The RIse And Fall Of Hornby Dublo Part 3 of a Trilogy

[@michaelfowler8760]

I was the Producer for all three Tri-ang, Tri-ang Hornby and Hornby Dublo productions. They were shot over three years in various UK locations and the product of extensive research. When released on VHS in numbered copies they sold very well. I still have an extensive file of complementary letters. They have not dated but they were shot in 4 : 3 and on a component Betacam format. They were later produced for the DVD market and sold extensively by mail order from ourselves. Of course I still have all the master tapes and edit master. Using the phone number on the sleeve, I still receive complementary calls and inquiries. If there were a significant number of inquiries, we may consider a further pressing. I hope you continue enjoying the productions....I certainly do! Mike Fowler

[@bananabrooks3836]

Thankyou for your efforts in this endeavour, which will hopefully prove to be a legacy and valuable resource.

[@Tauraco00]

Amazing, Regards Elizabeth Lines

[@petee19]

Brilliant, has brought back fond memories of having a Hornby Dublo 3 rail layout many years ago, it’s almost got me thinking about starting a small layout again.

[@nigelduckworth4419]

Marvellous. Sheer nostalgia. This brings back memories of my 9 year old self. I had a Trix set of one small engine and 3 coaches going round a small oval on the dining table. That in itself to me was magical in the late 50s. But up the road, 3 brothers had Hornby Dublo tin plate which took up the entire front room and had double track. How that was allowed by their parents, I do not know. But they had the 0-6-2 tank, a Duchess and most importantly the standard tank. Even then I thought the latter was a brilliant model, unlike my Trix loco, and for my 60th birthday I got to drive the real thing featured in this programme. Imagine me ever thinking at 9 years old that I would ever get to do that!

[@7APT7]

An excellent and superb watch and loved watching of the good old days, sad towards the end to see ab empty hall of what used to be. 👍Thumbs Up 👍

[@liamparker928]

Great video love my small Hornby Dubbo collection

[@barryjenkins4742]

There is something so very special about hornby dublo isn't there, been collecting these models since 1958, the atmosphere of a 3 rail layout is so special. Best wishes to all dublo fans all over the world, from new Zealand

[@martinpattison5110]

What a wonderfully informative video this is. I was born in 1956 and the age of 6 and my older brother was 7 we had our first Triang model railway. The E3A set I think it was, Princess Victoria and two coaches, track and transformer (Which I still have and my brother has the train and coaches. The detailed accessories that were available at that time put some to shame today. Thank you. Martin (Thailand)

[@hollpoll]

A lot of research and work went into these videos I imagine they are as you say very informative, thanks for watching

[@TRAMJUNCTION7147HG]

It's the old old saying, all good things come to an end. But at least Frank Hornby's name lives on with Hornby Railways, although not as it was originally, all those years ago. I can still recall the Hornby Dublo train set of Sir Nigel Gresley and it's tin plate teak coaches, I had for Christmas in 1952, I was eight years old. It was second hand, but it was a shiny brand new train set to me. I often wonder if that very set, or parts of it, still survive today, in someones collection, or did it end up as scrap metal like so many old toys made by Meccano. The fifties were Happy Days, for me.

[@davidrogers891]

FANTASTIC !!! 5*++ Thank you, Thank you, for posting this and the video's in the set great stuff

[@hollpoll]

Glad you enjoyed and appreciated the series, really well made and researched and I was pleasantly surprised how well the copies came out, Stewart

[@richardthurston9077]

I’m sure that this has been answered elsewhere: where can we see more of the amazing layout that features throughout the film?

[@Shipwright1918]

Very informative, thanks ever so much for posting this up!

[@paull2613]

Informative well put together learnt a great deal. Thank you

[@BobFarnell]

o do i remember these wonderful model trains most of them better than what we have today!

[@sitarnut]

Right on, Bro...

[@BobFarnell]

Wonderful video i thank you sincerely for posting this

[@hollpoll]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@paularowe7651]

Excellent documentary but I find the music intrusive and too loud

[@hollpoll]

You can always turn the music down ! Be grateful I took the time and effort to convert this from a VHS tape and upload for your viewing pleasure, Take care, Hollpoll

[@muir8009]

Brilliant video, just good solid model railway equipment. Did the job like a real railway. Now, couplings. I still think its either rather ingenuous, or could be naivety, for Peco to say they came up with the coupling, here is the ingenious prototype and see how it works etc when the same had been in mass production on wagons in 0 gauge in 1938 by a large manufacturer. Maybe Prichard and Meccano just plain wasn't aware and didn't pay much attention to what was happening in the world of model railways. Ironically of course if they HAD been looking, Meccano could've said to Prichard we're already well aware of your coupling, not paid any royalties and as a consequence we may not have ended up with the Peco company. Things work out, Although maybe AF should've hassled Peco and said hey: you're using our coupling!

