Need LHS recommendations for Toledo, OH - plus, cool web site link!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Does anyone know of any good hobby shops in and around the Toledo, OH area? My wife and I may be heading there this weekend to stay at a B & B, in celebration of our 13th wedding anniversary. This is a last minute trip so I don’t know for sure if we’ll be going or not.

Speaking of B & B’s. You won’t believe the one that I found on the Internet. Check this out: http://www.bbrailroad.com. Is that way too cool or what?!?

Nate, and his wife, Linda Brinkman have 2300 ft. of 7-1/2" track encirling their property, in order to run Nate’s 1/8 gauge 4-6-2 steamer and F7 diesel on. Here’s an aerial shot of their property:

Nate also has a working transfer table/turntable. He’s a welder by trade and did most of the work himself. If you’re interested, you can read more info about Nate’s railroad at the following link:

http://www.bbrailroad.com/html/aboutrailroad.html

When I first started searching for B & B’s in the Toledo area this afternoon, I had no intention of looking for anything related to trains. However, when I saw the title, it caught my eye. My first thought was, “Cool! Someone has taken an old rundown train depot, fixed it up, and turned it into a nice B & B.” I didn’t realize that they were actually running live steam around their property.

I shared my intentions with my dear bride of almost 13 years and showed her the web site…and she LIKES the idea! From the pictures, the rooms are tastefully decorated. My wife is in the throes of trying to figure out how to redecorate our living room. So, at some point (or points) during our stay, I can talk to Nate about trains, and my wife can talk to Linda about decorating. Sounds like a win-win situation to me! [^]

Anyhow, I still don’t know yet if there is even a room available for us to stay at this place or not. If we aren’t able to stay, it won’t be a huge disappointment. BUT…wou

2

Well, don’t know of any LHS’s, but that is a cool looking train! I am currently helping a friend build a 7.5" gauge railroad and I also help out on 2 15" gauge railroads (big ones, the locos weigh between 2 and 5 tons) One public (www.onprailroad.5u.com) and one private (www.dochemp.com/bigtrains.html)

3

Check with your B&B owner and/or the telephone book. Fallen Flags is in the Toledo area and while it’s been years since I’ve been to their “store” they do have lots of custom stuff in HO.

Dale

4

Sad to say, there’s not much left in the way of hobby shops of a train-carrying variety in Toledo.

Fallen Flags became Steve’s Hobbies. They moved off Elysian over a decade ago, then to a spot on Monroe for a number of years. From there they moved to a couple of storefronts in a strip mall between Monroe and Alexis just east of US-23 until Steve closed shop earlier this year.

The only train-carrying hobby shops I know of that are left in Toledo are J&M in Maumee and a franchise Rider’s location on Monroe. I don’t consider either of them a real “destination” hobby shop for a visit from out of town, but your experience might be different. Unfortunately, there’s nothing really nearby on the Michigan side of the line.

5

Fallen Flags became Steve’s Hobbies. They moved off Elysian over a decade ago, then to a spot on Monroe for a number of years. From there they moved to a couple of storefronts in a strip mall between Monroe and Alexis just east of US-23 until Steve closed shop earlier this year.

Too bad, I thought they wre at the National Train Show in Cincinnati but I must have been mistaken. As noted in my post, it has been several years.

Dale

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The traveling Fallen Flags venture is still run by Steve, but ever since his shop moved off Elysian, the train show business has been handled as a separate entity that doesn’t have a storefront. As I understand it, at one time he had several units traveling to the major shows around the country, but he has cut back to just one, now. This one he can run in addition to his “day job”.

The storefront shop stocked less in the way of locos and rolling stock, more structures, carried DCC components, and didn’t discount as deeply as the traveling operation. It also carried paintball supplies and, if I remember correctly, Breyer model horses and some other toys.