that is now what my town has become! The nearest hobby shop is now almost 50 miles away[:0], and with the way gas prices are going, that too far to drive! If you have any mail-order hobby shop’s websites, please post them here. My town STINKS! no model railroaders at all except me and no hobby shops in counties that even touch mine. Please hope that some important reason comes along that would pressure me to move to A.Springfield,IL B.Galesburg,IL C. Quincy,IL or D.Litchfield,IL.[:D][;)] just joking.
One note: the nearest hobby shop to me is in Alton, IL (45 miles away from Carrollton)and is named the Green Caboose. OK service, they take a few bucks off the msrp of the products they sell, and they’re a dealer for BLI. If only they were just a little closer! say 15-30 miles would satisfy me.
HaHa! Pick E. Sacramento, CA. We got a few clubs (I belong to none), a great RR museum, several hobby shops (2 really stocked ones), and we hosted Railfair '91 and '99. A warning, it does get really hot here! [:D]
Know any rich train lovers who would be interested in starting a train shop here?[(-D][(-D][(-D] AggroJones, how dare you laugh at me. Know any mail-order hobby shops that specialize in the lines James J. Hill owned? (look at signature for em.)
Hmm…can’t help you, you’re in southwestern Illinois, barely between Springfield and St. Louis, best move a bit more north towards Chicago if ya want good Trains stores.
50 Miles, that’s a cake walk! I’m closer to 90 miles to get to a good LHS and to get to a great one I need to go 165 miles. Welcome to the world of Online hobby shops, which I am fairly well acquainted with! I have found dealing with the smaller online stores to be the best. M.B. Klien comes to mind <www.modeltrainstuff.com> IHC is good for the specific stuff they sell. For full service, great inventories, quick delivery, good prices and an intuitive-easy website, I like 1st place hobbies <www.1stplacehobbies.com>. The best inventories: <www.caboosehobbies.com> and of course <www.walthers.com> I have only used internet trains once, and they seemed slow to deliver. I have used many others and I feel most are very good and I like the small guys best.
Don’t feel bad CJM, I live in northern Illinois, and I have to drive to Elgin or Des Plaines before I can get to a full-stock hobby shop. There are two in Rockford, but one only sells at full MSRP and the other isn’t big enough to be able to get many orders filled!
There are good RR hobby shops in Bloomington, Peoria and St Louis, but that’s about it in central Illinois. Of course, you can always drive to Elburn and buy direct from Accurail! And Horizon’s in Champaign.
It’s a 2 hour and 15 minute drive to get to the nearest hobby shop from my place and almost all my model railroader friends are over an hour’s drive away. You’ve got it good.
two? hmm…I know of Royal Hobby, sucky place (only thing worth getting from them is paint, as they’ve got alot of it) and hmm…guess you’re meaning Hobby town for the other.
I live in a town of 13,000 and not a hobby shop for 65 miles. one railroad club and they act as if you need to have anincome of $100,000. plus. I won’t have anything to do with them. so don’t feel so bad or mad. it could be worse.
How about moving over by me in north central Illinois? We’ve got not one, not two, but THREE LHS! The furthest is about a seven minute drive away, and the closest is one block away. We also have an informal, round-robin group of model railroaders in the area, too. Heck, we’ve even been know to operate once and awhile. Room for one more – come on down, er, over!
Chicago has pretty good stores, DHC, Chicagoland Hobby, Hill’s Hobbies, some stuff on the north side, etc…each town has its own store pretty much. The one in my town never stocks anything new though.
www.standardhobby.com
is a good one, download the .pdf product list instead of shopping online which doesnt show all the products they carry
www.1stplacehobbies.com
this site has almost everything walthers does at a discounted price…its even based in IL so u might get a shipment quicker then i would take you to drive to the nearest hobby shop!
Give “www.mostlytrains.com” a try. Roger and Pauline are tops and are really fair as to pricing.
Besides , their “Brick and Mortar” store, The Hobby Stop, in Orem Utah is also within a short walk of 5 fast food places of any preference!
Have’nt been there in ages(even though I’m a chicago native) but have seen that on “Rails Ahead” and read about the new layout in MR. I know Hammond,Valparaiso, Lafayette , Indy, Etc. have some really great Model RR stores within a 30 min. to one hr. drive for me.