Hobby shops in / around Cincinnati, OH

Dixie Union Station 

110 West Main Street

Mason, OH 45040

dixieunionstation.com

I've also been to:

I don't remember any train shops from when I was there. But there are lots of good flea/antique markets. I did find some good deals at those. Lots of old stuff in that area.. Plus you must have some Star Chili.. I could use some Cincinnati chilli dogs.. 

The really big shop just off the circle bypass on the SE side closed several years ago.

Dixie Union Station has expanded as much as they can, but they need more room.

I lived in Cincinnati for many years and what I consider the best store in the Mid-West closed, Davis Trains in Milford. The owner retired, gave it to his son who then ruined it. It was  site to see. Dixie is ok, it is 35 min North of Cincinnati in Mason. That being said, go to the Cincinnati Union Terminal. There is a great layout in there showing Cincinnati during the steam era. You can also go up into the tower and lookout over the CSX Queensgate yard. Then get your Cincinnati Chili, and while Skyline is good, Camp Washington Chili is the BEST!!!!

Dixie Union Station is the best in Southern Ohio.

I would highly recommend a visit to Museum Center at Union Terminal, vs visiting any hobby shop.

1) Cincinnati Union Terminal is an art deco masterpiece, one of the great train stations of America.The building alone is worth the visit. (If you happen to be a comic fan, it was in the inspiration of the Hall of Justice in the DC super hero series).

2) "Cincinnati in Motion" is a massive, multi-million dollar, layout of the city in the 1940's. You walk through and around the space, getting close to the highly detailed buildings, and seeing the trains running through. It is 1/64, but even in the smaller size we're talking about thousands of square feet of trains and wonderfully recreated details. Dunham Studios created this wonder about 20 years ago.

3) Tower "A" the original control tower for Union Terminal is operated by the Cincinnati Railroad Club and is open several days a week, this includes a wonderful overview of the Queen City Rail Yard (A ton of train traffic most days), the CRRC library, and seeing the control systems used in the 1930's / 1940's.

All in all, a great train day.

OldCat,

Thanks for the leads. I visited both hobby shops. The staff at Tim’s Trains wanted me to thank you for recommending their store. They had a great selection of tools & paints & I was able to find some items that I was looking for.

Dixie Union Station had one of the greatest selection of O-Gauge trains, I had ever seen while on my road trips. Unlike some stores that had outdated selection (like nothing from the recent catalogs), Dixie’s had stuff even from the most recent catalogs. Their inventory included trains from old to the modern era. They had the Lionel Hybrid Evolution locomotive, the latest Lionel long Auto Carrier, multiple railroads (not just Eastern railroads like some other stores I visited in the past) for the MTH Premier freight cars, the Orient Express passenger cars, a lot of Artista figures, MTH & Lionel structures & all the new Kadee couplers. I just wished they were handicapped-accessible as I had trouble entering & exiting the store over the 2 steps with my daughter in her stroller, while keeping the door open.

CincinnatiWestern,

Thank you for promoting the Union Station. My 18-month old daughter & I visited on Saturday. The view from the Tower “A” was impressive but it was not handicapped-accessible. I had to carry my daughter & her stroller over a lot of stairs (maybe 2 floors) after taking the elevator. I saw some families leave their children in the stroller with an adult family member on the third floor while the others went up. Container trains are my favorite & I saw a lot of Norfolk Sothern Intermodal action from the tower. I was impressed by the Straddle-Carriers moving containers around. I even saw one double-stack train under the remains of the first concourse. That was unexpected as I thought they tore down most of the concourse to make room for the double-stack trains. I also took the free tour of the station. Even though there are 3 tours on weekend afternoons at 1pm, 2pm & 3pm, I highly recommend the 3pm tour. The guide spent more time on the last tour & took us to parts of the station that they might have avoided on the earlier tours. The guide & his assistant even held the doors open while I carried my daughter in her stroller up to the balcony & down. Luckily my daughter behaved well & I was able to enjoy all 90 minutes of the tour.

I wanted to but didn’t have time to visit the Camp Washington Chilli or the Star Chilli.

Thanks again,

Naveen Rajan