Category:Hornby Dublo

Hornby Dublo

1938 brochure. Note the repetition of the two loco types [image info]

1939: "Hornby Dublo, The Perfect Table Railway" [image info]

Dublo logo, blue and white packaging [image info]

Hornby's 00-gauge system, Dublo ("Double-Oh") was launched in 1938 as a fully-fledged system, with locomotives, rolling-stock, track, scenery and stations.

The Dublo trains and rolling-stock were still metal, but the smaller scale made wood a natural choice for the stations.

Launch, 1938

The range launched with just two locomotives: A tank loco, and a blue "Sir Nigel Gresley" streamlined LNER A4 passenger express locomotive.

A more conventional (unstreamlined) passenger loco was scheduled for 1939 (the "Duchess of Atholl" set), but the outbreak of WW2 meant that it couldn't go into production until after hostilities had ceased.

The Dublo range expanded after WW2, largely replacing the bigger Gauge 0 sets.

Development and two-rail problems

Hornby aggressively expanded the range after WW2, dropping the clockwork locomotives and initially focusing on a three-rail electric system. However, the longer-term aim was to transition towards a less expensive two-rail system, and even though Meccano Ltd. started converting rolling stock ahead of the changeover (so that the wagon and carriage wheels wouldn't short-circuit a two-rail sytem), the company ran into some serious teething problems. Hornby's original points system was designed for electrical reliability, but required special insulating sections to prevent "shorts", leaving some customers annoyed that the new "cheaper and simpler" two-rail system was actually creating more complexity, especially since there were some sorts of layout, such as a closed loop at the end of a spur, which would cause a polarity-reversal in the tracks and create short-circuits unless more of the special extra "insulating track" sections were used.

This didn't please existing three-rail Dublo owners, some of whom were already annoyed that the two-rail system often wasn't as conducive to a good electrical contact between locomotive and track - with two-rail, the wheels tended to roll a layer of dust and grease onto the track, whereas with three-rail, the centre "electrical" rail was constantly scraped by the loco's electrical pickup, cleaning it, while the return path went through two sets of rolled contacts, so there was only one "troublesome" rail connection, which was shared over two sets of wheels and rails, reducing the risk of a problem serious enough to stop a train.

Hornby responded to the problem of points complexity by releasing new "Simplec" points (~1963) which didn't need isolator sections, but these appeared quite late in Dublo's life.

The end of Dublo

The difficulties in the switch to two-rail is blamed by some for Meccano Ltd's financial problems, but the "indestructible" Dublo designs, with their high-quality diecast point-bases and solid cast-metal locomotive chassis were inherently expensive to produce, especially when other manufacturers were embracing plastic and cheaper construction methods. While cheaper train-set designs could be continuously improved in quality, Dublo could not easily be manufactured more cheaply without a switch in manufacturing methods, at which point the company would be at a disadvantage compared to competitors who had been using those methods for years.

While enthusiasts might be happy to pay a premium for quality and longevity, parents who just wanted to put a train set of some sort under the Christmas tree often chose cheaper alternatives to Hornby, and after Triang bought Meccano they ceased production of Dublo and replaced it with a range based on the existing "Triang Rovex" range, renamed "Triang Hornby".