Frank Hornby

Frank Hornby (1863-1936) has the distinction of being responsible for originating not just one, but three of the biggest British toy brands.

Meccano

First came Meccano, a construction toy that started out as "Mechanics Made Simple", and which evolved into a smoother more stylised form that we now recognise as the classic Meccano shapes.

Hornby Trains/ Hornby Railways / Hornby Dublo

Next came Hornby Trains / Hornby railways. Since Hornby was already making toys that used all-metal wheels and parts, metal locomotives and carriages were an obvious development that, due to their small parts, couldn't easily be made at small scales using Meccano. Hornby used Meccano to prototype methods of making track points, and specifically, ways of constructing two-rail track with points systems that that kept the two rails electrically isolated. After Bing and Bassett-Lowke had brought out their "table railway" 00-gauge format trains, Hornby recognised that the smaller size and reduced material costs opened up the model railway format to a range of potential customers who couldn't afford the price or the space needed for a gauge 0 layout, and produced Hornby Dublo.

Dinky Toys

With Dublo becoming a success, Hornby pushed the format and started producing a range of matching 1/43-scale trackside accessories such as signal boxes and stations, and if a customer had a model railway layout with level crossings and bridges and houses and roads, what they needed to complete the set was a matching range of 1/43-scale cars, which Hornby then obligingly produced. Since these could also be sold to people who didn't actually own a train set, Hornby gave them a separate brandname: "Dinky Toys".