Hornby Model Train Origins

There are many model train brands out there but the one that stands out the most is the name Hornby. The fact that the company’s founder thought of and hand-made products that are interchangeable and standard in dimension is an innovation which made model trains must-have collectors’ items.}Frank Hornby is a toy maker who modernized the way of manufacturing toys by presenting interchangeability to the toys he made during the early 20th century. Frank Hornby is the founder of the Hornby Railways Company, a company that basically makes unique scale model trains and accessories along with other kinds of scale models such as construction equipments.

The name Hornby Railways Co. wasn’t the original trademark for Frank Hornby’s model trains that we now distinguish nowadays. In its place, Hornby started a small manufacturing company he named Meccano Ltd. in 1908 and became successful almost right away.

Seven years before the formation of Meccano, Hornby applied for a patent he called “Improvements in Toy or Educational Devices for Children and Young People” which was consist of models of trucks, winches, and other models drawn from from construction equipments. The particular trait that Hornby’s scale models has is the interchangeability of sections that other toys during that period didn’t have. Later on, “Mechanics Made Easy” became the new name for Hornby’s model scale lineups. This is the type of innovative thinking Hornby products is acknowledged for which standardized model train collecting.

Even during World War I, Meccano did not stop producing their popular products. Hornby has also introduced a new lineup of model train products which were incorporated with clockwork motors imported from a German company known as Marklin which also manufactured Meccano products under license in Germany. Hornby’s manufacture of model trains, however, was put off throughout World War II. Production resumed after the war but production of model trains under the Meccano brand name came to a close.

By 1925, Hornby presented model trains run by electricity powered by 100-250 volts which was soon changed to six volts DC for safety’s sake. In the 1930s, model trains with 00 scale with a 12 volt DC motor was made available to consumers and is now the most well-liked kind of scale in the UK.

Popular railroading models from Hornby Railways are renowned as Lyddle End and Skaledale. While both have similarities when it comes to accessories, the Lyddle End has a scale of 1:76 which is a little bigger than the Skaledale. The Skaledale and Lyddle End models are modeled after certain scenes in England. These two villages in England have a picturesque scene of natural and man-made scenics.

The Hornby brand name is also admired in many parts of the world namely Europe, North and South America, and Australia.

In the 1920s, Hornby’s attempt to begin a site in the US was not as successful as other Hornby sites in Europe. Making model trains after American-style trains was the main objective of Hornby for the venture but the limited clockwork motors and the depression of the 1930s made things impossible.

Model train afficionados of today are regulars of Hornby model trains. The reliability, durability and quality of Hornby scale models made it possible for model train enthusiasts to enjoy and take pride of their model train collections and how they make their track layouts and wirings.