Hi Lew, excellent memories, it is a real chef d'oeuvre, the best reference to French Hornby, Chris Graebe is the best Hornby historian and his books are full of interesting facts.
I am impressed by the quality of the two pieces you present, not every day you see a Hornby for the South African Railways, export models are especially rare pieces. The Mitropa is also excellent, they where produced during a short time and did not have a great success so also rare to find today. Congratulations for those two wonderful pieces, a perfect addition to a great collection.
All my best wishes, Daniel