[@ianperry9049]

Is there any chance of parts 1 & 2 of this trilogy being posted on this channel?

[@hollpoll]

They already are ! Just dig through the channels videos

[@ianperry9049]

@@hollpoll I've trawled right through the "Videos" tab contents but without success. Could you post the urls of the first two parts?

[@hollpoll]

@@ianperry9049 kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2jbZZV5m6iqhJo kzbin.info/www/bejne/epPMfqSfa5l4a6M kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqnblmd4fN5ghJI this is all three , they are close to one another !

[@ianperry9049]

@@hollpoll Thank you. I was searching for "The RIse And Fall Of Hornby Dublo" - Parts 1 & 2 !! It all becomes clear now................

[@muir8009]

curious the video at the introduction: the narrator of the letter pronounces it "ohoh", surely Mr McCormick would've said "double oh"?

[@mytinplaterailway]

Can you point me to parts 1 and 2 please?

[@robertolamalfa5160]

L'UNICA COSA CHE È CAMBIATO NEL FERMODELLISMO : È LA TECNOLOGIA, PER IL RESTO È RIMASTO TUTTO COME PRIMA...PERÒ IL MATERIALE ERA PIÙ RESISTENTE DI QUELLO ATTUALE....

[@Richardsrailway]

Back when everything was British made !

[@CZ350tuner]

@john wilks That's where Triang Railways (Rovex) saw a gaping hole in the market and filled it. Model Railways affordable to the kids whose father wasn't a well paid white collar office worker. I've always found that my Hornby Dublo and Wrenn locos suffered from demagnetisation of the motor pole pieces compared to Triang locos.

[@Richardsrailway]

john wilks nothing has changed much today , it’s still a fairly expensive hobby if your a young person still at school . How can the average school kid ask their parents for a hundred quid for a loco or 45 quid for a coach , it’s either save up or look on eBay these days . In all fairness it’s a hobby that teaches boys to be boys , you can learn electronics , electrical , engineering , and basic art work all within the hobby . It’s just a crying shame that Hornby ended up relying on China for its manufacturing, yes the motors are far superior these days to say the old XO4 motors and ringfield motors in the tenders and in the loco’s , but when these beautiful models were made in bins road and in margate , you never got for example mazak rot in the chassis which is a metal alloy defect due to the casting process . This happened a heck of a lot with Hornby and their top end models in the past . The class 31 being the worst example . With the advent of acquiring the assets and tooling from Lima , Hornby re released them under their Railroad range brand which I personally love , great scope for detailing and a decent running loco to boot !

[@hollpoll]

@@Richardsrailway Agree with everything you say, thanks for watching and commenting.

[@farric1]

@@CZ350tuner Simple to remagnetize and they keep going for generations.. for sure the triang models made the market more accessible. However I think that the quality of Hornby Dublo cannot be denied.

[@johnlunnun9769]

It was not fully explained why a quality product like this should have failed so disastrously, especially when there is still a huge demand for all things ‘model railways’ today.

[@brianharper9754]

why did not carry on the H/D coublng, ?

[@johnd8892]

Around 1960 Hornby Dublo made they coupling perform worse by changing it from metal to nylon then a cheaper nylon like plastic. Even Dublo collectors do not like this nylon coupling as it is less reliable in use. This was a small part of the collapse of Hornby Dublo. When Triang took over Hornby Dublo they did not wish to use a coupling that was not compatible with the bulk of their loyal Triang user base. Very few Dublo users went on to buy the re-branded Triang-Hornby products. Even when Wrenn started production using the old HD tools and included H/D couplers in a plastic bag with the locos very few were converted to H/D from the Tri-ang coupler fitted. Triang also did not wish to pay Peco to use it. This coupling being invented by the Peco founder and the royalites from the H/D use helped to finance the development of Peco. Possibly still available from Peco but it is very rare to find anyone using it. Current Hornby is the evolution of Triang with a name change that works well with badge snobs blinded by a name. The good news is you can buy Peco couplings and fit them to your stock if you wish. But expect numerous problems.

[@johnd8892]

At 13:15 the Pritchard/Peco invention of the coupling has good coverage.

[@mickkingston1450]

Chame someone couldn't restart the production of the dublo as their is a massive following and eager get hold of and buy it .

[@vodaploda]

I think Pat Pending worked there...

[@BobFarnell]

where can i buy these video's?

[@hollpoll]

They are no longer available as far as I know

[@johnd8892]

Read Michael Fowler's most recent comment for a possible future source.