Train stores in Seattle?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Are their any good train stores with good prices in Seattle?

A friend of mine is going there next week so any good store that he could pick a decent deal would be good to know of.

Magnus

2

Magnus, two stores tha i would recommend would be: 1. The Inside Gateway, and 2. North End Train Center. Both advertise in the back of Model Railroader Magazine (in the hobby shop section). The Inside Gateway is across Lake Washington in Bellevue, but an easy trip from Seattle.

3

Thanks for those sugestions. I will be looking at their websites. Do you know if any of them have anything special that might be of extra interest for a foreigner like me!

Magnus

4

I’d recommend Online Trains in Lakewood just south of Tacoma. I’ve ordered stuff from their website and was very happy, and their prices are discounted, not MSRP. Their website is: http://www.onlinetrains.com/

5

Magnus,

I’ve been to both North End and Inside Gateway. Both are fairly decent shops, selection-wise. I’d say that North End is bigger and has a larger selection. But there’s some stuff they don’t have that could probably be found at Inside Gateway. Both have a pretty decent stock of the standard kits, RTR stock, structure kits, paints, decals, detail parts, tools, scenery items, etc. I wouldn’t say either has an overwhelming selection of locos, but Inside Gateway probably has more than North End. Unfortunately, both shops charge pretty much full MSRP, so they’re not inexpensive by any stretch, except for clearance items. I don’t think there’s anything I could get at either shop that I couldn’t get cheaper online, but they were real convenient if I just needed a few items now and again.

If you want your friend to check out the stores for you, it may be better to just make a list of stuff you need or want and let him pick up whatever he can find.

6

I also highly recommend Online Trains in Tacoma. We live in Centralia and make the trek up often. They have a great selection, awesome pricing and are also very helpful and friendly. Not too far from it is Pacific Railway Hobbies. They have a larger selection for the scratchbuilder.

7

Eastside Trains, in Kirkland, North of Bellvue has a VERY LARGE selection, on the shelf, I stopped in there on a lunch break, and could have spent much more time shopping, I think that I MAY have gone a LITTLE over on my lunch time[:-^] while I was there. Definitely would like to go back when I have more time. I do believe though that most of their prices were MSRP, or close to it. Unfortunately they are a bit of a drive from Portland, OR but it looks like a may have a run on Monday to within a couple of miles of them, and even have a short box from a set of doubles, I WOULDN’T even try to find parking for a 53’ trailer near them.

Doug

8

Hi Magnus,

As others have mentioned, Northend Train Center, Inside Gateway and Eastside Trains are very good shops. There are few other around Seattle as well. Here’s a list of stores with which I’m familiar and their address and a little info on their focus.

Northend Train Center

12537 Lake City Way NE

Seattle, WA 98125

Mostly HO and N, also has On30 and G. Fair selection of detail parts and scratch building supplies.

The Inside Gateway

14725 NE 20th St
Bellevue, WA 98007

Mostly HO and N, also has On30 and O. Very good selection of detail parts and some scratch building supplies. Also has some general hobby kits (cars and airplanes).

Eastside Trains

217 Central Way
Kirkland, WA 98033

Huge selection of O, very good selection of HO (especially Marklin), N, Standard Gauge, S and G, also has On30, Z, and occasionally OO. Limited selection of detail parts and scratch building supplies. Also has a full service repair department. This is one of the largest dedicated train stores in the USA.

The Electric Train Shop

4511 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116

Mostly O, also has some HO and N. Limited selection of detail parts and scratch building supplies. Also does repairs of postwar Lionel.

Seattle Train Center

1463 Elliott Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119

Mostly HO, N and G. Limited selection of detail parts and scratch building supplies.

I’m not familiar with the shops in Tacoma, but if your friend makes it down there I would highly recommend a visit to the Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers layout at the Washington State His

9

First of , thanks everyone. I will see what my friend can do. He knows little of trains so it’s hard to use him for this. But still, the idea of not having to pay shipping and customs and possible make some kind of nice deal makes it all very interesting.

Second, no it’s nobody I know. I used to live in Stockholm growing up and I lived their until I was about 24 but back then I had no major interest in trains. Nowadays I live 300 miles aways from Stockholm.

Magnus