I know this has been brought up before but what is your nearest LHS like. Mine in west Michigan is called the “Pet Palace” (if that gives you any idea of their train selection) They do have trains and scenery supplies, but it is like one of each item on the hook and it is limited. No engines, all ready to roll stock, etc… The paint they sell is all Testors enamel, not even the model master paints, it is the square glass bottle stuff. The people are so great there and they do their best for what they have. They often tell me stuff can be ordered, but unfortunately it is quicker and cheaper on line. I may buy a cheap car to detail or ballast from time to time just to support business, but not much else. There is a dedicated train shop about 45 minutes away…in the town the railroad still runs through, our line was converted to a bike trail years ago. I guess this makes us as modelers more creative and willing to try new scratchbuilding/inventing…saves some money, too. where I lived before I could go to a full blown train center at lunch from work…on payday. Dangerous combination!!! ----Rob
The nearest LHS to me is in Alexandria, Louisiana, about 60 miles away. It’s called Hare’s Art and Hobby. It’s located in an old Car Care auto parts building. They cater to Model Railroaders, R/C fans, model builders and many other hobbies. About a quarter of the store is for model railroad stuff. They a lot of stock ranging from N scale to G scale. The largest part of the stock is aimed at HO scale. Of these that I know of are Atlas, Bachmann, Kato, Athearn, MDC, Model Power and they have kits from all over the map, I can’t even start to list them, kits galore!
I’m lucky to have a first-class LHS within bicycling distance, although I seldom ride there. (It’s hard to put a piece of flex track in the pocket of those Lycra pants, after all.) The shop is all trains now, but under the previous owners, it was half trains, half dog-grooming supplies, so I feel your pain. Now, though, the shop is mostly HO, with a small amount of N and even a bit of O here and there. Gerry will order anything, which is great when I need some small item from the Walthers catalog, and don’t want to pay the shipping charges. He does decoder installations for the techno-challenged, and there’s an 8x8 foot in-store layout for demos, testing and just plain playing with trains.
You can check them out (including layout photos) on-line at www.mainetrains.com if you’re interested.
Hm, there is only a single proper hobby shop in Helsinki, and their model railroad section is very anaemic. And the little what there is is mostly Märklin and Piko. The hobby is doing very badly in my country, I guess.
So I suppose my LHS is one of those nice German online discount dealers.
My nearest LHS is on the other side of the Pond. I live in Sweden and always when I buy things I buy from US. Not the ultimate thing to do, but it’s the only way for me.
Tommy Gilberts in Gettysburg is the closest “real” LHS I’ve got. Very, very thorough stock of MRR supplies - don’t think I’ve ever NOT found anything I was looking for there.
Mine is Johhny’s Toys in Cincinnati. Great place! And a few of the staff are even very knowledgeable about model trains.
I am fortunate enough to have many options for both hobby shops and train shops in our area here in Raleigh, NC.
My favorite train shop is only a five minute drive from my house, it is Train Buddy in Wake Forest, here is their web site: http://www.trainbuddy.com/ They can order stuff for you too and usually get most items in within a week or so. Their prices are usually 20 - 25% lower than Walther’s advertised prices.
Another train shop which is about a 30 minute drive from my house is Nicks Trains, Inc. in Cary. Then there is Tom’s Train Station in Raleigh. Another one that is probably around a 45 minute drive in Wilson is The Antique Barn and Hobby Shop, I still need to make it out to that one.
And there is Hungates Hobby Shops with limited train stuff, and E.C. Moore Arts and Crafts, and Michaels Arts and Crafts, great places for various paints and general supplies.
I have four (4) in my area and they are all about equal distance from me (30 min.), in opposite directions:
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Depot Train & Hobby (Cleveland) - Decent selection, Forte: Knowledge-base
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Wings Hobby (Lakewood) - Good selection, Forte: Scratch-building supplies, huge selection of reference books
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Stewart’s Hobby (Willoughby) - Good selection: Forte: Tons of Branchline kits
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Hobbytown USA (Mentor) - Huge, Forte: Scratch-building supplies
We also have a Michael’s about 20 min. away and I’m learning just how beneficial they are to supplies and ideas.
Tom
my LHS is George’s Trains in toronto , canada . they have very good stock of general mr’ing supplies like track , paint , woodland scenics stuff etc. lots of books and magazines , and plenty of engines and rolling stock in N HO and some O and G . HO and N have half decent selections of buildings (i guess Oand G building kits take up a lot of space so they don’t stock as much)
one of the best things about George’s is the staff , George passed away a few years ago , but whoever took over the store has made sure that the friendly , helpful service has not only remained but perhaps even increased .
The nearest one to me is in Tucson, Arizona, 70 miles away. They recently remodeled and switched to Horizon Hobby as their distributor, so they carry only Athearn and Model Die Casting HO trains, and very little of that.
