The Hobby Shop of today!


I'm lucky to be near Milwaukee with Walther's an easy drive. But there's several local hobby shops that I need to give high marks for selection and service. I also get fantastic service from the all trains shop called Southside Trains and the owner Tom goes the extra step for all his customers. Tom also provides mail order service with great prices and has a great eBay gallery every week and also has a variety of model train items from locomotives to vehicles.

Hiawatha Hobby in Waukesha , Wisconsin offers a wide selection of model train items and also has a mail service. Then there's Sommerfeldt's trains in Butler, Wisconsin that is large scale with some HO items.

Long gone is Russ' Hobby Shop which was strictly trains and offered Brass. One morning while waiting Russ to open his shop, I talked with Art Curren about the hobby while he waited for Russ as well. A nice chance meeting of a true model railroad Hobbism and author.

This wasn't a paid an endorsement!

Greg

Rock Island Con - One.jpg

Another one of my beat up condolas from the Rock and loading with trackside debris. I like to weathering working rolling stock on the heavy side and box cars much lighter. -Greg

1553382425111.png
 
Last edited:
I spread my hobby dollers to the four winds. As I like vintage brass, ebay and pvt dealers get most of my $$ on those items. I use the Hobby Town in Indianapolis(which does have a really good selection btw!) for paint, decoders and such. One of the shops in Kokomo where I live has an owner that is out of touch with reality and has prices in excess of MSRP. His Athearn Blue Box kits are the same price as the RTR versions made today and he refuses to budge on prices. About the only things I get from there is paint and glue. The other shop in town has odd/limited hours, but as I refuse to pay what brand new rolling stock costs, I dont buy much there. Train Central in Indianapolis is my go to place for rolling stock and most everything else. He gets in plenty of estate items and can order anything new one might like to buy. He is in the process of moving right now, so they are not open. The owner sold the building he was in and he had to move. Mike the Aspie
 
Mallettman, If your lucky enough to be able to find decent hobby shops, why would you buy anywhere else?
 
I think that Mike (malletman) pretty well covered all the bases?
He gave many reasons why he purchases from all directions; sounds like a good plan to me?
 
I work second shift as well, and sleep most of the day. Many weekends are filled with family duties and keeping up on household "honey do" lists. So its much easier to just point, click and pay on my phone while at break or when the assembly line is down at work. Its then on my porch in the early afternoon before I go to work. Many of the "younger" modelers are working 2 jobs, or both the husband and wife work, so their time is precious to afford room for hobby shop trips. And many of these modelers are the "invisible" side of the hobby, not seen at the hobby shops, nor at many shows if any. They enjoy their hobby privately in their home when time allows. Most of these hobbiest do not know the "joy" of the old school traditional hobby shop that us older guys/gals have enjoyed in the past. For me, my hobby desires lie in the past, not in what is being produced today outside of decoders and track. So the estate tables of trains being sold by the widow or family is where I flock to. But, when I am buying that brass engine, or nice structure, I try to visit with the family or the modeler's widow and gain some insight into the late modeler. It is these stories that make owning some of these older models even more special and enjoyable to me. And it seems to help the family/widow know that the models will continue to be cherished and enjoyed for yet another generation. A minor complaint of mine is hobby shop owners that want to do nothing but complain about the state of everything.
Its counter productive and does nothing to promote the hobby in a positive light. If you have nothing nice to say, keep it to yourself or close friends. Dont spout off in a train show crowded with modelers, they either know it already or do not want to hear it. Especially the young kids. They do not need to hear its a "dying hobby". They need to hear how they can make it affordable so thier allowences and chore money can go farther. They need to hear about Athearn Blue Box engines and kits, Atlas "snap" track(much more affordable than the new stuff with a roadbed). I have go as far to walk a family around a show(thier son had austism so there was a connection as I am autistic). I helped them pick out an Athearn blue box F7(no handrails for young hands to bend), a few freight cars and a matching caboose. Then a MRC 501 Golden Throttlepack and a loop of snap track. His dad loved the OMI GP35 I had with me that I had just bought for $100, so I took him to that table and he got himself a PFM ATSF 2-8-0 for around $125ish. This is how you promote the hobby, by helping others. Now his son has a train and dad got his first brass model. I have since repowered it for him with a Canon motor. All things change, and the movement to mostly online E store hobby shops and direct sales from the manufacture is how its going to be. We can either accept it and enjoy, or become that old grump men/women and complain about everything.
A successful hobby shop today, maintains an easy to navigate E store with live inventory(so you dont order what is out of stock). Many of the more successful ones I have encountered also attend a few larger train shows, and one can place an order ahead of time, then pick it up at the show to save on shipping. Many dealers have gotten on the "credit card" band wagon with the little swiper or slot for chip cards that plug into their smartphone/tablet. Most folks do not carry lots of cash anymore, but almost everybody has a card. This is how you get those larger sales. Now this is not to be expected from a family/widow with tables of estate items. But sometimes they have a personal Paypal account and I have paid that way before, it never hurts to ask if your short of cash for that wanted item.
To me, this is a second golden age for model railroading. Many items long gone from the hobby shops are reappearing on those estate tables, a boon for those like me that look for that type of item. And for those that love the digital and computerization of the hobby, those items are but a click away online. Its the best of both worlds. Something out there at every price point for every budget, whether your buying brass or buying a Tyco.(which can be made to run well despite popular belief otherwise). Mike the Aspie
 
