I’m heading out West for a vacation and would like recommendations of where to shop out in Phoenix. Anyone live, or visited, there and can recommend a good shop?
What scale?
G and O: Arizona Train Depot, 755 E. McKellips Road, Mesa.
O and HO: Mesa Models, 6032 E. McKellips Road, Mesa.
HO: Basic Trains, 3211 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale or An Affair With Trains on Bethany Home Road.
All Scales: Roy’s Train World, 1033 S. Country Club Drive, Mesa, or Roy’s Train World at the Park, 7301 E. Indian Bend Road in McCormick-Stillman RR park.
Don’t forget Bruce Petrarca @ Litchfiled Station. Great place for DCC stuff. Here’s the address:
1412 North Central Avenue, Ste D, Avondale, AZ 85232-1316
p (623) 298-7355 - f (623) 889-5617
(Avondale is a suburb west of Phoenix, near Luke AFB)
Tom
Roy’s Train World on Country Club Drive on the right side of the road about a mile South of the US60 freeway out in Mesa is the quintessential LHS in the Phoenix Metro Area; their selection is very good and they have a very helpful sales staff.
An Affair with Trains on Bethany Home Road just West of I17 in Phoenix is another well stocked LHS; it changed hands a couple of years back and I don’t get in there very much anymore. The owner expanded following his acquisition of the business and the store is very roomy; I’ve not done enough business in there to really acquire a feel for the service.
There are a couple of Hobby Benchs in the valley but the only one I am familiar with is the one at 19th Avenue and Northern; these facilities are general service stores but the train department–at least at 19th and Northern–is always well stocked for a non-train specific facility.
If you are narrow minded then Coronado Scale Models in the 1500 block of East Cypress is the place for you; I’m not really into Narrow Gauge and it has probably been close to twenty years since I last was in there but I will underwrite those who sing its praises.
One other place is a place called The Freight Yard; they relocated to the valley from somewhere in California a few years back and are doing business in a shopping center complex on the Northwest corner of Bell Road and I17. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number or times I have been in there and my visits are all casual because I just happen to be in the neighborhood.
While you are in the valley be sure to check out the two railroad parks we have here. One of these is the McCormack Railroad Park located at India
If your over in Mesa stop by Roys Train Wolrd on Country Club Its a family owned place , Roy is retired and his son Tim runs it now. I have been going there for 25+ years now, most of my layout is from there They also have Roys at the Park in scottsdale in case your up there by the snooties. Sunday there is cool , the have 3 layouts that are open sunday afternoons , N scale , HO and Lionel
Hope you enjoy the weather here
As R. T. Poteet said, there’s a dearth of train shops in the Phoenix area when you consider the population. But it’s even worse outside Phoenix. If you happen to make it down to Tucson, there’s only one – The Hobby Place at Ace Hardware, 6959 East 22nd Street. I know of no other one anywhere outside Phoenix in the southern half of Arizona.