I’m taking a road trip from Cleveland to go see the Western Pennsylvania model railroad museum this weekend.Any decent hobby shops in the area?
Dan you might wanna google “hobby stores near Gibsonia PA”. Western PA has a lot of hobby stores. The only problem with that is…You won’t know the “quality” of the hobby store.
Hope you have fun at the museum. I might have to check it out oneday.
There’s nothing over that way. I’d assume you’re coming down either 79 or the turnpike, so you’ll go through Cranberry and there’s two shops over there. But neither is really anything special. One is pretty lousy, really, and the other is a very general one.
Yeah I’m coming via the turnpike. A few years ago I went to a hobby shop in Cranberry that was near a Steak n shake.I’m willing to drive a little bit out of the way.
Are you sure that you weren’t in Robinson Township where there is a Steak 'n Shake next to a Hobbytown USA?
At any rate, I actually think both stores in the Cranberry area are decent. Hobby Express which is on Rt 228 expanded last year to the store next door which is much larger. They cover all hobbies so they can’t carry as much as a pure railroad shop, but everytime I go in they seem to have lots of new merchandise. The counters are filled and stacked with new engines. They also seem to be very good at keeping up with what is new in the hobby. It’s not a Caboose Hobbies, but I’d recommend stopping.
Hope you enjoy the museum!
Jim
Not really sure what shop I went to.It was a hobby shop with trains.Long,narrow and filled with stuff.I’ve been to Caboose hobbies and yes they are a train store.I’ll stop regardless.
My recommendation is Hobby Express, which as mentioned before is on Route 228. Very easy for you to access from either I79 or Route 8. It’s in the same shopping complex as Lowe’s near the McDonalds. The other hobby shop in Cranberry is basically O gauge and very little HO. A.B. Charles is on the other side of Pittsburgh, and to be honest, is not the train store that it was in the old location and I think you would be very disappointed.
Tom
AB Charles was a lot better back in the day, but from talking to one of the guys there and passively overhearing, it seems like they have pretty decent stock but didn’t give model railroads the space to display much. Nevertheless, I’m down there once a month at least.
Hobby Express I am in weekly, as I drive past it on my way home from work. The old location fit the long narrow description. They recently relocated to literally next door and doubled their floor space. They try, at least, for a store that’s keyed towards pretty much everything else. Although if you’re after a locomotive (as long as its not brass), you might be in luck. They have the biggest on-hand stock of any shop I’ve ever set foot, including H&R Trains down in Tampa (who claims to be the second largest shop in the US). They’re where I round up my standard things like couplers, strip sytrene, and so on. Not a whole lot of rolling stock and mostly Athearn RTR at that, but they do stock other standards like Atlas. They also have some Bowser kits, and Western PA roadnames at that.
The other Cranberry one used to be called Cranberry Hobby Depot, although I don’t know what name they go by right now. They used to be really good, but changed owners about 10 years back and really fell off.
I’m assuming you’re HO, but if you happen to be N, there’s Esther’s Hobby Shop down in…uh…Etna or Glenshaw that’s great and very friendly (the guy in there asked me if I’d ever been in there before when I was checking out and half an hour later we’re talking about the B&P’s new caboose they’d just had rebuilt. like I said, friendly). Very classic hole in the wall storefront location in an urban area. They stock SOME HO but not enough to go that out of your way.
Cool -Hobby Express seems to be the one to go. Thanks
The other Cranberry Hobby shop is called Grand Central Hobbies. It changed hands yet again one to two years ago, and shares space with a Baseball/Collector Card shop (!). The counter help ranges from friendly to treating the customers as an inconvenience. Stock is fairly light.
Mr. B&O
Esther’s Hobby Shop is in Millvale.
Tom
Esthers is a great little shop ,Mostly N scale …Staff is great …Dad and Son operation
AB Charles is about the only good shop around. They aren’t terribly organized and I think they’ve gone somewhat down hill since they moved from the old place on West Liberty Ave. There is one near Bridgeville called Iron Horse Hobby shop on Painter’s Run Rd, but its not as good as it used to be. They have alot of O scale but that’s about it.
Just waant to say I stopped by Hobby Express in Cranberry.It did have a vast selection of locomotives and rolling stock.Quite a impressive hobby shop.However I must say the check out person was rude and seemed bothered when I asked a simple question-How close is Conway yard from here?-What I got was a shrug and I don’t know and I don’t care response.Nice, real nice.It must be the store owners son.Other than that,nice place.Thanks for the suggestion.
For those who have not had the chance to go see the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum,GO! Well worth the trip. Me and my fellow modelers that went were blown away by the detail and will be coming back for future visits.