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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
"Time Flies (When You’re the Driver of a Train)” by Half Man Half Biscuit is a wry, affectionate ode to the rhythms of the railway, delivered with the band’s trademark humour and sideways observations. For a railway modeller, it feels almost tailor-made: the song captures the hypnotic satisfaction of schedules, signals, and steady gradients, all wrapped in the gentle clatter of indie guitars. By framing the passage of time through the eyes of a train driver, it taps into the same pleasure modellers find in watching a perfectly timed layout come to life — the quiet joy of precision, routine, and movement. It’s whimsical, knowing, and just sentimental enough to make you glance at your own layout and think, "yes… time does fly on the rails.” Click on the picture to listen to it.
This week in history
On the 20th of November 1920, the State Railway of Thailand began works to convert all of its 4ft 8 1/2in railway track to meter gauge.
This was done to harmonise the railway with other domestic lines in the
country and those of surrounding countries also using the meter-gauge.
The conversion took ten years to complete.
If you're modelling in OO gauge, you might be intrigued by this
detailed industrial yard diorama. Measuring 26cm by 14cm, it's been meticulously constructed from various plastic kits and features a main building with loading bay, site office, barrier and perimeter walling. What's particularly impressive is how it's been dressed with grass, gravel, trees, trolleys, pallets, industrial scrap, barrels, signage and figures – essentially a complete scene ready to plonk onto your layout. The main building even has lighting fitted, though it's not been tested. You could use it as is or carefully strip it down to repurpose the individual components. Also in OO gauge is this set of three
Accurascale HOP24/HUO 24.5-ton hopper wagons, which comes in as-new condition. The third offering is a
Tri-ang TT gauge Jinty tank engine. This particular Jinty is unlined with new badges and original numbers in very good condition. All buffers are present, and whilst the rear coupler is a brass replacement, it's been serviced and runs very well.
For those of you working in the smaller scales, there are some interesting American outline options worth considering. In N gauge, there's this Bachmann USA GP50 diesel locomotive in Union Pacific livery that's come up. It's in excellent near-new condition with no marks or blemishes, all handrails and details intact, and features working lights. Moving up to HO scale, you'll find this pair of Rivarossi 1920 "Milwaukee Road" coaches. These entry-level coaches are in excellent condition with no marks or blemishes, all couplings present, and the glazing is spot-on.
Building Character in OO Gauge with Scale Model Scenery
Scale Model Scenery organises its products into three ranges:
KX,
LX, and
TX, each with a distinct purpose. The
KX range offers complete laser-cut building kits like cottages and warehouses, often with printed texture wraps.
LX provides layout accessories and infrastructure—fences, hard standings, sheds—to add scenic detail.
TX consists of printed texture sheets, such as brick, stone, or slate, for wrapping kits or enhancing surfaces. Together, these ranges let modellers combine structures, realistic finishes, and surrounding details for flexible, detailed layouts.
Discover all their products by clicking here or read on for a few examples.
When you're developing an OO gauge layout, it's often the smaller architectural details that really bring a scene to life. The industrial staircase kit is a perfect example: it builds a sturdy 70mm tall staircase complete with realistic tread-plate texture and tube-clamp style handrails, ideal for refineries, chemical plants or any industrial setting. For adding vertical interest to your factories, the industrial pipe bridge allows you to create realistic pipework spanning up to 200mm between buildings, complete with support legs and dowel representing the pipes themselves. These industrial elements work brilliantly alongside the backstreet garage, a beautifully weathered building based on a Liverpool prototype that comes with pre-weathered brick wraps, corrugated iron roof and the choice of red or white painted brick finishes.
Creating a convincing high street or town centre requires attention to the shop fronts themselves. The
period shop front with left-hand door provides an authentic Victorian or Edwardian retail appearance, complete with a selection of printed signage for everything from shoe shops to ironmongers. This works perfectly when incorporated into the
period terraced shop kit, which features pre-weathered red brick or stone wraps and comes with a choice of shop signage to create unique businesses. For layouts where space is at a premium, the
low-relief period shop offers the same charming detail but in a shallower format, making it ideal for positioning against a backscene or along the edge of your baseboard.
Railway infrastructure itself deserves careful consideration and there are some cracking kits to help you achieve an authentic look. The
railway arches in blue brick come as a pack of three modular sections that can be connected together to create runs of any length you require, perfect for creating those iconic Victorian viaducts. The
platform steps with decorative railings make an impressive entrance to your station buildings, with a height of 18mm that suits most OO scale platforms perfectly. To shelter your waiting passengers, the
small platform shelter is based on the example at Levisham station and includes a choice of interior colour schemes for GWR, LMS, SR and LNER, along with vintage enamel signs for added authenticity.
Sometimes it's the smallest details that make the biggest difference to a scene. The
market stalls pack provides four traditional wooden stalls with a choice of canopy colours and assorted produce crates, perfect for creating a bustling market day atmosphere.
Parish noticeboards might seem insignificant, but every model village needs at least one or two, and this kit builds six boards in varying sizes suitable for churchyards, village halls or market squares. For urban layouts with a more contemporary feel, the
low-relief nightclub based on a Liverpool prototype offers weathered brown and blue brickwork with detailed entrance doors, adding real character to a city street scene.
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!
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Isle of Wight
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