The Hornby name has been synonymous with model railways for almost a century. It was 1901 when Frank Hornby applied for a patent to protect an invention that he had called 'Improvements in Toy or Educational Devices for Children and Young People'.
It wasn't until after the first World War, in 1920, that Frank Hornby introduced clockwork trains. These '0' gauge trains were an instant success and in 1925 the first electric models were made available.