As part of Railway 200 celebrations, Hornby has announced it will make OO gauge models of the full-size LNER Railway 200 train.

The Azuma which is operated by London North Eastern Railway (LNER) was released in its Railway 200 livery with the name “Darlington” on the power car sides back in January.

The livery consists of pictures of Locomotion the first steam engine to haul passengers, there are images including the first edition of the Northern Echo newspaper which started its publishing days in Darlington and went on to become the the country’s first national newspaper.

Other images on the sides of the unit consist of the Darlington Railway Museum at Hopetown, a picture of a LNER Azuma and the new design for the entrance to Darlington station.

The train also has the logos for both Railway 200 and the S&DR200 Festival, the latter being a 9-month celebration of the S&DR which will be held at various sites across the Tees Valley and County Durham.

With the train currently in front-line service carrying passengers across the LNER Network, Hornby has decided to replicate this train with work already underway to bring the high quality of the livery to life on models of 1 in 76 scale.

With the launch of Hornby’s new Azuma trainset also coming up this new Railway 200 livery Azuma model will be the perfect addition to such trainset while collectors will be able to buy both a model of Locomotion No.1 and the LNER Railway 200 liveried Azuma from Hornby showcasing pioneer and present passenger carrying motive power around Darlington.

“We’re so proud of our Railway 200 Azuma train named “Darlington” as it showcases numerous innovations that came out of the region. It’s really exciting that the livery will now also be available in miniature for model rail enthusiasts and collectors.”

Stuart Thomas, Communications Director at LNER