Well, My LHS is 5 mins away, and my second one is 20 mins, and my third MB Klien, is 30 mins away
Tjsingle
Two hours each way...but it's only open on two days of the year... Oh, you meant other than train shows? There's a great train store near Warren, MA, but it's quite a long drive from here, and there's nothing really in the area that I could use to get my parents to drive me out that way for...
EDIT: Those are the "Discount" ones, the ones I prefer. There is also a great one in Chelmsford, MA; Maine Trains.
The only close one is mostly Lionel and soldiers with a smattering of HO and N (less than 25 cars combined and a dozen engines). They don't discount. Next is Hobbytown with a small train section. The next three are just trains about 20 miles away, but again mostly Lionel and don't discount.
I do mostly mail order these days with some buying at the Great Scale Train Show in Timonium, MD a couple times a year.
Enjoy
Paul
My closest hobby shop is 75 miles away, and not a discount shop at that. So I do mail order mostly. The closest good train show is 150 miles away, so when I do go there, I have a list and money. And if I do go, I will have a few things in particular that I want, or want to check out.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
There is a fairly-well equipped train store about two miles from home. The store discounts almost all items 10% from MSRP. Also, the owner-operator is an attractive female.
Mark
subman wrote: What I`d like to know is how far do you have to travel to a discount train store? I have 1 train shop in my area (Spring Hill Fl) I would have to travel 90 miles to Ocala to get any sought of a decent discount (10-20%) on model railroad equipment and supplies. Not even the big stores in Tampa Fl will sell for anything less than what Walthers charges and we all know that Walthers charges list except when they have a sale. Maybee someone could tell me of a LHS that discounts in my area that is not 90 miles away, because the 180 mile round trip cost me $40 in gas thereby negating the train discount in most cases. Thank you Bob D
What I`d like to know is how far do you have to travel to a discount train store? I have 1 train shop in my area (Spring Hill Fl) I would have to travel 90 miles to Ocala to get any sought of a decent discount (10-20%) on model railroad equipment and supplies. Not even the big stores in Tampa Fl will sell for anything less than what Walthers charges and we all know that Walthers charges list except when they have a sale. Maybee someone could tell me of a LHS that discounts in my area that is not 90 miles away, because the 180 mile round trip cost me $40 in gas thereby negating the train discount in most cases.
Thank you
Bob D
If that is the way your local stores feel about, just shop online. I'm all for supporting local hobby shops, but it has to be a two way street.
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
K-10 model trains in Maryville Illinois is about 6 miles from my house at the most. He disounts everything and is a pleasure to do business with. I'll be taking the boys there on Sunday to run trains on the huge layout.
http://www.k-10smodeltrains.com/
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
Bob D As long as you surface as many times as you dive you`ll be alive to read these posts.