Table of contents for March 2026 in Model Rail

www.facebook.com/modelrail www.twitter.com/modelrailuk www.instagram.com/modelrailmag All of the layouts featured in Model Rail over the years have been inspirational, for many different reasons. Maybe one will feature an innovative fiddleyard arrangement, or another will have captured a feel for a particular location. The latter is particularly true of ‘Beachdale’, a Scottish Highland-themed creation that harks back to those glorious days of Class 26s and 37s. One of my biggest regrets is that I was never able to travel to Mallaig or Kyle of Localsh during that period, but such is the joy of model railways – we can create the next best thing! Another layout featured in this issue is a sobering depiction of the London Blitz, which had me thinking about the role of models in telling important stories. Indeed, many…

Accurascale's new batch of Class 31s is due to land in the UK soon, with the impending event prompting a reveal of a future exclusive Brush Type 2, depicting the unique Railfreight Distribution 31160. Showing some of the typical livery idiosyncrasies of Tinsley depot's handywork, 31160 received the unofficial name of ‘Phoenix’, plus oversized TOPS numbers, red bufferbeams and a few other alterations to the ‘standard’ BR subsector scheme during a repaint in 1989. Although it operated in this guise for only a brief while, it proved an instant hit with enthusiasts at the time. This limited edition ‘31’ is available to pre-order now, available only via Accurascale's website. Price: £184.95 (DCC-ready), £284.95 (DCC sound) When's it due? Early 2027 Web: www.accurascale.com…

In partnership with EFE Rail, The Model Centre has launched a ‘OO’ gauge model of the North Eastern's landmark Dia. V4 goods brake van, which is being produced with the aid of the North Eastern Railway Association. First introduced in 1908, the V4 became the NER's standard brake van until the Grouping of 1923. Employing a steel chassis frame and timber body, with twin verandas and side duckets, the van's design was developed further by the LNER to produce the ubiquitous ‘Toad B’. TMC's tooling caters for numerous design tweaks, including plank arrangements, lamp bracket and handrail positions, with liveries covering the NER, LNER and BR eras. Offering the ideal partner for Accurascale's new NER P6 and P7 hoppers (see review on page 94), the brake vans are due to…

A boon for ‘TT:120’ users is this DCC bridge harness that will facilitate Next18 decoders to be installed into E24 sockets. Designed with Heljan's forthcoming ‘Deltic’ and Class 122 models in mind (see page 14), users will be able to install Hornby's HM7000 Next18 sound decoders into the Heljan models, offering full compatibility with Hornby's app-based DCC control system, which is especially popular with the ‘TT:120’ community. TMC's bridge harness offers plug-and-play compatibility, with no soldering required, and multi-packs are available for extra value. Prices: £15.95 each or £45.57 per triple-pack Web: www.tmc-direct.co.uk/TMCbridge…

Three new wagons have been added to Rapido's ‘OO’ range, portraying some important Great Central designs that also saw work under the Cheshire Lines Committee, LMS, LNER and BR. Several hundred Dia. 17B general-purpose vans were built from 1910, with a small number surviving into BR ownership, some of which were converted into mess vans. Much more numerous was the 12ton capacity Dia. 9A six-plank open, with over 2,000 examples being assembled, and the design was perpetuated by the LNER (to Dia. 9B). The GCR Dia. 6C 10ton three-plank open completes the trio. Each wagon type shared a common steel-framed chassis design and Rapido's tooling reflects differing axlebox designs and brake gear, plus different doors on the van. Design work was still being finalised at the time of writing, but…

The UK's premier garden railway exhibition returns to the Warwickshire Event Centre on Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1 2026. The Midlands Garden Rail show offers a unique opportunity to explore an impressive range of larger scale layouts, in ‘O’ gauge, Gauge 1, ‘G’ Scale, and more. Over 15 layouts, clubs, and societies will be in attendance, plus a host of specialist suppliers, offering expert advice and guidance. When is it? Saturday February 28 and Sunday March 1 2026 Where is it? Warwickshire Event Centre, Nr Leamington Spa, CV31 1XN Web: www.midlandsgardenrailshow.co.uk…

FLEXIBLE FRIENDS These packs of foam-backed sanding pads are available in various grits and are ideal for rubbing down surfaces before painting or between coats. Suitable for use on all types of materials, especially plastic, resin and wood, the 4mm thick memory foam provides cushioning and flexibility, allowing the abrasive to be worked over uneven surfaces while evenly distributing pressure. Colour-coded to help identify the different grits, the pads can be used wet or, for finer work, with soapy water to lubricate the abrasive. Available in mixed or single grit packs, 10 pads are provided, making them great value. Tool: Green Stuff World 10772 800 Grit, 10773 1200 grit Price: £3.39 per pack Availability: Scale Model Shop Web: www.scalemodelshop.co.uk A CLOSE SHAVE Cleaning up the edges of injection moulded plastic…

