This toy steam locomotive tender, made between 1948 and 1954, was built by Meccano Ltd for their 0-gauge range of Hornby toy trains. The Hornby toy trains and accessories are a microcosm of railway social and technological history in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century.

Trains were the first form of modern transport to be reproduced as toys. Wooden pull-along trains were available in Britain from the 1840s, not long after the commercial introduction of full-size railways. By the 1870s the wooden toy train was replaced with tin-plate locomotives, hauling carriages, which were often powered by clockwork or steam. The German toy manufacturers dominated the world market at this time. The First World War broke this monopoly and the rise of patriotism in Britain saw an emphasis on local toy production there.

The scene was set for the English inventor of Meccano, Frank Hornby, to market his 0-gauge trains in 1920. Hornby trains became the most comprehensive ever produced. The series developed into finely-detailed locomotives, as well as commercial vans, wagons and tankers together with a range of accessories including stations, goods sheds, signals, crossings, water tanks and signal boxes. They were exported from the Liverpool factory to many countries including Australia, Canada, Egypt, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa. In Australia, Hornby trains of the four major British railway companies became as familiar to boys as Australian rolling stock.

Two years after Frank Hornby's death in 1936 Meccano Ltd introduced the smaller Hornby Dublo (00-gauge) table top trains which were more affordable and convenient than the 0-gauge. This gauge became the most popular type of toy trains for the next 50 years. From the late 1950s no further effort was devoted to 0-gauge trains and by the 1960s their popularity had diminished. Today model railway production is aimed at adult collectors and is increasingly removed from the traditional children's toy trains. Many of the original collectors have kept and added to their interwar childhood 0-gauge toy train layouts with stations, tunnels, landscapes and rolling stock forming a historical diorama of twentieth century land transport.

Marsh, Hugo, "Miller's Toys & Games Antiques Checklist", Reed International Books Limited, London, 1995

Margaret Simpson,
Curator, Science & Industry
January 2008

The No.501 or Type 501 locomotive was first released in 1948. In effect it was the renumbered and renamed Hornby clockwork Locomotive No.1 when production at Meccano resumed after the Second World War. Manufacture of the Locomotive No.1 had begun in 1920 and this model subsequently went through hundreds of production variations for almost the next 30 years. After the War the clockwork versions was called the Type 501 and the electric version Type E502. Four liveries were available the LMS red (numbered 5600), the LNER green (1842), the GW black (9319) and the SR (793). There were no black goods versions issued.

The Type 501 tenders differed from the pre-War No.1 versions in that lamp brackets were fitted to the rear.

Production of the LMS and LNER Type 501 locomotives and tenders continued on until the early 1950s and were replaced in 1954 with the two British Rail livered locomotives, the No.50 goods in black (numbered 60199) and No.51 passenger in green (50153).

Graebe, Chris and Julie, "The Hornby Gauge 0 System", New Cavendish Books, London, 2002

This toy steam locomotive tender is part of a large collection purchased by the Museum in 1985 from the tin toy collector, Ken Finlayson. As a boy, Finlayson admired steam trains but never owned a train set. As an adult he began collecting Hornby model trains, and his interest spread to other toy trains and tin toys. He increased his collection at auctions, swap meets and market stalls, and through his connections with toy dealers and other serious collectors. Some toys were simply found sitting neglected on the shelves of remote country newsagencies, brand new and never opened.

Finlayson's knowledge and love of toys brought him a collection of nearly 2000 items, including highly collectable tin-plate toys manufactured by respected names such as Carette, Bing, Marklin and Lehmann, as well as a variety of other German, English and Japanese makers. The Finlayson collection contains every type of transport toy - cars, trucks, tractors, fire engines, buses, motorcycles, aeroplanes, ships and trains, as well as novelty toys, robots, kitchen toys and Meccano sets. It represents the type of toys that were available in Australia throughout most of the twentieth century, including ones made here by Boomaroo, Wyn-toy, Cyclops, Ferris and Robilt. These Australian toys were usually built from heavy-gauge pressed steel rather than thin tin plate, making them sturdy enough for rough treatment in Australian backyards and sandpits.

Toy steam locomotive tender, Hornby No.501 tender "LMS", 0-gauge, metal, made by Meccano Ltd, Liverpool, England, 1948-54

On full-size railways a tender was hauled behind a steam locomotive and carried its water and coal. This toy tender was made to accompany the Hornby Type 501 LMS number 5600 clockwork locomotive. The tender has four wheels and a livery comprising a red body and base with yellow and black transfer lining on the sides and the company initials LMS (London Midland and Scottish Railway) in gold letters with red shadowing

Made: 1948 - 1954

85/2582-12

1948 - 1954

65 mm

50 mm

125 mm