Model Railroader February 2026 Features Yellow Train Cover, Projects, Backordered

The February 2026 issue of Model Railroader has hit strong interest among readers, with a cover image of a yellow train on a bridge and multiple how-to projects that connect across issues. Demand has outpaced supply: "Model Railroader February 2026 is backordered and will ship as soon as it is back in stock."

Top features in the issue include "Building Scituate Sand and Gravel" with the explicit subheading "Part 1: A conveyor for the gravel pit," a project that will be referenced in upcoming builds. Modeler Mike Tylick will use that conveyor when he "scratch-built an O scale steam shovel on tracks from a military model, then created the sand and gravel pit for it, and the conveyor from the February issue, to work in." The conveyor piece is positioned as a practical workshop article that readers can adapt for industrial scenes and pit operations.

Layout-focused coverage continues with benchwork and a multi-deck showcase. A benchwork piece labeled "Part 2: Building benchwork in easy-to-construct subassemblies makes for a solid yet portable layout" appears in the issue alongside David Popp's continuing work on the East Troy Industrial Park project. David Popp "continues work on the East Troy Industrial Park (ETIP) project railroad and walks us through how he built the benchwork and added backdrops." The ETIP project is clearly multi-issue, with a promise of future "Track and wiring for our East Troy Industrial Park project layout."

Scenic and large-layout inspiration arrives in the feature "Union Pacific’s Geneva Subdivision," promoted as a "triple-deck HO layout" that invites readers to "Go back to the early 2000s on this triple-deck HO scale layout." A turntable how-to shows up in listings as "Scratchbuilding a turntable (American Br" but the full title is truncated in the available previews and will require the issue itself for complete details.

The issue follows a classic magazine structure, with department listings that include "ON TRAINS.COM, pg. 6, The latest features on our website," "FROM THE EDITOR, pg. 8, What’s your modeling era?," and technical and reader-service pieces such as "ASK MR, pg. 18, Can DC and DCC locomotives run on the same layout?" and "STEP BY STEP, pg. 26, Scratchbuild a modernized store." Prototype-to-model content appears in "PROTOTYPE TO MODEL, pg. 56, Sunday morning local," and commentary closes with "TRAINS OF THOUGHT, pg. 74, Vastly different objectives."

New product notes in the issue include an Athearn run of FP45s in HO Genesis construction, with the prototype history spelled out: EMD produced the FP45 in 1967 and 1968, 14 units total (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Nos. 100–108 and Milwaukee Road Nos. 1–5), rated at 3,600 horsepower and equipped with a 20 cylinder, 645E3 engine and steam generator equipment toward the rear of the cowl body. Atlas is listed releasing a third run of Trinity 5,660-cubic-foot capacity pressure differential covered hoppers, tooling based on former BLMA tooling, with "freestanding details, screw-mounted trucks with 36" chemically blackened metal wheelsets, and body-mounted couplers." The 5660 PD design was introduced in 1999 by Thrall; Trinity acquired that line in 2001, and "Approximately 4,000 covered hoppers have been built to this design."

If you want the issue now, consider the back-issue discount tiers: use code MAGAZINES5 to save 5% on two back issues, MAGAZINES10 to save 10% on three to four, or MAGAZINES15 to save 15% on five or more. With cross-issue projects already planned, including Mike Tylick's follow-up "Finishing the sand pit" and layout operation pieces such as Lance Mindheim's "Workin’ the switchback" that includes tips from an "interested uncle," expect continued practical build guidance and operational insights in coming issues.