Frank Hornby: Inspiring future generations
The Frank Hornby Charitable Trust
Maghull’s Frank Hornby Heritage Centre will be closed on Monday 27th May 2024
A journey that started with humble beginnings, tinkering with a toy to entertain and educate his children, to being an inventor, industrialist, businessman, politician and millionaire.
BAYKO was a plastic toy building product acquired by Meccano in 1959 and we have displays of it at Maghull"s Frank Hornby Heritage Centre.
It was produced by Meccano until 1964 but had been invented in 1934 by Charles Plimpton.
Thank you to Val & Peter for their donation of built Bayco models in April 2024.
An image from a display case (apologies for reflections) in Maghull’s Frank Hornby Heritage Centre - Hornby 0 Gauge Princess Elizabeth and Hornby 00 Gauge Flying Scotsman (coaches displayed also 00 Gauge).
The difference in size/scale between 0 and 00 gauges is significant and 00/Dublo was brought out due to people living in smaller houses where there was less room for model railway layouts.
In October 2017 filming for a Michael Portillo Great British Railway Journeys TV programme (Series 9 Episode 14) took place in Maghull and at our Heritage Centre.
Here’s a photo of Michael arriving at Maghull Station having travelled via Merseyrail from Liverpool.
Liverpool’s Ken Dodd seen here unveiling the very locomotive plaques, which are now displayed at our Maghull Heritage Centre.
This happened at Lime Street Station, Liverpool back in 1986. Interestingly, when the main nameplates were refurbished they were repainted in black rather than red.
The former Class 86 Locomotive plaques on the wall of Maghull's Frank Hornby Heritage Centre together with an explanatory caption board beautifully designed by Sefton Libraries.
A small diorama is included using one of the 00 Gauge ‘Frank Hornby’ Class 86 locos produced by Hornby Railways in 1988. It has scale nameplates on it but you’ll have to look closely as they’re very small on an 00 Gauge model loco.
We are partnering with Sefton Libraries to theme Maghull (Meadows) Library along Hornby/Meccano/railway/model railway lines and a G Scale model railway (not a Hornby scale) is being built within the library courtyard via National Lottery funding.
G Scale has been chosen because it is robust and does not require a high level of maintenance. The photo shows the project in March 2023.
This Scale is the largest for model railways readily available with the track being 45mm wide. We hope the train will be controllable by the public via a push button when the project is completed.
A G Scale end-to-end railway within the library is also on the cards but is only at the planning stage presently.
Tony, one of our trustees, together with local G Scale expert Bill are developing this exciting project with Sefton Libraries. More news when we have it.
This website aims to explore all things in the Hornby Universe, past and present, with the objective of generating a vast knowledge base in order to educate and connect enthusiasts.
The Frank Hornby Charitable Trust runs and curates the Frank Hornby Heritage Centre in Maghull on Merseyside, the Town where Frank Hornby lived for much of his adult life.
The Centre is within Meadows Leisure Centre on Hall Lane Maghull L31 7BB. It opens the same hours/days as Maghull Library, presently 10 am - 5 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am - 2 pm Saturday.
Our Heritage Centre, whilst being very much about Frank Hornby and the products of his Meccano Factory, also takes an interest in products that subsequently fell under differing ownerships, particularly following the demise of the Meccano Factory in 1979.
See our FHHC gallery photos under the ‘Products’ tag above
There is no charge to visit our Heritage Centre but donations can be made via our collection box.
Please see our disability access note for the FHHC on our ‘Places to visit’ page under the ‘Clubs, Associations & Enthusiasts’ tab above.
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Our Memory/Education Box is available to be borrowed via Sefton Council’s Library Service.
Please follow the link below and search for ‘Educational Box: Frank Hornby’ to start the booking process - Educational Box: Frank Hornby
The Hornby/Meccano items in the box include a clockwork 0 Gauge train & track, 2 built Meccano models & some Dinky Toys. Explanatory cards box tell users all about Hornby/Meccano so that they can lead a talk in schools, care homes, or to community/local history organisations, etc.
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Looking for someone to give a Hornby talk?
If you’d like one of our volunteer trustees to come to give a talk please email Les French at caractorgraphics@yahoo.co.uk
We do ask for a minimum donation of £30 for such talks to cover our costs and to bring some money into our small charitable trust.
Our trustees will usually travel to venues within Merseyside and Lancashire but please feel free to contact us if you are further away to see if we can accommodate your request.
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Hillman Imp Rally Car acquired by our Heritage Centre in March 2024
Donations to our Charitable Trust
Monetary donations go straight into our funds which are used to make appropriate purchases for display at our Maghull Heritage Centre.
We often get donations of model railway-related items, model cars, transport-related books, items of Meccano etc. etc. If the items are unrelated to Meccano/Hornby/Dinky Toys/other products of Hornby/Meccano we will usually sell them to help our Trust. If they are Hornby etc. we will put them on display at our Heritage Centre. If we already have an item we’ll keep the best and sell others.
All our funds are used for the benefit of our Trust and we are grateful for all donations.
If you’d like to donate to our charitable trust please contact our Trustee Tony Robertson at t3robertson@gmail.com
Renowned Meccano expert Jim Gamble, author of definitive books about Frank Hornby and his famous Liverpool Meccano Factory - ‘Frank Hornby Notes & Pictures’ being one - has made another generous donation to Maghull's Hornby Heritage Centre - a beautiful Meccano windmill, built using pre-1925 parts
This cracking model is on display at our Maghull Heritage Centre. Thank you Jim.
Hornby O Gauge tinplate coal truck recently added to our Heritage Centre Collection