sendNewsletterForm.php (GIF Image, 3 × 3 pixels)

Modellings tips and answers - Adding lights to a layout

Hello

Don't forget to read our latest modelling tips and unboxing videos located at the bottom of the newsletter.

Most images in this newsletter are clickable for more details.

Feel free to send this newsletter to your friends, family and club members if you think they will benefit from it. They can subscribe for free.

Railway song of the week

Elijah Wald’s rendition of “Casey Jones” draws on one of America’s most enduring folk ballads, which tells the story of the legendary railway engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones, who died in a train crash in 1900 after remaining at the controls in an attempt to save his passengers. The song celebrates courage, duty and sacrifice, while also reflecting how real events become part of popular folklore through music. As a musician, historian and author, Elijah Wald is renowned for his meticulous research into American roots music and folk traditions. His performances combine historical authenticity with engaging storytelling, helping modern audiences appreciate the cultural significance and rich heritage behind classic folk songs. Click on the picture to listen to it:

This week in history

On the 6th of August 1900, after less than two years in operation, the failing Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick Railway, East Lothian, Scotland, was absorbed into the North British Railway company. It then became part of LNER in 1923.

Big things are happening in Fordhampton

Fordhampton is a fictional town created by Gaugemaster and is described by them as 'a bustling market town on a busy mainline running through the rolling South Downs'. A good selection of OO gauge plastic kits are produced in the Fordhampton range portraying a variety of buildings and structures that are imagined to exist in the town. This allows modellers to create their own versions of Fordhampton incorporating railway and town buildings as well as features such as an airfield on the outskirts, but the town is growing, and as appetite for these models increases, so does Gaugemaster's response to now include hotels, schools, cafes, nurseries, a church and even some models from further afield such as a depiction of Teignmouth station.

Now don't be fooled into thinking Fordhampton is a picture-postcard town where the good folk of the southern counties go to retire. It has industry too, and lots of it, including docks with cranes and warehouses, electricity substations, gas works, factories with huge industrial chimneys that can be seen for miles around and agriculture all just waiting to be modelled using the kits in the range.

The concept of Fordhampton gives modellers inspiration with a range to back it up. Where Fordhampton is brilliant is in the size of its range, so your Fordhampton can be big or small, industrial or by the sea, pretty or pretty ugly and focused on the town or focused on the railway, the choice is yours, and we all like choice don't we!

Modelling tips

We keep on adding modelling tips to our website. Here are a few:

You can read all the articles sorted by categories or from the most recent published one on our website.

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 websit e.

Events and exhibitions

Find all the latest events and exhibitions for the model railway world, on the UK Model Shop Events directory. Hopefully, 2026 will 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

If for some reason you do not want to receive this newsletter anymore, click this link to unsubscribe