R30422 Hornby Dublo LNER Class A4 Dominion of New Zealand 4492

Five members of Gresley’s 35-strong A4 Class were named after British Empire Countries to haul the LNER’s new Anglo-Scottish ‘Coronation’ train, including No. 4492 ‘Dominion of New Zealand’, which was built at Doncaster Works and entered service in June 1937. Under the LNER’s renumbering scheme in 1946, the locomotive was given the number 13, which under British Railways, following nationalisation in 1948, became No. 60013. The locomotive was initially allocated to King’s Cross, but also spent time based at Haymarket in Edinburgh and Grantham, before withdrawal from ‘Top Shed’ in April 1963 and was scrapped within weeks at Doncaster Works. The model is in LNER Garter Blue with full streamlining – the condition it was in when new in 1937

Hornby Dublo, originally owned by Meccano Ltd. first appeared in 1938 but it was not until the late 1940s that the ‘Dublo’ brand really started to make its mark. The vast majority of Hornby Dublo locomotives were produced in diecast metal with their tenders, if fitted, being initially manufactured in tinplate. Later, with the advent of injection moulding the tenders were produced in plastic. After Meccano Ltd. was acquired by the Lines Bros. in 1964 the name Hornby Dublo became model railway history that was until 2020 when Hornby reintroduced the brand with the release of the metal bodied ‘Duchess of Atholl’. For this year the Hornby Dublo branded locomotive range has been further extended to include a BR Princess Coronation Class, ‘Duchess of Buccleuch’ in the striking early BR Green livery. Also new to the Hornby Dublo selection is another variant of Gresley’s Class A4 locomotive, the LNER Garter Blue liveried, ‘Dominion of New Zealand’. These new models carry on the great tradition of Hornby Dublo with the locomotive bodies being produced in diecast.

Each model has a limited production run of just 500