FEBRUARY 14 & 15 CHAPEL EN LE FRITH, DERBYSHIRE. New Mills & District Railway Modellers (NMDRM). Chapel en le Frith Leisure Centre, Long Lane, Chapel en le Frith, Derbyshire SK23 0TQ. Times: Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1000-1630. Admission: Adults £8, Accompanied children Free. Email: exhibition@nmdrm.co.uk Web: www.nmdrm.co.uk WESTON-SUPER-MARE, NORTH SOMERSET. Burnham Model Railway Club Model Railway Exhibition. Priory Community School, Queens Way, Weston-Super-Mare BS22 6BP. Time: 1000-1600 both days. Admission: Adults £8, Children Free. Web: bdmrc.co.uk/weston-super-mare-2026/ FEBRUARY 15 REDRUTH, CORNWALL. Cambourne Railway Modelling, Portreath Exhibition ‘26. The Millennium Hall, 3 Penberthy Road, Portreath, Redruth, Cornwall TR16 4LP. Time: 1000-1600. Admission: Adults £3, Under-5s Free. FEBRUARY 21 READING, BERKSHIRE. Kenavon Railway Society in support of the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway Exhibition. The Warehouse, 1a Cumberland Road, Reading RG1 3LB. Time: 1000-1630. Admission: Adults…

Our reviewers George Dent Model Rail’s modern image expert also has a passion for steam. Chris Leigh Wrote his first review in 1964 and hasn't stopped since! How we test At Model Rail, we pride ourselves on the quality, thoroughness and unbiased nature of our reviews. We assess models on their looks, performance, features and value for money. We also run them on our own test tracks, which feature various gradients and numerous challenging track configurations.…

Modellers of my age (I'll be 80 next birthday) working in 4mm:1ft scale, will have lived through the development of the model railway hobby from toy train sets to fine scale masterpieces over the past 60 years. The arrival of Accurascale's ‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT threw the comparison into sharp focus, for I still have the first model of a Great Western locomotive that I ever bought, and it's a ‘57XX’. You may have already read my review of the Accurascale model on page 80. My old model came from Hatton's of Liverpool, and it is by Gaiety, a one-piece cast mazak ‘lump’ of a body on a Hornby-Dublo ‘R1’ 0-6-0T chassis. As a teenager, if you wanted a GWR tank locomotive to run with your Dublo ‘Castle’, it was Hobson's choice.…

Keep up to date with Model Rail News online. Hornby now offers a choice of Class 91s to suit different budgets, thanks to the RailRoad range gaining the pre-2020s tooling of the BR electric in InterCity ‘Swallow’ livery, along with a range of matching Mk 4 coaches and DVT. Similarly, Hornby's ‘high-fidelity’ version of ‘91’, Mk 4 and DVT are available in LNER's current retro colour scheme. Also for East Coast operations is a new Class 802/3 in Hull Trains livery, plus a new ‘803’ in Lumo blue. More HST power car packs are also added to the range, including a pairing of East Midlands Railway's 43274 in purple and 43044 in original BR InterCity 125 livery, depicting the last days of HSTs on the Midland Mainline. Virgin Trains’ red/grey…

We've extended the voting deadline slightly for Model Rail’s prestigious Model of the Year 2025 awards, until midnight on 20 February. So, if you haven't yet cast your votes for your favourite models, manufacturers and retailers of the past year, head to Model Rail’s website and have your say. Voting is completely free and open to all, with everyone taking part automatically entered into a special prize draw, with over £3,000 worth of prizes to be won. Web: www.model-rail.co.uk…

Arriving with Hornby stockists during January was an eye-catching SR ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2, the fourth in a series of special editions to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day in 2025. Depicting No. 21C9 Shaw Savill in wartime black livery with ‘sunshine’ Southern Railway lettering, the model features a 21-pin DCC interface and Hornby's new clip-together conductive loco-tender coupling (£239.99). There's a welcome return of SR Maunsell coaching stock too, with Composite, Brake Third, and Brake Composite vehicle types now available in BR crimson/cream livery (£61.99 each). Web: www.hornby.com…

Rails of Sheffield unveiled a pair of hand-decorated prototypes of its forthcoming ‘N’ gauge Robinson ‘A5’ 4-6-2T, which is being manufactured by Sonic Models. The Great Central and BR liveries give a good idea of how these models will appear in due course, although several tweaks and refinements are to be made to the tooling and livery artworks before production gets under way. Pre-orders can be made now for a £30 deposit. Delivery is still slated for Q2 2026. Price: £139.95 Web: www.railsofsheffield.com…

