As 2025 draws to a close, we’re taking a moment to rewind and reflect on what’s been an unforgettable year here at Rails of Sheffield. 

From exciting milestones and industry recognition to the opening of our brand-new Sheffield Station satellite shop, it’s been a year shaped by growth, innovation, and—most importantly—your continued support. 

Join us as we look back at some of the standout moments, achievements, and news stories that made 2025 such a special chapter in the Rails journey.

We simply had to start this email off with the news of our all-new satellite location at Sheffiled Railway Station! Our new location started strong over our grand opening weekend, with thousands of visitors coming through the doors on Saturday alone. Pop music and model railway legends Pete Waterman OBE and Jools Holland joined the celebrations and to cut the ribbon - and even treated us to a classic honky tonk tune on the station piano! Over the weekend, we were delighted to welcome a diverse group of guests — including new and returning customers, members of the national press, and many friends from across the industry. On behalf of the entire Rails team, we extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us and helped make our special day truly memorable!

We are honoured to have been voted as your favourite retailer once again in 2025, winning the Hornby Magazine, BRM and Model Rail Awards for Retailer of the Year!  We really appreciate each and every one of you who takes the time to vote in these annual awards ceremonies - and we will continue to keep surpassing your expectations as we head into 2026.

Earlier in 2025, we launched our all new Rails Rewards Scheme! If you haven't already signed up at our website, then we certainly recommend doing so today. You can earn points for every £1 you spend at Rails and redeem them for vouchers at a later date. As you rise up through the tiers we even offer exclusive special features and rewards too!

In case you missed it, Rails is now offering a range of custom services under our Rails Bespoke brand!  We already offered high-quality DCC fitting and weathering services before but we have now greatly expanded our offering to include advanced weathering, sound fitting and other customisation services to help make your model truly one of a kind! We are investing in state of the art technology and have recruited  expert staff from the industry to help us offer the best possible services that we can!

Every single month at Rails we host special events at our stores!  We were delighted to welcome many of our friends across the industry to the store this year - including all sorts of manufacturers, layouts and demonstrators. There is always something to get involved with no matter what your model railway interest is - so stay tuned for more events in 2026.

At Rails we are always looking to expand our product offering  and support new entrants to the model railway industry! This year we were delighted to welcome a number of new brands to our stable - offering model railway accessories, rolling stock, plastic brick kits and more. Some of the new brands this year included:

• Rusty Rails Modelling -  3D Printed layout accessories
• Miniocity - Low price card model kits
• Reobrix - Plastic Brick Model Kits
• Railtec Transfers - High quality decals and transfers
• Bryngaer Models - Beautiful OO Gauge Cambrian Wagons

We're always working hard to bring you new and exciting exclusive products, collaborating with beloved British brands and charities too! This year we continued working with some previous friends and established some new relationships too!

Did you know that we are a corporate and commercial partner of the National Railway Museum?  We work in partnership with the NRM to help support our national railway heritage - and we also bring you special new jointly produced models as part of our Railway Icons range.

We were delighted to be a small part of the UK's biggest ever railway event - the Greatest Gathering - earlier this year! We were part of the show's Model Railway Village and it was a pleasure to see thousands of visitors over the weekend. At the show we had time to showcase many of the exhibits on view and also caught up with some of our friends in the industry to compare their latest product samples to the real-life vehicles on display at the show. 

We frequently release new videos  on our Youtube Channel, bringing you the latest from the world of model railways! We interview manufacturers, showcase the latest models and even take trips out to different model shows too. Subscribe to see all of our new content!