R30445 Hornby Birth of the Railways 200th Anniversary Train Pack

New release - pre-orders invited - expected during July 2025. preauthkernow

Representing the formative years of steam-powered railways, these three locomotives were built in the period 1825 to 1838; the first is ‘Locomotion No. 1’, designed by George & Robert Stephenson, it was built at their factory in Newcastle for the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, where it became the first to pull a passenger train on a public railway, for which 2025 marks the 200th anniversary. With the experience gained, Robert Stephenson & Co. entered a design for the 1829 Rainhill Trials, held to find suitable motive power for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Their entry, ‘Rocket’, was the clear winner and formed the basis for locomotive design on the L&MR, which opened the following year. By 1938, locomotive design had already moved on, and 0-4-2 No. 57 ‘Lion’, was one of a pair of ‘luggage’ locomotives built to a Stephenson patent by Todd, Kitson & Laird of Leeds, also for the L&MR.