Should Bachfar copy Hornby by doing budget Rail Road locos and rolling stock

[zwilnik]

Having been a kid in the 70s with a cheap model railway/train set I remember that my OO model railway was a definite mix of cheap and not so cheap rolling stock. One of the things that popularised OO back in the day was apparently Triang bringing out relatively cheap, not quite so detailed, models as trains sets that put them into the price bracket that normal families could afford.

They weren't the best quality models by a long chalk, but they weren't horrific and they were a pretty good start. Which got me thinking..

How practical, both technically and commercially, would it be to do a budget line of N Gauge rolling stock that gives an economical starting point for those new to N Gauge? We already have the Peco kits that are probably the nearest thing to this in kit form but what about some *really* simple Mk1 BR coaches for instance?

The idea would be that these models would certainly be low-end in terms of detail to make them simple and cheap to manufacture but accurate enough in actual scale to be able to be retained and detailed as their owner upgrades later to more detailed models.

This isn't a call to lose the detail/price of current models either. This is something that would be a new SKU, targeting a different niche.

A potential side effect of a cheap Mk1 BR carriage might be if it's manufactured clear like the original Farish ones. Not only does this mean it can use cheap vinyl overlays for its printing, it could also then be easily customised with the Electra Graphics vinyls (and provides a new source of donor models for these too).

Anyway, there are minds out there with far more knowledge of current manufacturing techniques  than mine, so I put it here as a thought experiment for us to *politely* chew on

[railsquid]

This comes up every now and again, and the conclusion is usually that there just aren't the economies of scale in the British market to support it.

[Yet_Another]

Expanding Squiddy's observation:

Assuming this would be aimed primarily at children, some questions to ruminate on:

- What sort of age range are you thinking this would be aimed at? Anything less than 8 or so would, I suspect, lack the fine motor skills to be able to accurately manipulate the small rolling stock.

- How would things like wheels be retained in the event of rough handling (inevitable with children at some point or another)

- How small a niche are you aiming at? Existing releases appear to be in multiples of 500 or so (at least for one of the major manufacturers) for what might be described as 'mainstream N', which is probably as small as would be considered for a new venture (guessing here).

- How do you overcome the perceived danger of small parts in children's toys? (EVERYTHING is a small part in N)

- Given the current plight of Hornby, the major British toy train manufacturer, what is the perceived appetite for any manufacturer to release a completely new range in the UK?

[zwilnik]

All very good points

Personally, I'd see this being aimed as a "Play with your kids" level. So for older children when used unattended but intended to be played with the proper way that all train sets used to be, which is to say Dad (or Mum!) plays with it with the kids 'helping'. Or rather, played with by kids under supervision. 8+ is a good basis though.

Wheel retention is a good engineering problem. One angle is to go for an almost Lego like route and make it so the bogies and wheels pop off, making them both easy to replace when damaged and easier to assemble at the manufacturing stage.

I'd be thinking of this being a *really* budget line, so more in the thousands for items like carriages (for the common components like bodies, bogies and wheels). *if* you can market them as a collectible toy, (with lots of different printed sides, but the same basic model used as a base) then there's possibly a market there. As a for instance, there's the Thomas line of collectible loco toys. They're *really* *really* basic, but come as a random push along engine in a bag for £2. That's with the benefit of Thomas the Tank Engine marketing of course (but also with the cost of that license involved).

The Hornby issue and the general image of toy trains and 'old' toys is a definite issue. Essentially you'd be looking at someone coming up with a really good new way of marketing them. Although I suspect this is something needed by all the current manufacturers at the moment.