How Hornby Products Came To Be Made in China (2024)

FAQs

When did Hornby move production to China? ›

Above: Hornby moved manufacturing to China in the late 1990s, but it was the new 'Merchant Navy' 4-6-2 of 2000 which really showed what was possible. This Southern 4-6-2 was the first of the modern models we have today from Hornby. HORNBY'S transferral of production to the far east in the 1990s came out of necessity.

Iconic model train firm Hornby says supply chain problems has hit its bottom line hard as it enters the key Christmas trading period. The firm, based in Margate, says shipping times from its overseas factories have doubled to around 70 days and that costs had "soared". The majority of its suppliers are in the Far East.

Hornby attempted to break into the American market by setting up a factory in 1927 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to make American-style trains. These were colourful and attractive, but low-market and only clockwork.

Hornby Hobbies is a British owned manufacturer of model and hobby products. Our company sits within the larger Toy industry categorisation. We trace our company roots back to two founding firms – Meccano (1901), and Lines Bros (1919).

China's economy “opened up” in December 1978 and the timing couldn't have been better. At the time, U.S., Japanese, and European companies were looking for new locations to manufacture their goods cheaply after wages rose in East Asian countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Construction took place without approval from the Qing government, which had paid 285,000 taels of silver for the railroad and had it dismantled in October 1877. The rails and rolling stock were later shipped to Taiwan.

Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth. In the last twelve months, Hornby increased its revenue by 10%. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits.

Hornby PLC - Margate-based manufacturer of model and hobby products - For the year ended March 31, reports an 68% increase in reported pretax profit to £582,000 from £345,000 the year before, on revenue which grows 11% year-on-year to £53.7 million from £48.5 milli0on.

Supply chain problems emerged during COVID-10 lockdowns due to shifts in demand, labor shortages and structural factors. Evolving geopolitical factors are now causing new risks and pockets of stress. Affected sectors include metals and mining, chemicals, automotives, semiconductors and technology.

Earlier track was produced from steel rails electroplated to prevent rusting whereas the modern track rails are produced from non ferrous material. The later track rails have a finer section compared to the earlier track rails which includes the points, crossovers and other more specialised track pieces.

Does Hornby UK ship to USA? ›

We ship extensively across Europe to France, Holland, Germany, Spain, and Italy as well as further afield to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America. We use Royal Mail Special Delivery (next day) Insured for all UK mainland parcels above £100.

This became Meccano, and in 1964, Hornby and Meccano were bought by a rival company, Tri-ang.

Margate, United Kingdom

Hornby / Headquarters

Some Herpa cars are made in China. IHC and Model Power kits are made in Denmark, Germany, and sometimes Brazil.

What is the rarest Hornby train? One of the rarest and most sought-after Hornby trains is the Princess Elizabeth Boxed Set which was sold from 1937 - 1941. This is was a highly impressive and detailed O gauge locomotive and represented Hornby's first attempt to scale modelling.

In addition to its low labor costs, China has become known as "the world's factory" because of its strong business ecosystem, lack of regulatory compliance, low taxes and duties, and competitive currency practices.

The great bulk of China's exports consists of manufactured goods, of which electrical and electronic machinery and equipment and clothing, textiles, and footwear are by far the most important.

With low costs, a large workforce, and strong production quality, China has a comfortable 10 percent lead on the United States.

About 10,000 to 15,000 Chinese workers came to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Chinese workers found some economic opportunity but also experienced hostility, racism, violence, and legal exclusion. Many came as single men; others left families behind.

The Transcontinental Railroad was built by many thousands of workers from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, which created a blend of people that continues to define the nation to this day. One of the groups that literally took on the brunt of the work, were the Chinese laborers.

Did Chinese workers build the railroads? ›

From 1863 and 1869, roughly 15,000 Chinese workers helped build the transcontinental railroad. They were paid less than American workers and lived in tents, while white workers were given accommodation in train cars.

