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*** But reality is that Wrenn really never ever developed anything really, and while they are a reliable tough toy & a pleasant trip down memory lane for many including me, as scale models they were comparatively good to very good in Hornby Dublo days, well past their prime by the time Wrenn collapsed... and are horrid now.
All Wrenn core product - (and certainly the best of it) was made using tooling and technology developed by Hornby Dublo, bought at a fire sale price. Lines brothers also aquired Wrenn and put the two together to re-release the Dublo product as Wrenn.
The only change they made really was to add their name to some of the castings - and then made/painted/assembled them not quite as well as they were made in the best days of Hornby Dublo.
As happened to Dublo, the last of the Wrenn ex Lines brothers was unceremoniously dumped on retailers at fire sale prices, then the last few bits / parts were picked up by a couple of very clever chaps who re-released them in dribs and drabs to send the collectors price sky high.. which is where we are now.
I'd agree with the point you made if it was "It is a pity it wasn't Triang that died and hornby dublo have hung on and kept evolving".
Hornby Dublo was always streets ahead of Lines brothers and triang accuracy and performance wise, and given some of the really nice stuff they started to do at the end in their super detail range, I do wonder if UK modelers might not have had a far superior RTR model railway selection now if triang had been the casualty and/or that Hornby Dublo had just kept going, so we would have had REAL Hornby products now, not evolved triang with another name!
regards
Richard
. QUOTE (Mike H. @ 12 Jan 2009, 01:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><Snip> The pity is that Wrenn did not survive and that these excellent models were not developed further. The last of the Wrenns were actually pretty 'modern' machines and a glimpse of whatmight-have-been.
All Wrenn core product - (and certainly the best of it) was made using tooling and technology developed by Hornby Dublo, bought at a fire sale price. Lines brothers also aquired Wrenn and put the two together to re-release the Dublo product as Wrenn.
The only change they made really was to add their name to some of the castings - and then made/painted/assembled them not quite as well as they were made in the best days of Hornby Dublo.
As happened to Dublo, the last of the Wrenn ex Lines brothers was unceremoniously dumped on retailers at fire sale prices, then the last few bits / parts were picked up by a couple of very clever chaps who re-released them in dribs and drabs to send the collectors price sky high.. which is where we are now.
I'd agree with the point you made if it was "It is a pity it wasn't Triang that died and hornby dublo have hung on and kept evolving".
Hornby Dublo was always streets ahead of Lines brothers and triang accuracy and performance wise, and given some of the really nice stuff they started to do at the end in their super detail range, I do wonder if UK modelers might not have had a far superior RTR model railway selection now if triang had been the casualty and/or that Hornby Dublo had just kept going, so we would have had REAL Hornby products now, not evolved triang with another name!
regards
Richard
. QUOTE (Mike H. @ 12 Jan 2009, 01:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><Snip> The pity is that Wrenn did not survive and that these excellent models were not developed further. The last of the Wrenns were actually pretty 'modern' machines and a glimpse of whatmight-have-been.
