New Hornby Trains Rubbish??
Discussion
Its my lads Birthday soon, so i have dragged my old train set out of the loft and built a couple of loops and a siding, he is mad on the Mallard, (a green one) so granny wanted to buy him one, after ringing around it is said the Brand new Chinese Hornby are no good, and at £95.00 its not cheap.
I was advised to buy used, as it can be repaired indefinitely as and when.
Can anyone give any real world advice?
Thanks.
I was advised to buy used, as it can be repaired indefinitely as and when.
Can anyone give any real world advice?
Thanks.
Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with the newer chinese stuff. Some of it is far better than the older made in Great Britain stuff.
Railroad is "cheap and cheerful", except it's far from cheap, but is indeed cheerful, it's a train afterall. As already said, the Railroad range consists of a lot of old Hornby and Lima tooled locos. This isn't a bad thing in my books but is obviously less detailed than what can be achieved with modern tooling. The high detail stuff is just that, and they're fantastic, but you'll pay through the nose for it.
As already mentioned, a set is where the best value is. The loco will technically be of Railroad quality but you'll get a few coaches and at least another ovals worth of track thrown in.
Remember, asking a shop for advice on what to buy isn't always going to be unbiased. I'm sure a shop would much rather sell you that old, Pre china, Mallard that he's had sat on the shelf for a while than have you go and buy a newer, Chinese build Mallard from Amazon/Ebay for the same price.
Railroad is "cheap and cheerful", except it's far from cheap, but is indeed cheerful, it's a train afterall. As already said, the Railroad range consists of a lot of old Hornby and Lima tooled locos. This isn't a bad thing in my books but is obviously less detailed than what can be achieved with modern tooling. The high detail stuff is just that, and they're fantastic, but you'll pay through the nose for it.
As already mentioned, a set is where the best value is. The loco will technically be of Railroad quality but you'll get a few coaches and at least another ovals worth of track thrown in.
Remember, asking a shop for advice on what to buy isn't always going to be unbiased. I'm sure a shop would much rather sell you that old, Pre china, Mallard that he's had sat on the shelf for a while than have you go and buy a newer, Chinese build Mallard from Amazon/Ebay for the same price.
My lads birthday is this coming Tuesday, so I've gotta get this Mallard sharpish!
So I've bought a tender powered one off the Bay for £50.00.
The guy who gave the advise had no axe, he's a local model repair guy, I rang on the off chance, but didn't have one to sell.
He asked what controllers I had (a pair of clippers) which he rated, he said go for an older tender powered unit, as the Chinese one will last a few weeks.
All the other stuff I have is late 70's early 80's, track in new though, scenery I found in the loft of our new house with some rolling stock, and minic motorway stuff.
So I've bought a tender powered one off the Bay for £50.00.
The guy who gave the advise had no axe, he's a local model repair guy, I rang on the off chance, but didn't have one to sell.
He asked what controllers I had (a pair of clippers) which he rated, he said go for an older tender powered unit, as the Chinese one will last a few weeks.
All the other stuff I have is late 70's early 80's, track in new though, scenery I found in the loft of our new house with some rolling stock, and minic motorway stuff.
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