As predicted in a trading update issued in April, Hornby has achieved sales of £48.5m for the year to 31st March 2021, up 28% on the year before. The company said that the company has swung to a pretax profit of £345,000 compared with a loss of £3.4m for fiscal 2020.

Oxford Diecast Purchased by Hornby.

Despite ending its dependence on one Chinese supplier and hinting the start of moving some of the company's production back to the UK, CEO Richard Ames said Hornby's model trains and most of its products will still be manufactured in China for now.

Largest Rail Companies Research Summary

The largest rail company in the world is Deutsche Bahn, with a revenue of $47.72 billion. As of 2021, the global rail industry has a market size of $295.80 billion. There are over 807,000 miles of railroad networks around the world.

The model maker admits struggles over changing suppliers and currency reserve losses will impact its already razor-thin profit. Profit for model train maker Hornby has been derailed after the company admitted problems with its supply chain.

While the supply chain shortages started with COVID, they're also due to increased consumer demand, which was fueled by the federal stimulus checks that we probably didn't need to keep the economy recovering. We just didn't understand how consumer demand was going to shift, once the pandemic began to ease.

Most supply chain managers expect problems to continue at least through 2024. More than half of logistics managers surveyed by CNBC do not expect the supply chain to return to normal until 2024 or after. The dour outlook comes after almost three years of global supply chain problems.

There are several reasons why you might have manufacturing constraints, but the primary drivers are people, materials, and equipment. As we've covered, materials shortages and long lead times will continue to be an issue this year, as will labor shortages.

Who are Hornby's competitors? ›

The main competitors of Hornby include Mothercare (MTC), ScS Group (SCS), MySale Group (MYSL), Angling Direct (ANG), Gear4music (G4M), TheWorks.co.uk (WRKS), Sosandar (SOS), musicMagpie (MMAG), QUIZ (QUIZ), and Koovs (KOOV). These companies are all part of the "specialty retail" industry.

Named by F.W. Delamain after one of the Hornbys in England, reportedly the village in Lancashire. Another potential origin, however, is with Admiral Hornby, who visited Christchurch in 1870 as leader of the British Flying Squadron.

Hornby Model Railways

Hornby was founded in 1901 and is famous all over the world for its Hornby OO gauge models in 1:76 scale.

Hornby offers a range of train sets as a starting point for newcomers to the hobby. In October 2022 Hornby revealed its new collection of 'TT:120' scale model railway products for the British market covering steam and diesel locomotives as well as carriages, wagons, track, building and accessories.

Hornby plc is a public company which is admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange, and incorporated and operating in the United Kingdom.

Bachmann Trains is a US company owned by renowned Chinese manufacturer Kader Industries, providing highly detailed OO scale models. Bachmann Europe was formed in 1989 and soon established itself as a serious rival to Hornby with a portfolio of highly detailed and critically acclaimed model railway products.

View Employees

Hornby Hobbies has 200 employees. View the comprehensive list of Hornby Hobbies employees, their locations, business contact details and key personnel.

Museum, Shop, & Cafe open daily 10am-3.30pm *

Re-live the story of Britain's best loved toys at the Hornby Visitor Centre, a fantastic day out for the whole family. See fascinating displays, featuring rare products from the Hornby, Scalextric, Airfix and Corgi archives.

What is the rarest Hornby train? ›

The first Hornby clockwork locomotive, made in O Gauge, was launched in 1920. Within 10 years, sales of trains had exceeded Meccano. The railway shown on the locomotive also determines its value. Those from the Southern line, painted green, are the rarest of the British model trains.

Hornby Dublo was an early brand name for models produced by the company that we now all know as Hornby. The brand was launched in 1938 and featured model trains that were roughly half the size of the 0 gauge models that had dominated the model railway industry for many years previously.

Realizing their popularity, Ro began making his own large scale model trains under the name Charles Ro Manufacturing Company. In 1989, business was moved into a new building, its current location, in Malden, Massachusetts with 3 stories and over 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of area.

