Hobby Shops in St Louis?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m going to be visiting the in laws at the end of May in the St. Louis area and I’m trying to get the lay of the land from any local folks on what hobby shops are worth a visit.

I’m using the hobby retailer site to get an idea of what there is, but first hand knowledge is always the best.

Thanks to anybody who can provide information!

TR

2

Hi TR,

If you don’t mind a short trip to the Illinois side, I highly recommend K-10’s in Maryville, ILL. Huge layout display and nice small shop with some good prices. http://www.k-10smodeltrains.com/index.php

My daughter and grandsons live nearby so visit out there at least twice a year.

3

Hey TR.

The K10 is good, Price’s are fair.
Mark Twain in St. Charles Has a lot of cars, trains, and planes. Although their prices are “up” to date [:-^]
Checkered Flag/ Hobby country moved to south Lindbergh, between Sappington and Tesson, I don’t have the new address.
Hobby Station in Kirkwood is closing end this month.
Schaefer’s on 11659 Gravois is not bad. They do have some Athearn Blue Box Locos and rolling stock left.
Just my opinions.

Have fun.

Lee

4

Yeah, MTH has a good selection but expect full retail on everything…

5

With the loss of The Train Haus, and now Kirkwood’s Hobby Station, the pickin’s in STL are gettin’ pretty thin.

Mark Twain’s prices are hit and miss, K 10’s limited hours make it really tough to get in, and a lot of the other shops are “O” focused, or trains are a afterthought with limited selection.

On the flipside, there are tons of train stuff to do in the area.

several clubs are open every weekend, the the N.M.o.T., WF&P, Zoo railway, more railfanning places then you could ever hope to visit…

6

TR

Don’t forget the transportation museum. They have a Big Boy and quite a few others, even a DC3 air plane.

Lee

7

N.M.o.T.

National Museum of Transportation, I never liked the name change to trans. mus., just not as important sounding, an their reporting marks are NMOT.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1920675

8

What happened to the Train Haus? Did ALL of their stores close? I seem to remember one in Warrenton and another in Hermann.

9

Train Haus Warrenton store closed a year ago, but club is still there. open every sunday 1-5

Rhineland location, they are closing out on remaining train inventory , guns are more lucrative, but will still order stuff for customers.

10

I agree with the past poster that recommended K10, for the layout if nothing else. Its HUGE. Like Eagle said, hours are limited, so visit their website first to make sure your not disappointed. I guess with the recent closings, Mark Twain would be my favorite brick and mortor model RRing store. I really do most or my buying online at MB Klein’s. Cant beat them.

11

We are going to be on the IL side of the river, so hitting K-10 is on the list; hours are funny though.

I’ll see if we can’t hit a place or two in or around the actual city; I know the science museum is on the agenda and maybe we can swing to the Transportation Museum as well; the boys like trains too.

I’ve got a great, full retail LHS here, so not really interested in that. [:P]

Sounds like there are some club layouts around the turn a wheel on the weekend? That might be worthwhile on Sunday afternoon before the wife goes to see Bon Jovi that evening.

TR

12

We just got back from the Sunday open running session at K-10, it really is worth a visit. Try and go when it is running, either first Sunday or most Thursday evenings Here is one of my son’s Youtube account with some videos shot on the layout. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4rBOEvsmMQ Have a nice trip to Metro East

13

I live with in 2 miles of K-10 and the owner Ken is a friend of mine. Ken has Parkinson and it is not getting any better. So he has had to cut the hours back. If you can time your visit to the first Sunday of the month, we have open house where you can run the layout.

Cuda Ken

Yep, the Tyco Old Dutch Hopper Collection is mine, being pulled by my PCM Big Boy.

14

I believe the Museum of Transport has the largest collection of steam engines in the country. They have many other things to look at also. The last time I was there they had train rides on a 7.5" or 7 1/4" gauge railroad run by a local club. I picked up a nice print of a UP Challenger in the gift shop too. Wear comportable shoes as its alot of walking.