Number 3200 of 3500 - Hornby's "Thank you NHS" special edition class 66 locomotive.
Not my usual choice of model locomotive, but like Nena, I wanted a souvenir, just to prove the world was here. At least I wanted something as a memory when this is all (hopefully) all over, and a colourful model is nicer than photos of locked up childrens playgrounds - the other defining image in my mind. .
It's also Hornby's fastest selling model and raised £140,000 for NHS charities, although if I wanted to send money that way, I'd have just donated it without buying a Shelf Queen toy train. For once though, I did something fashionable, getting caught up in the zeitgeist surrounding Captain Tom Moore, one of the few happy news stories from the spring.
Hornby have done a good job with this. For a start it's been turned around very quickly. The packaging looks great and the model is well decorated. OK, it's nowhere near the most finescale of Class 66s on the market, but then it's also the cheapest and almost certainly the only one that could have been released while the story was still current.
In the box are some air dams without coupling slots and stick on plastic nameplates to cover up the printed version. That, and a certificate of limited editionness to ensure it's collectability for years to come. Years when all this virus stuff is nothing but a memory.
2 comments:
Not wishing to put a damper on things, but I wonder how many people have been getting these to collect / put away in a cupboard.
My guess is probably quite a few - which might limit "value" to collectors in about 20 years' time.
However, I suspect that future value probably has very little to do with your motivation for buying this - as you've said, you're after a reminder of current events, for a number of years hence.
I suspect you are right - there are a lot being collected with the hope of a future profit. However, I think this will be a false hope as there will be a lot of them pristine in the future. 3500 is a large run for any model, so I can't see demand in a few years time, outstripping supply.
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