Hornby 2022 announcements revealed

With a new year comes new announcements from Britain’s most iconic model railway manufacturer. An air of cautious optimism could be felt as the Hornby team revealed its plans for the year ahead and beyond, despite it being among the many manufacturers to have felt the recent challenges of Covid combined with manufacturing and shipping delays in the far-east. Here are highlights from its 2022 range. To see the complete list, visit our forum RMweb and share your thoughts on the new range.

LMS Princess Royal Class ‘Turbomotive’ 4-6-2

Headlining its main range locomotive announcements for 2022 are models of the experimental LMS Princess Royal Class ‘Turbomotive’ 4-6-2. An early experiment in utilising steam turbine technology for rail propulsion, the locomotive would be rebuilt as a mix of a Princess Royal Class locomotive and a Princess Coronation in 1952 owing to post-war austerity, following turbine failure. The rebuilt loco was wrecked beyond repair in the Harrow disaster of the same year.

Two livery variants of the model are to be offered in as-built condition (R30134) and in British Railways black with early crest (R30135). Models are to carry an RRP of £266.49, with DCC-fitted versions of each also available, priced at £290.49 with product codes carrying an ‘X’ suffix.

Stanier 5MT ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0

Continuing the LMS theme, the venerable widespread, numerous and versatile mixed-traffic Stanier 5MT ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 is to rejoin its range. All-new tooling will enable the manufacturer to produce four initial guises of the locomotives, (R30224) No. 5200 in LMS lined black, (R30226) No. 45157 Glasgow Highlander in lined BR black with early crest, (R30225SS).

No. 44726 in lined BR black with early crest fitted with DCC sound and a steam generator (see separate story), plus online exclusive (R30227) No. 44755 in BR lined black with early crest, featuring Caprotti valve gear. Models are to be priced at £229.99, with an additional £20.00 increase for steam generator and sound-fitted No. 44726 (R30225SS).

Commenting on its ‘Black Five’ announcement, Hornby’s Marketing & Development Director, Simon Kohler said, “These models will have lit lamps which can be turned off or on, courtesy of the 21-pin socket. At least one of the Black Five models will incorporate a steam generator, but all models will feature firebox glow, and kinematic tender coupling to locomotive. The tooling configuration will allow for the three main motion arrangements, which includes the Caprotti valve gear.” Further innovations on these models is anticipated, but has yet to be revealed.

Sentinel 0-6-0DH

On the diesel locomotive front, new tooling will enable the 0-6-0 outside crank version of the Sentinel diesel-hydraulic locomotives to be produced. Initial versions are to see the appearance of No. 39 in yellow-lined Port of Bristol Authority blue (R30083), 3001 in blue with yellow stripe and MSC logo (R30084), and finally Stanton No. 57 in NCB green. Models are to carry an RRP of £108.99, and following the success of its previously-manufactured 0-4-0 variants, are sure to prove popular with modellers and collectors alike. Decorated livery samples of these models have been shown.

Class 423

Southern Region electric modellers of the late 1980s and early 2000s should welcome the news of a Class 423 EMU, produced for this year range initially in South West Trains (R30107) and early 2000s Southern Railway (R30106). The newly-tooled four-car models will carry an RRP of £362.99. BR-era modellers from 1967 until circa 1988, when the first units were internally refurbished with fluorescent lighting and additional seating, may question if the manufacturer intends to produce these, but for now, both newly-tooled livery variants will provide variety to late 1990s/early-2000s modellers. Tooled samples of these models have been shown.

Class 755/3 and 755/4

New tooling for multiple units will see the Class 755/3 and 755/4 immortalised for the first time in Greater Anglia livery, as delivered by Stadler. Two variants for each of the respective three- and four-car units are to be manufactured in this first model year – codes R3963 and R3963A for the Class 755/3, and R3964 and R3964A for the Class 755/4. Recommended retail prices are expected to be £362.99 for the three-car and £411.49 for the four-car units.

Class 43 'HST'

In other news, a subtle modification to its Class 43 HST power cars will see them emerge minus bufferbeam cowling and fitted with buffers and in the livery of Rail Adventure (R30218). The three double power car sets are to be used in the UK to haul multiple unit trains using translator technology, enabling them to operate brakes, while their use is also planned in mainland Europe as traction vehicles at test centres.

New liveries to join its Class 43 in its most-recent guise with LED light clusters, and fitted with MTU engines are First Great Western green and gold (R30096), GWR green (R30098), East Coast (R30099), and East Midlands Trains (R30219). The new train packs will carry an anticipated RRP of £362.99 and provide post-privatisation modellers with much-needed cross-country, ECML and WCML passenger stalwarts.

