Electrics Don't Sell...?

[Ben A]

If we're talking about a younger market then I see no reason that a new generation of train sets in N shouldn't be able to compete, but they need lights and sound straight out of the box, simple and solid Unitrack style trackage, plug and play controllers and features such as the trains and sounds controllable from an iPhone via a downloadable app or the ability to plan your trainset expansion, buildings, scenery etc on a computer.

Cheers

Ben A.

[BobB]

I think Ben A may be pointing us in the direction to expand N gauge as opposed to TT, OO or bigger.

But what about us oldies stuck with steam, transition, corporate blue and so on.

If us oldies could accept shorter runs to let the kiddies get what enthuses them, so be it. Bring on the youngsters.

On the other hand, do we need any hardware - animated pictures on a tablet anyone ?

[Michael Hendle]

Hi
If Bachmann or Dapol bought out any of these I probably would by them,A 2 Bil,2 Nol,2 Hap,2 Sap,4 Lav,4 Res,4 Cor,4 Sub,2 and 4 Epb some of these started in SR Green then BR Green and Finally BR Blue,I think the Hap Sap and Epb lasted into NSE,they had a long life.
Mike

[Zunnan]

From my own point of view, I'd absolutely love a couple of class 304s, more than anything else at all in fact. The problem is though that even though the 'family' has a huge geographical spread from London, throughout the Midlands and up to Edinburgh, they monopolised the lines they ran on. There was almost nothing else to see alongside them the majority of the time until they reached the main line, which severely restricts their interest. Perhaps their best location was from Wolverhampton through BNS to Coventry and the Walsall service. At least there they had class 310/312 and 323 units to contend with on stopping services, HSTs and diesel hauled NE/SW services as well as the London Euston electric hauled traffic, plus the freight...but the ONLY stations with any operational interest in the area from a modelling point of view is Aston and Stechford. Bescot, Coventry, Duddeston and Wolves all being too big to be practical and B'ham International is clinically boring, and all of the other intermediate stops are two track affairs with their freight facilities long gone. Its exactly what stops me from kit building a class 304, or buying an electric loco to try and talk myself into it. The only layout that I can think of to do them justice would be little more than a tail chasing continuous loop with no station and based on the few miles between Aston and Duddeston in the '80s. And I'd soon bore of that. Not to mention the fact that class 115/116/117 DMUs and 310/312 EMUs which are essential to the idea are also only available as kits, if at all.

Rambling on, I know...but there is precicely the problem, no matter which is chosen, there is so little to run them alongside because electrified lines (particularly OHLE) are either trunk routes too large to model reasonably, or with so little variety on them that they're stagnant. The few interesting locations that existed are so restricted by a lack of available models that unless you're confident in your kit building you'll have a difficult time achieving a decent representation. If you're going to have an electric (MU or loco), it takes a commitment to make more than just one, you really should pick a location and produce a couple that ran side by side for a long period of time. The class 86s(and 87/90) bedfellow is the class 304/305/308 or class 310/312, the support act is high density DMUs. Between these three you cover most of the WCML and branches thereof from the mid '60s up to the mid '90s, plus opens up offshoots like the LTSR (London Tilsbury) and GEML (Great Eastern).

I won't even start on the Southern! That just seems to me to be one design for a specific route, and a whole mess of other designs for other routes...the OHLE route restrictions for certain classes are simple by comparison. But again it boils down to the same problem where you need to pick a series of designs, not just one, that covers the largest possible area and time frame.

[Pengi]

I think a Virgin-branded 390 trainset with Kato-style track would be a big seller in N and do a lot to encourage younger modellers looking for something with the "wow" factor.

The current crop of UK N Gauge trainsets are pretty dire in that respect. If Auntie Mabel is looking for a present for her train-mad nephew, is she going to buy a rather dull-looking N Gauge set with, say, a J39 or a brightly-boxed Hornby Pendolino or Javelin?

Farish and Dapol could both do with a much better trainset offering to compete with Hornby next Christmas.

When I went over to N, I was specifically looking for a Voyager starter set and whilst Farish did an OO version they did not do an N. Thought about the Regional Commuter set but wasn't really attracted to the train. So it was a Kato track set that I bought with Eurostar and that started me getting Continental EMUs.

Eurostar may be a bit fiddly to connect for young kids but the Kato bullet trains are practically bulletproof  So, in an ideal world, I'd want Kato to make the Pendolino and to use bullet train style couplings.

[gc4946]

I can't see much happening soon to resolve this issue. There's a shortage of production capacity especially for non-Kader products, even Hornby's having supply difficulties leading to long waits for new releases.

As it's being sold directly by Hornby, if its Arnold's Brighton Belle sells well, a Pendolino could follow in the same way because they can say they'll bringing out something that's contemporary and can shrink it from their OO counterpart.

[Greybeema]

Oooooh hope it's a 465 or at least 466 all they need do is apply the shrink ray… (still won't sell though). Live and dream, live and dream…

[EtchedPixels]

I can't see much happening soon to resolve this issue. There's a shortage of production capacity especially for non-Kader products

I am not sure capacity is the issue any more  - it's the complications of moving stuff around and finding good supplier and building new connections

Hornby is currently moving to using a bunch of new suppliers for example

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/919ca99e-84ca-11e3-a793-00144feab7de.html#axzz2rj92OBDv




Ho