Another place I purchase trains from on line is www.trainmarket.com He lives in Vienna, Virginia and has a hugh assortment of Lionel, Marx, American Flyer, O, S and Standard gauges. His prices are the best I have seen and shipping is very resonable. Only once did I go to his home because I purchased an American Flyer All Aboard set and it was cheaper for me to go get it than for him to ship it. He ships out to you quickly. Never had any problems.
I can think of three hobby shops specializing in Model Railroading that are within 45 minutes of my home. I don’t frequent any of them because I have little need to purchase any new merchandise. I visit one of them once in a great while to buy materials such as CA glue and to see what they have in their used inventory. I think their prices are reasonable, but so far, nothing that I want to add to my stuff. Usually I buy a magazine.
S&W is also within that 45 minutes. I go to see Bill for parts.
Isn’t S&W going/gone out of business?
Isn’t S&W going/gone out of business?
Bill has expressed an interest in retiring, but I don’t think that has happened yet. He has quite a stock of parts, including items that are rather difficult to come by.
My local train store “Allied Model Trains” closed 3 years ago. I went down there one day after work, the lights were off, the door was locked, and a note posted on the door.
They were the ones. They were responsible !
An innocent G gauge modeler, minding his own business, picked up a postwar 2020, and things haven’t been the same ever since.
Paul
I love York. There is Hobbytown five minutes away. Rob
I live in southeastern PA, where we’re blessed to still have quite a number of train shops all within a 45-minute drive: Nicholas Smith Trains (Broomall, PA), Hennings Trains (Lansdale, PA), Bussinger Trains (Ambler, PA), Trains 'n Things (Ewing, NJ) – just to name a few. They all have their own “personality” of sorts. So I try to frequent them all, although Hennings and Bussingers are closest and I visit them if I need something special for a layout project. That’s where a LHS really comes in handy.
Aside from those stores already mentioned, I also shop online at Charlie Ro’s almost exclusively for Lionel pre-orders (although those are becoming far and few between these days), as well as Trainworld and Grzyboski Trains when they have something I’m looking for. When it comes to MTH and Atlas-O items, Mr Muffins Trains has become my “go to” place for pre-orders or a quick purchase when new items arrive from China and hit the street. And if Standard Gauge is your game, then SideTrack Hobbies (Maryland) is the hands-down place to get those jewels from MTH under the Lionel Corporation Tinplate “brand”.
David
Hennings in Lansdale! I’ve been there myself, it’s where I got my Lionel post-war 2055 Hudson, a Hennings restoration, and they did a good job with it too.
When we’re visiting my sister-in-law and her family in Collegeville I try to make the time to get to Hennings. Cool place! The park down the street is pretty cool too, especially with those two First World War vintage M1916 GP 155mm guns.
Firelock76, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see a newly renovated Hennings Train store now! The former Lynn’s Junction side of the house closed last year, so Hennings expanded to the entire first floor of the building now. Most of the O-Gauge items and a cool display layout now occupy the large space that was formerly Lynn’s Junctions, while the former O-Gauge space now has scenery supplies and various train parts. Really a nicely designed “traditional” yet refreshingly cool train shop now with the new rennovations – something you don’t see very many brick-and-mortar stores making the investment in nowadays.
David
I live in Gulfport, MS. The local hobby shop was sold last year to the person who owned the vape shop next door. I talked to the guy to ask him which hobby he preferred. (The place had been sold fully stocked with RC, plastic models, and train supplies by the previous owner.) He told me he didn’t have any hobbies. I was like, “What???”
I found it difficult to breathe, because the shop smelled like a combination of strawberry and some kind of other ghastly vape scent. I haven’t been back since.
I bought a few sets through Craig’s List and Offer Up! in the past decade. Just recently I purchased a 1970s Nickel Plate set that included the engine, the cheap, mechanical version of The Sound of Steam tender, 3 cars+caboose using Craig’s List for $35. It didn’t include the box, transformer, nor track. As luck would have it, I found someone on Offer Up! selling a Lionel type 1053 transformer w/built-in whistle controller, oval of track, two lock-ons w/wire, and a black Marx tower (w/light on top, crow’s nest, & ladder on side)—all for $10. My best buy from Offer Up! was a Rio Grande Fast Freight set Like-New for $80. The guy who sold it to me bought it for his son one Christmas. The kid just wasn’t into trains, so the train set was put away and was never played with again.
In the past ten years I’ve bought mainly just new old stock through ebay. The sole exceptions were the three Menards cars I bought on-line recently.