Lionel Rolling Stock and Train Sets

Lionel Model Trains continues to bring reliable performance, rugged details and realistic graphics, but now painted, decorated and assembled in Lionel's own North Carolina facility from parts made in the USA and imported.

Above: Hornby moved manufacturing to China in the late 1990s, but it was the new 'Merchant Navy' 4-6-2 of 2000 which really showed what was possible. This Southern 4-6-2 was the first of the modern models we have today from Hornby. HORNBY'S transferral of production to the far east in the 1990s came out of necessity.

The rarest and most valuable Hornby-Dublo items are early (pre-war) or late period (1963/4). The majority of Dublo products are long lived and in plentiful supply, particularly 3 rail from the golden age, and early 2 rail from 1958-62. Many of the locos introduced for 2 rail had updated or new 3 rail counterparts.

Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, is the world's largest model train set and airport. Its eight sections are connected by eight miles of track, and it features over 4,000 buildings and 215,000 figurines.

HO is by far the most popular model train scale in the U.S. and Canada. The HO scale ratio is 1:87.1. HO scale modelers tend to have the widest variety of models available for rolling stock, locomotives, and buildings.

Steam traction officially ended on the Chinese national rail network in 2002, but a few units remained in use up to 2003 on minor lines. The locomotives were also used on large passenger trains, when their high tractive power was advantageous.

No reason for the split with Hornby was given although many people speculated it could be down to the decision by the company to start selling its own trains. A decision by Hattons is thought to have led to it falling out with Bachmann in 2019.

What happened to Hornby Model World? ›

Hornby moved distribution to Hersden in 2014 and office functions to Discovery Park in 2015, ending more than 60 years of work in Margate.

They started running in 1958 to transport coal and supplies for coal miners. After the coal mine was closed, they were saved to serve residents living along the railway line. Recently they have become popular among tourists and a special sightseeing type has been put into operation.

There are around 200 steam locomotives still operable in the United States in 2022.

Puffing Billy is the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive, constructed in 1813–1814 by colliery viewer William Hedley, enginewright Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom.

The first mass market model train sets were invented by a German company called Marklin in 1891, and by the early 1950s model trains were the number one most popular toy for boys in the United States. As technology advanced model train kits became more realistic.

A leading personal finance guidance platform has revealed the valuable toy trains that people might have stored away at home, as well as how profitable collecting toy trains can be, with the average Hornby set increasing in value by 1203% over 50 years, 20% more than silver.

Operating old Hornby and Tri-ang locomotives on newer tack layouts. Operating older Hornby and Tri-ang locomotives on newer track layouts causes some significant concerns which may not seem obvious at first. The key points are: The old 3 rail locomotives can only be used on the old 3 rail track systems.

Pilatus Railway, Switzerland

The Pilatus Railway runs from Alpnachstad on Lake Alpnach to the Esel station near the summit of the 6,800-foot-high Mount Pilatus in the Swiss canton of Obwalden. It takes the crown as the world's steepest rack railway with a maximum gradient of 48 percent.

The Fairy Queen, also known as the East Indian Railway No. 22, is a steam locomotive which was built in 1855. It was restored by Loco Works Perambur, Chennai in 1997, and housed at the Rewari Railway Heritage Museum.

Documentary series going behind the scenes at the famous model-making company to reveal how their dedicated team of designers strive to shrink a new generation of mighty machines.

Who owns Bachmann models? ›

Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of its North American headquarters, Bachmann is today part of the Kader group, whose model products are made at a Chinese Government joint-venture plant in Dongguan, China. In the past, Bachmann specialised in entry level train sets.

FLEISCHMANN plant in Arad (Romania)

In the modern FLEISCHMANN factory in the Romanian city of Arad, mainly locomotives and a large part of the FLEISCHMANN wagon programme, as well as N-rails (without ballast bed) and the digital components are manufactured.