Dapol has teamed up with Browsers Bookshop in Porthmadog and well-known transport specialists Booklaw Publications to champion independent booksellers and publishers. A range of special wagons has been commissioned, with proceeds going to support the World Book Day charity, which encourages children and young people to read for fun. Today, only one in three children enjoys reading but World Book Day, which takes place on March 5, aims to inspire youngsters to see it as an enjoyable and social activity. Wagons will feature the logo of World Book Day, Browsers Book Shop and Booklaw, with a choice of vans and ‘Conflats’ with branded containers available in ‘OO’ and ‘O’ gauge. Models are due to arrive in March and can be purchased from your local Dapol stockist. Price: £15.20-£78.20 each Web:…

Modelu's range of lineside details continues to expand, thanks to the addition of GWR running-in boards, which can be customised with your chosen station name. Multiple lines of text are possible to cater for longer names or the addition of ‘change for…’ suffixes, with each pack offering a pair of boards, with matching posts that slot together, and featuring mounting lugs for secure mounting into a platform surface. To round off the platforms or to mark the railway's boundary, packs of tapered concrete fence posts are also available, including reinforced sections and end posts. Drill out the partially formed holes and add fine wire (not supplied) to complete. All parts are 3D-printed in a tough resin and simply require painting and planting. We tested the ‘OO’ packs, but the fence…

Add authentic levers beside your yard turnouts courtesy of Modelu. Offered in packs of four, MacNee and Williams lever mechanisms are replicated, along with the GWR's 1900s style of weighted levers. The levers are 3D-printed and require careful removal of the support fretwork and painting before fixing them in place. They each feature impressive detail, but despite the resin being fairly rugged, they're still prone to damage if accidentally caught by a track rubber or a stray hand, so locating them strategically is recommended. The levers are also offered to suit ‘O’ gauge layouts at a price of £8.95 per pack. Products: • 2634-076 Macnee point levers ×4 (£5.49) • 2642-076 Williams Point Levers ×4 (£5.49) • 2636 GWR 1900s point levers ×4 Price: from £5.49 per set Web: www.modelu3d.co.uk…

Although most of George Dent's recent modelling time has been spent on customising a Heljan Class 153 (see page 47), he also found time to finish off a few half-completed projects recently. Amongst the motley selection of rolling stock in his ‘in tray’ was a trio of Lima PCV cement tanks, which had been detailed last summer with new wheels and bearings, etched walkways, wire handrails, new buffers and a few other bits ‘n’ bobs. George explains: “All I needed to do to finish them off was to apply some suitable weathering, initially using an airbrush to apply very thin layers of dirty grey acrylic paints, applied in a streaking effect. While the paint was still tacky, I dabbed a blend of dry weathering pigments around the filler hatches, brushing…

Aside from the all-new ‘Merchant Navy’, Hornby is also tweaking the tooling of its Gresley ‘A4’ to present the option of a DCC-controlled steam generator for the first time. Three ‘A4s’ are added to the range this year, with Mallard appearing in the Hornby-Dublo range (with die-cast metal body), while Seagull and Sir Nigel Gresley are added to the main range, the latter as part of a limited-edition Great Railway Engineers Collection, along with LMS streamlined ‘Coronation’ No. 6220. DCC sound and steam generator-fitted ‘A4’ Sir Nigel Gresley is also offered in a prestige ‘Sovereign Pullman’ train set, wearing BR blue livery, along with a trio of Pullman cars and a twin oval of track. An intersting new twin locomotive pack features No. 4071 Pendennis Castle and No. 4472 Flying Scotsman…

Keep up to date with Model Rail News online. In an ambitious move, Revolution Trains has teamed up with Rainbow Railways and The Model Centre to produce all seven of DB Cargo's blue Maritime Intermodal-liveried Class 66s in ‘N’ gauge. The seven models – 66005 Maritime Intermodal One, 66047 Maritime Intermodal Two, 66142 Maritime Intermodal Three, 66051 Maritime Intermodal Four, 66162 Maritime Intermodal Five, 66090 Maritime Intermodal Six and 66148 Maritime Intermodal Seven – are officially licensed by Maritime Transport Ltd, and each comes supplied with photo-etched nameplates. Revolution's Mike Hale says: “Our Class 66 models have been very well received by ‘N’ gauge modellers so far, but we knew there was significant demand for the stylish blue Maritime locomotives as they have not been available ready-to-run before now. We…

We all know the importance of keeping our locomotive wheels clean, to ensure optimum performance, so TMC's new modular Powered Wheel Cleaner should make the task much quicker, easier and safer. Instead of holding delicate models upside down in a foam cradle while rubbing the wheels with swabs and brushes, these new devices allow locomotives to be held upright and require no extra tools or solvents. Connect the tool to a power source, via screw terminals, and gently hold the locomotive in place as the wheels turn over a bed of metal brushes, which scrape away dirt and debris. They can be used freestanding or secured to a worktop using the mounting holes. Options cater for ‘N’ gauge through to ‘O’, including various narrow gauge scales, and they're available now…

