Where are you located?

[Ralph]

Bethlehem PA. About an hour north of Philly. I work at Trains & Lanes hobbies partime in Easton to support my habbits. I actually race 1/24 slotcars but I a huge train and MTH fan. And getting ready to build my layout in the next couple weeks. Ralph

[tjsprague]

Weymouth Massachusetts, or 232 miles from this year's TCA Convention.

 

Tim 

[Fred Bear]

Northern tip of West Virginia

[Night Train]

Southeastern Massachusetts

[bogaziddy]

Mount Shasta, California ( Lemuria )

 

Yeah, closest train shop is an hour away ( Redding, CA ) the shop in K.Falls, Oregon ( also an hour+ away ) is kind of phasing out of O-Gauge. I use a lot of mail order through Charles Ro and occasionally Walthers when they have a very small selection of O-Gauge stuff on sale.

 

The layout's a buildin'

 

John

[traindaddy1]

         Jacksonville Florida

Railking2: 

[Joe Hohmann]

Media, PA...which is just West of Philadelphia. Nicholas Smith Trains 15 minutes drive, JusTrains 45 minute drive, Strasburg 1 hour, York 2 hours. Lots of "train buddies"/layouts nearby. A good "train place" to live. Joe

[c50truck]

I am located in Northern Californis and have seen only one other post from up here.  Sad to say that my area is lacking in sources for trains and train related items.  If it wasn't for this forum I'd feel like a total loaner!

Boonter,

I know of a few folks in your area. Your not alone. My area is also lacking in 3-rail train related items. Regarding "being a loaner", search around, you'll find many forums that cater to your interest, as well as this one. Here on the West coast, we may not have the numbers of "Classic Toy Train fans" as the East and Midwest, but we have the passion, and thankfully internet.

You'll find myself located at Greenacres, WA.  Where Marx, New Marx and Lionel coexist on O-27 track. 

Rod L.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, a few days late from when the question was posted, but it was interesting to read where y'all come from.

I live in Central Maryland, not too far from the CSX lines that go through Harpers Ferry W VA, Brunswick, & Point of Rocks, with that beautiful old train station that's restored, but just sitting there.  Also over the mountain not too far away, is the Maryland Midland, a small line.  They operate on trackage out of Pa. into Blue Ridge Summit and down the mountain to Thurmont, and on to Westminster and Baltimore.  It has to be one of the most picturesque rail lines on the East Coast.  What a pity they're not using it for passenger service any more.  There is still an excursion steamer running out of Cumberland to Frostburg and back, marked with the Western Maryland logo.  I stick with WM, PRR, B&O, C&O, N&W, the Ma & Pa, and RF&P.

There's at least 5 good hobby shops within a half hour's drive.  That's why I'm broke all the time.  Starting on layout number two.  Got off to a bad start with a bunch of defective Realtrax switches.  Tore everything up and returned it for Ross & GarGraves.  Almost done.  Can't wait to run my trains again.

 

 

 

[railking2]

         Jacksonville Florida

[cruikshank]

I live in Reading PA Home of the Famous Reading Lines, Now serviced by N/S.  On a good day we get about 26 trains a day through here, all freight.  N/S has a nice sized yard here built around the former Reading Shops where the T-1's and many others were built.  I also am partnered in a 24' x 55' multi-track display layout in Frackville, my birthplace about 35 miles north of Reading.  3 local hobby shops, 1 the Iron Horse in Downtown Reading that carries all scales.  Also 1/2 hour drive to Fryers a great little train shop, and I still drive 45 minutes to Cool Trains in Salunga a great Lionel & MTH shop. Also close to Frackville is Ellie's Lokie shop in Mahanoy City.  One last thing Reading & the Frackville area are served by the Reading & Northern a great short line that serves central and northeastern PA. Saved from the ashes of the Reading lines.  Dave

[envfocus]

I live in the beautiful valley of the St. Croix River in Hudson, Wisconsin, about 15 minutes from the Twin Cities of Minnesota.  The St. Croix River represents the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Its a nationally designated scenic waterway and I'm blessed every year with a number of bald eagles nesting a few blocks away.

[HighPlains]

In Quay County New Mexico where the coyotes howl, the wind blows and where at one time the Rock Island, the Southern Pacific, the Dawson Railroad and the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific all met. Now all that is left is the main Rock Island-Southern Pacific Line and the UP owns it!

 

Mike 

[Kooljock1]

I live in Colchester, Vermont.  It's a northern suburb of Burlington.  Our condo is perched on a bluff over-looking the Lamoille River just up from the delta where it spills into outer Malletts Bay.

We have no hobby shops, so Lionel, MTH, and Bachmann/Williams are coming to see us! 

You can come see me during the TCA Convention in June!

 Jon

[ChiefEagles]

"...Now forum wise, it is Roseyville. The great leader of the South..."

Roseyville? Leader? Chief, bit wrong on that one. The capital of the TRUE South is ol' Savannah, GAWGIA.

Chief, do you need to brush up on your history? North Carolina was the last state to seceed and the strongest opposer of it.....

You need to bursh up too.  NC gave more troops to the great cause than any other state.  NC did not have the big plantations like the rest of the South.  First to charge at Gettysburg and last to retreat.  Actually the War of Northern Oppression ended at Benett's Farm House between Raleigh and Durham NC.  That was when the Army of the South was surrendered to Sherman.  A note:  Sherman was "chewed out" for giving such lenient terms of surrender. 

