Greetings,
I will be in Columbus, OH during the first week on May.
What are some good hobby shops to visit for HO scale?
Are there any places to railfan with good traffic?
Thanks in advance,
Mark
There are 2 train shops that I go to when I’m in the area (northern Columbus), and it happens that they are only a mile or so apart. The first is the Train Station, located on Indianola Ave. This is close to I-71 and Morse Rd interchange. The next is Robbies Hobbies, located on High St. If you look at google maps, across from The Train Station is a road called E Weisheimer, follow that rd to it’s end at High St and Robbies is on that corner. The Train Station has mostly new stock and a little used and Robbies has lots of used with a little new. Both have buildings, but TTS has a bigger selection. As for watching, I was doing a job in southern Columbus and would eat my lunch in the parking lot of a CSX yard at Dering and Parsons Ave. Only problem is it’s really not the nicest of neighborhoods, so you might not want to stop and ask for directions. The lot is right on the road and I was parking at the throat of the yard, kind of away from all the employees cars, but right in front of the tracks anyhow. If you look at google maps you will notice the rounhouse and turntable, which are visable from the road.
edit: If you find yourself towards Lancaster (SE of Columbus on SR33) you might want to check out The Smoke Stack. They carry a fair selection of new, old new, and a little used.
In addition to Tinman1’s suggestions, you might also want to check out Hobbyland which is just a few miles north of Robbies Hobbies at the Graceland Shopping Center on High Street. They are a general purpose shop with a good train selection and a pretty good stock of scratchbuilding supplies.
You can also watch trains right behind The Train Station. It’s a fairly busy line. If you want a more scenic location, try going to North Bank Park in the Arena District downtown. Trains cross the Scioto River on several bridges with the downtown skyline as a backdrop.
While there are several good places to railfan in Columbus…I recommend Cooke Road…This is where NS and CSX parallels each other…
Have any of you ever done any railfanning down near the new NS intermodal facility at Rickenbacker ?
Not me. I’d be too afraid of being labeled a terrorist and the TSA doing a thorough inspection of my caboose[swg].
Back to topic, I’ve also heard of some railway museum in Worthington, but haven’t checked it out. That would go pretty good with the shops on the northern end of Columbus.
I usually visit Hobbyland at Graceland shopping center and The Train Station on Indianola Ave. Feel free to email me if you need directions.
I have been to Robbies Hobbies, I find it has more used stuff, and you never know what you might find there, but in reality I don’t go there much.
Not too familiar with railfanning in Columbus, but I believe there is a hump yard on the West side, Trabue Road??? off Rome Hilliard Rd, I think. You could see the hump operations from the public street, but it is a busy area. Confirm from someone before going over that way.
I also thought there is / was a DCC store on the West side of Columbus, anyone familiar with this place?
Robbies Hobbies reminds me alot of the old Blue Caboose. Robbies does have a lot of used stuff and a lot of non train related items. It is nice having three train stores in a very small radius. Now if only they were closer to me [(-D]
There is indeed a hump yard on the west side. I however do not remember where it is.
Earlier someone mentioned the museum. I have not been there for many years. I think that I saw on the site that it does not open until later in May. Below is the website.
This is actually a great thread for me. I am looking to move to Delaware, north of Columbus, for a job with the local Sheriff’s Dept. Just waiting for everything to check out ok and them to hire me! It sets right next to an NS mainline as well. I watched 6 trains in a matter of an hour while waiting for the interview and after coming out from the interview. I shop at Hobbyland over on the East Side down by the Hospital. I dont remember the road but can sure as heck drive to it blindfolded! I get there from i270, im sure someone in Cbus area knows of this location! Fantastic people that were always friendly to me, and a good deal of N scale for a change!
Firstly best of luck with the job! The Hobby Land on the east side is on Broad St.
Broad St!!! thats it! Thanks! and Thanks with the best of luck wish as well! My father lives on the eastern suburb side of Columbus near or in Canal Winchester. When I visit I make sure to hit up the Hobbyland. I really wanna try the Train Station on Indianola, since its over near Vance’s where I get my duty gear at. Any other good locations in or around the Columbus area? I thought there was one in Lancaster (i know 30+ miles away!)
There is a store in the Lancaster area that someone mentioned earlier in the thread Smoke Stack. I have not been there before. Next time I go down that way, I will check it out. Its been awhile since I have had IHOP [:)]
There are are two Hobby Town USA in the Columbus area. One of them is out west near Hilliard Rome off of 70 I think. The other is near Morse and Hamilton. I have been in that location before. Nice store with a decent amount of train gear. In the brief time I was in there, it seemed most of it was scenery materials. don’t remember for sure. RC planes are a really big thing there.
There may be more I don’t know.
The hump yard on the west side of town is the mothballed Buckeye Yard owned by Norfolk Southern. The hump is on the north side of Trabue Road just west of the outerbelt (I-270). However, it isn’t currently in operation, and the yard is being used for storage.
Kevin
IMHO, if you are at least a semi-serious MRR, you don’t need to waste your time at the Hobbytown on North Hamilton, unless you are just looking for basic scenery or minimal scratch-building supplies. I was glad to see them opening this store, as it is closest to home, but I hardly go there now. Last I tried to get ACC there, their whole supply was old and solidified. Hobbytown on the west side had a little better supply or train-related stock, but on the whole, I would rank the top three as:
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Train Station - For structures, rolling-stock, locos, DCC, track, brass, parts, scenery. All scales.
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Hobbyland - Graceland Shopping Ctr (On N. High St) - At least for HO and scratch-building supplies-best stock of general scratch-building supplies (wook, plastic, metal) IMO. Did not pay attention to their N-scale stock as I am in HO.
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Hobbyland East on Broad St.
There’s also a Hobbyland on Sawmill in Dublin. They had a fair stock of MRR supplies last I was there, but it’s been quite a while. Each of the three Hobbyland stores seems to have a different mix.
Have not been to the Smoke Stack in Lancaster, so cannot give an opinion on them.
The last time I stopped at Hobbyland on Dublin Rd the big talk of the store was they were closing, and thats been a month or so ago.
The Smoke Stack in Lancaster has a fairly extensive selection of rolling stock and a decent stock of cornerstone buildings. They also carry N and Lionel, as well as RC planes and models. The best/worst about that store is it’s a bit unorganized so be prepared to spend some time there searching for that treasure.
If you like Vances, you should stop at Buckeye Outdoors in Hebron (sister store to Vances, but a much bigger sister) right off I-70 at SR-79 and SR40 (15/20min from I-270)and then take SR37 down into Lancaster for the trainstore (30min), then approx 25min back to I-270 on SR33. Between the two, it’s going to be an all day affair, and potentially very expensive.
Yeah, ive dropped in excess of 500 just at Vances alone! LOL That was with my Law Enforcement Discount. Wish I got one at the LHS as well! haha
They know me quite well at Buckeye Outdoors, heck, I think I made the big expansion possible (went from Vances size to about 10x bigger)[swg]. As for any discounts at the LHS, I heard through the grapevine that if you spend $10k, they’ll knock 10% off your next purchase of $2 or less.[;)]. Just kiddin at their expense. I can understand why discounts are a hard thing to do with all the overhead costs involved and the compitition of mailorder and ebay. I don’t expect nor would I ask for any discount when most of these places are struggling, although The Smoke Stack did adjust a price to match what I had in my wallet at the time. I think he was just afraid I was going out to the truck to start counting change, and boy do I have a LOT of change in the truck.