Opinion
According to Chris...
…two manufacturers releasing models of the same thing never works out well for anyone.
"Sam, we’ve come to talk about the railway"
Well, nobody could ever say that Hornby’s announcement of its 2022 railway range passed unnoticed or without a bit of controversy. For those who aren’t in touch with social media and the world of the internet – and I know there are some of you – it is worth explaining how this annual event now works. Once, it was launched to the press at a pre-Christmas hospitality event. Since the advent of model railway forums, Facebook pages and the like, it has been difficult for Hornby to notify the model railway media, of all types, without someone having an unfair advantage according to how their deadline fell.
This was overcome by an embargo, a requirement that all the details were kept under wraps until a given date. This year, the embargo date was January 10, although members of the professional media, paper and on-line, had taken part in the full presentation a month previously.