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

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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. The only similarity I know for certain was the fact that the other set came with the same engine, but the rights to the film name (which I can't remember right now) may also have been owned by Studiocanal? 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!As for the Lion no interest for me, it just annoys me that they are late for every product even when there isn't a pandemic so why waste the effort trying to beat someone else. When a rival bus company sabotages the newly acquired train prior to an official inspection, the villagers resurrect the line’s first locomotive, Thunderbolt, and, against great odds, obtain permission to keep their line open. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Rapido Trains unveils all-new ‘OAA’ open wagon Rapido Trains UK has immortalised BR’s first ‘new generation’ wagon in ‘OO’ gauge, the 45t Open AB open wagon, better known as ‘OAA’.

Getting refused the license then blatantly copying the film version when you know you should have a license? Hornby also acknowledges and accepts that Studiocanal owns the title rights to the films ‘Titfield Thunderbolt’ and ‘The Lady with a Lamp’. 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. Hornby 'heard about' the other Lion and Titfield products when they approached Studio Canal for the licence and were told that it had already be acquired by another manufacturer. It is interesting how Hornby have worded their pack "Trains on Film as seen in 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' Train Pack".

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. Hornby have today released the statement below regarding their proposed 'Trains on Film' train packs. 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. This time however, Hornby have been caught with their pants down as they didn’t have the image rights for the model, as it was a character in a movie, something that they really should have done their due diligence about….

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 the question is, if what Rapido says is true, is Hornby's train set violating Studiocanal's copyright? 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.We’ll probably never know the truth, but: It’s perfectly credible that Hornby independently started developing a Lion model off the back of their Rocket offerings.

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. Studio Canal and Rapido had a very public arrangement to produce models of the Titfield props in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the film. The fact that what they've quite clearly done is take the wagon/coach and brakevan set-up from The Titfield Thunderbolt and just put "inspired by" on the box and said Lion appeared in multiple films, of which Titfield was one, just smacks of "we've started work on this model and got x far and so we're going to finish it!

Whether it's the first shot or Hornby have already been served with a cease and desist notice only Hornby and Studio Canal know. 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. It was marketed as a pack, celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the film and, as already mentioned, the loco was a 14XX No. StudioCanal owns the rights to a lot of older movies, as part of a portfolio they have steadily built up over time. 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.