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bennett/bennett.htm

See Lee surrendered April 9.  The largest troop surrender was April 26 at Benett's.  Most folks think the war ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox.  Check the dates.

Now the war will still go on until the Yanks agree to eat GRITS and drink SWEET ICE TEA.   

 

[choochin3]

I'm located in beautiful Baltimore,MD. HON!

 

Carl T.

[Lenny the Lion]

Tucson, Arizona. A transplant from Cleveland/Akron, Ohio.

[tiger]

Live in Northern Michigan, The nearest hobby shop is 2 hours away.

Tiger.............Are you a Yuper?

Buckeye, no I'm not a yuper, I'm Located 200 miles north of Detroit alone Lake Huron. If you look at your hand, I'm 1/4 of the way up the index finger and about 150 miles from the UP. The Sunrises are great winter or summer.

[dsmith]

I live in Dearborn, Michigan. 

Home of Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum.  The Village has operating steam and diesel engines and I can hear the whistles blow from my home.  There is a roundhouse with engines and cars under restoration that the public can view on an elevated walkway.  In the museum there are all sorts of historic locomotives and cars on display.  There is a giant articulated Allegheny on display that is an amazing sight.  Starting just this year, you can sit in the cab, pull the levers and see what it would be like to be the engineer of this incredible machine.

Home to Ford Motor so there are lots of CSX engines pulling autohaulers everywhere.

Also the Amtrak stops in Dearborn several times a day.  There is an engine on each end so they don't have to turn it around and there are usually 5 passenger cars.

[trainbrain]

Near the ole B&M Hillsboro branch(still active!!),  a lil west of Nashua, NH.

[sean s.]

Wayne, NJ.  About 30 minutes to 2 hours from New York City depending on traffic.  Blessed with about 4 hobby shops all within 25 miles. 

[flyingyankee616]

Great town of AppleValley Ca.

[SCD]

I'm located in the northeast Georgia mountains, about two hours N.E. of Atlanta.  Many years ago there was a mountain short line here called the Tallulah Falls Railroad. Its gone now, but the old Disney movie The Great Locomotive Chase was filmed here on the Tallulah Falls Railroad. Just up the road in North Carolina is the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad (scenic tourist rides) which was once part of Southern Railway's Murphy N.C. Branch.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Live in Northern Michigan, The nearest hobby shop is 2 hours away.

Tiger.............Are you a Yuper?

[jefelectric]

Located just outside of Elizabethtown, PA, which is along the Amtrak main between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.  Nearest O gauge train store is 2 miles from my house, another about 10 miles and 7 within a half hour drive.  That is only the O gauge ones, many more if you count HO.  Favorite roads are the PRR, Reading, Lackawanna, CNJ & LNE.  Also one of the few Northerners that likes grits.

[magicman710]

"...Now forum wise, it is Roseyville. The great leader of the South..."

Roseyville? Leader? Chief, bit wrong on that one. The capital of the TRUE South is ol' Savannah, GAWGIA.

Chief, do you need to brush up on your history? North Carolina was the last state to seceed and the strongest opposer of it.....

[chicochip]

Hi Boonter,

I sent you a PM yesterday...I suspected from your handle that you might live in or near Booneville - proud home of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company and the environs of the Booneville Beer, a cross between a bear and a deer.

So now I see you're really not too far away in Ukiah! What a great place. When I has in high school, many many years ago, I travelled on a school bus to Ukiah to march and play a baritone in the Ukiah Band Review Parade. I've made a few visits and pass-throughs over the years, and I still enjoy the small downtown. On one such visit, I had the grand opportunity to visit a couple with property that was adjacent to the NWP line near the Masonite plant. I spent the entire evening watching local switching moves - That was probably 25 or 30 years ago. Unfortunately, I don't think the NWP rail line has much future. Although the right-of-way has not been abandoned, so far as I know, the rails have been severed in many places - especially to the south of Ukiah.

I've ridden the Skunk enough times to have been pulled by steam, Alco diesel engines, and even the railroad's name-sake, an early 1900's bus fitted with railroad wheels. My first trip was from Ft. Bragg to Willits behind steam. At Willits there was an interchange with NWP, and I remember there being a Budd RDC on the NWP tracks to meet connecting passengers waiting to go south. My entire trip back was aboard the Skunk bus/car.

I live to the east of you in Chico, the northern terminus of what was once the Sacramento Northen Railroad, but still the proud home of the Sierra Nevada Brewery. My line through town was the Southern Pacific, parent company of the NWP. Now its turned UP yellow, as so many others have, but an occassional old locomotive in "fallen flag" livery will pass through town...haven't seen a caboose in years, though.

chicochip

 

[ChiefEagles]

Ohio State University????  Is that a Community College?  OH, that is the one that keeps getting beaten in football.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Blueberryhill ( elev. 937 ft. ).....is located in beautiful Ohio. Just 93 miles east of the Famous Roger's Corners. ( elev. 936 ft. ). There is no finer area in the world. " Best location in the Nation ", as spoken by many important people. Ask Buckeye....

Roger's Corners, O-H-I-O (Elev. 936 ft.).....

just 10 miles east of THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY and one the 100 BEST PLACES to LIVE according to Money Magazine in 2007. 

And just because you can't find it on a map, doesn't mean it doesn't exsist.