We had a great train shop in Wichita, but the owner passed on and his widow kept the place open for a couple more years and finally closed without notice.

The local Hobby Lobby can get stuff in when I need it, but the bulk of their store is R\C stuff. I watch for estate and garage sales and can sometimes turn up some stuff local. I have done a bunch of business with MB Klein over the years. I don't even think we had a model train show this year.
 
We are blessed with many train shows in the central Indiana area as well as just across the state line in Illinois or Ohio. We have shows in Indianapolis several times a year, Muncie, Danville, Noblesville and up north around the Michigan City area. Urbana IL just had a nice show last weekend and this weekend there is one in Decature(sp). We also went to a show down in Cincy Ohio this past winter. Mike
 
I have a train show coming up next weekend, The Granite City Train Show in St. Cloud, Minnesota and I am hoping to go. Shows are great places to spend a little time looking over books, finding freight; or, passenger car kits, and looking at the modular layouts that various clubs bring to these shows. Toy train collectors can find some really old stuff at the GCTS in St. Cloud!
 
I am firmly into DCC and have not bought one item from a retail Hobby Shop for DCC. They just don't seem to be able to compete in this market, at least I haven't found one that can. Of course my living 90 miles from my closest hobby shop is a factor in my buying habits. If you have local hobby shop that is able to compete in the DCC Market, by all means please tell us who they are!
 
I have used Yankee Dabbler many times and they are one of my go to DCC supplier.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
These days, I mainly go to a couple of Greenberg shows every year, + a couple or similar regional shows, too, if I have the money.
 
I go to shows when they are convenient for me to attend. Like I said, I have one coming up this W.E. and hope to go. I don't consider shows to be Hobby Shops. But, perhaps as far as finding things I actually want, that seems to be far more likely at a show than any of the hobby shops I have attended as of late!
 
The Greenberg Shows in Edison is mostly Hi-rail and non railroad collectables. I haven't driven down to Timonium in years, so I pretty much depend on my go to internet dealers, all of which have a brick and mortar presence in their local area, except one, that is strictly internet. The closest LHS is actually not that far away, but it's too easy to just order on line.

Getting away from the topic just a tad, I grow increasingly tired of going to a retailers establishment, to find they either don't have what I'm looking for or haven't restocked, since the last visit. Not keeping an inventory, is a disease that goes beyond the retail hobby industry, and extends to all retail.

boris
 
We have lost most of the good hobby shops in north/central Indiana. In Indianapolis we only have Train Central, Zionsville Train Depot and a Hobby Town USA(which does have a very good train department). Locally in Kokomo we have Tolins(very overpriced and stale product) and The Train Exchange(odd hours and one of the two semi-partners is a bit off his rocker, try to deal with Norm if you go). Used to be several more in Indy and Hawkins Rail in Lafayette but they are all closed up now. The large model train club at Purdue has to come to Kokomo or elsewhere to get thier trains now. Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top