Friends,
Can you recommend a good hobby shop in the Chicago area? I’m especially interested in the Oak Park/Berwyn area.
Can anyone help?
Thanks!
Hello,
Are you visiting Chicago? I am going to visit soon. I know about a place there called Grayland Station, I’m not 100% sure where it is, but I think its Middle Chicago, towards Lake Michigan. I found it on Katousa. You can also got to there website
Grayland Station .com
w/o spaces, I don’t know if its advertising.
Andrew
Chicago recommendations Jan 05
Hi, I’ve visited the Chicago area several times while on business trips over the past few years, here’s some notes on what I’ve found. Not necessarily in recommendation order, but fairly close, I had just a few minutes to cut/paste the info here. Hope this helps, make sure you call ahead as things may have changed since I was last there.
I’m sure the local Chicago people can add much more.
Hope you find what you want!
- Ram Hobbies on Higgins, not far from O’Hare - it’s worth the
visit. ***, the owner, has got tons of stuff normally long sold out at other shops. Owner has asthma real bad, so don’t wear any perfumes, it causes the owner literally to have a ‘breathing’ attack. I model in N, so I don’t remember the HO stock as well, but I found several treasures
there the 2 times that I’ve visited. Ram Train and Hobby is on Higgins, which parallels the Kennedy Expy.
It’d be really simple to head east on the Kennedy Expwy
from O’Hare, exit at Harlem, and
go straight at the Harlem traffic light. The Kennedy literally dumps
you onto Higgins, and ***'s store is about a mile on the right, the
store is on a corner with a traffic light - you can’t miss it.
A friendly word of warning - *** has asthma pretty bad, and
scents will wreck him, so don’t wear anything strong…
Ram Train & Hobby
6603 W Higgins Rd.
Chicago, IL 60656
(773) 775-3382
Sat 9-5, Sun 11-230, closed on Tuesdays, open M,Th,F from 10-730, Wed 10-6 (this info from 2002)
Proprietor: Richard A. Manyik
All that said, I think he’s got one of the best stock anywhere in the
Chicago area. The depth is incredible! And you’ll typically find
a lot of items unavailable anywhere else. Make sure you check out
the back room where he keeps all the details. And make sure your
credit card is healthy!
I’m not sure if this is close enough to where you will be. In downtown Elmhurst there is Al’s Hobby Shop. I always go there when I visit there. I couldn’t give you an adress but I know that in the back of MR in the “dealers” section they are listed and you could probably get more info from there than from me.
Happy shopping & railfanning!