The Railway Shed

In 1964 Meccano Ltd were in financial difficulty and offered themselves for sale to Lines Bros. Lines bought them and, as a still functioning company, they joined the Lines Group. Hornby Dublo production had already closed down by then and it is thought Rovex Scale Models Ltd (another member of the Lines Group) 'bought' the 'Hornby' and 'Dublo' names from Meccano Ltd. Meccano Ltd remained a contributor to Lines success until Lines went into liquidation in 1971.

  In 1965 Lines Bros. bought a controlling share in G & R Wrenn Ltd. and Wrenn was placed under the watchful eye of Rovex.  George Wrenn saw the Hornby Dublo tooling at Meccano and asked if it was available. After much discussion about whether they wanted life breathed into the Hornby Dublo system again, Lines decided that G&R Wrenn Ltd could buy some of the tooling and in 1966 produce the first railway models under the WRENN brand name.  I

n 1971 the Lines Bros Ltd group went into receivership. Wrenn bought itself free from the receiver and they bought more of the tools, including those for the grain wagon, mineral wagon and steel sided wagon, unfortunately some other tooling had been lost . Then Wrenn retooled some of the missing parts and from 1972 began trading under the name  'wrenn RAILWAYS'  selling mostly die-cast products from the former 'Hornby Dublo' range. Wrenn still produces superb locomotives today and many are highly collectable and hold their prices extremely well.