Hobby shops in NYC and Scranton?

Scranton Hobby is on Lackawanna Ave, between Steamtown, and the former Lackawanna station. It's small, but well stocked with a good selection of most manufacturers. It is within walking distance of Steamtown. Grzybowski's is not far, at the bottom of Montage Mountain in Moosic. There are some other hobby shops nearby, but I'm not familiar with them. a google search may yield some results. I think there is one in Dickson City on US rte 6.

Don

Scranton Hobby, see Jim the owner. Nice place. Family owned since the fifties. 

It did, indeed, but I was looking for decent ones that people here have been to. I've travelled and gone way out of my way for a hobby or surplus place where I was at the time, only to be horribly disappointed (I've also had a choice of more than one and picked the worst, with no other way to know, missing the good one because I didn't know any better).

Drive out interstate 78 from NYC to Trains N Lanes in Easton PA...HUGE hobby store, lots of stock in many scales.  Much like a disorganized big-box train store with LOTS of train stuff in all scales, RC cars, a huge RC airplane section, and tons of model kits.  I'm far from an expert (being a 2 rail o scaler) in "local hobby shops" since most of my stuff comes from O scale meets,  but I put trains and lanes far above most of the small "hobby shops" if you are looking for the largest stocking dealer. 

*** ooops, I read you are a 2 railer.   Not much 2 rail there, but it has lots of good stuff  in O/HO/N , IMHO one of the largest stocks of hobby supplies in PA/NJ ***

Then go up the Northeast Extension of the PA turnpike to get to Scranton.  (or continue up PA 33 north to I-80 and take that to the turnpike). 

Sadly PA has crappy hobby stores these days, much due to the internet boom.   The best "other" train hobby store in the area is The Model Railroad Shop in Dunellen NJ, but they are almost all HO and N (with a HUGE stock of modeling supplies and books).  They are one of the oldest shops in the US and one of the most complete.   If you drive from Scranton to NYC via I-78 you could hit it too.

Disclaimer - these are just my opinions, having spent lots of hours over many years driving to the "train capital of the world" only to find a few crappy items at list prices.    If I were driving thru PA and NJ these would be the 2 I would hit. 

If you travel another 20 miles south of Scranton to the town of Nanticoke, you can visit the Clemar train shop on Broad Street. Clem has live steam, G, On30, HO, N and other scales. He has several trains running on battery power and remote control. He's a very knowledgeable guy. He also has a live steam RR in his back yard. The second floor is home to a slot car club.

I have been to Trains and Lanes mentioned by Rule 292, and it is an OK place, with a lot of different merchandise, and again with a slot car area, hence the name Trains And Lanes. Let me know if you're interested in the shop in Nanticoke, and I'll find out the hours.

Don 

Probably Chris, I knew it as Clemar. His first name coupled with his daughter's name. Anyway, it's on Broad Street, right next to Burger King.

Don

Tony's Train Town 11.5 miles from Newark.

Only one bad Yelp review about the cranky employee. ( He's not Tony and he can be cranky)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tonys-...amp;utm_source=yahoo

http://www.tonystraintown.com/

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?a...09&redirect=true

Sad to say, there aren't any train shops in Manhattan.  There is a shop called the Red Caboose but his basement store has alot of everything and a little of nothing, hardly any O Gauge material if you're intent on buying some good stuff, he does however have a little collection of glue guns, and other things for scenery building on your layout but overall there aren't any LHS in Manhattan.  If there is, somebody enlighten us both please because I work in Manhattan and I have a need to know. - MARSHELANGELO

It used to be that the Red Caboose was on the 3rd floor (was it 45th?) and just about across the street was another decent sized shop.  Of course this was 20+ years ago.

Also a great shop was The Gingerbread Stop in Warren.  The owner was a 2 rail O scaler but has since retired to Florida.

Sadly, the only decent sized shops I know in the NJ area are The Model Railroad Shop in Dunellen and The Big Little Railroad Shop in Somerville.  The other ones are tiny thus my comment to do Trains and Lanes because if nothing else they have a huge selection.  

