City of Liverpool locomotive 46247 (Hornby Dublo 3226)

Exhibit
City of Liverpool locomotive 46247 (Hornby Dublo 3226) The similar two-rail "City of London" loco, 1959 image. The 1959 text still referred to the "Montrose" model being the corresponding three-rail version (i)
location:
Arch Four , Area 37 Hornby Wall (display)
Shelf 7

Original loco details:

LMS	No.46247	4-6-2
Originally built:		1947

The earlier "Duchess of Montrose" model that "Liverpool" replaced (~1956 image) [image info]

A maroon three-rail BR 4-6-2 Duchess Class steam locomotive 46247 "City of Liverpool" (Hornby-Dublo model number 3226), from the early 1960s.

Launch, 1961

The "City of Liverpool" model appeared in around 1961 (or at least, after the 1959 Hornby Dublo Book of Trains). It was based on the recently-designed maroon Dublo two-rail 46245 City of London model (Dublo 2226), and was the replacement for the earlier green three-rail Duchess of Montrose Dublo loco.

It was "welcomed" in an editorial article in Meccano Magazine in the December 1961 issue, "Co-Bo Diesel Is Here – And A New Pacific" (the "City of Liverpool" being the "New Pacific" loco referred to in the title).

City of Liverpool now gets listed as the Dublo range's three-rail "Duchess Class" loco (this from 1963), although the pictured model is still the two-rail "London", probably because the company were now prioritising two-rail

Selection

The choice of "City of Liverpool" for the last Dublo three-rail passenger steam loco model to be released was appropriate, given that Meccano Ltd. was in Liverpool, and Frank Hornby had been very much a Liverpool man. One might imagine that if the company was already showing signs of potentially being in trouble, selecting the "Liverpool" Duchess-Class loco may have been a symbolic act.

The original locomotive

Although this locomotive was originally built in 1943 with streamlining, its streamlined casing was removed in 1947. This post-war model is of its non-streamlined incarnation.

External links

• "Co-Bo Diesel Is Here – And A New Pacific", Meccano Magazine December 1961, p456-457
• Hornby Dublo 3-Rail 3226 Loco No.46247 City of Liverpool (rorylofthouse.co.uk)

• Locomotive 46247 database entry (railuk.info)