Recommendation of hobby store in Western Mass?

I am just as curious. My parents just moved to the Springfield MA area so I’m up there quite a bit. To date, all of my in person O gauge purchases have been at the January Big E train show.

While not in Western Mass I would suggest Charles Ro in Malden Mass closer to Boston. They are closed for vacation starting July 2nd to July 11th. I would check the website.

https://charlesro.com/

I have been to Charles Ro (when on my honeymoon, no less) and they were good. But, they are more than double what I am thinking of for a quick trip. Thanks.

This store isn’t solely dedicated to trains, but last time I was there Bob did have quite a large selection of Lionel/MTH items:

Hobby World
(413) 743-7223
https://www.hobbyworldonline.com

Thanks. We used to have a Hobby World here in the area. They did have trains... usually at MSRP (sometimes higher). I appreciate the tip though, and it might be worth considering.

@JR Junction Train & Hobby in Syracuse will be about 2 1/2 hours from Albany... I live in Rome and am about an hour from Phil's store and 1 1/2 from Albany airport.  I've flown out of each for work.

Phil has a great selection right now, including a lot of pre-owned O from a newly acquired collection; inlcuding a fantastic Mohawk and a Susquehanna decapod!

Thanks!

- Mario

Syracuse is long, long away from Western Massachusetts!

The only Western Mass hobby store closed down a few years ago when the owner retired.  Pioneer Valley Hobbies was the name of the store in West Springfield Mass.  Now the closes one to me is in Manchester Ct.  Time machine hobbies.  As others have mentioned CharlesRo in Boston is the big one.

Isn’t there a hobby store in Adams or North Adams? And this is not a hobby shop but the Western Gateway and Heritage museum in North Adams is worth a look.  It’s a railroad museum with an emphasis on the building of the Hoosac tunnel. You can also visit the east entrance of the Hoosac Tunnel and you can see the massive  Central Shaft on Central Shaft Road south of Route 2 just east of North Adams.

https://www.mass.gov/locations...-heritage-state-park

@superwarp1 posted:

The only Western Mass hobby store closed down a few years ago when the owner retired.  Pioneer Valley Hobbies was the name of the store in West Springfield Mass.  Now the closes one to me is in Manchester Ct.  Time machine hobbies.  As others have mentioned CharlesRo in Boston is the big one.

Never visited Pioneer Valley Hobbies but I saw that it was listed on Lionel's website. I guess this shop closed only recently closed.

Pioneer used to have a significant presence at the Amherst Big E show.

Superwarp1 - is Amato's close to you or have they closed, also ?

@Richie C. posted:

Pioneer used to have a significant presence at the Amherst Big E show.

Superwarp1 - is Amato's close to you or have they closed, also ?

Amatos used to have two stores.  One in New Britain and one in Middletown.  Only Middletown remains which is father than Time  machine

@Madockawando posted:

Never visited Pioneer Valley Hobbies but I saw that it was listed on Lionel's website. I guess this shop closed only recently closed.

I don’t think Lionel updates that list just like they don’t update the shipping schedule.  Closed since summer 2020

The other big plus about Time Machine is they host a few clubs there and the layouts are open to the public one day a month (check the site). The HO layout is very large but behind closed doors so can’t really be seen when not running. The O gauge and the N scale layouts are in the main store and easily viewed even when not operating.

Time machine is actually a decent family trip as the store is huge and carries a wide variety of things and is well stocked. They also have a gaming store annex across the street for warhammer and other war games, Magic, and euro games. Most kids and spouses will find something to distract them while you look at the trains.

Trains on Tracks in Amherst NH is a small store but has good stuff and Ray is very nice

Thank you all!

If you live in Albany, there are 2-3 train stores in that region that are closer than Western Massachusetts. I have been to 3. Schenectady, Amsterdam,  and Saratoga. And I think there is one more.