in 1998 was £37.75 RRP, equivalent to £75 now. You can pick up an EFE for less than that.

There is some very odd pricing going on with Ebay at the moment. A lot of people seem to be thinking stuff is worth a lot more than it really is, or are simply using Ebay's suggested starting point and adding some extra. The ones that really puzzle me are the ones putting on secondhand Sonic J50s with the auction start price far in excess of the price Rails are charging for brand new models!

TVs are a bad example to quote as an example of excessive spending, as they are probably the only thing that have come down in price over the years. I bought a 42" flat screen when I bought my first house in 2010 and it cost over £900. Replaced it last year for a far superior model for less than a third of that.

Quote from: class8mikado on April 17, 2026, 02:52:48 PMHaving given in for another pack could i show my ignorance with a few questions about pullmans of this era ...
Are all pullman cars 'at seat dining'  or are parlour cars non dining ?
Think i read somewhere that the Kitchen end of kitchen cars always faced towards the centre of the train...rather than back to back,  is that right ?

Thanks chaps.

Hi there,

The information I have is that the Queen of Scots sets usually ran in fixed rakes of eight car as shown in this graphic.



Red is third class, Purple is first.  It seems that the Kitchens were towards the centre of each sub-section of the train, so enabling meals to be served to passengers in all seats.

The deadline for pre-ordering these models is the end of July, and we will be posting an update and more images, on our website shortly.

cheers

Ben A.

Quote from: Mr Sprue on June 08, 2026, 06:07:02 PMI guess the best of this hobbies days are pretty much over!

I won't believe they're over, but they do have more competition. People love the latest iPhone/pad and a 70" TV on the wall while paying through the nose for streaming extra channels. They have, to my mind, nothing to moan about. How each person disposes of their income is up to them.
These days, we have more than a couple of model railway manufacturers producing high quality (mostly) detailed models for us to spend our income on. Yes, prices are higher but we have to forget the good old days of low prices. They are long gone

Quote from: EtchedPixels on June 08, 2026, 05:48:38 PM

Quote from: kusojiji on June 08, 2026, 06:24:32 AMHaha, at least the wife didn't leave with the dog this time...

I believe the current theme is their AI date leaving with the self-drive Tesla

Which subsequently burst into flame

Quote from: EtchedPixels on June 08, 2026, 05:35:50 PM

Quote from: Dr Al on June 08, 2026, 05:13:43 PMThe OO market is saturated. Close to everything is already pretty much available - which is why there are now multiple manufacturers making new toolings of the same thing, and trying to use features to prompt sales - and the differences in said features and detail is getting smaller and smaller.

The UK is also now extremely polarised. More people over 65 own a home than under 50, only 25% of people under 45 own a home rather than renting and thus often moving around. Many under 40 only have a room in an HMO.

Unfortunately for volume production you need a lot of buyers of the same model, not a small number of very rich people as they simply don't buy enough. Fine for 5 grand etched brass O gauge masterpieces but not for mainstream RTR.

That's a very interesting statistic, also going by model railway shows and shops how they have declined over the past twenty years, I guess the best of this hobbies days are pretty much over!

Quote from: kusojiji on June 08, 2026, 06:24:32 AMHaha, at least the wife didn't leave with the dog this time...

I believe the current theme is their AI date leaving with the self-drive Tesla

Quote from: Mr Sprue on June 08, 2026, 05:30:59 PMAnd of course with new tooling there are new prices. I don't know if its a new tooling run, but Graham Farish coaches are now nearly £50 each!

This is a large part of why my spend on N gauge in the past four years has been almost zero and I doubt I'm unusual in that.

Quote from: Dr Al on June 08, 2026, 05:13:43 PMThe OO market is saturated. Close to everything is already pretty much available - which is why there are now multiple manufacturers making new toolings of the same thing, and trying to use features to prompt sales - and the differences in said features and detail is getting smaller and smaller.

We will see a few more fail soon I think, the duplication reduces volume for everyone and each tooling with a lower volume drives prices up. Volume is a massive factor in these kind of models and there probably have to be a few mergers or bought for a pound acquisitions of smoking remains. We've now got companies scrabbling to get volume off one another by making less and less relevant, or more and more duplicated products.

The UK is also now extremely polarised. More people over 65 own a home than under 50, only 25% of people under 45 own a home rather than renting and thus often moving around. Many under 40 only have a room in an HMO.

Unfortunately for volume production you need a lot of buyers of the same model, not a small number of very rich people as they simply don't buy enough. Fine for 5 grand etched brass O gauge masterpieces but not for mainstream RTR.

What we actually need is more of less models at lower prices, but that's not in the interest of any market player short term.

Quote from: Dr Al on June 08, 2026, 05:13:43 PM

Quote from: Woodenhead on June 08, 2026, 10:41:15 AMTT120 was Hornby's escape plan - it couldn't compete with what was coming in OO and was losing market share fast,

The OO market is saturated. Close to everything is already pretty much available - which is why there are now multiple manufacturers making new toolings of the same thing, and trying to use features to prompt sales - and the differences in said features and detail is getting smaller and smaller.

Cheers,
Alan

And of course with new tooling there are new prices. I don't know if its a new tooling run, but Graham Farish coaches are now nearly £50 each!

My impression of UK prices is that they are actually well down.

A lot of older stuff is not holding the values it used to, and even new tooling stuff seems down. As Roy says, there's some 'in demand' items, like 1st gen DMUs that always do well and command high prices, but stuff that used to command higher values is well down in my observations.

Reflection of our decimated bankrupt economy, and tax squeezed population IMHO - these are discretionary purchases, so are likely to be the first for folk to cut back.

Cheers,
Alan