When I lived in Virginia, I used to buy trains mainly at train shows. They had shows just about every quarter. It was a lot of fun then. That stopped once I moved to this black hole in Mississippi.
UPDATE: I just bought 6 new old stock cars from a guy (who I suspect is a dealer) who posted an ad in the OGR Forum under the “For Sale or Trade” category. I couldn’t resist some of the great de
I’m in Atlantic County, NJ, so the closest train stores are about an hour away. Nicholas Smith is about 75 minutes away, and the place is amazing, but the traffic on the ride home is always brutal, so I don’t go nearly as often as I’d like.
Alloway Trains N’ Things is a little closer, and out in the middle of nowhere. However, much of the ride is through famland and woods, so it is actually a pretty nice trip. I love taking my motorcycle there. The owners, Bob and Vicky, are amazing, and Bob has a fantastic layout. However, the store is quite small, it was actually added into the open space around the layout. Still, I like going there, and I’m about due for a trip now.
There is a shop in Maple Shade, NJ, called B & B Trains. Real nice guy, and the store is now open full time. He also carries a full line of models. It is an hour from home, but my office use to be near there, so I went often. Now, I rarely go in that direction. I did stop in and buy a few things earlier this year.
I go to shows whenever possible. I’m not likely to buy locomotives at a show, except for my occasional foray into old stuff, but buildings, vehicles and scenery are easy to find there.
Other than diecast cars, I do very little online shopping for my layout. Aside from my children, I really don’t have much of a social life, so going to trains stores and shows is my way of getting out and doing something. I’m sure I could find all the same stuff on my PC, and save time and money doing it, but that would suck all the fun out of it.
Scrambler - Thanks for that. The Toy Train Emporium just closed and since I work in Marlton, I was looking for someplace close. I’ll run over to BnB since it’s like 15 from work.
Am still reading. Thanks.
Anyone in New York ever shop at Tom’s Trains in Ardsley, Train World in Brooklyn or Trainland on the Island?
When I lived on Long Island, I visited Train Land when I could. I purchased my first ZW there.
My soon to be layout is planned to be a 50s Era under the tree style. Even using Lifelike grass for ground cover. I shop mostly vintage stuff at train shows and flea bay. There is one train store in Altoona but it is mostly HO. There are several shows 2 hours or less away that I attend time and weather permitting. Also made York a few times over the last couple of years. I have enough material for the layout. Just got to get the necessities done and on to building.
What’s a real shame is that when I got back into this hobby in the 1998-2000 timeframe, I had 6-7 train stores within driving distance that I could go to. Now, just 1 (The Train Station) remains, which I listed in my original reply. The Train Store (on Rte 23 - Linda bought my first new trains from there since I was a kid), Island Trains (bought a ton of stuff from there, but they overextended by trying to open multiple stores), Tony’s Train Town, a store in Midland Park which was in an old passenger car, a couple of others I vaguely recall, all have closed in the last 12 years. I miss having the different places to go.
Ironically, I suppose the only local “hobby shop” for me is actually Menard’s. They stock more trains, especially around Christmas, than most hobby shops do! Still a few shops left within greater Detroit. I’ll hit P&D occasionally. They’re more into 2 rail scale though. Wild Bill’s closed. The owner died and the inventory was sold to Trainz, I believe. I’ll make a run once a year or so to Saginaw to Brasseur’s to get parts or whatever. Like I said in my first post, unfortunately most has gone to online now.
On all too rare occasions I can visit the Trading Post:
It’s like Madison Hardware without the attitude. [;)]
yes, that way out here on the west side.
It used to be( now I’m really sounding old) that every corner of Los Angeles had a train store. The South Bay, the west Side, a handful in the Valley. And some specialized in one scale, or another. It was really interesting going around to all these places.
And, I put together a train of Virginia and Truckee cars from MDC in HO scale. Couldn’t find them all in one place. That was the beauty of it, it was like a scavenger hunt to find everything you needed.
We still have a couple of train stores, but you have to seek them out.
Paul
There’s two in the Northern Virginia/ DC Metro area…
The Train Depot in Chantilly Va. www.traindepot.biz/
It’s been a while, but we’ve been to this one. It’s just up Willard Road from the DC Expo Center. After doing the DC Big Flea Market we went up to The Train Depot to check it out. VERY nice place! Next time I’m up in that area I’ll be sure to visit, however I don’t get up that way very often.
This is a recent one, haven’t been to it yet.
Toy Trains and Collectibles in Manassas Va. www.toytrainsandcollectibles.com
Looks promising, I’ll have to try it one day.
Of course, anyone who lives up that way should check both out.