It’s our club: Happy birthday, HRCA!

Features

The Hornby Railway Collector’s Association recently celebrated its 50th anniversary – and marked the occasion with a special weekend event at Stoneleigh Park Lodge in Warwickshire. Ann Evans brings this report, with photos by Rob Tysall.

Members of the Hornby Railway Collectors’ Association took a brilliant variety of exhibits spanning the entire range of Hornby trains from the 1920s to the 1960s to the association’s big birthday party weekend in May.

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This included layouts in O-scale and Dublo, a test track, spares and sales tables, mugs and other commemorative items to buy and a members’ bring-and-buy stall on the Sunday.  

The public were invited on the Saturday, and in the evening there was a members’ anniversary dinner with guest speaker Hilary Kay from the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

Tinplate rules! Just feast your eyes on Adam Heeley’s impressive layout, with a wealth of buildings and other accessories as well as the trains themselves.

The HRCA was founded in 1969 when a handful of keen collectors of old Hornby O-gauge, including Peter Randall and Peter Gomm, decided to get together to pool their knowledge and resources and share their enthusiasm with like-minded railway fans.

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Today, Peter Gomm is the HRCA’s president, with Michael Foster and Barry Potter as vice-presidents. David Dawson is the chairman, and Guy Middleton the hon. secretary.

The HRCA soon attracted more enthusiasts, including collectors and railway modellers of Hornby Dublo, and membership continued to grow.

The highly-acclaimed tinplate train books of Michael Foster, vice-president of the HRCA, have already been reviewed enthusiastically in RMM. 

Its ethos explains that the HRCA was founded to stimulate interests and facilitate communication among collectors and operators of Hornby Trains and accessories, specifically the O-gauge, Dublo and Acho ranges, as manufactured by Meccano Ltd in the British factories up to 1965 and overseas up to 1973.

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Read more and view more images in the August issue of RMM – available now!

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Nigel Devereux
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