This is one of six models released in 2011 in special packaging as a joint promotion with Royal Mail. The presentation box contains and envelope with a specially franked postage stamp depicting a real LNER Class A1 at speed. The model is 4476 Royal Lancer in LNER green livery.

When Rovex decided to produce a model of Flying Scotsman, as the preserved loco had been very much in the news, they were not to know that the people at Trix Trains had the same idea. Nor were they to know that it would start a revolution in their own range of models, which would result in as much as possible being produced in pre-Nationalisation liveries.

The two companies released their models at about the same time but the Tri-ang Hornby model was to come out top, as Rovex already had a much larger share of the market and were more able to produce the volume of locomotives that the public wanted and in a very short time.

Flying Scotsman became Hornby’s most successful model in terms of volume sales. Remarkably it took the company 16 years to realise that, with the tooling they had, they could produce other members of the class and thereby increase their sales.

Because of the popularity of Flying Scotsman, the model has been retooled or modified several times and there have been eight structurally different versions so far. These include ‘train set’ editions, super-detailed, Live Steam and RailRoad versions. Service sheets are useful in identifying the differences. The real locomotives were modified and the A1s became A3s in later life. Hornby have modelled both classes as well as other variations such as tenders and smoke deflectors. The current model of 4476 Royal Lancer is based on the Class A1 super-detail version of 2005.