[Brian1]

Good morning,
I have recently inherited an early 1900s hornby railway with 3 good condition engines with tenders( all boxed), one still has the original hornby guarantee with key and lamps still in packets in the box. Also lots of carriages, track, three sets of points a crossing and a box of various parts.
I believe it all belonged to my grandads brother who was born in 1906. I am interested to find out more about the set and I was hoping someone could suggest somewhere in Scotland I could take it to learn more about the vintage and history of these brilliantly engineered engines?

Thanks

Brian

 

[kristopher1805]

This is Hornby dublo and before ww2 they made a few types of loco such as the N2, it was a complete system. I have several books on this so best bet is go to amazon and look for history of Hornby Dublo and buy a book, it will tell you all you need to know. The Hornby of the day was nothing to do with todays Hornby and was part of Mechano, the Hornby of today started as Rovex in the 1950's and become Triang which is why even now Hornby has R as a prefix for part numbers.

 

[Bilbo]

How do we know its Hornby Dublo. Given the mention of a key my first thought would be Hornby tinplate O scale. You could still get a book to give you some info but it would be Hornby O scale not dublo.

 

[Brian1]

It's all 0 scale, made by mechano, is there any specialist shops around that might take a look for me? I'm not sure if I should get it covered with my insurance or not.
Thanks for your your help.

Brian

 

[Terry Dyckhoff]

Look on the HRCA website - HRCA.net, there are members in Scotland who could advise!!!

Terry

 

[conmaira]

QUOTE (Terry Dyckhoff @ 8 Mar 2015, 17:50) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Look on the HRCA website - HRCA.net, there are members in Scotland who could advise!!!

Terry

And they take a great deal of interest in 0 gauge (not just in Scotland).

Hugh

 

[jcuknz]

What on earth is mechano? Now Meccano I knew well.

 

[jcuknz]

If the distance between the outside of the flanges of the wheel is 5/16 inch it is Dublo if it is 1 1/4 inch it is O gauge .... 16.5mm and 32mm respectively or a little under those measurements 0.5mm perhaps.
I think it is safe to say that only toys in 16.5mm gauge had keys ... not finely engineered mechanisms

Not that I would describe Hornby O as finely engineered .... Bassett Lowke for sure.

This link takes you to a history of Bassett Lowke and from another google link I would say insuring the items is fully justified
http://www.tcawestern.org/bassett.htm
At a brief look I saw that the early models were clockwork driven although today they are electric and live steam.

 

[Jim Wills]

Brian, As a young lad some 73 years ago I remember having a similar train set - and it was 'O' Gauge, wind up and made of metal; you should definately make sure it's insured, although it may not look as good as modern sets its historic and worth good money, look after it.

Jimo