The History of Hornby's Lyddle End

[montyburns56]

I've read the article in N Gauge Now magazine and it does give a lot of interesting information about the range and some speculation about why Hornby stopped making it. The article does reveal that there was actually 250 different items and it does suggest that the range became a bit too sprawling. It also mentions that the introduction of the Bachmann Scenecraft may have had an impact on sales, but I must admit that I hadn't realised that it was Hornby that produced their range a few years before Bachmann.

The article mentions another factor that I'd forgotten about, namely that the Hornby items were a bit twee. I do remember thinking at the time that the Hornby items tended to be painted in a slightly garish, almost toytown way compared to the more realistic Bachmann range. Plus the Hornby range seemed to be mostly geared towards steam period modellers whereas Bachmann were producing more items that could be used by diesel modellers. I think that this is a problem which is symptomatic of the whole Hornby business model, which I suspect is just one reason why Bachmann are overtaking them.

One amusing part is where it mentions the "high" cost of the later items such as £18.90 for Bus Garage model! I suppose it was over fifteen years ago though.