Main Lines: 14th February 2026

Welcome to this week's Main Lines.

Over the past week, the UK railway has seen a mix of policy developments, disruption and infrastructure progress. The Government confirmed plans to lower the minimum age for train drivers to 18 to help address future staffing shortages and improve reliability, alongside outlining a wider passenger-focused reform vision centred on Great British Railways. On the operational side, passengers faced disruption after a points failure halted services between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport, while Network Rail prepared major engineering works, including upgrades at busy Dartford Junction, to improve punctuality. Meanwhile, discussions have reopened over the HS2 station at London Euston, showing how long-term infrastructure planning continues alongside day-to-day operational challenges across Britain’s rail network.

Model news has gone a bit quiet this week, with many of the year's range announcements now complete. Slot Car manufacturers have taken up the news this week, and if you are interested in slot car racing, make sure you are subscribed to our Pit Stop newsletter for all things slot car. For Railway modellers, this week sees the announcements of new items in the Kato USA and Europe ranges, with exciting news for Narrow Gauge modellers - the Unitrack range is expanding with Narrow Gauge Points. Also announced are the latest Hornby releases and the upcoming Piko releases.

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Hornby Arrivals

OO Scale Releases

Take a look through the latest releases from Hornby, including the LMS Princess Royal Class 'Turbomotive' 6202, as well as forthcoming models such as the RailRoad Freightliner Class 66.

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TT Scale Releases

Take a look at the recent TT120 scale releases from Hornby, including a Class 37 and Terrier locomotives.

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Kato Announcements

Kato Europe Announcements

Kato have announced that two new starter sets will be making their way into shops this year. The OUIGO España and TGV Euroduplex “inOui” are now available as KATO starter sets!

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Kato USA Announcements

The Kato USA team has been hard at work designing and producing the latest addition to their N Gauge Coaches range. This month sees the addition of some very nice Amtrak Amfleet coach packs to coincide with the range of Amtrak locomotives.

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Kato Narrow Gauge Announcements

To add to their nicely expanding range of 009 track, Kato have announced that a set of #4 turnouts will be produced along with the matching curve to create a parallel running track.

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Piko Releases

February Releases

PIKO’s February releases deliver a broad multi-scale update spanning garden railway through to N gauge, led by an extensive H0 Expert locomotive line-up.

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New Arrivals Into Stock This Week

Check out the new items that have arrived into stock since the last Main Lines update. The list might be a bit long, but it's packed with exciting finds we think you'll love.

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End Of The Line

That's the end of the line for this week. We will be back next week with another packed edition of Main Lines.

Until then, happy Modelling

Before You Go...

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