We are heading to Arizona On the 14th Of November for a week. Looking for advice on O Gauge trains stores to visit and other must see places. It will be are first trip, except for a trip to the Grand Canyon. Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated. We have ask for advice in the past for other destinations and it helped a lot.
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Somebody down there please help this guy. I'd like to know too.
Sadly, the O gauge stores are non-existant here, the last one went out of business 2 years ago.
As to sights to see, if Covid-19 is not keeping them closed, The McCormick/Stillman RR Park in Scottsdale has 2 narrow gauge trains, one 14" and one 7" that operate, the larger daily, the smaller on weekends, a Model Railroad Building that will be open after 15 October in a limited capacity with further hours to be TBA, a small museum of RR artifacts within the Roald Amundson Presidential car and Retired Cabooses, Box Cars and Passenger cars made into conference rooms or party rooms when open.
There is a RR Museum of dozens of retired cars and locomotives in Chandler if open.
The Verde Canyon Excursion train near Prescott which is highly recommended if running.
There is Tombstone south of Benson with the OK Corral if open.
Pima Air Museum in Tucson is a fun visit if your an aviation enthusiast.
The Saguaro National Forest and park near Tucson.
Jerome is a quaint mining town turned tourist stop with shopping and historic buildings.
Sedona has many historic places, shopping that attracts tourists in normal years.
Yuma has the Territorial prison historic site, Lake Havasu has the London Bridge, lots of recreation activities, aquatic and ATV.
Payson and Flagstaff are interesting, and near the Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon National Park with cliff Dwellings, Williams and the Grand Canyon Railroad, plus many more historical sites to see.
Navajo nation is still shutdown so Monument Valley is not open the rest of this year, however Page and the Lake are a decent drive tour.
That is a great list! My parents live in Cottonwood between Sedona and Jerome and can see both from their house. As my dad is also a rail fan we’ve done many of those over the years. Nothing extra to add to you comprehensive guide.
I will expand on Flagstaff. The train station is large and very attractive, right downtown in the tourist area. It’s on the old AT&SF mainline so you can literally stand two feet away from very long multi unit BNSF trains as they highball through town at speed roughly 15-20 minutes apart.
Can’t go wrong with either the Verde Canyon RR or Grand Canyon RR if you like to ride trains as well as photograph them.
Well I just noticed original post is two years old. Sorry we couldn’t help OP but hopefully others like Choo Choo Mike will find it helpful.
K Burling's Tons of Trains in Fountain Hills has an active website. Call to check if open to the public because of COVID.
Fendermain
....and......sorry for the third post, but I had one very cool addition to the list I totally blanked on.
If in the Sedona/Jerome/Cottonwood area and you don’t mind looking at HO scale trains, check out Wyoming Division Historical Society http://www.wyomingdivision.org
I’m not sure exactly what the business model is now, but this was started by an affluent gentleman from L.A. who moved to Sedona and embarked on a life long dream of owning a massive model RR. My dad volunteers there and did some of the bench work and scenery. Closed currently due to Covid, worth bookmarking for a future visit.
Jim - I hope you and your wife stay safe and keep well while in Arizona.
I can heartily endorse the attractions mentioned above, especially McCormick Stillman park, Verde Canyon scenic train ride, Jerome, and Sedona. Depending on your time another nice area is Prescott, about an hour and a half northwest of Phoenix. Old Prescott is full of oldtime attractions including the Whiskey row area. I bet you can't guess how it got its name? Check out the Palace Saloon for a great meal and refreshments.
Then from there its a short but exhillarating drive east on highway 89 over Mingus mountain to Jerome (halfway down the mountainside), on the way to Cottonwood and Sedona red rock country. Breathtaking scenery throughout. Make sure to stop in Jerome and eat at Haunted Hamburger. Great food and the best Bloody Mary you'll ever drink! Oldtown Sedona is definitely worth a couple of hours.
We have spent the last five winters in Sedona and loved everything about the area, and the rest of Arizona. Sadly we won't be there this year due to covid. 
Rod
The small 7.5" gauge trains at the McCormick RR park will not be running for the foreseeable future (I'm a member of the club.). We have not heard that the the model club building would be reopening yet. The 15" gauge train is running limitedly, they have brought the steamers back out for the weekends at least.
But all in all, AZ isn't much of a train place.
Sinclair,
The MRB is opening for limited access to the public starting October 15. Nick, the Park manager met with all of the club presidents in September and set that date for reopening. As the president of P&P, I look forward to the building being open and kids of ALL ages being able to enjoy the layouts.
The Maricopa Live Steamers (7 1/2") is truly worth a look see. Don't know their run days with C-19 but check their website. North end of Phoenix.
Is Obies trains worth checking out. Is it even open.
Thank for the tips guys .
Obie's is open. I have taken my toddlers there a couple of times since the coronavirus started just to get them out of the house. (And we always buy something - I have to do my part to keep the local places open!) It's more HO and N, but they definitely have some O. The O is overwhelmingly Lionel, but they have a few MTH and other items. Obie is a nice guy, as well.
K Burling's Ton of Trains is a large place jam-packed with vintage Lionel.
Down in Tucson there's an Ace Hardware that has the Hobby Place at Ace. It's basically a full-service hobby shop, and they also have some O scale trains - all of which is Lionel.
Tucson also has the huge and wonderful Gadsen Pacific model RR museum and operating layouts. They have Standard gauge, O gauge, S gauge and HO inside the building. There is also a G gauge layout and a ride-on 7.5" gauge outside, plus a real 1:1 scale UP caboose.
Unless they have revised their status, Gadsden and Pacific are closed the remainder of 2020, that announcement was sent to members of our club who are also members of G&P.
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