Nostalgia - Hornby Dublo - east meets west

[Noel]

Anybody remember Hornby Dublo (2 rail)?

 

Hornby Dublo taken out of storage - mixed freight wagons. The 'table top' model trains of the 60s.

 

Diecast BR tank loco hauls mixed freight.

 

Hornby Dublo diecast Barnstable hauling ex-GWR stock

 

East meets west! Tin plate SR green coach

 

In the background Bachmann GWR coaches - Dublo GRW coaches in foreground behind 'Barnstable' discast metal loco, had metal side panel with plastic roof, except for restaurant car which had metal roof also.

 

For late 1950s early 1960s they were not bad models. I remember hauling 30 Triang Hornby coaches owned by other folk behind our 'Barnstable' loco in 1973!!!

Edited July 21, 2017 by Noel

[Alan564017]

Noel , looks great. Can I ask....with the track underlay, have you pinned the track to the base. Did it have any effect on point motors? From the picture you appear to have different levels, are they connected and if so what gradients did you use.

[Noel]

Noel , looks great. Can I ask....with the track underlay, have you pinned the track to the base. Did it have any effect on point motors? From the picture you appear to have different levels, are they connected and if so what gradients did you use.

 

Hi Alan. Track is pinned with narrow track pins into partially preformed holes created with a fine pointed screw driver. The ballast is not compressed by the track or pins. I've only a handful of point motors wired up yet and those operate ok. All of the points have a half inch hole drilled under them in the baseboard. There are some points on the upper level that won't take motors directly underneath the base board due to track underneath, so they will be operated by push rods to remote motors (ie much like control cables in RC model aircraft). The layout has three levels with track laid on upper and mid level but not yet on lowest level. See track plan on Kingsbridge thread. The gradient change between level 1 and 2 is about 1/32 (3.1%). The height difference between levels is 3inches. Noel

Edited December 7, 2014 by Noel

[Warbonnet]

This topic has been moved to a more relevant area of the forum as it hasn't got anything to do with Irish outline modelling. Thank you.

[Noel]

This topic has been moved to a more relevant area of the forum as it hasn't got anything to do with Irish outline modelling. Thank you.

 

Whoops apologies.

[Warbonnet]

Whoops apologies.

 

No problem Noel, just makes it easier to find things when people are researching in the future.

[tuby]

Thanks for the memory Noel. Got my first Hornby for my 10th birthday in 1963 from Great Southern Models in Leeson St. Bought most of the stuff after from Hely's store in Dame St as they had the best selection of Hornby in Dublin. Remember paying something like £2 for the SR 0-6-0T. Unfortunatly my mother got very ill and had to store the whole thing. After she passed away 2 of my aunts cleaned the house and to this day I do not know what they did with the trains, have never forgiven them.

[WRENNEIRE]

Before I became a serious WRENN collector I used to dabble with Hornby Dublo

Hornby Dublo collapsed in 1964 . Their parent company, Meccano Ltd was taken over by Lines Brothers

Lines at the time also owned Tri Ang and it was thought that having 2 competing railway product lines was not a viable option at the time

So Tri Ang Hornby was formed. Wrenn was absorbed into the Lines family shortly afterwards

Wrenn approached the Lines Board and asked if they could manufacture the Dublo models under the Wrenn name and permission was granted

So began the Wrenn brand and indeed some of the first sets sold included some Hornby Dublo wagons and coaches but with the new Wrenn locos

 

Wrenn loco with H/Dublo coaches

 

Wrenn Loco with H/Dublo wagons and coaches

[Noel]

Before I became a serious WRENN collector I used to dabble with Hornby Dublo

Hornby Dublo collapsed in 1964 . Their parent company, Meccano Ltd was taken over by Lines Brothers

Lines at the time also owned Tri Ang and it was thought that having 2 competing railway product lines was not a viable option at the time

So Tri Ang Hornby was formed. Wrenn was absorbed into the Lines family shortly afterwards

Wrenn approached the Lines Board and asked if they could manufacture the Dublo models under the Wrenn name and permission was granted

So began the Wrenn brand and indeed some of the first sets sold included some Hornby Dublo wagons and coaches but with the new Wrenn locos

 

Wrenn loco with H/Dublo coaches

 

Wrenn Loco with H/Dublo wagons and coaches

 

Hi Dave, thanks for posting. That's a nice blast from the past. Wrenn was fabulous gear and the top of the pile back then. The fact that the locos were metal and seriously heavy gave them amazing traction, and they felt and looked like real steam engines. One of my great modelling regrets as a child was selling a Hornby-Dublo 'Cardiff Castle' loco to one of my school teachers in an effort to fund the purchase of more track work. The larger tender locos had the original 'ring field' motors on a long shaft with very good gearing for their day. The motors were nearly 3 inches long. They could start at scale speeds and also crawl at low speed, wheres Triang and early Hornby locos started with a jolt at scale speeds of 25mph. I think it was 'Evening Star' that was Triang-Hornby's first foray into tender drive locos with their plastic ring field motors. I remember Triang track work was o'rrible and oversized compared to the finer scale Hornby-Dublo track. Cheers. Noel

 

PS: Did lines brothers sell off Wrenn or Triang?

Edited December 26, 2014 by Noel

[WRENNEIRE]

In 1972 Wrenn became an independent company again

Tri Ang Rovex had gotten into financial trouble and all the various companies in their control were sold off

Subsidising their overseas manufacturing was thought to be the main cause of their trouble

Gallagher Brothers, the cigarette people, attempted a rescue bid but withdrew it when the full debt of the company was revealed

Around this time Hornby as we know it today emerged after Rovex Ltd was sold and a new brand was required

I remember reading that during the 2nd World War the factory was used to manufacture Sten Guns,

[StevieB]

The stories of Mainline, Airfix, Replica, Dapol, Hornby and Bachmann are even more involved than the one you have just related, bits begin either sold off or metamorphosing into a new form!

 

Stephen

[WRENNEIRE]

Noel

Found these over the festive period while looking for something completely different

These were the Hornby Dublo Breakdown cranes in another life

 

A GWR crane, not sure if this existed or not but GWR was my favourite UK Livery

 

 

A CIE version, very close to our own steam cranes

 

[josefstadt]

A lovely representation of the CIÉ crane Dave.

[Greybeema]

My brother had (and still has) the Wrenn 8F. It could never did haul anything... It always used to haul the long freights on our Loft railway..

[Noel]

Wow - Thanks Dave for the pics of those two fabulous cranes. GWR heaven. I can just feel the weight looking at the pics. You can sense a Mecanno influence. GWR is also my favourite livery. The weathered CIE crane looks superb and slightly different. Presume it was a repaint, good job too. HD & Wrenn built model machines rather than toys.