The Hornby Control System No 2 Outfit

Past Exhibit
The Hornby Control System No 2 Outfit
location:
Arch Two , Area 25 The Legend of Hornby
Shelf 1

An achingly rare (and potentially unique) boxed Hornby Control System No.2 set.

The Hornby Control System was a wire remote control system for setting the points and signals for a model railway layout, from a set of levers that duplicated the points levers in a real signalbox.

The central piece was the handle-lever array fixed to a baseplate, which coupled through a highly ornamental-looking set of splayed coupling joints to a row of clamps that held the ends of the control wires. The system came with various accessories such as wire guides and "wire-ready" railways signals. The control array was designed so that it could be covered by a Hornby series signalbox, with the wire attachement board pointing out forwards through the cutout on the signalbox lower front panel.

Full-page article on the Hornby Control system, from the Hornby Book of Trains, 1927 [image info]

The Hornby Control System, 1930 [image info]

Rarity

The Hornby Control System was a complex, top-of-the-range system that didn't sell very well, partly because model railway enthusiasts normally had the option of changing the points locally by hand, Partly because so many layout are perpetually under development and never reach the point where investing in a finalised control system is appropriate, and partly because if the owner of a large layout had enough money to buy a Hornby Control System set, they'd usually prefer to spend the money on something else (like more trains).

The individual items are in green boxes, which fit together to nestle inside a gloriously large green lift-top "parent" box.

External links

• Hornby Series The Hornby Control System No.2 Outfit (bonhams.com)

See also:

• Electric Signal Box, 4-way, (Märklin 13728-4) – A control unit from Märklin's similar system