In the December edition of Railway Modeller, we announce the winners and runners-up in the Peco RAIL200 Model Layout Competition, which celebrated this year's 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, and set participants the challenge of building a layout or diorama in a space of just 750mm x 305mm. The winning and runner-up layouts, together with other selected finalists, are featured in this issue and will be on display at the National Exhibition Centre for the National Festival of Railway Modelling on 22 & 23 November. Other features include the Diamond Jubilee of the London & North Eastern Railway Society, and the story of how a group of modellers re-created the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway station of Sturminster Newton for display in that town's museum.

RAILWAY OF THE MONTH

Ryburn
A P4 model based on the Rishworth branch in Yorkshire, and set in the pre-Grouping era of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.

PLAN OF THE MONTH

Ryecroft Arena
A modern era N gauge urban station in just 5' 7" x 2'; Bred Albin, an OO gauge Scottish terminus modelled in winter and set in the BR steam era; and Millfield, an OO9 narrow gauge layout built on a cardboard base. A suitably seasonal article also shows how a layout was built to run around the base of a Christmas tree!

PLUS ALL THE LATEST NEWS & REVIEWS...

This issue, we review the new OO gauge Port of Par Bagnall 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotives in OO gauge from Rapido Trains UK – with the cover image of the two models set up especially to re-create the working days of these engines at Par Docks. Other new models reviewed include the GB Railfreight Class 69 diesel from Bachmann in OO; the Hornby TT:120 Branch Line Freight Train Set with the Adams B4 locomotive; the all-new Gresley V2 2-6-2 in N from Graham Farish/Bachmann; and the Class 153 diesel railcar in O gauge from Heljan.
Railway of the Month is an OO gauge model of the famous trans-Pennine Woodhead Route, which was first featured as the Plan of the Month in the December 2017 issue and is now well on the way to completion. Other layouts include Choates Lane, an N gauge model based on the High Speed 1 route just outside London; Rushwick, a compact 1960s BR Western Region branch line terminus in OO; and Jennings' Sidings, an O gauge model that evolved from an industrial shunting layout into a Great Western Railway branch terminus, but can still be operated in either form.
Constructional articles include the building of a large iron arch bridge in N gauge, mainly from card sheet; a scratch-built model based on industrial Beyer Garratt locomotive William Francis in 3mm scale; and some innovative methods by Giles Favell, who has built a 16mm scale layout on which the radio-controlled locomotives even have animated driver figures!