newbie question

Hornby do the most popular range, and have some excellent sets suitable for starting a youngster.

Look at

You can't go far wrong with either, but, IMO, Hornby are the better of the two as far as a complete starter set, and one you can build up over time.

The other th> Which are the biggest suppliers of model railway equipment in the major

"John Redman" wrote in message news:ddo5ov$9g1$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...

Hornby is a good place to start with children. They are readlily available with reasonable customer support. A basic train set can be expanded. Its also compatible with most of the modern "ready-to-run" stuff. On the down side it isn't cheap, but then what is these days. Unless your'e getting serious about the trains you shouldn't bother with DCC. Bachmann offer some basic set fitted with this but every Loco you add will have be fitted with the DCC de-coders. A basic train set will come with a DC controller which should suffice initially. Have a look at some of the online suppliers to get an idea about prices and the type of engines and rolling stock available. They probably also have beginners guides. Some bargains can be found on the on-line auction sites. Todays model railways is a pretty big field catering from expert modellers to beginners but the important thing to remember is to have fun with your trains. I hope this helps

Incidently your old stuff won't run very well on modern track so you might be better selling it (its mostly collectable now) if you can bear to part with it and putting the money into the new models.

The original Hornby went out of business in 1964. The name was used by Triang until they too went out of business. It was subsequently relaunched as a separate company called 'Hornby' but selling models of exclusively Triang design. That is the company which is in business today and is currently the only one which sells a *complete* range of track and accessories.

Joueff was taken over by Lima of Italy which in turn is part of the Hornby company today. None of their designs is in current production. Your choice really is between Hornby's Thomas the Tank Engine range, Hornby's Harry Potter range and Hornby's regular range. There is nothing to stop your relative using individual items from the Bachmann, Peco and Dapol ranges as they all fit.

(kim)

Depending on how long ago your youth was, you may well be remembering "Hornby Dublo" which ceased in 1964. They were bought by Tri-ang which became Tri-ang Hornby and then Hornby, without any of the Hornby Dublo range being included.. Meanwhile, parts of the Hornby Dublo range were re-released under the Wrenn name.

Hornby Dublo/Meccano had a French factory which used the brand name Hornby Acho.

Jouef was a toy manufacturer which verged on making scale models. :-)

Not mentioned by the other responders are the European brands; Marklin with 3 rail AC (robust/expensive) and Fleischman with 2 rail DC (robust, compatible with the British/US/Chinese brands other than couplers)

Regards, Greg.P.

Four main choices in my opinion for an eight year old, and lots of minor options which should be ignored.

I'd spend my money on LGB for an eight year old.

The minor options to be ignored: Japanese, European and US models in HO - yes they are well engineered (and in the US case a lot cheaper than UK OO stuff), but its fairly hard to get in the UK unless you go to the handful of specialists, and the European HO stuff is fairly expensive.

As others have said, the Joueff stuff is probably not going to run that well compared to most modern stuff, so unless it works without fuss out of the box, sell it on the s/hand market to a collector somewhere.

(*) OK, someone will point out that O gauge is the previous standard trainset size, and before that gauge 1. But for most of us of UK origin, it was a "Hornby Double-O" which we remember.

- Nigel

Thanks to all who have replied so far - all very helpful. I suspected Hornby might be the answer but wanted to check - if you went into a Beatties you'd think the only plastic kit manufacturer was Tamiya so this has been very useful.

Showing my ignorance here, what are DC and DCC? DC I assume is as in "AC/DC"?

The stuff in our loft is my brother's, he was the keen one. I used to watch and occasionally break things. The Jouef bits were bought for him in Paris by dad on business trips. No idea what shape this stuff is in now. Why aren't old models compatible with new track? Is it a gauge thing?

Thanks Nigel, I will check out LGB as well, as he has access to a substantial garden.

"John Redman" wrote in message news:ddog9q$eth$ snipped-for-privacy@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...

Sorry! I should have explained that better DC is as you guessed is Direct Current Most Hornby/ Bachmann and other "Ready-to-Run" (RTR- the usual description of pre-built and painted models. like Hornby) models operated on 12v direct current. This has been the industry standard for years. Although Hornby messed with a form of DCC ( Direct Command Control) in the

Some older model will run on modern track. Joueff models had pretty good wheels so they may run. Many of their models were at lot less toy like than many believe. The problems are not so much with the track but with the points, some older models won't run across modern points without de-railing It probably have be a case of try it and see. I'm sure, however old Hornby/Triang wheels are way too coarse to run on modern Peco or Hornby track, old Hornby/Triang stuff won't run with out replacing or modifying the wheels. As good as they were for their time the quality of older model isn't as good as modern stuff. Wheels, motors and detail are far coarser than modern models so they will look out of place. Hope this helps some more.

Take a look at

If you do start with a Hornby set, you can expand the trackage with Peco - it's compatible, but better quality.

The incompatibility arises with Hornby on turnouts as they have bit by bit gone from thick wheels to more scale looking wheels over time. Old (and new) European models will run happily with Hornby etc on current tracks.

In article , kim writes

A slight correction, Kim.

Hornby (or whatever the company was called at the time) have never gone out of business since founded as Rovex Plastics Ltd around 1950. Their owners have gone bankrupt twice but on both occasions, due to the healthy state at Margate, the company was allowed by the Receiver to continue trading and, indeed, developing the range of models.

Pat

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Triang-Hornby was Code 140 so any locos made to that standard will bounce along the sleeper chairs making intermittent electrical contact with blue sparks flying from the underside and emitting a strong smell of ozone. One of the joys of retro-modelling is having to buy quantities of old Super-4 track when it comes up for auction on eBay.

(kim)

I buy Series 2. :-)

While we're on the "where are they now?" stuff, can someone fill me (another returnee) in on a couple of other manufacturers. I recall a brand called "Mainline" (the scale model arm of Palitoy) when I was building up my initial collection - what happened to them? And how/when did Bachman come on the scene? I don't recall that brand at all from my youth, but a look at some websites suggests that they're now one of the major players. And who are the main kit manufacturers these days?

Mark

Bachmann have been around almost as long as any model firm. The firm began in the USa by a German immigrant toymaker in the 19th century. Production moved to Hong Kong very early, perhaps the early 1960s and in the

Many of the Airfix kits from the 1950s are still made by Dapol.

...

Was that the stuff with the built in grey plastic base made to give the impression of ballast? Used to have loads of it ... but no pointwork :-(

Are those Airfix kits actual usable rolling stock or are they intended for use as static atmosphere / ornament?

Airfix/Dapol are mostly buildings and lineside accessories; there are several locos intended for static display (e.g. Deltic prototype), and a diesel railbus, for which motorising and detailing kits are available.