[John H-T]

I don't think Hornby can afford not to deliver their promises this year after their poor performance last year. I expect Bachmann to do very well again in the Model of the Year poll as Hornby managed to get so few of their New 2011 products into the shops.

They certainly have not made a good start for 2012 with a massive price rise: The Hattons Price for the standard DCC decoder has gone from £9 to £14! We will have to rely on the box shifters to bring prices down to anywhere near affordable and there are many people like Gray and Ted who are looking at the Railroad Range and thinking that several of the offerings could be made very acceptable with a little extra work.

We now have to wait until early March to see what Bachmann are going to produce and perhaps more important, how much they are going to raise their prices!

Best wishes,

John H-T.