I have written several draft articles and 'history' pieces but was waiting for some 'big news' as the excuse to release them.
Here is an example;-
New Life for Live Steam
********************* inset block************************************
Hornby launched their Live Steam range in 2003 but it soon got a reputation for being difficult to control and was discontinued. Most of the 14,000 or so made lay dormant today.
Was that reputation deserved and perhaps more importantly will the new Live-Drive controller developed by the OO Live Steam Club herald a new lease of life for what they describe as Hornby's "Misunderstood Marvels".
********************************************************************************
12 years ago the model railway world was alight with Hornby's launch of controllable live steam model locomotives in OO gauge. TV stations worldwide had covered the news, international press and of course model railway magazines featured it. Sales boomed and Hornby's stock exchange share price even got a boost.
First on the market was a train set with LNER liveried A4 pacific Mallard bundled with an oval of track, a special controller for the 17v system, live steam tools, a DVD and, of course, detailed instructions. Distilled water was sold separately.
The then Hornby Marketing Manager Simon Kohler said "...it had to be a train set..."
Fantastic Sales
"It was my proudest moment with Hornby. Fantastically successful launch. ......." said Simon in his "Live Steam Rising" blog.
Hornby contracted production to a factory in China that was soon busy with 4 more versions of the iconic A4 and developing an A3 Flying Scotsman with some improvements to the mechanism. That and a BR liveried A3 arrived in 2005.
The system had been invented by architect and model engineering enthusiast Richard Hallam and a prototype LMS Duchess had been running since the early 70's. As Richard licensed the system to Hornby he was building a new prototype Black 5 with a smaller 4-6-0 chassis. The Chinese manufacturer tested and reverse engineered this to make the A4 with the prospect of extending the range to Great Western, LMS locos and beyond.
However sales started to plummet just as fast as they had risen. The 4-6-0 development was abandoned and apart from a last gasp special edition double tender Flying Scotsman to slow the demise, the brand was doomed. The last A4 locomotives were built in 2004 but took until 2011 to sell out. Whilst many at Hornby remain proud of the venture, the foray into live steam had not been a commercial success.
What went wrong?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but today the enthusiasts who run the OO Live Steam Roadshow at Model Railway Exhibitions hear the same story from hundreds of owners who saw their expensive new 'toy' career off the track at the first corner on the first run and often dive to floor. Owners describe them flailing away too hot to pick up and having to wait for the heat to dissipate and the steam pressure die down. When back on the track and up to steam again the same thing happened.
The DVD supplied in the set clearly showed the locos being crawled so the new model was often perceived to be faulty and returned to the dealer and Hornby for repair. There was in fact nothing wrong so when back with the owner the same thing happened again!
Those that did get beyond the first-time-out crash found other problems. Locos did not seem to respond to inputs on the controller and didn't slow down or speed up when commanded. Conversely they sometimes seemed to have a will of their own speeding up or slowing down, sometimes even going into fast reverse all on their own.
The simple reason why sales dropped is that most owners did not enjoy their first experience and didn't buy any more. They expressed their dissatisfaction to dealers and the message spread to would-be purchasers that Hornby Live Steam was difficult to control. Demand fell and the brand simply died.
Most went back in the box in a market where resale prices had sunk to rock bottom and stayed there for nearly 10 years. The recent activities of the OO LIve Steam Club have boosted values and attracted owners to sell. Descriptions on ebay are telling with listings like "run once" and "hardly used" or "test run only".
Are they difficult to control? NO!
****************** inset block *****************************
The 3 main reasons why the reputation is unfair are
1 Owners expected them to be "Ready to Run". They're not. Models needed 'running-in'.
2 The advice to learn on an oval of track was wrong. Owners should have started on a Rolling Road.
3 The instructions were actually wrong at the most crucial paragraph "Setting the locomotive in motion".
This combination virtually guaranteed crash after crash.
*************************************************************************
These masterpieces of model engineering truly are misunderstood marvels and the problems buyers had running them were just a matter of education.
A trap that many fell into was the expectation that it would run 'out the box'. Selling it as a 'train set' with controllers and track just like the sets we experienced as children misled new owners to expect instant gratification.
Live steam in such a small scale involves intricate engineering and with expansion and contraction of the many parts it can take several hours of running-in to achieve smooth mechanical operation. They run for about half an hour on a full boiler of water so that means 5 or 6 full runs of repeated fast, slow, backwards, forwards.
This is especially true now up to 13 years after most were made; the oils may well have solidified and 'glued-up the mechanics. The driving wheels may need coaxing into movement using a knife or screwdriver but take care not to damage the soft metal spokes.