Everything else is racing cars, airplanes, and G-scale, so it’s not worth driving to unless I need something for my outdoor G-scale setup. The owner is president of the Tucson Garden Railway Society, so his interest is naturally centered on G-scale.
I have several hobby shops I visit and the 2 closest is located in Mansfield…John’s Hobby and The Model Railroad Scene.Since both are full price I only buy items as needed or a single RTR car or car kit and I usually buy at John’s…Both are well stock and good shops to deal with.
I’ll second these shops, although i’m not impressed with Hobbytown’s MRR selection. it mainly caters to the RC crowd.
One shop Tom failed to mention is Hobby’s Etc in North Olmsted. It’s tough to say exactly what they cater to, but half the shop is MRR related. they also have a large Dollhouse section (so there’s plenty of wood around). their on-hand selection isn’t that great, but i still frequent it often.
Dean
Both Vancouver and Victoria have good shops, but both are 4 hours away (including a 95 minute ferry ride to Vanc). Happily, the closest is a reasonably good one just 45 mins away, north of us, in Campbell River, called Adventure Hobby Craft… Next closest is Liesure Time in Nanaimo, and he gets most of my business…in fact, I owe him Cdn $150 for some scenic material he shipped up to me a couple of weeks ago.
I won’t purchase any more locos from these guys as they want too much. But, they sure are handy for supplies.
Dean,
I’ll agree with you on Hobbytown’s lack of MRR selection. The scratch-building and Miniatronics lighting supplies are really the only reason I stop in there. (And there usually open till 9 PM.) I’ll have to stop in Hobby’s Etc. sometime and check them out.
Tom
I am fortunate to have several good hobby shops within easy driving from my home in central Massachusetts: The Hobby Shop…Auburn, Ma 5 miles Tuckers Hobbies …Warren, Ma 17 miles Henry’s HS …West Boylston, Ma 12 miles Lighthouse Hobbies…Townsend, Ma 32 miles Shepaug RR Company…Leominster, Ma 15 miles Maine Trains…Chelmsford, Ma 34 miles The store in Auburn is very small, and doesn’t carry very much, I rate it a 1 star on a scale of 1 to 5. All the others are very good, rating a 3 or 4.
My closest LHS is right downtown (5 min drive) in Geneva, NY; Lake City Hobbies. With the exception of some model rocket supplies and a few other items, it is completely Model Railroad oriented. Right across the street is another hobby shop devoted to RC Cars and planes so they really don’t compete with each other much. Lake City Hobbies carries locos and equipment in the Finger Lakes Railway colors (I think the only store that carries it) and all the Fallen Flags that ran through Geneva and so does a good business with local hobbyists. They also give a discount to regular customers and are a great source of information on the hobby. http://people.clarityconnect.com/webpages2/valley/books.htm
The other LHS I frequent is Empire Northern Models in Webster, NY (Just outside of Rochester). Tim is also very knowlegable and offers the lowest prices anywhere on a lot of equipment (particularly DCC and Tortioses). Tim is also an internet dealer and can be found here: http://www.empirenorthernmodels.com/index.htm
I’m very fortunate to have a lot of hobby shops within a 50 mile radius of where i live.
Larry’s Hobby Shop is a good hobby shop…lots of stuff.
The Houston Roundhouse has everything and the prices are lower than the competiton.
Papa Ben’s Train Place has everything and stuff you wouldn’t think they would have. It’s the best stocked LHS but a lot of the stuff is pricey.
Spring Hobby Shop has a lot of stuff but it’s unorganized. You’ll have to dig thru boxes and boxes to find what you’re looking for.
There are a few more in the area but they deal with all sorts of hobbies like cars, boats, and airplanes and their train stuff inventory isn’t the best. I don’t bother with these sorts of hobby shops unless I need something generic like CA glue or rail joiners, stuff like that.
Bicycling from ? It must be a rather treacherous ride up Route 4, with a couple of killer hills along both ways! [:O] [xx(] No wonder you seldom ride there. [;)]
I’ll second Maine Trains, and include Hobby Emporium in Tyngsboro (both HO and a lot of N) and Kens Trains in (Exclusively N-scale).
We currently have 2 in town. Both have the usual plastic car kits, boat kits, and a whole BUNCH of plastic monsters. One has slot cars out the ears, the other 1/6 scale military shtuff. Both shops have 2 Bachmann Big Hauler sets apiece… The slot car one has made at least a nod towards HO while the other just has about 4 sets. Either place will take hobby consignments…for a 30% fee. The staff at both places are courteous, but rather slow (and not because the places are busy, either)
We used to have another one, it speciallized in (90%) R/C planes and cars…it went under. If you want one with a decent selection of trains, expect a 2 hour drive.