WHEW!!! I guess I should consider my self VERY LUCKY, in that we have a couple of full line LOCAL HOBBY SHOPS in my area. All I have to do is cross the Ohio River and they are there in Louisville. I truly believe in: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY SHOP. Our biggest LHS has been expanding and filling up more space with all sorts of items. And they give GOOD prices too!! Most of the time they can beat the online price, on just about everything. NO SHIPPING CHARGE, but then we have SALES TAX. I'll gladly pay sales tax for a low price, take it with you sale!!!
I used to live in Falls Gulch and now live by Manassas, VA and it's not that bad of a trip. The trick is to leave out early on a Saturday to avoid the rush. I think it takes me a little over an hour to get to the train shows in Timonium.
We have a close in-law who has been a long haul trucker for many years. California and the east coast are his two least favorite destinations...
It was called "Ground Control Hobby Corral & Slot Car Racetrack" . I am assuming mentioning the name is ok since they are now gone . They were in "Stagecoach Village" which is a relatively new commercial center on Cave Creek Road. When you hit the north end of Tom Darlington Drive (Scottsdale Rd) you go left on CCR and as you are climbing the hill it is on your right, down the hill . Neat little center but other than my insurance guy I think every business that has made a go of it there has tanked. It is just a bad spot. I have to admit that I actually never went in there. I was over there last weekend and was going to take a look-see and they were closed, apparently forever.
I remember those folks. They were there when I got back into model railroading after a 20+ year hiatus, in 2005. I got my jump start in n scale from them. Nice folks. I left Woodbridge in 2009 and I recall they were moving the shop out to Warrenton because they live out that way.
Very lucky here too - 2 great LHS within 30 minutes or so, and really good people too. Competitive pricing and they give a 10% discount to train club members as well. They don't have it, they order it and it's there within the week. So YES I support them as much as I can.
Well here there are three or four of them in close range. Only one is a full hobby shop. The one in Ames is pretty pathetic really. Its just a place to make orders. My favorite up in Boone is great, only because its got some treasures and I like the staff. My chief complaint, is that HO and O are the preferences for modellers around here. At one things are marked up anywhere from 25-30% and that makes me look online. Of course the distances are all over an hour away too. So internet shopping is a pretty decent way to go for me.
I once worked at a shop here in Houston where the owner went out of his way to stock all kinds of stuff. He was an N scaler but stocked about everything for everyone. He kept expanding his store every time a property adjacent to his would become available in the strip center. However, it was all too good to last. He really was not a very good business man and way overextended himself. He went bankrupt and had to sell it all. Two other shops picked up a lot of the inventory and one even leased a small part of the property and moved his store in. He is gone now too. The other store is still thriving as well as a few others scattered around the Houston area. There is one that I really like that stocks a lot of scratch building supplies. They cater to the architecture students at Rice University. They also stock a lot of model planes and other non railroad related hobby merchandise.
That might be where we are heading, like it or not. Go to non-model railroad stores for our building and scenery supplies while getting our trains online.
Getting pretty close to that now if not already here. Used to be able to pick up some generic RR alphabet sheets and striping at the LHS. No more. Can't find anyone with a decent stock of paint anymore. I can find scenery materials still here and there, barely. So I am about down to one store for adhesives, some scenic materials and styrene if they manage to restock after the architectural students hit. With rare exception all my rolling stock is now ordered or purchased at shows along with any new locos.
I have two suggestions: 1. The Kato pack 2. MRC Railpower 1300 Both of these are basic, good quality, inexpensive power packs. The Kato has a large control box with a throttle and reversing switch. The transformer is in the power cord. I suspect that the control box contains a rectifier, electronic throttle and reversing switch. It has no pulse. The MRC has an electronic throttle and reversing switch. The rectifier, throttle, transformer and reversing switch are contained in the box. It appears to have pulse, as the locomotives give off that characteristic buzz. I use two of the 1300s on my nineteenth century pike. I have the Kato and have used it on a pike. I was not unhappy with its performance. Both are good packs.
I believe that Athearn also has a pack that is relatively simple and inexpensive but know little about it. I also have heard some negative comments recently about pulse power with a pack. Back in the old days it was a separate feature that could be used for starting a train and then switched off. So what if any are the negatives about having pulse power today?
The LHS closest to me actually expanded in 2007 by adding a 12 x 20 addition dedicated to only scratch building supplies and paints. I was surprised to see that done since so many of the 'new' model railroaders are the ones least likely to scratch build... they tend to want everything ready to run or place on a layout. I will dread that day when my LHS owner either retires or maybe (hopefully not too likely) goes out of business. I don't really have any other close stores and the ones about 20 miles away are leaning toward R/C cars, boats, planes... or other hobbies.
Check out the shops that sell military kits. Their paint and finishing selections are usually superior to what trains shops sell. They don't have Santa Fe Blue, but they can usually match colors. Take your bottles in and hold them up to the rack. That's what I did and it's worked out fine, plus the paint is better than floquil or Poly S.
The Sacramento region is pretty sparse too. In fact, since Bruce's Trains (a rather large store) closed, not one model train store exists in all of Sacramento County. The closest shop is in Roseville (20 min away), and the next is in Lodi (45 min away). I recently went into our large RC Hobby store, which has always carried G-Scale and a lot of Woodland Scenics stuff, and they just started carrying Kato's line (HO & N), and are looking to expand. I think another factor is most of today's youth (gonna sound like my Dad here) has never been introduced to mechanical hobbies like model trains. They are so babied that they're never allowed to hammer a nail, solder a wire, or god forbid use power tools. I'll never forget, my kindergarten class (circa '87) had a box of nails, a hammer, and a bunch of scrap wood that you could play with during recess. That would NEVER happen these days -probably not even for most middle school kids!
Thanks to my tired state and the medicine for this gawd awful poison ivy, I need to clear a couple things up about my local shops. The one in Boone is closing up shop in April. That will be sad because he is very knowledgeable and takes trades and such. I think he may have a final auction, or he may just donate it all to children's charities. The shop in des Moines is usually pretty good. He has a lot of consignment items, but his purchased stock is marked up to high, I think. He can order most anything, but as for dcc he has no knowledge of anyone that installs it. ( looking for sound installer, still don't trust myself). There are two others but they are too far away to be local enough for me..
