Nationality: British
Hornby Hobbies Limited is a British-owned scale model manufacturing company which has been focused on model railways. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, Hornby launched its first OO gauge train. In 1964, Hornby and Meccano were bought by their competitor, Tri-ang Railways, and sold when Tri-ang went into receivership. Hornby Railways became independent again in the 1980s, and became listed on the London Stock Exchange, but due to financial troubles reported in June 2017, became majority owned by British turnaround specialist Phoenix Asset Management.
Hornby Hobbies bought model paint manufacturer Humbrol and their scale model kit subsidiary Airfix in 2007. The die-cast model car brand Corgi was added in 2008.
Hornby's other brands include for model railways Bassett-Lowke, Jouef, Lima, Rivarossi and Electrotren, the large scale car model kit Pocher, and the scale car racing Scalextric.
