1937 The first decision to produce a ‘OO' gauge railway system was put
forward at a new products meeting in 1937. It was a year after Frank
Hornby's death that the first drawings were produced.
The name "Dublo" was the brainchild of the commercial director Mr George
Jones.
1938 The first advertisement for "Hornby Dublo" appeared in September 1938
Meccano Magazine.
"Hornby Dublo" was built to a scale of 1/76 scale and had the advantage that
one needed much less space then the ‘O' gauge system.
They were available in either clockwork or electric and for the initial
release there were two locomotives, a streamlined Pacific "Sir Nigel
Gresley" and an 0-6-2 Tank locomotive similar to the N2 Class.
Passenger stock consisted of tin printed L.N.E.R. teak coaches and an
articulated coach unit.
There were also goodsvans, open wagons, and a brake van.
Station buildings were made of wood.
1939 There were several additions to the "Hornby Dublo" range during 1939
which included three tank wagons, some goods vans and a high capacity bogie
wagon.
There was also a large covered station and an engine shed.
1940 Electrically operated points were available and the L.M.S. "Duchess of
Athol" was announced but did not appear until after the war.
1947 A new automatic coupling was to be fitted to all future "Hornby Dublo"
items.
The new coupling was submitted to Meccano Limited by a Mr S.C. Pritchard.
His design was selected from over 50 ideas submitted. Mr Pritchard declined
a cash offer of 1,000 pounds for his design and stuck out for royalties
instead. From the money received he launched his own extremely succesful
company "The Pritchard Engineering Company" otherwise known as"Peco".
1948 It was not until 1948 that the L.M.S. "Duchess of Athol" appeared in
the shops with two L.M.S. coaches specially designed to go with the Duchess.
1949 A hand operated uncoupling rail was introduced.
1950 New cast aluminum station buildings replaced the wood ones.
1951 The government had massive urgent rearmament plans due to the Korean
war and materials became very scarce.
1952 Electric points became available.
1953 New locomotives and signals were produced and during the next few years
the system was expanded considerably.
1955 Meccano was planning to bring out a completely new railway system in
‘S' gauge.
A coach and a few other pieces were made but the idea was scrapped.
1957 The front page of a "Hornby Dublo" catalogue shows one of the very few
published mistakes by Meccano Limited. There is a proud father pointing out
details on a railway layout to his son and his left hand has six fingers.
The first of the "Dublo Dinky Toys" was issued.
1958 The super detailed wagons were introduced. The Meccano Company was one
of the last to use the polystyrene moulding technique but their moulds were
unrivaled for quality in there time.
The first polystyrene locomotive body appeared.
1959 In 1959 the introduction of "HornbyDublo" 2 Rail took place and for
some time both systems were being manufactured simultaneously.
1960 The new Ringfield motor unit which was without doubt one of the finest
model railway motor units, was announced in September 1960. The first of the
super detailed coaches were announced.
1961 March 1961 heralded the beautiful new Pullman super detailed coaches.
The French "Hornby Acho" system was being introduced into England in limited
quantities to test market reactions.
The complicated 2 rail track necessitated the use of single and double
isolated rails because of the live frog construction. This was already
taking its toll on sales. Many modelers were choosing the much simpler
trackwork of its competitors.
Not all was well at home, saturation point had been reached in the model
railway world. Stocks were not being cleared from the shelves to the extent
that new products could not be introduced.
1963 Export sales had dropped considerably, a total marketing review of the
"Hornby Dublo" range took place. Strenuous efforts were being made to sell
stocks which were not moving.1964 The last "Hornby Dublo" catalogue was
printed in 1964. Meccano Limited was sold to Triang Limited.
To give some idea of the situation, here are some figures of stock remaining
in the warehouse in Liverpool. Co-Bo locomotives - 17,000, 2 Rail
locomotives - 12.295, Coaches - 107,950
Wagons - 130,000.
1965 So ended one of the finest model railway systems ever to be produced in
England.
