Instead of the blues, let’s honor the best. Mine are:
1.) Engine House Hobbies - Wichita, KS (Much like Caboose. Great people, great inventory).
2.) Christmas City Hobbies - Bethlehem, PA (out of business now. It was in the front of the Lehigh and Keystone Valley Model Railroad Club). Learned a lot from the club and the shop. Club is still booming. Check it out on the NMRA July tour.
3.) Discount Model Trains - Addison, TX (This was the mecca of modeling. Everything in the store 20% off. I worked there to help out for product in Summer of 1993. Loved Barbara, Bob, Jack and James who runs it now.
4.) Does anyone remember this one: Switchstand in Richmond Heights, MO. A St. Louis suburb? I remember buying an Athearn 40’ AT&SF box car for $1.75 there in 1977 and having a two hour conversation with the guys who ran things.
5.) Woolworth - St. Louis, MO (Yes they had a giant model railroad department) Great stock and prices.
6.) Val’s - St. Louis, MO (Val Dasho’s shop - great place) Val turned me on to other brands of track than Atlas.
7.) Frank The Trainman - San Diego, CA - My first hobby shop as a kid growing up in San Diego. Used pieces of brass snap track for 5 cents.
8.) Reeds Hobby Shop - Escondido, CA - Visited there in 2002. I don’t know if they are still in business up there. Great store.
9.) Trains and Lanes - Easton, PA - This place has 25 units of everything. If you want a 3 pack of NRM cabooses, they have it.
10.) J&D’s Whistle Stop - Quakertown, PA - Great layout and nice store with decent inventory.
The weirdest - Fisher’s in Effort, PA - They have an ad in MR that says operating layout. It’s a circle of track. The place is a TV repair shop. A store in St. Louis on THE HILL another TV repair shop I called the horder. This guy had every Revell and Plasticville building in original boxes, new in stock in a room, not for sale. Oh and Tom’s Trains here in Fresno.