Hornby Railways
| Hornby Hobbies Limited
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Limited Company |
| Seat |
Margate United Kingdom
|
| management | Neil Johnson (2009) |
| Number of employees | 240 (2009) |
| sales | 61,569,000 GBP (2009) |
| Branch | Toy maker |
| Website | www.hornby.com |
Hornby Railways is the leading model railway manufacturer in Great Britain and, after buying up several other model manufacturers, is now an international company with production in China. The company's history goes back to 1901 when founder Frank Hornby , a patent for his Meccano - Meccano received. The current holding company is called Hornby Hobbies Limited , based in Margate (Kent) .
history
Hornby, his time as Meccano Ltd announced launched its first toy train, a clockwork train in the nominal size 0 , in 1920 on the market. An electric train followed in 1925; it was initially operated with alternating current, then switched to direct current in 1929 .
Between 1927 and 1929 Hornby offered its clockwork railways in both the United States and Great Britain. Although the trains manufactured in a factory in Elizabeth (New Jersey) were of a very high quality, they were unable to establish themselves on the US market because several local companies were already established there and their products were also well below Hornby's prices. Hornby railways disappeared from the US market in 1930.
In 1938 Hornby launched a 00 track under the brand name Hornby Dublo . The locomotives were made of die- cast metal and the cars were made of lithographed sheet metal . This railway ran on a three-rail, two- conductor track (referred to as 3-rail in England ), the central conductor was insulated on the sheet metal slope body. The locomotives already had DC motors with permanent magnets, and occasionally clockwork drives. In the following year, 1939, production had to be stopped because of the outbreak of the Second World War . It was gradually resumed after the war, but did not return to full capacity until 1948. One of the outstanding accessories was a post office, where mail bags were collected and thrown off again by a passing mail coach .
In 1959, the Hornby Dublo program was switched to the two-rail, two-rail system ( 2-rail ). 1964 bought the rival Tri-ang Railways the Meccano Ltd. , and Hornby merged with Tri-ang to Tri-ang Hornby . The previous Hornby product line was abandoned in favor of the cheaper plastic versions from Tri-ang. The former Hornby products and tools were sold to G&R Wrenn . The Triang Group was dissolved in 1971 when Lines Bros. , owner of Meccano Ltd , filed for bankruptcy. Tri-ang Hornby was sold to Dunbee-Combex-Marx and operated under Hornby Railways from 1972 .
In 1976, Hornby faced the challenge of Palitoy and Airfix , both of whom produced high quality, detailed models. The detailing of the Hornby models has been revised to make them more attractive to adult model railroaders. A “Zero 1” multi-train system was introduced at the beginning of the 1980s. This digital system was a predecessor to the DCC system that came on the market in the 1990s.
Dunbee-Combex-Marx got into trouble around 1980 and was dissolved. Hornby became Hornby Hobbies . In the early 1990s, Hornby faced again the competition from new competitors, such as Dapol , or established foreign companies such as Lima and Bachmann . Production was relocated to Guangdong in China in 1995 . The relocation was completed in 1999. As part of this process, Hornby also purchased some Dapol products and Airfix molds, which were owned by Dapol at the time.
Since then, Hornby's particularly successful products have also been train sets such as Thomas the Tender Locomotive or the Hogwarts Express known from Harry Potter books and films . These models were also offered by the German manufacturer Märklin as cooperation products. In September 2003 Hornby brought out its first live steam model, a model of the record-breaking Mallard locomotive . Several other live steam models have since been offered.
Hornby has now bought Lima , an Italian model railway manufacturer that had previously taken over the French manufacturer Jouef . The products are now being marketed by Hornby under the brands Rivarossi ( nominal size H0 , 1:87), Lima (nominal size H0) and Arnold ( nominal size N , 1: 160). Most of the newly launched products are manufactured in China.
On May 1, 2008, it was announced that Hornby had acquired Corgi Classics Limited , best known for diecast models of road vehicles and airplanes . The production continues, adapted, under the old label. The group now also includes the brands Humbrol (model building supplies), Airfix , Scalextric and Bassett-Lowke .
In mid-December 2012, Hornby announced on the official website of Hornby's own Pocher brand (plastic model kits on a scale of 1: 8) the "rebirth of a myth" and an official presentation for the reintroduction of the brand at the Nuremberg Toy Fair 2013.
Web links
- Hornby Railways (English)
- Hornby Germany
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hornby PLC, annual report & accounts 2009 (PDF; 3.2 MB)
- ↑ www.trixstadt.de: Photo report about a Hornby Dublo system at an exhibition , accessed on May 17, 2017.
- ↑ Corgi Toys ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Bassett-Lowke
- ↑ Pocher.com
