Early history: 1920–1938 Hornby was at first a
trade name for the railway productions of
Meccano Ltd and based around
Liverpool. Until 1907 the company produced under the name of
Mechanics made easy. Hornby released its first train, a
clockwork 0 gauge (1:48) model, in 1920. An electric train soon followed but was under-designed and the few that were made were sold in France. In 1925, a much more successful electric model was introduced, operating on the high voltage of 110 volts
AC power. Safety concerns saw low voltage 4V and then 6V motors introduced, followed by a reliable 20V AC system, which was developed in the early 1930s. However, clockwork remained the mainstay of the Hornby 0 gauge trains until 1937 and became the only power available in Liverpool-made 0 gauge trains from 1949. Competitors in the UK were
Leeds Model Company and
Bassett-Lowke. A factory was established in France, which developed its own range of French outline trains, but Liverpool dominated export activity elsewhere, with large numbers of Hornby trains exported to Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Scandinavia. Even though the export models were often painted in 'foreign' liveries, Hornby trains looked very British. Hornby attempted to break into the American market by setting up a factory in 1927 in
Elizabeth, New Jersey, to make American-style trains. These were colourful and attractive, but low-market and only clockwork. They probably would have failed in the marketplace because several established U.S. firms could undercut them and Hornby offered no better-class goods or electric models, but the
Wall Street crash precipitated matters. In late 1929, Meccano Ltd. sold its New Jersey factory to the
A. C. Gilbert Company and Hornby trains had vanished from the U.S. market by 1930. The leftover inventory was sold in Canada and in the UK and some of the tooling was reused for products in other markets.
Hornby Dublo era: 1938–1963 Meccano introduced its
OO scale trains in 1938 under the name 'Hornby Dublo'. The locomotives were diecast metal, and the carriages and wagons were generally made of tinplate. This was a very well planned range of electric and clockwork models, successfully consolidating 12 V DC as the standard for OO scale. This led to the adoption of OO as a broadly accepted modelling standard in the UK, whereas much of the rest of the world adopted HO scale. As for their O gauge locomotives, electric Hornby Dublo locomotives ran on a
third rail electric system with the track built on a pressed tinplate base. Both OO and HO use the same track gauge, but their scales are different. Beginning as literally "half O gauge", the HO models of continental prototypes at 3.5 mm/foot (1:87) scale were workable but Hornby chose to slightly increase the scale to 4 mm/foot for the smaller British prototypes, to provide more internal space for a motor. This has had the effect, remaining to this day, of making their gauge an apparent rather than the true . The range expanded quickly, but was curtailed from 1940 due to
World War II, production being completely suspended in 1942. Production resumed after the war but did not reach full capacity until 1948. Clockwork models were not produced in 00 scale after the war. In 2008, a special commemorative model of
LNER Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley was produced, in period packaging, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this introduction. locomotive
City of Liverpool Like its counterparts
Bassett-Lowke and
Exley in the UK and
Lionel and
American Flyer in the US, Hornby thrived in the first half of the 1950s but struggled in the second half of the decade. The company was slow to recognise the threat posed by rival manufacturers (particularly Triang-Rovex)
Hornby Railways: 1972–1980 The Tri-ang group was disbanded in 1971 when Meccano Ltd's owner Lines Bros. filed for bankruptcy. The former Tri-ang Hornby was sold to Dunbee-Combex-Marx, becoming
Hornby Railways in 1972. By 1976 Hornby was facing challenges from
Palitoy and
Airfix, both of which were producing high quality detailed models. Detail on the models was upgraded to make the product line more attractive to adult hobbyists.
Zero 1 A
digital model railway control system named
Zero 1 was introduced in late 1979. The Zero 1 system enabled the simultaneous control of up to 16 locomotives and up to 99 accessories such as points and signals. Zero 1 was based on digital, not analogue, technology. This really was the first digital system and as such was a forerunner to the
Märklin Digital which appeared in the mid-1980s and the
National Model Railroad Association (NMRA)
Digital Command Control (DCC) system, which appeared around 1990 and was standardized internationally in the mid-1990s. Although an important milestone, Zero 1 was not a lasting success. The Master Control unit last appeared in the catalog in 1985. The slave controller, the locomotive module, and the accessory module were still available until the late 1980s. The system is still used today by many modellers, highlighted by the demand on such sites like eBay for the items in the secondhand market. The Main Master unit was discontinued in 1986, and finally the last time Loco Modules were listed was in the 1991 catalogue 'Limited supplies of R955 Loco module are available'. Repairs to Zero 1 units were no longer undertaken by Hornby apparently due to 'Lack of available parts required'. Despite being on the market for a short time, Zero 1 had the largest installed base among command control systems in the early 1980s in North America, according to a reader survey done by
Model Railroader magazine.
Rocket As part of the 1980
Rocket 150 celebrations, Hornby released a
live steam-powered gauge locomotive, a model of ''
Stephenson's Rocket'' A major goal was to make real live steam accessible to an indoor domestic environment. The boiler was considerably smaller than the external diameter, surrounded by a thick insulating jacket to prevent burns. It was fuelled by butane gas, from cigarette lighter refills. To provide more torque from the small cylinders, gearing was adeptly hidden between the cranks and the wheels. The track was of asymmetric moulded plastic units, representing the
fishbelly rails of the period. These could be assembled either way round, to give either curved or straight track. By 1980, the market was extremely tough and Dunbee-Combex-Marx was liquidated, placing Hornby in
receivership.
