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

Back to product list

Hornby R30551SS

LNER - Class A4 - 'Mallard' - 4468 (With Steam Generator)

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

Prototype Eras
Era 3 (1923 to 1947) The Big Four (LNER, LMS, GWR and SR)
Era 4 (1948 to 1956) British Railways Early Crest

Manufacturer description

One of the most famous of all steam locomotives, ‘Mallard’ still holds the world speed record for steam. In July 1938, it reached 126mph on Stoke Bank.

Entering service in March of that year in LNER Garter blue, it had full side valances and red wheels, as depicted by our highly detailed model. It was renumbered 22 in 1946, by which time it carried wartime plain black. When it was withdrawn from King’s Cross in April 1963, it was in lined BR green and numbered 60022.

The locomotive is preserved in its original livery at the National Railway Museum in York. 'Mallard' has always been one of our most popular models. In 2026, we have given the A4 a tooling update and the model now includes the new Hornby steam generator technology, working headlights and tender lights.

Specific to R30551SS

• Running number 4468
• Lined Garter Blue livery
• Non-corridor tender
• Double chimney arrangement
• Valanced streamline body made from die-cast metal
• LHD cab arrangement
• Working headlights
• Working tender lights

Common Class A4 features

• High detail OO gauge model based on extensive research and original works drawings
• Die-cast chassis and boiler
• High detail cab and fully decorated backhead with decorated instrument dials
• Pre-fitted 21-pin HM7000 decoder and speaker. The decoder is compatible with NMRA DCC controllers, HM7000 APP control and has the Class A4 sound profile pre-installed for accurate locomotive sounds, synchronised with the chuff rate.
• Pre-fitted steam generator system featuring an optical sensor for accurate chuff rate synchronised with the wheel speed. Steam output is created using piezo element technology. This is a cold water-based system (no heating element).
• Adjustable steam output settings via the decoder
• HM7000 Power Bank compatible
• Powerful 5 pole skew wound motor
• Illuminated flickering firebox
• Quick release locomotive to tender connector
• Pogo pin wheel pickup arrangement for easy pickup servicing
• Electrical pickups on main drive wheels and tender wheels
• Fully decorated crew figures
• Turned brass safety valve
• Prototypical size metal handrails with brass stanchions
• Brass main drive bearings
• Sprung metal buffers
• Front and rear NEM coupling pocket
• Separately fitted simulated coal load.

Product videos

• 

  HM I DCC - Advanced Control System Arrives!

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.

Hornby LNER Class A4 “Mallard” (with steam generator) – model number R30551SS. It is an OO‑scale representation of the locomotive as operated by the Big Four railway companies (LNER, LMS, GWR and SR).

“Mallard” (running number 4468) is the most famous British steam locomotive and still holds the world speed record for steam, having reached 126 mph on Stoke Bank in July 1938. It entered service in March 1938 in LNER Garter blue with side valances and red wheels, was renumbered 22 in 1946 and repainted in wartime plain black, and was withdrawn from King’s Cross in April 1963 in lined BR green as number 60022. The locomotive is now preserved in its original Garter blue livery at the National Railway Museum in York.

The Hornby model replicates the lined Garter blue livery, non‑corridor tender, double chimney and valanced streamline body, which is die‑cast from metal. It features a left‑hand drive cab, working headlights and tender lights, and a tooling update introduced in 2026 adds Hornby’s steam generator technology.

Technical specifications include a pre‑fitted 21‑pin HM7000 DCC decoder with Merchant Navy sound profile, an optical sensor‑controlled steam generator using piezo technology, adjustable steam output, a powerful 5‑pole skew‑wound motor, illuminated flickering firebox, quick‑release locomotive‑to‑tender connector, pogo‑pin wheel pickup, brass safety valve, metal handrails with brass stanchions, sprung metal buffers and NEM coupling pockets. The model also comes with fully decorated crew figures, a turned brass safety valve and a separately fitted simulated coal load.