The instructions stated that "A simple oval of track is the ideal way to learn" but this was bad advice because a mechanically stiff brand new loco will probably remain stubbornly stationery as the steam valve is opened only to leap away like a scalded cat and derail. It did not help that the curves in the set were quite tight - Radius 3 - and also no coaches were supplied that would have provided a load. In fairness to the instruction book there was advice to add some coaches but in the excitement of getting going most people never did this. 2 or 3 coaches would not make a difference anyway; you would need 10 or more.
A loco powered by an electric motor will stop instantly when the power is removed but live steam works like the real thing and even emergency braking on these models will see them doing half a circuit at speed before they slide to a stop.
The final nail in the coffin for many locos was the paragraph in the instruction book headed "Setting the locomotive in motion." It was plain and simply wrong causing confusion at best and leading to a crash at worst on the first corner.
************** inset block ************
Where the instructions got it wrong
The significance of the steam whistle - an important part of the control system - was never explained either in the printed instructions or on the Hornby DVD . Neither was the '5 flick lag' when going from speed-up to slow down and vice versa, the reason why many people reported a lack of response but easily allowed for once you know it exists. Small wonder that most purchasers lost confidence and allowed their expensive white elephant to gather dust on a top shelf.
The instructions certainly advised that a good electrical supply was necessary but did not warn that loosly fitted fishplates or glancing point blades can restrict current flow and cause a voltage drop. A deliberate voltage drop at the controller end is the means by which signals are sent to the loco to open or close the steam valve so a poor track connection could send a spurious signal to the loco. Once again, this ceases to be a problem because if you understand what is happening you can do something about it. In practice the loco got the blame.
There have been suggestions that the demise was due to a failure to extend the range more quickly, worsening of the exchange rate, failing to make it compatible with DCC or develop out some of the more obvious limitations like the 5 flick lag but the drop in sales occurred too quickly for any of those to have had an impact.
More than just a novelty
It is a simple truth that once the locomotive has been run-in, the control system is understood and power supply to the entire track properly connected then they are very easy to control. They will never be shunters but will pull smoothly away with a big rake of coaches and then slow gently and accurately into a station but it takes skill to do it. That is where the real satisfaction lies.
Just like the real thing
These marvels of model engineering do not just look like the real thing, they smell of steam and hot oil and behave operationally like the real thing too. Individual models behave differently just like the original. When drivers clocked in 50 plus years ago and were allocated their locomotive for the day they knew the angels and demons in the shed. Hornby Live Steam exhibits the same variability but that is part of the challenge and the fun. Perversely, an errant locomotive can be more fun to run than one that operates smoothly and powerfully.
Missed opportunities
Hornby never got the chance to exploit 3 big opportunities with live steam. The first is that once you have mastered the control of one loco you want to buy a second, partly because of the 10 to 15 minutes refuel time when you cannot 'play' and partly because a second loco will be 'different'. Then you learn that ALL models behave differently, even the same type so you buy a third and a fourth....
Secondly, and taking advantage of the benefit of big radius curves, OO live steam makes a great garden railway. It also avoids the difficulty of shoe-horning it into an existing small layout often with tight radius curves and having to beef up the power distribution. The steam is much more impressive on a cool day or evening.
If it were possible to manufacture large sections of ballasted double trackbed for 3' lengths of track to slot into - straights and curves - then in just a few minutes you could lay out and take up a big circuit on a lawn just like we do with track from a train set on the dining room table.
Thirdly they are so like the real thing that you find 3 or 4 coaches are not enough so you buy full rakes of 11 Pullmans then teaks then mk1s and so on. It is the same with wagons where you need 20 or 30 or more for a truly satisfying experience. Owning Live Steam leads to buying a lot more rolling stock.
The Future
Hornby's former Brand Director Nat Southworth is on record saying "We let a halo product go" and Hornby has told the OO Live Steam Club that they are pleased that the Club is demonstrating that there is real pleasure to be had from these marvels of miniature model engineering.
As to restarting production, it would be close to impossible. The original factory in China has closed down and the expertise, drawings, jigs, moulds and spares all scattered. Hornby has its own short term problems.
Small scale batch production taking advantage of the rise in affordable CNC engineering machines and advances in 3D printing might be a route to restarting production but large numbers of brand new unused or hardly used models are still out there.
The OO Live Steam Club has a mission to find their owners, re-enthuse them or help them get moved on to a new enlightened owner. The Club has made a DVD to help do exactly that and shows where the original Hornby DVD and instruction book got it so wrong.
The Club's website is www.OOLiveSteam.com
[supply photos]
Written by Adrian Campbell, OO Live Steam Club Chairman
**************** ends *****************
More information from.....
Noted to this point