Frank Hornby, the owner and manufacturer of Meccano Ltd. of Binns Road, Liverpool, launched Hornby Trains as a brand in 1920. Since then the product and the company has gone through many changes. The original scale of 7mm to the foot commonly known at 0' gauge was joined and eventually superseded by the smaller and almost half sized 00' scale system branded, creatively as Hornby Dublo in 1938.
After the Second World War manufacturing of the Hornby Dublo system recommenced and soon became the dominant scale but new materials and cheaper prices soon brought major competition to Hornby in the form of Rovex Industries, which eventually became Tri-ang Railways. Over time Tri-ang obtained the Meccano company and rebranded their railway system Tri-ang Hornby. Eventually, after one more takeover the name Tri-ang was removed and the system simply became Hornby Railways.
By the turn of the last century Hornby Railways had become just Hornby and with it a new evolution with manufacturing moving from the Margate factory where it had been since 1953 to the Far East where modern manufacturing techniques lifted the Hornby products from being pseudo toys to exquisite models demanded by today's modeller.
This Hornby Book of Trains - The Centenary Edition, has been researched and written by renowned author, editor and model railway historian Pat Hammond who traces the one hundred year history of Hornby with facts, features and an abundance of images supported by historical facts explaining the twists and turns of this much loved and historically reach model railway brand.
