Does anyone know of a good model railroad hobby shop in Northern Virginia. I am relocating to the area and need to keep my hobby efforts going.
Thanks,
I lived there until about a year ago and the options are pretty limited. There is a Hobby Lobby that is good for basic supplies: paint, styrene, tools. But is carries little in the way of kits or rolling stock. I’m trying to remember exactly where it was. I lived in Vienna and it was maybe 20 minutes away. There is also GrandDad’s Trains in Springfield which has a decent selection but fairly high prices. Finally, there is a store in Manassas geared towards Lionel. That’s about it. I’ve never been there but have heard that M.B. Kleins in Baltimore is a good store. But that’s an hour from Northern Virginia. When I lived there, I ordered most of my stuff from the Internet and just bought paint at the hobby shops.
Kleins is moving , or they say they are, sometimes they just close!!!
Grandad’s in Springfield is best for HO scale and N scale. He also has some Lionel and O/On3/On30 scale stuff plus a little G. He has a pretty good selection of paint, strip wood etc. as well as magazines and books. All in all, a pretty nicely stocked hobby shop unless you’re in S - which I am.
Trains Etc. in Newington has a lot of Marklin plus other stuff.
Train Depot in Manassas for Lionel, MTH, and G plus some HO and N.
As far as I know none of these discount.
The one good thing is that from No. Virginia you can go to the Great Scale Model Train Show 4 times a year. http://www.gsmts.com/.
Enjoy
Paul
I just moved from Northern Virginia. Granddad’s is probably the best actually in Northern Va, although their prices are generally at list and there selection comes and goes. I didn’t buy much from them the last year or so I was there because the inventory seemed stale.
If you are in HO or N, your best bet, as others have said, is to make the trek up to MB Klein’s in Baltimore. Last I heard, they were targeting next summer for a move from the downtown area. Their preferred location was in the Timonium area if they could find a place. If they wind up in Timonium, that is where the GSMTS is held.
For HO, the Peach Creek Shops in Laurel was always good. They recently moved and their web site says they reopend on October 19.
If you are in the mood for a drive to Gettysburg, Tommy Gilbert’s is up there. I never made that trek, but I understand the store is very good…
Overall, the area is pretty disappointing for good, train-oriented LHS unless you are willing to drive a while.