Garden Rail December 2026 on sale

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This month, we take an in-depth look at the spectacular Indian Hill Railway, one of the country's best-known 16mm exhibition layouts, and a star attraction at the National Festival of Railway Modelling at the NEC 21-22 November.

Then we get into the festive spirit, with a visit to the Butterley Garden Railway Association's Christmas celebrations and find inspiration at the Beacon Hill Railway.

In our practical section:

• Choose the right fuel for your live steam locomotives

• Build an impressive church complete with lighting and sound effects

• Maintenance tips to keep your railway running smoothly through winter

• A tunnel for your line

• Re-body a Bachmann gas mechanical, and make it run smoothly

• Part two of our Gauge 1 loco build

• Build a short-wheelbase open wagon

Plus, all the latest news for modellers in larger scales. 

Garden Rail is available from all good newsagents, or our online store.

LGB bubble wagon repair

 

While visiting Footplate Models a few weeks ago, Richard presented me with an LGB bubble blowing wagon. In pieces. 

"This will be great for the Marble Express at your shows", he said. 

I can't disagree, but first, I needed to put it back together. 

A quick look and it became apparent that someone had taken it apart to deal with the battery box, the contacts of which are as furry as my cat. I had a little poke, but it was beyond saving. Plan B was to fit a new battery box, and I reckoned that a AAA box would fit in the space the original four AAs did. 

All this would be a waste of time if the motor didn't work. It's a double-ended unit with a fan and gear on each end. Fortunately, all was well, so I just needed to figure out where the power should be fed into the switch. 

This took a couple of goes, but with only a modest amount of bad language, I managed to solder the wires in place. And then realised these wires were too short if I wanted to slide the box out to change the batteries. Good thing the iron was still warm. 

Of course, on the first go, the motor was running in reverse - not ideal if we want to blow air out, not suck it in. I had left the iron plugged in. 

The side panel was loose, but a dig around in my drawer full of small bits produced three screws that would hold it. Proof that you should never throw anything away. 

A bit of butchery of the original battery box allows the AAA version to slide inside it. It sticks out of the end of the cover slightly, but when fitted in the wagon, this is obvious. 

The drive band that moves the bubble wands is a touch loose, but generally works. I've no idea where I'd get a replacement from, so if it becomes too much of an issue, I'll investigate a drive band kit. For the moment though, we have bubbles!

 

Painting the toilet part 1

 

The instructions for this model are fascinating when it comes to paint. Every colour is mixed, and Artitec details how much of each colour should be added to the mix. 

This is nice, but a bit of a faff, especially if you need a second batch of a particular colour and then have to match the colour you used before. So, I went my own way, aiming for 80% of the result, for 20% of the effort. 

I was lucky that the one colour you don't have to mix is for the woodwork - Humbrol Matt Leather (62). There is a pot in my stash, picked up cheaply in a bag of five tinlets from Anoraks Anonymous. A single coat of this produces, to my eye, a nicely worn paint finish. I've never planned this is a perfect building. 

The stucco walls are simply Cream (103) stippled with Light Stone (121) using a sponge. It looks just like the photo on the box, and if I need to touch an area up, the paint is in the pot.  

ME Show haul

 

For once at a show, I had a shopping list. OK, it was "Battery Boxes", but at least there was a plan. A couple of work projects require them, and I knew Component Shop had a stand - although it took me a couple of circuits to spot them!

While waiting, I was taken by a long, flexible LED, and it was too cheap to say no to. Once I've fired it up, I'll post on here. 

Talking of cheap, one trader had brass section at 2012 prices, so I stocked up. How this stuff was still on the stand after four days is a mystery. It just shows, there are bargains out there, you just have to look out for them.  

Midlands Model Engineering Show 2026

This year's model engineering show was a little special for me. Our boat club always puts on a display, and I'd entered my Dad's Victorian Steam launch. This isn't a competition, although there is a Best Boat On The Stand vote; it's just a chance to show off his workmanship. 

Dad was always proud of this model. OK, it's electrically powered rather than steam, but he put a lot of effort into the wooden deck, and it shows. The lines of the model are pleasing, so it doesn't look out of place at the show. Happily, the "Little Brian" figure is about the right scale too, so he got to attend a show we had been visiting for many years. 

Elsewhere, the number of models in competitions seemed to be up. I know there was a dip after everyone finished projects while locked away during Covid. Maybe enough time has elapsed for them to complete something else?

Engineering shows are always home to a wide variety of disciplines, and it was fun to watch some radio-controlled helicopters operating at the side of the car park. The team putting this display on explained some of the challenges they face. These aren't drones, there is no autopilot. You have to fly the things. Lucky for me, the conditions were just suitable for the show. 24 hours earlier, it was too windy. 

I like talking to people at shows, it's amazing who you meet. The builder of this studio-scale model of Skydiver, from the Anderson show UFO, had worked on the Large Hadron Collider in the past, but now, aside from a little teaching work, spends his time building military models. Well, that and a rather nice large-scale Routemaster bus. 

Since I attended on the final day of the event, cake options were limited, but the carrot cake was a winner. 

Anyway, let's let the photos do the talking, with an album over on Flickr. 

Saturday Film Club: Diesel and Electric Blue The Movie

Another one of those videos which makes you realise how dull the modern railway is compared to the blue diesel days almost 40 years ago. Has anyone got a time machine?