Bringing classic analogue model railways into the digital age with intuitive wireless control.
Hornby Hobbies is one of the UK’s most established names in model railways, with decades of heritage and a customer base that spans first-time hobbyists through to serious modellers. As expectations shift towards more connected experiences, Hornby has continued to invest in hardware and software that modernises layout control without losing the simplicity that makes analogue railways so popular.
HM | DC was a key part of that evolution: a complete hardware-and-app ecosystem that enables traditional DC locomotives to be controlled from a phone, with features that make the experience feel more realistic, more flexible, and easier to expand.
Client
Hornby Hobbies
Project
HM | DC: iOS & Android App
Industry
Consumer Electronics / IoT
Location
Global
The brief
Hornby partnered with Bryter Digital from the very beginning of HM | DC. This wasn’t a standalone “app build”. We worked as an integrated product team alongside Hornby’s hardware engineers to help bring an entirely new analogue control system to market.
The objective was clear:
- Enable reliable, responsive analogue (DC) control from iOS and Android
- Build a purpose-designed Bluetooth Mesh control layer suited to real layouts
- Iterate hardware and firmware behaviour in parallel with the mobile experience
- Deliver a consumer-ready product that feels simple, stable, and immediate
Our approach
We ran HM | DC as a true cross-discipline programme, aligning software, firmware, and hardware development into one iterative delivery cycle.
Collaborative hardware and firmware development
We worked closely with Hornby’s hardware engineering team in Hong Kong to advise, specify, and prototype the controller design. While we developed the mobile application and Bluetooth Mesh layers, we also worked in an agile, interactive way with the hardware team on firmware behaviour and control responsiveness.
That parallel workflow helped de-risk core functionality early, reduce late-stage surprises, and ensure the hardware and app felt like one cohesive system at launch.
Product-led UX
Because HM | DC introduces a modern interaction model to a very traditional hobby, UX was treated as product design, not just interface design. We focused on translating familiar analogue concepts into a mobile experience that is quick to understand, fast to operate, and forgiving when users are learning.
Launch & delivery
We delivered HM | DC through structured release cycles across iOS and Android, aligned to Hornby’s hardware roadmap. This included ongoing firmware collaboration, QA across device types and operating system versions, and iteration based on real-world layout usage to ensure stable control performance.
Outcome & impact
HM | DC successfully modernised analogue railway control by combining purpose-built hardware with a mobile-first control experience. It gave users a more realistic, more flexible way to run DC locomotives, while establishing a scalable foundation for Hornby’s connected control ecosystem.
User sessions since app launch.*
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