Loading Gauge, ~1926 (Hornby Series)
| Exhibit |
|---|
Loading Gauge, ~1926 (Hornby Series).jpg) Catalogue illustration of a finialled rectangular-based Hornby Series Loading Gauge (in blue and white), from 1927 (i)
|
 |
| location: |
A white tinplate Hornby Series Loading Gauge, with black finial, black band around the post base, and black or dark grey base.
Identification and dating
This item doesn't appear to quite correspond to any of the illustrations in our copies of the Hornby Book of Trains - the 1925 and 1926 illustrations show a white-and-black piece with a blue base, while the 1927/28 illustration shows two changes - a switch to a rectangular base, and a change in colour from black to blue. However this piece has the new rectangular base, but in the old (black) colour, suggesting that it might be a "transitional" item from around 1926-27.
On the other hand, it might simply be that at some point the factory decided to make a few more rectangular-based pieces in black.
Other printed sources are of limited help here - we could check the contemporary advertisements in Meccano Magazine, but since these were printed in monochrome, they won't help with identifying the colour (even assuming that an advert was completely representative of what the factory was currently producing).
.jpg){kind=link}