As readers of these gibberings will know, I'm a bit of a wagon enthusiast - often to the detriment of progress on my layout. Visitors to Jones Towers can hardly have failed to notice the production lines of half-built 7mm and 4mm wagons snaking their way across window-ledges and book cases - regulars will have developed the habit of checking before sitting down or leaning anywhere. You need to be careful where you park your HAAs.
However, unlike some of the larger egos that occasionally burst fetidly on the surface of the D&E pond, I don't think that makes me a 'real modeller,' just an oddity or eccentric - a sub-niche within a niche hobby. Although, personally, I'm heavily reliant on the smaller manufactures and often champion the products from the likes of Parkside in these pages, I'm mindful of the fact that this is not in any way the commercial core of this hobby - just the fringe. The hobby's ability to survive (or even, whisper it gently, grow) is wholly dependant upon the RTR manufacturers and their product lines, something that hasn't stood us in good stead in this country over the years. A healthier, more buoyant RTR scene will produce a larger market for the manufacturers of the kits'n'bits that I like - not the other way round. The performance of Hornby and Bachmann is of interest to more than just their own shareholders.
I'm sure selling one of each reliveried loco to the collectors can keep a business ticking over quite nicely (unless you're Lima) but I'd imagine it's a pretty finite market. Tapping into the potentially more lucrative grown-up-with-brain-and-disposable-income sector and actually growing the hobby needs a far more comprehensive product range - whole trains, not just locos. This is something that Bachmann have quite clearly grasped (albeit in a very uncoordinated way) with their Mark 1 coaches and multiplicity of wagon releases. Unfortunately Hornby's catalogue (with the exception of tooling absorbed from other concerns) is still very firmly that of a company whose commercial strategy revolves around a Hull & Barnsley van - no doubt the shareholders were dancing in the street when that one was announced.
The D&E modeller has had very little freight stock to spend money on until relatively recently. Prior to Bachmann's involvement the non-kitbuilding enthusiast needed either poor eyesight or a very active imagination to try and run any kind of freight traffic on a layout. Things are now starting to move forward (although an industry that has only just got around to releasing it's first vaguely decent 16t minerals and BR standard brake vans is clearly not going anywhere fast) but there are still far too many fundamental gaps for the hobby to compete with other pass-times and seem viable to new recruits.
If pushed I suspect most people would quote the movement of coal as historically the main function of our railways, and thus you'd be forgiven for thinking that modelling the trains for this primary traffic would be well catered for. Not so. Bachmann have recently produced the modern EWS HTA hoppers for post 2000 modellers (we're still waiting for a loco to pull them, though) and also the common 16 ton mineral wagon for days gone by, but prior to that there was nothing unless you could live with Hornby's crude MGR hopper.
A glaring omission is the HTV hopper, which would be snapped up by steam and diesel modellers alike. This is an oft-requested wagon and articles on converting older, less suitable hoppers into reasonable approximations of these workhorses have been widespread. There's not even a kit available. Any RTR manufacturer not seriously considering a model of one of these needs to be considering some personnel changes instead.
The 3 panel version (shown above) would be distinctly preferable...
...although it's predecessor would do at a pinch. In fact, a manufacturer such as Bachmann could easily provide both variants - as they've done with other wagons in the past.
Another major traffic flow that's essential for the realistic portrayal of the prototype is that of oil products, but again this is a no-go area for the modeller. Not one single RTR tank wagon model of any quality exists in 4mm scale. There are aged offerings from Lima and Hornby if you're into converting old toys, but nothing to stimulate sales. The market needs a couple of the big, bogie tanks at least, if it is to break free of the loco collecting niche.
Scene: a model shop. A prospective customer and potential new recruit to the hobby sidles up to the counter.
Potential New Recruit: Erm, hullo. Have you got any 4mm models of the ubiquitous freightliner flat, used in considerable quantities throughout the post-steam era, seen in most areas of the country, and without which almost all modern layout scenarios would be tricky indeed?
Model Shop Assistant: Yes sir. We have these delightful 1960s vintage Hornby models, substantially more expensive than Bachmann's more recent intermodals, but highly sought-after. Also, and on special offer this week, we have various aftermarket add-ons for real modellers with hairs on their chests. We can offer replacement wheelsets and bogies so the wagon no longer derails. We've got a variety of brass strip that's useful to stop the long, thin, plastic from sagging in the middle. There's a good selection of replacement containers that actually have detail on them, not to mention liveries that are appropriate for the actual container. We stock a variety of replacement couplings so you can fit twice as many wagons in the same siding space. We've also got turned brass buffers and various thicknesses of plastikard so you can scratchbuild the ends of the rakes. That's what modelling's all about, eh Sir? Oh, and there's paint and transfers, of course...
Potential New Recruit: How much is that radio-controlled Cessna?
Currently On My Stereo: Marillion - Anoraknophobia