We live about 22 mile south of Tucson, AZ. Now this is a good sized town. You’d think the the LHS would have a good selection of HO and other sizes of models wouldn’t you? [soapbox]
HA! So far I’ve hit the two largest one and nada! Unless you’re happy with RTR or other “toy” sets you’re outta luck! No kits what so ever!
So far I’ve seen only Bachman snap together track, cheap plastic RTR an cheap plastic prebuilt model houses etc.
Now if you want to fly planes or drive a “hotrod” around you’re in good shape, but trains, forget it.
Oh well, we’ll be moving to Georgia soon. I’m sure that in Atlanta there will be plenty to choose from.
Well now~ Have you ever thought about “asking” them about placing an order for a kit in a casual kind of way? Kinda like fishing, you have to use the right bait if you wanna nail that sucker. LHS’s sometimes need to be lured in especialy if it’s in everyone’s best interests!
Most local hobby shops specialize in one or two areas. Very few have the space stock a wide selection for all the hobby enthusiasts they serve. I am lucky in that my LHS sells trains exclusively. Few that I have seen sell trains as their primary merchandise.
And you deserve every one of those four stars, unlike the "bump!"er’s, the "I agree!"er’s, and the ones who respond to every poll on the forum to pad their post count. Good job, Darth. Keep up the good info/posts.
Welcome to Ga. I am sure you will find a good selection in the Atlanta area. But that will include the surrounding towns up to several miles away. Phil
Hey Fergie, after listening to these guys whine, were’re not so bad off up here in the Northeast are we? Gee, you have LHS’s in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, and Labrador etc. Wasn’t it Leif Erickson that opened the first MRR LHS in Labrador? Or was that his son Eric? LOL
Well I don’t know about GA but In Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland your never more than 20 miles from a hobby shop. ~ but some are better than others…[tup]
G’day, Y’all,
When people say they are mofing to Atlanta, they are not moving TO Atlanta but somewhere near, probably outside the perimeter, I-285, the world’s longest parking lot at 100 kilometers. But Shermanhill1, I don’t think Trainmaster Models which is on Buford Highway and right across the street from the Southeastern Railway Museum will disappoint. If they don’t have it, they’ll order it and they have a bunch of stuff. There are supposed to be good hobby shops in other areas, but Trainmaster is the one I use. I see car tags from all over so people all around north Georgia must like it. Plus there are always interesting people in the shop, which is something you’ll never get on line. This hobby is best enjoyed with others. There’s more to life than just saving a few pennies.
Oh, what will disappoint you is our elected leaders’ feelings toward any form of transportation other than rubber tires on concrete or asphalt. The state DOT just announced yestereday that it NEEDS to widen I-75 to 23 lanes north of Atlanta to Marietta.
Jock Ellis
Cumming, GA US of A
Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers
I’m surprised a major city like San Francisco dosen’t have more good LHSs. There used to be several in The City many years ago but now we only have two. One caters to collectable Lionel and the other one’s train dept. is slowly shrinking - both in size and inventory. They don’t even carry PolyScale paint. There is a great LHS in Santa Clara that is about an hour’s ride on Caltrain. It is exclusively dedicated to model railroading and caters to all scales and gauges. It also sells products from 10% to 20% below MSRP. By the way talking about Phoenix, there is a great LHS over there that I order from called Coronado Scale Models.
My experience here in The Inland Empire is that some hb’s claim to have train supplies but when you have questions they are lost. I go to TRAIN specific stores as thats all they talk about and usually are better informed.
So don’t just look for a hobby shop. Better yet get into a club even if they model a different scale. scenery and operations are the same in each scale, for the most part.