Hornby International
 |
|
| Public (: ) | |
| Industry | Model railway components |
| Founded | 1901 (as Hornby Hobbies Ltd.) 1980 (as Hornby Railways) |
| Founder | Frank Hornby |
| Headquarters | Margate, Kent, England, U.K. |
| Revenue | £55.76 million (2016) |
| -£13.12 million (2007) | |
| -£13.71 million (2016) | |
| Owner | Phoenix Asset Management |
|
Number of employees
|
200 (2010) |
| Website | www.hornby.com |
Hornby Railways is a British model railway brand. Its roots date back to 1901, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, Hornby launched its first 00 gauge train. In 1964, Hornby and Meccano were bought by their competitor, Tri-Ang, and sold on when Tri-ang went into receivership. Hornby Railways became independent in the 1980s, and became listed on the , but due to recent financial troubles is presently majority owned by turnaround specialist Phoenix Asset Management.
Hornby was at first a tradename for the railway productions of Meccano Ltd and based in Liverpool, which 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 out 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.
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Wikipedia