Model Rail

Model Rail magazine is the UK's biggest-selling magazine dedicated to railway modelling. Every issue is packed with the country’s finest home and club layouts, stunning photography, unbiased and in-depth product reviews, expert tips, layout plans and step-by-step articles that really show you how. In our unique ‘Workbench’ section, we tackle a wide range of modeling skills and projects. Our expert writers and model-makers will help you to get the most from your hobby and build the layout of your dreams. Model Rail is published 13 times a year, every four weeks.

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‘16XXs’–NOW IN COLOUR!

‘PWM’ SAMPLE COMPLETE

Incoming • Updates on exciting new ready-to-run model projects

NEW CORRIDORS OF POWER FROM HELJAN

SWANKY SWITCH

WARLEY EXHIBITION POSTPONED

Rolling stock releases • Locomotives and rolling stock arriving soon

According to Chris... • …it’s all too easy to be distracted from railway modelling by movie stars, and being inspired to build cameos from favourite movies.

Trainspotting locations • Let Model Rail take you on a whistlestop tour of the country’s best trainspotting locations… and the innovative solutions that have been employed to model them.

Where can I see more?

DID YOU KNOW?

Meet the Model Rail Expert modellers

TOP 5 …USES FOR A BLOCK OF WOOD • One block of wood; five uses. Dave Lowery suggests why timber off-cuts can be a modeller’s best friend.

TOP TIP

TOP 5 TOOLS AND MATERIALS • Model Rail’s scenic expert Peter Marriott outlines the top five tools and materials he prefers to use when modelling.

TOP 5 TIPS FOR PREPPIN G & WEATHERING • George Dent shares a selection of his tips for successful painting, weathering and applying decals.

TOP 10 INSPIRATIONAL BUILDINGS • Chris Leigh lists the buildings he considers to be of particular interest from both historical and modelling perspectives.

TOP 10 ignored inspirational locations • Struggling for inspiration? Richard Foster describes ten much-overlooked locations that are simply begging to be recreated in miniature.

YOUR TOP TEN BIG locomotives • We asked you to vote for your favourite locomotive and now we count down your top ten big locomotives.

Skills Station

What you will need

YOUR TOP TEN SMALL locomotives • We asked you to vote for your favourite locomotive of all time, and now we count down your top ten small locomotives.

Lift your layout • Master modeller Chris Nevard lists ten aspects of modelling that influence and inspire his work, and describes how you can apply these concepts to your layout.

TOP 10 Delivering the goods: freight traffic • Want to bring some different trains to your layout? Chris Leigh argues that you can’t go far wrong with a milk train while Richard Foster offers some alternative suggestions.

RAILWAYS under fire • Had it not been for the resilience of our railways and the bravery of their staff, the Second World War might have had a radically different outcome, writes Richard Foster .

Recommended reading

HOW TO MAKE A WAGON FIT FOR WAR • Inspired by the armoured defence trains that patrolled the coast during the Second World War, Alan Rowlands built his own armoured wagon. Here’s how he did it.

STEP BY STEP

Build a WD ‘Pillbox’

PAUL’S TOP 5 • Our resident master of layout composition Paul A. Lunn chooses his favourite trackplans.

DID YOU KNOW

Water, water everywhere •...