Ace Hardware advertised that most of their stores would be having a one day 20% off sale on everything that could fit in to a shopping bag. This caused me to contact the Ace Hardware in Tucson, Arizona that has a hobby department with model trains. They confirmed the sale did apply to everything in their hobby department, including the n scale items. This meant I could do some railfanning along the Sunset Route to and from Tucson, and purchase some n scale items on sale. (A killer combination...

I went down to the old Southern Pacific depot in Tempe, Arizona to check on the five cabooses that are located next to the depot. It has been about three years since I have seen them up close and I wanted to see how they are doing.

The depot was converted years ago to a Mexican restaurant and bar called the Depot Cantina. It is a nice place to do some railfanning as the new light rail system runs right by the depot and a station for it is less than a two minute walk down the street....

I haven't been to An Affair With Trains in Phoenix, Arizona since my visit just after they moved to their new location. So I decided to head up to them to see what was new in their shop.

First I made a quick swing by In-N-Out Burger for lunch. I think the In-N-Outs in California are better, as the ones here in Arizona can be inconsistent in quality and service. My favorite has always been the Thousand Palms, California location just across I-10 from Southern Pacific's Sunset Route....

Today I went to the LHS, Roy's Train World, in Mesa, Arizona. I picked up two cars from the Micro-Trains' Golden West Runner Pack. It looks like Roy's broke up two of the three runner packs they had and priced the cars for individual sale.

Also, they had five of the Athearn Southern Pacific Bay Window cabooses still in stock. Two each of two of the road numbers and just one of the third road number. Based on postings on here and other boards, better grab them if you want them....

During my recent trip to Southern California, I managed to stop at a few shops. I first went to The Toy Train Shop in Anaheim. As I had seen they had recently moved, I emailed to confirm their new address and hours. I received a reply that confirmed they were open in their new location and their business hours. Arriving at their new location located just behind their old location, I found a dark store with no sign for the store posted. I confirmed the address was correct and looking in a window...