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Don't forget to read our latest modelling tips and unboxing videos located at the bottom of the newsletter.
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Railway song of the week
"Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line" is a classic New Zealand folk song that celebrates the country’s rail travel heritage. Written in the early 1950s by Peter Cape, it paints a vivid picture of a small-town railway refreshment room in Taumarunui, a real stop on the North Island Main Trunk line connecting Auckland and Wellington. The song affectionately captures the camaraderie of travellers, the warmth of rural hospitality and the importance of trains in everyday Kiwi life. Over the years, it has become a beloved piece of New Zealand’s cultural history, often performed by folk musicians and evoking a strong sense of nostalgia for the golden age of rail.
We give you two versions of the song: the most famous one by Pat Rogers, recorded in 1959 with just an acoustic guitar and a more recent one by Coelskog, labelling themselves as "folk metal". Click on the pictures to listen to them.
This week in history
On the 11th of November 1918, the final Armistice with Germany was signed in a railway carriage commandeered by Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch for use as his personal office. The carriage, known as the Compiegne Wagon,
was built in 1914 and served as a dining car before becoming an iconic
piece of wartime history. The coach went on to become a museum piece
before being destroyed by the SS in WWII.
If you're after modern traction in
OO gauge, the
Hornby Class 66 in Medite livery is an absolute gem. This one's in near-new condition and comes fully equipped with
DCC and sound – that's a significant saving compared to buying new! For those modelling the steam era, there's the
Lima GWR Class 6000 'King' 4-6-0 in British Railways' bright blue livery. Whilst it needs new traction tyres, it's got a good motor and the paintwork is in decent nick for its age. If you fancy something a bit special, have a look at the
Hornby 'The Tyseley Connection' limited edition train pack. This beauty features a Class 49 'Pitchford Hall' in GWR green with three Mk1 coaches, and it's already been fitted with a DCC chip. Best of all, it looks like it's barely been run and comes
with its certificate. Click on the pictures for full details.
Now, if you're building up your freight consists, you'll want to consider the
Accurascale 24.5t hoppers in OO gauge. This set of three wagons is in as-new condition and features all the lovely details Accurascale is known for . Moving to
N gauge, there's a bundle of three Lima Esso four-wheel tankers that would make a perfect addition to any goods train. They're in silver livery with Esso branding, and all the buffers and couplers are present and correct. These smaller scale models are brilliant if you're working with limited space but still want to run convincing freight operations.
Money, Money, Money!
Spending money is something the British like doing very much, they
are very good at it too, and when they run out of ideas for what to
spend their money on, along come some business people to dream up new
ideas for things they can buy. That may sound a little cynical, but the
truth is, people spending money, and other people trying to get people to spend money, is an activity that happens every day out there in the real world and therefore should be modelled.
If you live in a large town or city, ask yourself how many
opportunities there are to spend money on your journey to the local
station. Many small businesses and vendors offering goods, treats or
services are an almost unnoticed feature of our streets these days, but
such industries, no matter how small, have been successfully modelled
and Noch's HO/OO gauge coffee stall is a prime example along with their flower vendor and Woodland Scenics' shoe shine set.
Shops selling big-ticket items have not been left without a model equivalent either, Gaugemaster's Fordhampton range of kits now includes furniture and car showrooms for high streets with big ideas. But let us not forget where all of this money comes from in the first place, a good old traditional bank, and to model that, you will need a good old traditional model such as Metcalfe's low-relief card kit!
Of course, places to spend money only tells half the story and the
money spenders themselves are often needed to complete the scene. This
is one area where you'll have absolutely no trouble sourcing appropriate
models because as figure sets have become more sophisticated, the range
of poses featured and the number of intended situations for them to be
placed has increased also. People queuing as though waiting to be served is a category that seems to be
flourishing, as are specific cameo-scene figure-sets portraying money
spenders in many situations from a market to a bargain hunt.
When searching for customer figures, don't think you are limited to specific shopping themed sets either. Noch's waiting passengers set is intended to portray passengers waiting for a train, however, take a
closer look because the figures in such sets exhibit the exact same body
language as somebody waiting in a queue and are ideal for representing
customers at a kiosk or stall in or around a station environment.
Lastly, the subject of money doesn't always involve a purchase.
Few larger railway stations (and virtually no tube stations) in the UK
would be the same without a busker or two entertaining the travelling public in exchange for some cash, and fortunately, these hardy street entertainers have not been forgotten in model-form either, giving you one more great opportunity to model the subject of money!
Modelling tips
Unboxing videos
You want to know what is inside the boxes of modelling products? We open them for you!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified before everyone else or simply click on this selection. Please note that
videos are at the bottom of each page.
You can access all the unboxing videos by
visiting this page or simply click on the
link called "videos" on
our website.
Events and exhibitions
Find all the latest events and exhibitions for the model railway world, on the
UK Model Shop Events directory. Hopefully, 2025 will still give us plenty of opportunities to attend events all over the country.
Do you need to order?
Send us an email or give us a call to check
availability or to reserve anything, whatever scale you model in. As
usual, if we do not have in stock what you are looking for, we will
order it for you and you will get it fast (usually within a week if the
manufacturer has it in stock). We place weekly orders with most
suppliers.
Remember, you can park for free for one hour on the High Street. So no excuse not to come and visit us!
Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. Obviously, our website is open 24h a day and we can post to most locations, including Europe, USA and Australia.
Upstairs Downstairs
3 Pier Street
Sandown, PO36 8JR
Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 406 616
http://www.trainshop.co.uk or find us on Facebook
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