As part of the second production run of its acclaimed Class 56, Cavalex is launching a pair of exclusive versions for Ultimate Model Railways. One depicts 56301 in un-branded Fastline Freight livery, as it appeared across the network during the 2010s on all manner of work. The other model presents the same prototype, albeit in its current guise after regaining its original number of 56045 last year, following a repaint into BR blue (with DC Rail logos). Both models feature specific features to suit the prototype as it appeared in each guise, and a DCC sound-fitted option is available. Delivery is expected in February/March, and they're available only from Ultimate Model Railways. Prices: £199.95 (DCC-ready), £299.95 (DCC sound) Web: www.ultimatemodelrailways.com…

Accurascale's PCA cement hoppers return with some welcome re-runs of two popular liveries, including original STS grey, as the wagons appeared new in 1982, which will be handy for inclusion in mixed Speedlink freight services. Another sought-after livery is also reprised, featuring Rugby Cement branding, which is another key 1980s-era scheme, seen particularly on block trains operating over the Southern Region. Eight new triple-packs are in development, all keenly priced and available only through Accurascale's website, with multi-buy savings available. Delivery is scheduled for early 2027. Price: £69.95 per triple-pack Web: www.accurascale.com…

Last year marked 200 years of the modern railway, and 2026 is the bicentenary of ZSL, the charity behind London Zoo, an anniversary being recognised by London Transport Museum and Transport for London. To mark the occasion, a striking new poster has been commissioned, which has already begun to appear at Underground stations. Featuring a stylish depiction of the Zoo's giraffes, the poster is the latest in a series of ‘Great Days Out’ artworks, showcasing famous cultural attractions in the capital. The Zoo has been a popular subject with Underground and London Transport artists since 1913, when Frank Pick – the brains behind LT's iconic design identity – commissioned the first poster encouraging visitors to London Zoo by train, bus and tram. Copies and prints of the poster artwork can…

SOUTHERN OUT WEST While the GWR dominated Devon and Cornwall, the LSWR also extended into the counties, reaching Ilfracombe in the north, Bude and Padstow on the Atlantic Coast, and Plymouth in the south. The Southern and BR inherited these lines, but the Beeching Axe and post-1963 WR rivalry saw widespread rationalisation and closures. This pictorial review covers all the Southern's former West Country possessions, and it's an informative reminder of just how diverse they were; main lines, sleepy backwaters, and the ever-fascinating Lynton and Barnstaple line. Coverage spans steam through to the early 21st Century, with plenty of shots to encourage modellers. (RG) Book: On Southern Lines in Devon and Cornwall, by Robert Hendry Price: £15.99 Web: www.amberley-books.com S&DJR CHRONICLE The Somerset & Dorset Railway remains one of the best-loved…

Cast iron weigh bridges were once a common sight at railway goods yards all over the UK, allowing staff to calculate the mass of road vehicles before and after loading cargo transshipped from rail wagons. Examples could be seen in situ into the 1990s in some locations. These laser-cut panels from York Modelmaking feature crisp detail and a convincing texture. Once painted and drybrushed to highlight the detail, they mimic the look of the real thing admirably. Each pack provides the main bridge panel plus a matching outer frame. The ‘O’ gauge version is illustrated (measuring 915mm by 64.5mm), but identical versions are also available in ‘OO’ and ‘TT’. Product: Laser-cut weigh bridge Price: £7.00-£9.00 each Web: www.yorkmodelrail.com…

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“Model railways should be fun, but show layouts also require a performative element” It's party time! The model railway show season is in full swing, as the winter months are traditionally the time when we can enjoy our relaxing indoor hobby. A model railway exhibition makes for an ideal day out, as it is immune to the impact of rain or cold. The diary page of Model Rail lists numerous shows that are running up and down the country every weekend. Most are hosted by model railway clubs and provide a useful way to boost funds. Some are staged by larger associations or groups, such as the Association of Model Railway Societies in Scotland's event in Glasgow, known as Model Rail Scotland. Still more are fully commercialised operations put on…

Liveries apart, most Class 153s look relatively unchanged since the early1990s although there have been incremental updates over the years. The first change was the addition of NRN cab radio roof pods from 1992. In recent years many surviving vehicles have lost these pods as the radio system has been replaced by GSM-R cab telephone. In common with other Class 15X DMUs, obstacle deflectors were fitted at each end below the cab in 1994-95. During major overhauls from the early-2000s onwards, the window in the gangway door at each end was removed in favour of a solid door. From the mid-2010s, the original headlight arrangement with small rectangular sidelights was replaced by new LED units with just a headlight and tail light. Refurbished TfW Class 153s have recently been fitted…