Electrotren, 1951 Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona) Spain, model railway manufacturer trains H0 0 information

Name: Electrotren
Country: Spain - Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona)
Founder: Jaime González Forrellac
Founded: 1951
Web: https://www.electrotren.es

Scales: H0 0

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Electrotren history

Electrotren is the oldest active Spanish model railroad company, although currently the company is part of Hornby Hobbies.

It opened its factory in 1951 in the Barcelona town of Cornellà de Llobregat, specifically in the Rambla de Anselmo Clavé. This small premises of only 60 m2 was owned by a great miniature railroad enthusiast, Mr. Llorenç Cortada, who charged Gonzalez a symbolic rent.

In that same year 1951 he presented his first catalog where a wide range of models and accessories could already be enjoyed. All this catalog contained exclusively 0 scale models.

The models still do not represent trains faithfully to reality, but they do allow the creation of different compositions with a great variety of material. Electrotren, therefore, becomes a brand halfway between the artisan model railroaders and the big model railroad companies that came from the center of Europe.

During the first years of operation, from 1951 to 1954, it produced electric trains in 0 scale (1:43), which was very common at that time.
From 1954 onwards it started to produce models in H0 scale (1:87, 16.5 mm gauge), which is still today the most manufactured and has the largest market share in model railroading today.

From 1960 onwards Electrotren stopped manufacturing metal models and switched all its production to plastic.

Electrotren is specialized in the reproduction of Renfe models, although it has also manufactured miniature trains of the French SNCF, the Italian FS, the German DB, the Portuguese CP or the Dutch NS, among others.

In April 2004, Electrotren was acquired in its entirety by the British company Hornby Hobbies for 7.5 million euros, creating the company Hornby España, S.A., maintaining the headquarters in Alcalá de Henares and exploiting since then the commercial brand Electrotren.

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Electrotren history

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