Tri-ang Railways

Tri-ang Railways was a British maker of toy trains and part of the Lines Bros Ltd group, which also sold toys under the brands Minic, Pedigree, and Frog. The Tri-ang Railways name was dropped a few years after Lines Bros took over the Hornby name although the majority of the trains were still the original Tri-ang models. The Tri-ang name came from the three Lines brothers—William, Walter, and Arthur Edwin—who formed Lines Bros Ltd after World War I. Their father, Joseph Lines, had run G & J Lines Ltd with his brother George, making wooden toys in the Victorian era.

Foundation of Tri-ang Railways

Arthur’s son, Richard Lines, was the main force behind the Tri-ang Railways system. Tri-ang Railways began in 1951 after Lines Bros bought Rovex Plastics Ltd, a firm founded in 1946 by Alexander Gregory Vanetzian. Vanetzian had been asked to develop an electric toy train set for Christmas 1950, and he did so, but the company, based in a former brewery in Richmond, was short of money. Lines Bros wanted to expand into railways and purchased Rovex.

In 1954, the business—now called Rovex Scale Models Ltd—moved to a new factory built in Margate, Kent. From 1966 to 1972, Tri-ang sold a battery-powered plastic 0 gauge range called Big Big train. Some of its moulds were later sold to other manufacturers, including Novo in the USSR and Lima in Italy. Alongside 00/H0 gauge, Tri-ang made TT gauge models from 1957 until at least 1967; the 3mm Society supports those who still model Tri-ang TT.

J. H. Doyle, managing director of Rovex Scale Models, joined Rovex Plastics early on and was a key figure in developing the OO/HO range and starting the TT gauge. Tri-ang also produced a garden railway system, the Tri-ang Minic Narrowgauge Railway (TMNR), a 10.25-inch gauge passenger-carrying line using two-rail electric pick-up with motors running at 40 volts DC. It was made in the early 1960s but sold fewer than 90 sets and was not a commercial success.

Expansion and name changes

The success of Tri-ang hurt British rivals Trix and Hornby Dublo. In 1964, Hornby Dublo, a division of Meccano Ltd, stopped production, and Meccano Ltd asked Lines Bros to buy them out. Tri-ang bought the company and a large amount of stock. The combined toy railway was marketed as Tri-ang Hornby, with Tri-ang models continuing and a supplementary catalogue issued in May 1966 showing both Tri-ang and Hornby Dublo items.