Ok I'm at a point.....

[Anonymous]

where what I need most of the time is small items. Some decals here super detail part there and occassionally something large like a new loco. Problem is in my area there are 2 LHS close by. One is about 6 miles away owned by a nice 90+ year old man who doesn't know where anything is and tells me his son who knows everything is out doing the yard. His son is seldom there when I need him. The other is a shop that exploded with the diecast car crazy and looks like they failed. They have less and less every time I go in. They're about 15 miles away. I try calling around and get the same stories " well I don't know" or I can order that for you and never happens. I thought about train shows. There was one 40 miles away this weekend. Hmm.... gas $2, 16 miles per gallon. 2x $6 ot get in and I'm in for $25 and I haven't bought or looked at anything. It's darn hard to get things around here. I've thought about online again but that's been hit and miss. Places like Long's have a great catalog but don't stock anything so you get hit with the shipping and receive a third of your order. Any suggestions.

RMax

[Eriediamond]

There are lots of places, both on line and catalog sales. One of the biggest is Walthers. You can also check the advertisers in MR magazine and others. You can also look up manufacturers and get on line service or get their catalogs. Surf the web useing your search engine for model railroads or anything trains or railroads and you'll fine all kinds of links for your purpose. Ken

[cacole]

You're lucky to be that close to any hobby shop -- the nearest one to me is over 70 miles away and has practically nothing but Lionel O scale. For HO and G scale items I have to travel another 100 miles or resort to mail order and hope for the best.

[nfmisso]

Try Toy Train Heaven.
http://www.toytrainheaven.com/

[darth9x9]

You can also try M.B. Klein's in Baltimore, MD. 1-888-872-4675
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com

They have many items in stock and 20% off anything in the Walthers catalog. If they don't have it, they can order it and have it within a week as they place bi-weekly orders with Walthers (as long as Walthers doesn't have it back ordered). The owner also has a very good connection with Like Like(Proto) as they are located less than a mile from each other and has very good prices on P2K stuff. AND, he has a decent connection with Atlas and passes along good prices. They will mail order anything. Give 'em a try and tell them Bill Carl sent you.

[Anonymous]

I have LHS close by, but I have the same problem with supply as you have. I find it best to pick the items I need from the Walthers book, or website, and then order them direct. Smaller items I get directly from Walthers.com, larger stuff I get from any one of internet sites. Prices tend to be higher directly from Walthers, but you usually get what you want.

[ndbprr]

the dichotemy we have is the more knowledge we obtain the less we need the local hobby shop and the less we need them the more demanding ( rightly so) we become. The dilema for the owner is does he stock the things we want or can he get them in a reasonable time frame or does he stock the stuff that sells so he can turn his inventory. I wish I had the answer. By the way this is the dilema facing all business today with the advent of the internet.

[Anonymous]

I have a similar problem. The LHS that stocks US HO scale models has a very variable range of stock - they've had no Kadee #5s for several months now, so newbuild models have to run with the supplied E-Z mates at the moment...Sadly though, if I want to buy HO equipment "In person" rather than mail ordering it by phone I have no other choice. I just wish we had some UK-based e-commerce sites selling US HO scale - I might be able to get Bachmann HO soon from one "e-tailer" but that's all. eBay has proved a major help in obtaining equipment as well - I was able to finish one of my heavy freight lash-ups with a BNSF Dash 9 dummy bought on eBay that I wouldn't have been able to buy anywhere else - the LHS in question only had 3 Athearn Dash 9s, of which I've bought 2 and plan to buy the third!

Interestingly, if I want to buy UK OO scale models, I have a choice of 3 decent LHS (only one of which charges full retail prices) and two good online shops. One of the online shops has a useful service in which they will email you to notify when a new item is available - you simply click on the item, type your email, and they'll notify you automatically when it comes into stock. The website address is www.ehattons.com and it's worth a look if you're looking for British equipment.

[AntonioFP45]

Try

www.traintrack.net

Tel: (727) - 712 - 0926

Decent discounts even with the shipping and handling.
I will be ordering some cars and locomotives from them. Met the rep at the GATS in Dec 2003. Pleasant and down to earth. Hope this helps.