Some of you guys are making me realize how good that I have it here in Indy. I know of at least 8 hobbyshops within a half hour drive. 4 of them are just 5 minutes away.
Royal sells at full MSRP only, and they’re more geared towards wargaming anyway. I go there for tools, glue, paint, and an occasional raid on their Grandt Line and Red Caboose models (I’m the one that bought them out of Westerfield kits, as soon as they put them on the 1/2 off shelf!).
Rail Hobbies is the other hobby shop I’m talking about. It’s in the same basic strip mall as Royal (bad location!), around the corner from the Bally’s (facing Elixur’s side wall). The owner is a great guy and serious ATSF modeler, and is the vice president of the RRVD NMRA. Unfortunately, he doesn’t realize that you have to spend money to make money, and so has a small inventory (but larger than Royal). He’ll order anything you want, and does discount, but he really can’t compete with the internet. The owner basically picked up where the Brass Whistle left off, but in a worse location.
I don’t even count HobbyTown in Machesney Park. Theis selection is tiny, and they really only care about R/C and plastic kits. It’s a shame we don’t have a more vibrant hobby shop in the Rockford area, considering all the big home layouts in the area (100+ and counting!)
I’m in the same situation - my LHS are between 45 and 50 miles away, nearer 60 miles for the nearest that deals in US-outline equipment. I go over about once a month or so to stock up on kits. I’m looking for a UK-based online store that sells US-outline equipment, not found one yet though.
Here’s a couple of websites I’ve used in the last week or so (and before), both are very reliable and have great customer service.
www.ehattons.com
www.ontracks.co.uk
Both are UK based but worth a look it you’re after any UK-outline equipment.
You guys must all be rich shopping at internet hobbies or caboose hobbies. Here is a place that is more that reasonable and the service is the best. www.hobbycirlce.com.
LOL, agree on Hobby town and Royal, but never could find Rail, every time i go out there, I just can’t find it. he has no signs out and worse, if you look at his website, the hours are horrid.
I miss the old brass whistle, that was a complete store and in a perfect location too.
Jay
I’m sorry to hear about your plight. I live within 30 minutes of 3 top notch hobby shops. Also from December to March there is some type of train show going on practically every weekend, which is where I do most of my shopping due to the low prices of vendors competing against each other. Modelbahn Ott Hobbies Inc. is great for overseas merchandise. He carries a ton of inventory in stock and does a large mail-order business, http://www.modellbahnott.com/. My favoite though is Lins Junction, http://www.linsjunction.com/ There is a smile, how are you and thank you on every visit. They host free clinics, most of them hands on, in every facet of the hobby from experienced modelers. Paul will stop in the middle of anything he is doing around the store to answer a question and will sit down and walk you through whatever you’re having a problem with. The atmosphere is like a home away from home and I like to go in there sometimes just to visit, even though I usually find something that I “need.” All modelers should be so lucky to have a store like this near them. One more sight to try is Greenway Products, http://www.greenwayproducts.com/index.shtml I usually buy from them at shows, but they have a great selection of scenic details, especially machine shop stuff.
Again, sorry about your dilema, good luck with whatever route you use for your railroading needs.
The nearest hobby shop to me is nearly 150 miles away, so I have to let UPS, FedEx, or USPS do the driving by purchasing through mail order. Oh, there are a couple of places that are only 70 miles away, but they have bare shelves and are on the verge of bankruptcy, so I don’t go to them anymore. I have heard that there is a new Ace Hardware in Tucson, 70 miles away, that sells trains now, but I haven’t checked it out yet. If it is any good, it will be the closest possible hobby shop to where I live.
There was several hobby shops in Parry Sound, but when I got into model railroading about 4 years ago, they all closed within the next year!!! A curse or something! So now the nearest hobby shop is about 80 miles away!! [:(][tdn]