These models were made by Meccano Ltd at Binns Road, Liverpool, between 1938 and 1964.

Seeing the possible risk the newly introduced Trix Twin Railway created for their Hornby 0 gauge market, Meccano Ltd decided to launch their own 00 scale system. Thus, in 1938, Hornby Dublo was born.

Initially it was a small version of the 0 gauge system except that the locomotives had cast metal bodies, the track looked like that sold by Marklin and the buildings were made of wood. Both clockwork and electric sets were available before the war and the couplings could not be uncoupled automatically. Pre-war locomotives were limited to an LNER valanced A4 Pacific named ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ and an 0-6-2 tank engine that looked like an LNER Class N2 but which, in true Hornby tradition, was available in the liveries of the big four companies (with detail concessions to the GWR).

After the war, the Peco automatic coupling was adopted as standard and the buildings, when they reappeared, were diecast in aluminium. Clockwork did not reappear but the long awaited LMS ‘Duchess of Atholl’ did.

In 1953 the system was ‘Nationalised’ and the old liveries were dropped almost overnight. One of Hornby Dublo’s finest locomotives was soon to appear - the 2-6-4 Standard tank. The Castle, 8F and Bo-Bo diesel quickly followed. By 1957 it was clear that Hornby Dublo was loosing ground to the Tri-ang Railways system and something drastic had to be done. The first change was the adoption of plastic for wagon bodies, the first, the grain wagon, appearing the following year.

The possibility of a 2-rail electric system had been discussed as long ago as 1938 but was not adopted until 1959. Plastic buildings arrived the same year and the Super Detail coaches followed the year after. Too late it was realised that the system was not gaining the loyalty of beginners whose parents were being wooed by the low prices of Tri-ang and Playcraft sets. In a last ditch attempt to save the system, in 1963 two beginners sets were launched but, with unsold stock piling up in the factory, production of the Hornby Dublo system was halted.

With Meccano Ltd facing strong competition in the areas of railways (Tri-ang), diecast cars (Corgi) and construction systems (Lego) it had nowhere to go and consequently invited Lines Bros. (the makers of Tri-ang) to take them over - which they did. The name Hornby was transferred to the Tri-ang Railways system. This was done in the guise of an amalgamation but the only Hornby-Dublo model to be adopted into the newly named Tri-ang Hornby range (and then only for a few years) was the terminus station. Thus Tri-ang Railways carried on, renamed Tri-ang Hornby (later renamed Hornby Railways), and the Hornby products in the shops today are therefore direct descendants of Tri-ang Railways and not Hornby Dublo. The name ‘Hornby Dublo’, was retained by Tri-ang although not used again and it is still owned by Hornby Hobbies who are still based in the Tri-ang factory in Margate.

The Hornby Dublo tools were sold to Tri-ang subsidiary, G&R Wrenn, and formed the basis of the Wrenn Railways model range which started to appear in the late 1960s and is described elsewhere in this book.

At the time Meccano Ltd were taken over by Tri-ang they had various models planned. With the approval of Hornby Hobbies, two of the proposed locomotives have now been produced by Michael Foster, in association with the Hornby Railway Collectors Association (HRCA), using former Hornby-Dublo chassis. These are the V2 and the 56XX 0-6-2 tank.

Anyone interested in further study of this important and popular model railway system is recommended to read ‘Hornby Dublo Trains’ by Michael Foster and published by New Cavendish Books (ISBN 0 904568 18 0). There is also a compendium to this work by Alan F Ellis, called ‘Hornby Dublo Compendium’, which is also published by New Cavendish Books (ISBN 0 904568 80 6).

You may also wish to join the Hornby Railway Collectors Association (HRCA) who publish, for their members, an excellent monthly magazine, called The Hornby Railway Collector, devoted to the toy train and model railway products of Meccano Ltd. Details of this organisation may be obtained from the membership secretary, John Harwood, on Tel: 01935 474830.