LNER Coronation coaches

Hornby is also tooling up to produce coaches of the glamourous LNER Coronation service which ran between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley from 1937. Models to be produced are (R40223) Brake Third & Kitchen Third articulated coach pack, (R40224) Double Open First articulated coach pack, (R40225) Open Third & Kitchen Third articulated coach pack, (R40226) Open Third & Brake Third Articulated Coach Pack and (R40227) LNER, Coronation Observation Car, 1729. Prices are expected to range between £66.99 and £108.99 depending on models.

New rolling stock tooling

Further new tooling rolling stock announcements included a Mk. 4 DVT 82205 in LNER ‘Flying Scotsman’ livery (R40370) at £84.99...

... and a Class 801/2 coach pack in LNER livery (R40350) and 802/1 coach pack GWR livery (R40351) at £264.99, each.

A new ‘Loriot Y’ wagon is to be produced with GW branding (R60100) and in later BR guise (R60101) at £36.49 each.

Adding much-needed pre-grouping rolling stock, further new tooling is to see the emergence of triple wagon packs containing Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) coal wagons (R60164), L&MR sheep wagons (R60165) and L&MR horse wagons (R60166).

For the full range of 2022 announcements, visit our website, world-of-railways.co.uk, and share your views on the new range on our forum, www.RMweb.co.uk.

Smoke effects to become mainstream

Hornby is to introduce a limited range of OO gauge model locomotives featuring smoke-effects. As witnessed on the manufacturer’s recent TV appearance, Hornby: A Model World, it has been developing its own system, which is to be factory-fitted to its new flagship models of LNER P2 Class 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales (R3983SS), BR A3 Class 4-6-2 60103 Flying Scotsman (R3991SS) and LMS/BR 4-6-0 ‘Black Five’ No. 44726. Read more here.

New guises for steam

Bolstering its 2022 new tooling steam locomotive announcements, its existing tooling will be put to good use, reappearing in new guises thanks to additional liveries.

Its LMS 0-6-0 4F will appear as No. 43924 (R30221) with an RRP of £139.99, its LB&SCR 0-6-0 ‘Terrier’ will be released in all-over departmental black as D.S.680 (R30122) with an RRP of £120.99, and its BR M7 0-4-4T is to appear in Malachite with British Railways in Gill Sans yellow lettering as 30244 (R30140). This locomotive and 30038 were painted in the livery soon after Nationalisation, hence gaining a distinct appearance. The model will carry an RRP of £193.99.

Joining these locomotives and remaining in the Southern Region is SR ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2 21C1 Channel Packet, re-introduced in Southern Malachite green with yellow stripes (R3434) with an RRP of £223.99, plus Battle of Britain Class 4-6-2 34072 257 Squadron (R30129) and West Country Class 4-6-2 34046 Braunton (R30114), each with an RRP of £266.49.

An ever-popular locomotive, its LNER 4-6-2 A4s will appear in LNER garter blue as 4490 Empire of India (R3993), Commonwealth of Australia (R3992) and in British Railways green as 60030 Golden Fleece (R3994). Each of the trio is to be priced at £217.99 RRP.

Meanwhile, its LNER W1 ‘Hush Hush’ 4-6-4 will feature a smoke-lifting cowl (R30126) in LNER grey, and also appear in streamlined guise in British Railways blue as 60700 (R30125), priced at £254.99, each.

For new steam motive power for the West Coast Main Line, modellers attention should turn to models arriving of LMS Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 No. 6222 Queen Mary in Caledonian blue (R30228) and BR Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 46245 City of London (R3997), carrying an RRP of £241.99, each.

Hornby Dublo LNER A4 4-6-2

Joining its well-received and sold-out limited-edition Merchant Navy 4-6-2 and Princess Coronation 4-6-2 models featuring die-cast bodies in Hornby Dublo retro packaging for 2022 is a new A4, also featuring a die-cast bodyshell. The extra weight has provided its previous two releases with excellent haulage capabilities. The chosen candidates for representation of the class are 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley in British Railways green with early crest (R3973) and 4900 Gannet in BR garter blue (R3972). The limited-edition models will each carry an RRP of £302.49.

See Hornby's new 2022 liveries for its diesel and electric range on our forum, RMweb.

Also new for 2022

Other products to catch our eye from the Hornby 2022 range include a new 21-pin DCC decoder (R7382) and 8-pin to 21-pin decoder harness (R7383).

The manufacturer is also to introduce its maglight system for its Mk. 3 coaches (R7305) at £15.99 RRP, as seen previously installed to its pre-grouping coaches. Meanwhile, its (R619) Track Planning Symbols (RRP £9.99) are to return to its range and are sure to prove popular with layout builders when planning a new project.

For more details on the full 2022 Hornby range, visit its website.

See Hornby's new steam-generating technology here

See our favourite picks from the Hornby 2022 range

Watch Howard Smith's 2022 range interview with Hornby's Simon Kohler

Get involved in the conversation. Visit the Hornby 2022 topic on RMweb and share your thoughts

To see the full extent of the Hornby range, including additions to its Playtrains range, visit RMweb