Hornby brings Christmas cheer to North East commuters with nostalgic train sets

Newcastle commuters were surprised last week as Matt Streeton – also known as ‘Matt The Train Guy’ to his TikTok followers and the voice behind ‘See it, say it, sorted’ – was transformed into The Gift Guy for the day.

Matt stunned commuters at LNER’s Newcastle Station by handing out train sets off the back of research that found that one in five Brits (20 percent) said that their dream present as a child was a train set.

Hornby research also found that a third of UK residents (31 per cent) cited travel as the most stressful part about the festive period, so Matt brought some festive joy to the travel chaos.

Commuters were gifted the Hornby Santa’s Express Train Set, to add a magical touch underneath the Christmas tree, as well as The Hornby Retro Train Set, to bring nostalgia to older passengers.

One passenger was overwhelmed with a train set which she plans to give to her train enthusiast son, and a little girl was over the moon with a Santa’s Express set for the bottom of her tree.

Matt Streeton, ‘Matt The Train Guy’, commented on surprising commuters: “It’s been a fantastic day spreading some well-deserved Christmas cheer to the people of Newcastle.

"There is something really special about seeing people who used to play with trains as children light up when they see a train set and see their inner child come out!”

Martyn Weaver, Brand MD at Hornby, said: “Half of us find shopping for presents the most stressful part of Christmas, so it was wonderful to see how many of our surprised passengers at Newcastle decided to gift their train sets to loved ones.

"With so many of us longing for the nostalgia and enjoyment of a train set from childhood, it’s great that we could hand out some festive joy this busy season.”

For more information on train sets for friends and family at Christmas, visit https://uk.hornby.com/ and to view the Newcastle commuters being surprised by train sets visit https://www.tiktok.com/@matt_thetrainguy and https://www.instagram.com/matt_thetrainguy/