There are several shops on the Island, I guess that's where all the action is. Some of the members from Brooklyn Staten Island and other areas may want to chime in. I know of Island Trains, Train World, Nassau Hobby, just to name a few.

Don

NOTE: Neither of us model in 3-rail at all, so I don't need to know places that most sell three-rail stuff.

OK so you would have to go the LONG way to Scranton via I84 Newburg, NY where you can find Valley Model Trains.  Then continue on I84 to Scranton, pa and your only shot is Scranton Hobby that sell MTH- where you will mostly find 3 rail but he might have some MTH 2 rail. 

The only other 2 rail shops would be Justtrains in NEWARK, DE. and Allegheney scale models in Long valley, nj 

NYC, Train World for 3-rail; any where else ?

NYC, 2-rail ? Fugget about it.

I don't know for certain, but I think Scranton Hobby and Grizbowski would both have two rail stuff, since they are both MTH dealers. If these guys due On30, then there best bet I think is the place for locomotives/engines and cars is Chem's place as Don mentioned above. If you are looking for O scale accessories then the other two should have a good selection. 

Chris 

When you model a limited scale, the pickens are a little slim.  Plenty of good shops in the area you might find a trade in or something you could convert.  Your best bet is probably ebay.

The Train Station in Mountain Lakes, NJ. They are good and a pretty famous store. Also Tom's Trains at Ardsley Hardware, in Ardsley, NY about 1/2 North of Manhattan. That's my LHS and it is very well stocked Lionel store with a nice selection of Willams.

Just to get your bearings... Nicholas Smith Trains is outside of Philadelphia.  You can certainly stop there on your way to/from Scranton, but you'd really have to plan for it as it's not at all on a typical, direct route from NYC to Scranton.  If you have limited time traveling between NYC and Scranton, then consider it "out of the way".  If you have all the time in the world, then go for it.

David

Nicholas Smith Trains is about two hours south of Steamtown.

FYI: The Red Caboose on 45th St. in Manhattan does have a display case full of older 2 rail O gauge stuff. Quite a few brass models and old kits.Some Walthers, Old Pullman stuff, etc.

The hard part is dealing with the owner Allan. A strange character. You'll have to work with him to get access to the case of 2-rail O and get prices... But there might be something in there.

As for Train World... They are nice people and have great deals, but I've always found a trip there a let down. If you have limited time in NYC there are a LOT better things to do than ride the subway out to Train World.

I just received a reply from Jack Sweeney of Scranton Hobby, and he doesn't carry any two rail items.

Don

For some reason I thought Nicholas Smith Trains was in the Lehigh Valley area. My bad. Still, I think Philly is only 1.5 hours from NYC, so it is still a possible stop.

 

Then all you would have to do is pick-up the Turnpike to get to Scranton (2 hours). 

Chris 

"FYI, I am into On30 and my friend is into HO, if that helps..."

As I mentioned above, the Red Caboose does have a big display case with 2-rail O scale. I do know there is a brass C&S shorty caboose in there and some other On3 stuff. ??? Don't know if that interests you since you do On30, but maybe some of the old HuffnPuff On3 kits could be converted.

Wow..none of this sounded encouraging, and it's in the geographic center of train interest in the U.S.!  I've been to Steamtown, but not Scranton Hobby....visited the

source of Kris cars there....Makes me think of another posting on here about making

all your parts for a locomotive, and everything else,  in the 1930's....

Trainworld is in Brooklyn, Train land out on Long Island.  As far as Manhattan, there's nothing.  Same goes for Staten Island.  Unfortunately, most of the train/hobby shops I remember  from my childhood  are closed.

Ridgefield Hobby Shop five minutes from the GWB in Ridgefield, NJ. Ask for Jimmy. They also stock hobby materials and paints. Family run business since the sixties. Nice people. 

The problem is that local hobby shops could not compete with Internet pricing and went out of business. Grizbowski is top 10 Lionel Dealer and he does most of his business on-line. I think the Scranton area is good for 3-rail o scale, depending what you are looking for.

Chris