New Railway Modellers Forums

Out of interest, who would be willing to pay the price of the new 1361 class 0-6-0 tank engine? Just shy of £,170 seems crazy money to me. Surely the sales of this will be miniscule. I have noticed that Hattons have only had small stocks of the latest expensive small Heljan locos and they are not selling at all.

I've been told that it can be picked up for £128. But I think that's still a lot.

Tony

Compared to hornby's pecket it's still way way too much.

It is expensive but we just have to get used to the fact that that's where the hobby is going. I would like one but it's too rich for me I'm afraid. It will sell though.

Tony

Hattons have it for £124

Its a nice loco and would not mind it but wont be getting it at that price, if it was something i was more interested in then i would not mind as much.

I do also like the look of the Class 1366 @ £124 but again its a bit to much for a 'casual' purchase

alex3410 wrote:Hattons have it for £124

Its a nice loco and would not mind it but wont be getting it at that price, if it was something i was more interested in then i would not mind as much.

I do also like the look of the Class 1366 @ £124 but again its a bit to much for a 'casual' purchase

I was looking at the 1361 on Hatton's too and seriously considering one. I have a pre-owned Jinty from Hattons that I am thinking of selling back and putting what I get towards the new loco. And yes agree the 1366 is also great looking.

Practice not just restricted to model railway sphere.

I see strappy heels at higher price than a decent pair of leather kneeboots.
Makes no sense. I always get the boots

You are paying for the very small volume which will be manufactured over which to recover the tooling costs. Only really going to interest a small proportion of GW modellers and thus the sales will be very limited; unlike the Peckett which has a reasonable prospect of sales to 'everyone and anyone' because industrials have no company, region or location restrictions - and then there's all the pretty liveries that it can carry too to give it 'eye-candy' appeal to random purchasers.

I wanted one. Then I saw the price.

The point is that I can't see it selling anywhere near enough units to cover costs. We are rapidly approaching a chain reaction situation where falling sales increase the price, which reduces sales etc etc.look how the class 16 had to be discounted to shift units, Hattons learned their lesson with that one and subsequent niche locos have been ordered in tiny quantities.

Too much for a niche 0-6-0, even from a GW centred
loco owner.

Low demand won't increase the chances of more small locos
to follow.

Geoff T

D605Eagle wrote:... look how the class 16 had to be discounted to shift units, Hattons learned their lesson with that one...

I would honestly discount that as a factor Jim - Hattons must have remaindered every Heljan loco they've ever sold, including things like Hymeks, 26s, 27s and 33s which are perennially popular and folk often build up multiples of. The most recent 26/0s are at this moment around the 60 quid mark; I just think it's what they expect to do at a certain point in the shelf life of a given model.

Dad-1 wrote:...Low demand won't increase the chances of more small locos...

Or, since all the model makers need new subjects to stay in the business; it may move the focus away from rarities with very localised distribution, to classes built in numbers that saw widespread service.

NakatsuHime wrote:Practice not just restricted to model railway sphere.

I see strappy heels at higher price than a decent pair of leather kneeboots.
Makes no sense. I always get the boots

Oooh! Lovely! I'm quite a fan of nice boots!
Meanwhile, back to the OP!
I actually ordered one of these but changed my mind, not at the price but because although absolutely belting little locos, I'm hopelessly in love with my little H0 tank engines.
If you think back say 15 years, a typical diesel loco would have been about £45, by my reckoning that should be about £180 now and yet the typical price is actually a lot less than that.
So, a really nicely detailed smooth running steam loco should probably be running at much, much more than the c.£130 mark they actually are. It's just that we are as yet, unused to paying over the ton for anything model railways. And yet, most folk think nothing of running around in a car worth anything from £20K to £50K - that's okay but not paying a couple of hundred for a decent loco?
Come on, people!

So how do explain Hornby making what I expect is a better detailed model of a Peckett for £90 less? Your reckoning is totally wrong because year in, year out, models have been subject to inflation busting price increases of teens of percent and Inflation as been minuscule in the last 15 years as well, no where near the 400% you are suggesting.