A plaque celebrating the birthplace of Frank Hornby has been reinstated on Friday the 23rd of June 2023 at Liverpool Lime Street station after going missing almost a quarter of a century ago.
The plaque went missing during station renovations in 1999 and was never seen in the station again.
Frank Hornby was born in 1863 at 77 Copperas Hill, which was cleared for the Liverpool Lime Street expansion. The plaque was put in place on the station concourse in 1994 and marked the location of his first home.
Network Rail and the Railway Heritage Trust attempted to solve the mystery of the missing plaque with the intention of having it remade and made contact with Hornby Railway Collector's Association, seeking images of the original tribute in order to support the planned reproduction.
The Association set about finding such images and published a short article in its newsletter which amazingly led to one of its readers getting in touch to reveal that they, in fact, held the original plaque!
Hornby became a renowned businessman, engineer and politician alongside being the creator of some of the most successful engineering-inspired toy brands of the 20th century, including Meccano, Dinky cars and, of course, Hornby Model Railway sets.
Tim Hedley-Jones, director of the Railway Heritage Trust, said:
“We fully expected the original plaque to be long lost, so it was beyond all our hopes to find the real thing when we set about researching about how we were going to reproduce it.”
“When we contacted the new owner, he told us he had purchased the plaque at an auction a decade ago unaware that it had been removed from the station without permission. Thankfully, he's delighted to see the plaque returned to the station, which is a great outcome for everyone”
Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill and Network Rail chair, said:
“Frank Hornby's toys have enthralled and inspired millions of children and adults across the globe, and the plaque celebrating him and his achievements was put up in 1994 so people would know that Liverpool Lime Street station was where it all started.”
“Despite not being on display in the recent past, it's great that the original plaque has now been found, so this fascinating piece of history can once again be on display and enjoyed by present and future generations.”
Today the original plaque has been returned to its rightful place in the station and unveiled by Network Rail Chair Lord Peter Hendy, with Tim Hedley-Jones from the Railway Heritage Trust and members of the HRCA and Network Rail teams also present.”
Here in Canada, many children, myself included, were introduced to the subjects of engineeriing by Meccano and to the railways by Hornby and Hornby-Dublo trains and were educated by reading Meccano Magazine. I remember Judy, a girl in my High School class resenting her father banning her from geting a Meccano set, leading to some of us boys inviting her over to use our sets