New Zealand Hornby Railway Collectors' Association  

Welcome to the New Zealand Hornby Railway Collectors' Association (NZHRCA) website.

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We are a group interested in vintage Hornby trains manufactured by Meccano Ltd in Britain and other factories around the world:

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  • Hornby O-gauge clockwork and electric (1920 to 1965)

  • Hornby Dublo 3-rail clockwork and electric (1938 to 1965)

  • Hornby Dublo 2-rail electric (1959 to 1965)

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This year we celebrate 100 years since the first Hornby Trains were made by the Meccano factory. The first sets produced were Gauge O and contained an 0-4-0 locomotive with clockwork mechanism, tender, a single wagon and small oval of track. Other than the track, the items were all well made of constructional parts like a pre-built Meccano kit, with the locomotive boiler, cab and tender nicely enamelled in either green, red or black. The wagons had railway company initials clipped on and were available initially with GN, LNWR or MR lettering.

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​The NZHRCA is affiliated with the Hornby Railway Collectors' Association (HRCA) in the UK. We started in 1994 with the goal of helping like-minded enthusiasts throughout New Zealand to connect and share their knowledge, collections and love of Hornby with each other and with the public. We do this by:

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  • Publishing a bi-monthly newsletter to members. In 2019 we celebrated our 25th year and in December published our 150th magazine to members!

  • Holding area meetings in the main centres throughout the year

  • Helping each other to preserve and maintain locomotives and accessories, some of which are almost 100 years old

  • Getting together to exhibit Hornby to the public. See below for a list of upcoming events

 

Many of our members also collect and run vintage trains from other manufacturers, including the 'big' names such as Wrenn, Bassett Lowke, Bing, Carette and Lionel; more local makes such as Ferris and Cranko and 'modern' coarse scale O gauge from ACE, Darstaed, ETS, MTH and others. See the Gallery page for some photographs.

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We welcome new members. If you would like to find out more then please get in touch using the Contact form below.

 

Photography by John Clarkson

 

   Information   

Newsletters

 

The NZHRCA publishes a bi-monthly newsletter to members with articles about layouts, restorations, the history of Hornby products and information on meetings and events.

Events

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  • Taupo Model Railway Club Open Day
    3rd and 4th October 2020
    Taupo College Hall - including Hornby Dublo and O Gauge layouts

  • Hamilton Model Railway Exhibition
    10th and 11th October 2020 
    Hamilton Gardens

  • Mount Eden Collectors' Toy & Model Fair
    Sunday 8th November 2020, 10am - 1pm
    Mount Eden War Memorial Hall, 487 Dominion Road, Balmoral

  • Wellington RailEX
    Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th November 2020
    Walter Nash Stadium, Taita, Lower Hutt - including Hornby Dublo and O Gauge layouts

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    Contact    

 

Please contact us if you would like to join the NZHRCA, or need information about repairing Hornby O Gauge and Dublo trains.

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We are sorry, but we are not able to offer advice on valuations or buying & selling Hornby trains.

© 2020 by NZHRCA