February 2026 News
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hello and welcome to the February '26 news update. This was supposed to be the Christmas / New Year round-up, but with a very busy Christmas period and 3 successive weekends of show commitments from mid-January to early February, there has been very little opportunity to draw breath. We had an excellent weekend at the Normanton and Pontefract show, displaying the buildings range together with the O Gauge rolling stock. The following weekend saw the annual trip down to Mickleover with the 7mm Narrow Gauge products for the modelling day held by the Trent Valley area group of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association. Finally, the Festival of Railway Modelling in Doncaster required all hands to the pump to get our club layout, Invermire, over to Doncaster Racecourse for what must have been one of the best attended shows of recent years.
As far as product news is concerned, the focus for the latter part of 2025 was on revising and updating a number of kits. Regular visitors to our webshop may have noticed that certain 422 products seemed to disappear from the listings. This is part of the ongoing review of the overall product range since acquiring the additional Port Wynnstay kits. Many of the absent 422 kits will reappear in due course as improvements are made; the NG rolling stock in particular is being worked on to bring it up to a similar specification as the Port Wynnstay NG kits, with improved chassis and wheels being included as standard.
One of the building kits to have received some attention is the BK25 stone river bridge kit. This is designed to carry a single track Standard Gauge line, but could comfortably accommodate some of the larger Narrow Gauge prototypes. The updated version of the kit now comes with wing walls, complete with short end pillars and capping, as shown in the photo of the display model below.
The origins of this kit came from the requirement for a multi-arch stone bridge for the club layout Invermire. Whilst Invermire was set up at Doncaster I managed to get a few quick photos. Expertly constructed by our Club Chairman Mike, the stone road bridge is unfortunately not so easy to see from the front as it runs immediately behind the main girder viaduct.
The bridge had to be designed in modular form to allow it to be built on a curve. As a modular structure, the BK25 kit can therefore be built either as a single arch bridge or easily extended to form a multi arch viaduct.
Anyone wanting additional arches, just drop me a line to discuss your requirements.
Whilst Invermire was set up, the opportunity was also taken to get a few photos of the Harbour-side cottages which again started off as a club project and became the 'Rural Cottage kit' BK09.
Once again beautifully constructed by Mike, built in low relief in combinations of doubles and singles, they are mounted on their own narrow base boards which act as scenic extensions to the main layout boards combined with the photo back scene.
Finally, in Narrow Gauge rolling stock news, the bogie saloon brake has returned to the product list. It has a new one piece floor casting and new bogies which are supplied with bearings and metal wheels for 16.5mm gauge.
The model also has new 3D printed vacuum pipes and revised roof lamp holders and underframe trusses.
Thanks for dropping by, hopefully back with some more news soon.
