Model Railway Forum

Unfortunately these have commanded incredibly high price because Meccano who made them went out of business in 1964, This model was released in 1962 only two years earlier and this model did not sell well originally so they are rare. One version is listed at over £1000!

The same thing is available made by Bachmann , Kernow in UK have them for £109-95. Big difference the Hornby Dublo version has tinplate sides and is too short, Bachmann's is correct length made of plastic and has interior lights!

I know this post is getting a bit old now but I can confirm that these are indeed Hornby Dublo. They are quite rare and I am lucky having a 2 rail and 3 rail motor unit and a trailer non motorised. They do command very high prices because of their rarity, by collectors. I wonder how much the 3 rail one is worth as it will be rarer than the 2 rail one.

Hornby Dublo went out of production in 1964 / 1965 and a lot of the later models were only made in fairly small quantities so became rare. The rare ones included the Electric Multiple Unit, and the AL1 Bo-Bo electric locomotive, and the three rail version of the re-tooled Coronation class "City of Liverpool".

Hornby Dublo has attracted a lot of attention from toy collectors many of which had deep pockets and therefore the prices got inflated.

I do believe I saw that Hornby brought this back, and it looks marvelous, that is to say evocative of a time and place, and the price is substantially
improved. Holding off, for now, but not sure how long I can refrain.

Bachmann now produce a 2-HAP which looks very similar - costs around £220.