The Hornby round-up: model railway highlights of 2025

suzanna.hayes_goldfinch 3 months ago

As we come to the end of another year, it’s time to look back on all the things that have made 2025 so special. We’ve had another fabulous year here at Hornby – do you remember all these things we packed in?

Railway 200 celebrations at Hornby

We started the year with our traditional January range launch, announcing some exciting new models in celebration of 200 years of railway travel. This included our Southeastern Class 395 4-Car Train Pack and Coach Pack in the brand-new Railway 200 livery, replicating the real train's updated design, which entered service this year.

We also announced the popular LNER Azuma - Class 801/2 – 5-Car Train Pack and our spectacular Birth of the Railways Train Pack. These highly detailed models beautifully replicate some of the most important railway machines ever built, allowing you to create a display that shows the evolution of railway technology over the past 200 years.

The Hornby Shrinking Booth

How many of you were tricked by our April Fools prank this year? We introduced the incredible Hornby Shrinking Booth on 1^st April and you all loved the idea. Imagine being able to shrink down to OO or TT scale and walk around the layout you’ve created!

Maybe one day, but unfortunately, for now, we’ll have to settle for looking down on our model railway creations.

Join the Crowd and our Margate layout

In July, we brought back our popular Join the Crowd event. We recreated the seaside town where the Hornby offices are based in OO form and placed it in Margate train station. The layout was similar to one we made last year, with one key difference. If you looked closely, you could see The Libertines rocking out on the Dreamland stage.

We then ran a competition for you to win tickets to see The Libertines for real at Dreamland. The prize also included tickets to The WonderWorks, a Southeastern Class 395 4-Car Hornby Train Pack, and a free Modelu scan, so you could be part of the Margate layout too.

And for those that didn’t win, Modelu visited Margate station on the 5^th July, so you could pay to be scanned and recreated in miniature 3D form and Join the Crowd.

The One:One Open Weekend

We didn’t slow down in August, working with the One:One Collection to host an amazing Open Weekend. The One:One Collection is a railway attraction of iconic, historic full-sized locomotives located right next to the Hornby offices. It is not yet open to the public, but our sneak preview was extremely well attended.

Not only was it a chance to show off the work that The Locomotive Storage Company have been putting into the Collection, but it also gave us a chance to chat with the 2,500 hobby enthusiasts that walked through our doors.

Ticket sales also gave free access to The WonderWorks, so once you’d finished looking at the big trains, you could come and discover our miniature hobby world too.

Hornby Unplugged

We released the results of our latest investigation into hobbies and their effect on our mental health in September.

Hornby Unplugged encouraged you all to put down your phones and smart devices and spend some time with your hobby, whether that was building model railway layouts or something completely different. Our research showed that people were happier, more connected with others, and less stressed when they focused on a hobby. If you missed it, you can read the full results of the Hornby Unplugged report here.

TT turns 3 – a milestone year for the scale

October marked three years of our fledgling TT:120 scale, and we celebrated in style! There was a TT range launch, a TT:120 Club sale, and fresh TT content in the form of a blog post and a Club magazine.

The scale really evolved this year, with lots of new locomotives, rolling stock, buildings, and accessories. We’ve been delighted at the response to TT:120 and we can’t wait to bring you even more TT joy next year.

Your top model railway products of 2025

Of course, our Railway 200 and TT:120 announcements were only part of the model railway newness this year. With so much going on, we had absolutely no idea which models would be your favourites. Turns out, these were the models you chose the most:

Santa’s Express Train Set - Rechargeable Battery
This is always one of our most desirable sets, just because it appeals to both railway enthusiasts and those who love Christmas. But this year’s demand has been crazy – it seems that you all love the latest incarnation of Santa’s Express. Of course, no tree is fully decorated without it.

GWR High Speed Train Set
The GWR High Speed Train Set has been a favourite for a few years now, but this year it was so popular that we’ve sold out! It’s a great set for beginners, and we hope that it’s introduced lots of new people to the hobby. If you missed out on this set, don’t worry – we’ve got lots of other incredible train sets for you to enjoy.

S&DR - 1925 - Locomotion No.1 (Railway 200)

This legendary steam engine is a delicate piece that appeals to collectors, cleverly engineered so that it runs beautifully around your layout, despite its tiny size. The original has sold out, but Locomotion No.1 is still available as part of our Birth of the Railways train pack.

Flying Scotsman Train Set

The most famous locomotive in the world is always at the top of our best-seller’s lists, and this convenient train set is still impressing model railway enthusiasts in 2025. With everything you need to get running straight out of the box, this is a great set for beginners and long-term modellers alike.

BR, Stanier 5MT 'Black 5', 4-6-0, 44726 With Steam Generator - Era 5

You always love our Black 5 models, but when we added our steam generator technology to this iconic locomotive, it quickly went to the top of our best-sellers list (and sold out in the process). We do have some other Stanier 5MTs for you to enjoy, and some other steam generator models, but no more like this.

Greater Anglia - Class 755/4 'FLIRT' - 4 Car Train Pack (Pride Livery)

This colourful symbol of inclusivity makes a wonderful addition to any model railway layout, as hundreds of you have discovered this year. Brimming with impressive model features, this locomotive is still available on website if you haven’t got round to getting yours yet.

Whether you added a new locomotive, built your first layout, or simply enjoyed following along, thank you for being part of the Hornby community in 2025.

See you next year!