Therefore their range was being developed before the Rapido intervention and Hornby are not copying Rapido. it is very poor form though, and there certainly has been a ‘nasty’ side to Hornby in recent years trying to drive out smaller manufacturers. Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, Basic Instinct, Cliffhanger, Under Siege, Free Willy, Stargate (movie). There will be a significant number of people that go to Hornby as it's the name that they know and may occasionally check Hattons/RoS.

Nothing secretive about it, there didn’t need to be, Rapido acquired the licensing rights from Studio Canal in a legal and professional manner. I’m not really affected by this personally but, as a point of interest, will the previous Titfield Thunderbolt sets Hornby has issued in the past be affected in some way by the licensing issues?However, I reckon Rapido will have sold all theirs and moved on to the model after the model after that, by the time it emerges. It's a shame - as Sam'sTrains said on YT - soon there'll be not Hattons, no Accurascale, No Cavalex etc. Now, I wish to make it clear that, if that is the case, I am not accusing Rapido of copying Hornby, but equally if that is the case it would be an unfortunate case of two companies working on 'secret' projects, each without being aware of the other. So they blast a load of their limited resources just to get it out before their competitor and generally it is not as good.

They've already got things such as the four- and six-wheeled coaches, which are in competition with Hattons, they've got their Terriers, which are in competition with Rails of Sheffield, and then they've got this - a set featuring what is probably the most specific and niche combination of engine and train you could ever have thought of.So I think the proverbial jury will be out as to whether this will be a good move - Lion is a very niche interest product to have 2 competing products and with Hornby hurting their chances by playing games with their retailers.

Rapido Trains UK is delighted to reveal a range of models inspired by The Titfield Thunderbolt that will be available in time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the film’s release in 2023.Whether it's the first shot or Hornby have already been served with a cease and desist notice only Hornby and Studio Canal know. I'm not saying that Hornby won't make a model of it, they were probably cocky enough to continue working on it whilst being "dealt with" by Studiocanal. They have Tornado and Pullman coaches in their Railroad range, they (presumably) have the Lima 'Crab' and the circus train (which is freelance) could be made up of the usual Railroad curtain-sided vans and vent vans.

Don't miss great magazine archive content from Traction, Garden Rail, Engineering in Miniature and BRM magazines, plus bonus videos, trackplans, member-only competitions and RMweb Plus. To me the madness is, they could have tooled up the 14xx and the Wisbech coach and enjoyed complimentary sales from the licensed rapido product. Anyway, up to this point we are still in “all’s fair in competitive business territory” - some you win, some you lose.Boldly, and perhaps against the grain I'd predict that this will be a good move for Hornby once all the pitchforks have been put down. STUDIOCANAL informed us that, on March 5th, another party had tried to acquire the rights to the film.