Hornby Hobbies Limited: 1980–2015 Class 43 HST power car carried a livery advertising Hornby. It has since been repainted. In 1980, Hornby became
Hornby Hobbies and in 1981 a management buyout saw the company back on a sound footing. It went public in 1986. By the early 1990s Hornby again faced competition from newcomers such as
Dapol (established 1983) and established foreign manufacturers, including
Lima and
Bachmann Industries. Manufacturing was moved to
Guangdong province in China in 1995, completed by 1999, in a cost-cutting exercise. As part of the process Hornby also bought in some of Dapol's products and also some of the old Airfix moulds (which had been bought by Dapol as part of the Mainline range from Palitoy in 1985). Train sets based on
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and
Harry Potter (the "
Hogwarts Express") have been particularly profitable ventures. In September 2003 Hornby released its first
steam-powered 00 gauge locomotive, a model of the record-breaking
Mallard. Several other "
Live Steam" locomotives have now been produced. model of this period Hornby bought
Lima, an Italian model railway equipment manufacturer that had previously acquired
Jouef, a French manufacturer. Some of the ex-Lima models appear in the main Hornby products list. This range is known as
Hornby International. This acquisition also included the
Rivarossi line of HO-scale products, also originally from Italy, and the Arnold brand of N-scale products. They also took over the Spanish model railway company Electrotren. Electrotren had been the Spanish importer for
Scalextric which was sold in Spain as "Superslot". The takeover was at the request of the Spanish company and was not due to obvious financial problems. They have remained independent outside of the Hornby International umbrella. With competition mainly from
Bachmann Industries, and to a much lesser extent from minor and generally niche players such as the Danish model railway company
Heljan,
Dapol,
Vi Trains and
Peco, Hornby Railways produced a large range of highly detailed British steam and diesel locomotives, such as the
BR 9F,
LNER Class A4,
SR Merchant Navy,
Class 60,
Class 50,
Class 31 and
Class 08. In November 2006, Hornby Hobbies acquired
Airfix and
Humbrol paints for the sum of £2.6 million. The parent company,
Humbrol, had gone into administration earlier that year after cashflow problems. Airfix fans had been concerned that it could be the end of the brand, but just as the name Hornby was once a tradename of Meccano, Airfix is now a successful tradename of Hornby. In May 2008, Hornby announced the acquisition of
Corgi Classics Limited, one of the world's oldest makers of collectable die-cast models of trucks, buses, cars and aeroplanes, from
Corgi International Limited for £7.5million. In 2009, the Hornby Shop and Visitor Centre was in development. Christmas 2009 saw the launch of the new Hornby Shop at
Margate in
Kent, with the visitor centre still under construction. July 2010 saw the opening of the Hornby Shop And Visitor Centre.
Financial troubles, PAM takeover From 2015, Hornby plc began to announce a series of declining financial results. The major reason behind the decline Hornby declared was twofold, with the decline in the number of collecting customers, (older customers dying and not being replaced by younger ones), and a general lack of interest in modelling as a hobby in light of the digitization and advancement of the internet games industry. After the PLC shares dropped by more than 50% in a year, at the 2016 results, Hornby declared that it planned to cut more than half of the toys it made, after discovering that it generated 90% of its profits from only 50% of its range. In the year to 31 March 2017, revenues fell further to £47.4m from £55.8m, while underlying losses widened to £6.3m from a £5.7m deficit in 2016. As a result of the takeover, the chairman of Hornby resigned from the company in August 2017, followed by the Chief Executive in September 2017. In October 2017, PAM announced their new management team who would join the company and steer through the turnaround. They were Lyndon Davies, former Mettoy employee and owner of Oxford Diecast. Simon Kohler, ex Hornby marketing manager and Tim Mulhall, also from Oxford Diecast and credited with knowledge of the International market, having been the former importer for Hornby International brands in the UK. The trio proposed a turnaround plan to reengage with the market, make products which were more appealing to customers, clamp down on rising overheads and recover first sales and then move the company back into profitability. The outcomes were not expected to bear fruit for 3–5 years. The end of year Annual Report for March 2018 revealed how serious the position was for the company, showing further slumps in revenue (down to £35.7m) and a widening pre-tax loss (up to £7.6m). The March 2019 end of year report showed progress, having stabilised the business, closed unnecessary offices and returned to their historic home in Margate. Sales grew to £37.8m, losses narrowed to £2.8m The
COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was one element credited in a sales growth of 30%, which was announced in the 2019/20 half year results which covered a period to March 2020. Half year sales of £21m (up from £15.9m) and the first profit in 8 years. In October 2022 Hornby released a range of
TT:120 items. Two train sets are being offered, with four series of locomotives and rolling stock available. In November 2024, Hornby announced it had agreed to sell Oxford Diecast Ltd to EKD Enterprises Ltd, a business owned by former chairman and current non-executive director Lyndon Davies and his family for £1.38 million. ==Collector and enthusiasts' groups==