Hornby 00 Gauge Trains on Film Titfield Thunderbolt Steam Locomotive Train Model

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By the way, the film “Titfield Thunderbolt” was NOT a historical depiction, it was a creative work, and as such is copyrighted. 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. Simon K has made it very clear in both Hornby series he’s going to go after ‘their models’, although how Lion fits that I don’t know, and he’s stepped across into making them seem like bullies rather than the victim with the antics as a result.

If I am wrong and it were the case that Hornby invented this range just to crush RAPIDO then that is another matter. Hornby have today released the statement below regarding their proposed 'Trains on Film' train packs. I have based my previous comments on my belief that Hornby had been planning/developing their range after the success of ROCKET. Also, the fact that Rapido's response video uses clips from the original film is rather telling in itself. Smacks of trying to damage the competition rather than doing what’s right for the hobby to me but I’m interested in what you all think?

Suffice it to say it's a Downing Street-level unnecessary own goal, by what alchemy of incompetence, hubris and lack of standards I cannot say and don't much care! Whatever, the fact is that when Hornby finally got around to enquiring of Studiocanal about a TT licence they discovered that Rapido had beaten them to it months before. One presume money changed hands between Rapido and StudioCanal and both of those parties can't be pleased with this. Personally I would like to congratulate Hornby on an (unintentionally) excellent piece of advertising.

If they were just producing a model of Lion, perhaps with Thunderbolt nameplates as an extra, then there might have been an argument to suggest that their "inspired by" had more credit. An obvious one that springs to mind for me is Paddington 2, which features a very prominent train chase that could (I think) be quite reasonably recreated by Hornby. We can now also arrange UK-wide collections for boxed consignments weighing up to 30kg – just contact us with the item and address details, we’ll send a courier, and you can sit back and wait for the auction proceeds to arrive in your bank account. I may be wrong but I can’t see StudioCanal devoting too much time/legal resources to a tiff over the rights to an obscure 70 year old film they have inherited which most people will never have heard of. Okay, so “Dan’s coach” didn’t run with the 0-4-2, but I would have had one, then add a Bachmann Henrietta instead.This isn't the first time Hornby have made a Titfield-related set; their 2013 catalogue lists R3186 - "Trains on Film: 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' Train Pack", containing an all-over black 14xx, attempt at Dan's house on the Loriot Y, and a brakevan. i’ll believe it when I see evidence of real investment into it… to be fair to Hornby I think a couple of models from a few companies are looking aspirational at the moment… thing is to get money you need results.

Anyway, up to this point we are still in “all’s fair in competitive business territory” - some you win, some you lose. as it was last year all this came out, so it appears some how they both knew they were both working on the same if not similar range. I think it's likely that Lion has been in the works since 2020, when it became clear that there was a strong market for Rocket, and they figured it was worth seeing if they could get the licence for Thunderbolt as well. STUDIOCANAL informed us that, on March 5th, another party had tried to acquire the rights to the film.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase, and we can sell Great British Rail Sale fares! 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. As well as having the benefit of most likely being the first to market, with their ‘Lion’ and ‘Thunderbolt’ models. And film and media corporations are well known for their lax attitude to protecting their copyright and intellectual property. It’s a darn shame a greedy media group have the final say on an item that would probably sell quite well.