Gallery | New Zealand Hornby Railway Collectors' Association

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Hornby O Gauge

O Gauge

Hornby No.2 locomotive (fitted with a modern DC electric mechanism). The No.2 locomotive (numbered 2711) was introduced in 1923.	A No.2 Special 201 'Yorkshire' produced by Hornby from 1929 and based on Gresley's D49/1 4-4-0 Shire Class, of which 28 were built between 1927 and 1929. The LNER went on to produce also produced 42 D49/2 versions with different valve gear from 1929-1935 named after fox hunts. Hornby followed suit in 1935 producing No. 201 'Bramham Moor'.	The No. 2 Special Midland Compound was introduced from 1929. There were a few livery alterations and a change to the cab roof in the succeeding years and this example (with modern DC motor) is from the transition between the old and new cab roof styles c1931.
A No.2 Special Tank locomotive. These replaced the earlier No 2 4-4-0 Tanks in 1929 and were made up until the war. This model has fixed headlamps which dates it to 1929-1930.	The Hornby No 4 Schools Class locomotive Eton also appeared in 1937, in both clockwork and electric versions. Eton was the first member of 40 SR Schools Class 4-4-0s constructed from 1930-35.	Hornby never forgot about the toy end of the market and produced a wide range of cheaper O gauge clockwork trains with 1-foot radius track. The smallest were the M0/M1 locos and rolling stock shown here.
The Princess Elizabeth was the only 6-coupled locomotive produced by Hornby, although if WWII had not intervened it is likely that further models would have emerged.	The most expensive and least expensive locomotives in the British Hornby O Gauge range. At the front is the MO clockwork locomotive and behind it the Princess Elizabeth produced from 1937 until 1940 when war stopped production. In 1937 the Princess cost 5£. 5s. 0d and the MO cost 2/9 plus 6d for the tender!	E120 (left) and LST1/20 20Volt AC electric tanks from the 1930s in NZR livery. The LST1/20 mechanism was manufactured in the Hornby Paris factory and preceded the E120 English mechanism.
Made in the Meccano Paris factory this locomotive is part of a OBBM Le Bourguignon goods set.

Hornby Dublo

Dublo

The Dublo range included many accessories as shown in this photograph that includes the 5085 Suburban Station, passengers, telegraph posts and Dublo Dinky vehicles.	Introduced in 1954 the 3-rail British Railways Standard Class 4 2-6-4 tank with a rake of banana vans.	From its start in 1939 the Dublo range catered well for Southern Region fans. The 0-6-2T and rebuilt Merchant Navy class Dorchester are seen here with the 4323 CCT Utility van.
Due to metal shortages production of Dublo after WWII was slow and did not resume until 1947. The most noticeable difference in early post-war Dublo was the change of coupling type (clockwork locos were also not produced after the war).	A wide range of Dublo 3-rail items, including electrical accessories such as colour-light signals and uncoupling rails.	Evolution of the Dublo A4 'Sir Nigel Gresley' starting with the 1938 clockwork and electric models with full valances on the left and then post-war electric models on the right.
The Hornby Dublo range always included a reasonable set of buildings and miniature people. In the latter years additional accessories such as telegraph poles, lighting kits, containers and these cable drums and huts were introduced.

Literature

Literature

Clockwork locomotives available in the 1937 Hornby catalogue.	Electric locomotives available in the 1937 Hornby catalogue.	Models Limited were the New Zealand importers of Hornby and Meccano. Bruce Baxter was instrumental in the early days of the HRCA and this is his subscription to the Meccano Magazine.
The Princess Elizabeth locomotive was supplied in its own wooden box with this guarantee slip.	An extract from the New Zealand version of the Hornby Book of Trains, describing the livery options.	A Hornby publicity photograph taken at Kings Cross in the early 1930s. The young lad is showing off his No.3C Hornby locomotive.

New Zealand & Australia

NZ & Australia

	Donald Cranko arrived in New Zealand from South Africa after WW1 and established a small engineering and manufacturing business in Havelock North in about 1946. He produced a range of steam and electric powered toys, using the brand 'Movie Models'. The range included traction engines, road rollers and O Gauge locomotives. Production ceased around 1957.	Cranko made three types of methylated spirits fired steam locomotives. The earliest (front) had twin cylinders and was replaced in the early 1950s by the 2-6-0 Mogul and finally the simple `Mighty Atom` which had a single cylinder and flywheel in the cab with a gear drive to the rear axle.
Cranko electric and steam locomotives with two steam locomotives (brass boilers) produced in small quantities by David Auld (Greymouth, New Zealand). The wooden accessories were manufactured by Real Rail of Auckland from 1953 until 1958.	The label on the underside of Real Rail 3-rail wooden sleepers.	Ferris Bros Pty. Limited of East Sydney are well known for their car radios, produced from 1936 until 1968, but they also produced O gauge trains between 1948 and 1958. They manufactured about 1500 of these C36 class steam locomotives (https://ma.as/44983).
A wooden Comet wagon produced post-war in New Zealand.

European Vintage

Established in 1899 Bassett Lowke (B-L) initially imported model trains from the large German manufacturers Bing, Georges Carette and Märklin. George Winteringham joined B-L in 1902 and ran their Northampton factory. After WW1 B-L acquired Carrette's tools and gradually produced more 'mass-market' British outline models including this 3-rail electric Royal Scot.	This model represents the last of this class of 7 Baltic Tanks built by the LBSCR at Brighton works in 1922. Finished in grey lined livery this was Brighton's War Memorial engine and carried a commemorative plaque in remembrance to over 500 employees who gave their lives in the Great War.	LMS 5XP Jubilee class Conqueror. The 191 prototype locomotives were built between 1934 and 1936 and this B-L model some time between 1936 and 1940.
Georges Carette was French but his company made trains in Germany prior to the 1st World War. In 1900 they entered into a contract to supply Bassett Lowke with models and following the war when the company was dissolved B-L bought the designs and tools for the British outline items.	Exley made a large range of O and OO gauge coaches from 1923 through to the late sixties. The majority of the range were LMS coaches of good quality. Many had cast metal ends, wooden floors, metal underframe fittings and real glass windows.	One of the most common B-L models from the 1930s, produced in a range of liveries.
A comparison of pre WWII Hornby and Bassett Lowke Princess class locomotives and a (more) modern Corgi version. Corgi acquired the B-L name in 1996 and produced a range of coarse scale O Gauge locomotives. They were in turn acquired by Hornby in 2008! Production of O Gauge ceased in 2014.	Märklin made the HR 66/12920 O gauge 20 Volt electric locomotive from 1932 until 1954. The first versions were green, but from mid-1933 they were black. This example is post-1938.

European Vintage

ACE, Darstaed & WJ Vintage

ACE Trains (London) started in 1995 as a partnership between Andries Grabowsky and Alan Levy to produce O Gauge British outline trains. Grabowsky has since departed to reestablish the Darstaed brand. This is an E/3 4-4-0 locomotive in the style of the Hornby No.2 produced in the 1920s.	ACE C1E/S Multiple Units	An ACE 4-4-2 E/2 Tank in NZR livery
Darstaed 2-6-2 Tank in NZR livery	ACE GWR Castle Class. Tintagel Castle was built at Swindon in June/July 1927 and withdrawn in 1962.	W J Vintage J94 (Austerity) Saddle Tank. The LNER purchased 75 former "Austerity" 0-6-0STs from War Department in 1946.

ACE & Darstaed

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