Mumfie

17 October 2009

I am fortunate enough to have both ... well, my son has the scalextric set! However my Hornby railway is a vintage hornby dublo set, some pre-war. I have built it up in to probably one of the largest collections around. You can use it for hours on end and it captivates the mind. The details are astounding and the craftsmanship is awesome. They made these items to last and some of my locomotives are around 60 years old and run as well as they did when they were first used. As far as I am aware, they have never been serviced. As the years progressed, so did Hornby. In the late 50's/early 60's they started to produce plastic models. Plastic enabled Hornby models to become more life-like. Plastic was utilised to give brilliant detail, something you struggled to achieve with metal models. However, plastic is certainly not as durable and is very brittle at times. The early plastic Hornby models are very collectable as probably very few remain in mint condition. The older metal models easily last longer, even if you do lose a bit of paint here or there, eith one exception. They do tend to rust if you leave them in an area exposed to damp. My Grandfather originally passed this railway down to me when he sadly passed away. I take great pleasure looking after it and building it in to the magnificent collection that I have today. I hope he is proud of me. I in turn can pass this down to my son (who is currently 3 years old). He is also captivated by this railway and it will give us endless enjoyment as the years pass. I can't really say that about the Scalextric set... fun that it is, its limitations are there for all to see and I am sure that it won't outlast the Hornby Dublo.