In the latest example of a traveler in a strange city looking for familiar territory, I will be in Milwaukee (West Allis actually) for a few days next week, and expect to have some free time available to go explore area LHS’s. Does anybody who’s familiar with the area have any recommendations where I should visit?
Thanks in advance.
Terminal Hobby Shop?
5619 Florist Ave
Yes Terminal Hobby Shop (i.e., Walthers Showroom). They do have sales now and then and a nice selection of interesting damaged good and overstocks.
Greenfield News & Hobby 6815 W. Layton Ave. NMRA discount
Jerry’s Bay View Hobby on 2633 South Kinnickinnik. Not far from Jones Island and railfanning opportunities
some people like Sommerfeld’s 12620 W Hampton which has the advantage of being near UP/CNW Butler Yard for a bit of railfanning
Jetco’s Hiawatha 1701 Summit in Waukesha
Don’t bother with Hobby Depot America in Hubertus/Richfield. It is closed and emptied (by auction).
Dave Nelson
mononguy
stop in at Summerfelds in Butler just west of Milwaukee, good guys there.
closed mondays open@11:00am till 6:pm, fridays till8:00pm
jshack
Karl Rasch’s restraunt downtown or Fox and Hounds out in Huburtis. These are the real-deal, not formula restraunts or ho-hum hotel food. You’ll thank me.
Only in Wisconsin Red roqufort salad dressing.
MAN (and especially women) don’t live by trains alone.
Just about all of the hobby shops mentioned above are really nice shops, I like them all a lot. And if you’ve got anything that you want to order from Walthers, I suggest going on line to check out their stock and then take a list of things you want with you. You can give to the guys at Terminal Hobby Shop (which is Walther’s Show room), and they’ll disappear for a few minutes and reappear with your merchandise as long as it is in stock. Very handy system. I believe they also have computers there for customers to use and quite a bit of their stock out on display if you’d like to wait and pick out your items while you are there.
Enjoy , It’s a pretty neat town I think. There are a lot of railfan opportunities in the area too if you are into that between the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, and Union Pacific, and there is one small regional railroad in the area too.
Noah
Hey Noah we haven’t seen you post in a while – wondered if maybe you’d given up on trains!
Dave Nelson
Try out the Nomad Pub on Brady and Farwell, it’s a real European-style football (soccer) pub, great drinks and the best atmosphere on Brady. Terminal Hobby Shop isn’t much to look at, but their selection is insane. If you’re staying in West Allis, head down to State Street and 76th (Wauwatosa Av.) in Wauwatosa, great place to watch trains from a public square. There’s also a Baskin Robins and lots of other food nearby. Try The Chancery Bar & Grill down there and ask for seating by the tracks. If it’s not too warm you can walk down the bike trail that was once the CNW Air Line through the East Side. Another good place to watch trains with great atmosphere and conveniences is the Riverwalk in the Third Ward. The CP (ex-Milwaukee) main crosses the Milwaukee River there with a nice swing bridge directly before heading into the Milwaukee station, and the CNW bridge farther down the river is still intact as well, but not currently in use. Barker Road in Brookfield, there’s an old rock quarry that was turned by the city into a lake, you can swim and fish there and the CP line goes directly past it with a great view from the beach. (I was actually out there myself today and caught both the east and westbound Amtrak Empire Builders. Cheers! ~METRO
Call Kalmbach and get a visit there. You may be able to get alook at the MR&T.