Hornby Dublo Coronation Duchess of Buccleuch 46230

Also known as the ‘Duchess’ Class, Stanier’s ‘Princess Coronations’ were among the biggest and most powerful express passenger locomotives in Britain. Thirty five were built at Crewe Works between 1937 and 1948, many having streamlined casing, ten of which were set aside for hauling the prestigious ‘Coronation Scot’ between London Euston and Glasgow. No. 46230 wasn’t one of those, but was the first of the third batch of locomotives, which consisted of five non-streamlined versions, and went new to Camden in June 1938 as LMS No. 6230. At Nationalisation in 1948, the locomotive became BR No. 46230 and was painted in lined Brunswick green as depicted by the model. At the time, the locomotive was based at Polmadie shed in Glasgow, from where it was withdrawn in December 1963.

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