Hornby Railway Collectors' Association of South Africa

What is the HRCASA

The Hornby Railway Collectors' Association of South Africa was founded to achieve the following objectives:

  • To stimulate interest in Hornby railway products, both 0 gauge and 00 gauge, as manufactured by Meccano Ltd up to the year 1973, hereinafter referred to as “Hornby Trains”
  • To bring together collectors and operators and others who have an interest in Hornby Trains, and to encourage the exchange of information and views on such Hornby Trains, thus increasing the interest and knowledge of members 
  • To publish and circulate a regular Newsletter containing information of interest to members
  • To encourage members to undertake repairs and restorations or to produce spare and replacement parts
  • To support or organise any other activity which in the opinion of the Committee is likely to further any of the above objectives


PLEASE NOTE that HRCASA does NOT involve itself with Hornby trains that were not made in Liverpool or Paris, nor with other modern makes of model railways.

There are separate organisations and groups that support such interests.  Visit our links page for more information.

 

Layout

 
 
HRCASA – Gauteng chapter meeting – 31st January 2010-01-31 PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 06 February 2010 16:35

A well-attended meeting of the Gauteng chapter of the HRCASA was held on the 31st of January 2010. Along with the operation of trains, an informative presentation was provided by one of the members on the topic of coupling hook replacements on Hornby Dublo stock.

 

 

The images above show the demonstration section of the presentation.

For further information regarding the HRCASA please use the contacts button on the menu.
 
1956 Hornby O Gauge layout PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 01 August 2009 07:36

A picture of a layout from 1956 supplied by one of the club's members taken in Cape Town.

 

Layout from 1956

 

The clockwork No 51 train set in the foreground was bought with pocket money approximately a year after import restrictions on toys were lifted by the then government in the mid nineteen fifties. Besides the home made wooden station in the foreground, the remaining buildings and station were made from a series of paper "kits" issued by Caltex garages, and known as the "Caltexdal Series". When looking back on them now, they remain excellent representations of buildings such as hotels, shops, churches and other buildings found in the many small South African towns and villages which prospered prior to the building of the national roads network.  

The loco cost (new) R4.75, tender 63c, and the coaches 75c each - total R7.63. With pocket money at 50c per week, the set took 4 months to assemble.
 
The remaining trains on the layout were received as presents in 1948-49, at which date the abovementioned import restrictions were placed on many so called "luxury items" as Dinky Toys and Hornby Trains. Meccano continued to be available during this period, as it was classified as an educational toy.
 
The only way to obtain these "unobtainable" Meccano products was as presents from relatives overseas, or from the shops found on the Union Castle ships which plied between the U.K. and South African ports.
 
The Dinky Toys shown were Xmas and birthday presents from the same period.