📢 Please take a minute to read this personal message from the creator of RailwayModels.uk

Hornby R30419

SECR - H Class - 161 in SECR Green

Manufacturer catalogue image - please note that pre-release images may be CAD renders or CGI images rather than photographs

Prototype Era
Era 2 (1875 to 1923) Pre-grouping

Manufacturer description

This OO gauge SECR H Class locomotive model is a faithful representation of Harry Wainwright's H Class. With sprung metal buffers and NEM tension lock couplings, this model is DCC ready with an 8-pin socket ready for upgrading to digital control. 

Designed by Harry Wainwright, 66 of these locomotives were built for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway at its Ashford Works between 1904 and 1915 for London suburban and semi-fast trains. Completed in June 1909, 161 engines carried the elaborate SECR livery, like the locomotive depicted by the model, until receiving a lined olive green livery when taken into SR stock and renumbered 1161 at the Grouping in 1923. 

It later became BR 31161 and was withdrawn at Tunbridge Wells West in November 1961 after a creditable 51 years and 5 months’ service

Product videos

• 

  MY REACTION to the HORNBY 2026 00 Gauge Range Announcement!

Video links are generated algorithmically and may not necessarily be this precise product.

Catalogue listing

Model details

Prototype information

^* Class names often change over the lifespan of a locomotive, so this is not necessarily the class name used by the operator in the period modelled.

The Hornby South Eastern & Chatham Railway H Class model is a 1:76 scale representation of the British Rail Class 121 diesel multiple unit. The real-life Class 121 was a single-car, double-ended unit built between 1960 and the early 1960s, with a top speed of 113km/h. The unit consisted of sixteen driving motor vehicles, numbered 55020-55035, and ten single-ended trailer vehicles, renumbered 54280-54289.

The Class 121 was introduced in 1960 for use on the Western Region of British Rail, operating on lightly used branch lines in various parts of the country, including Cornwall and the Thames Valley. The units were allocated to Western Region depots until 1978. The Class 121 holds the record for Britain's longest-serving diesel multiple unit, operating in passenger service for 57 years until 2017.

The model itself is designed as a simplified representation of the real-life unit, with a three-pole motor and direct drive to the wheels. It features an 8-pin DCC socket for digital operation and a robust body to withstand beginner handling.