Best Train Stores in Illinois

Why would ANYBODY desire Gargraves turnouts???? Especially with the availability of Ross turnouts, which Berwyn's Toys and Trains has in stock.

You may want to try America's Best Train, Toy & Hobby Shop in Itasca,(http://www.americasbesttrain.com/) or Chicagoland Hobbies in Chicago. 

I hope this helps.

Safe Travels,

Frank

If I can get Ross, used, and save money, I wi buy them.

The Gargraves 100s I have WORK FINE.
I.PREFER MY MTH, but they cost to much.

I prefer to spend my funds on trains.
As I said in another post...when I go watch TRAINS I don't look at track.


What are the Saturday hours?


Also, any TRAIN SHOWS THIS weekend in Il?

 9:00 to 5:00

Any train shops in Ill., besides the Chicago area cited above...Springfield, central and

southern Ill.?  Maybe not....

I am from Southwestern Indiana , I know of nothing with the exception of the Champlain Urbana maybe  or maybe the Decatur  area with the exception of Bellville IL and that was at least thirty years ago. I honestly don't remember the name of the shop or if its still there but the cool thing about it was it had a real caboose in its yard next to the shop. My suggestion would be to check for a Lionel service station and see if anything shows up that way,I collect and operate prewar Marx, Flyer,Hafner and such and would love to find a shop that deals in used trains and toys myself.as I am retired and travel to St Louis my self on occasion.  Best of luck   

If you are in Schaumburg and driving to St. Louis then you pretty much drive right by Americas Best Train Shoppe which is in Itasca. 

 

Actually, if you are in Schaumburg on Thursday, then that might be a good time to visit as they have later hours (8pm).

 

Charlie

In addition to the stores recommended by others in the Chicago area, I highly recommend Electric Train Outlet in St. Louis, MO (9517 Page Ave). They have a large selection of Lionel & discontinued K-Line stuff along with a lot of track & turnouts from many manufacturers. There are train stores in Bloomington, IL (Hobbyland, 616 N. Main St) & Springfield, IL (Castle Trains, 4782 Old Jacksonville Road) but they are mostly train / rocket stores that also carry a few O-Scale items, not worth going off your route unless you plan to be in those cities.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Been to both, great stores.

Americas Best is a nice store but not much in the way of MTH. You can check their inventory on line. Berwyn is most likely your better choice for MTH equipment.

I live in Springfield and I believe the last store that had o guage went  out of business.  Castle trains is n and ho.  I haven't been there in years.  There's also a train store in McClean at an old train depot.  I believe they are HO and N but I've never been there.  McClean is right off of 55 a few miles north of springfield.  jeff

I fairly regularly drive over to Bloomington, IL and visit Hobbyland, 616 N. Main St. It's a nice store, nice people. They have extensive hobby stock, paint, wood, scenery, zap glue, oil, grease, all that stuff, lots of tools, and an assortment of G, S, O gauge engines and rolling stock, Fastrack, and some HO and N track, etc. Some transformers, Legacy set, depends on what sold recently and what did not. I can usually find an O gauge rolling stock item or two that I want. Maybe an accessory. Some Miller Engineering signs. Some Z Stuff. The O is probably half and half MTH and Lionel. Also some Atlas two rail and three rail rolling stock. I think there is more that enough to stop by.

The other isle of the store is rockets, rc planes, drones, cars, and many parts for same.

They advertise "The fun store with the red door." Easy to spot which store it is in kind of a group of stores with their own parking area along Main street one way north. That's also US 51 thru town. I 55 takes you right around Bloomington...I would get off on the north side of Bloomington and drive south to the middle of town where the store is.

http://www.hobbylandfunstore.com/

 

Oh and if your wife is with you, there is a high end resale women's shop a couple doors north.

For your MTH needs go straight to Berwyn's toys and trains. Good used selection as well. Americas Best is an easy stop for you and they have tons of Lionel in stock with mostly only MTH buildings. Both are great stores to visit with huge stock on hand.
I'm on St. Louis now on business and if you are headed here be sure to stop at Electric Train Outlet. They have a huge amount of items in stock. My suitcase can attest now that it is approaching the weight limit!!

Also, this weekend Kirkwood MO is having a train show at their community center. Not sure what is like but with all the train guys around it should be good. Then you can stop at the Kirkwood Depot. A real classic.
Happy travels.

Kirkwood show was last weekend...it was OK...most people were willing to deal.

I looked up berwyns..didn't see much about used...
Thanks, I may check them out

Any train store in the Chicago that has survived is, in my opinion, one of the best in the area. See them all.   Joe

There Is K10's Model trains in Maryville, Il northeast of St. Louis. Their hours are pretty irregular, so call to make sure they are open.

 

618-288-9720

 

Jeff C

 

I've been to k10...
I asked him, WHO IS K10
He replied, I AM...

Seems a of his responses were short.

At least to me.

I live in St Louis...and go to all the Train Stores.


I will have Saturday afternoon, as I drive back to MO, to visit a few stores along hwy 55.

And, since I try to get a dime out of every nickel...it would be great if I could find some deals on Gargraves, Ross or MTH turnouts or track
And a unique car or ten...( I dream big)

Thanks for the info

I went to the Bloomington shop @ Hobbyland, 616 N. Main St. yesterday.  I had the day off work and my wife was making me drive from quilt store to quilt store aka "shop hop".  Since we were in Bloomington, I stopped in Hobbyland.  Really nice store.  I collect old marx and don't really have a layout.  However, Hobbyland was a good visit.  they had a layout in O gauge by the front window.  What I noticed was the tinplate he had on hand.  All in all, it was a nice store but unfortunately nothing old that I usually get.  As stated earlier, super nice owner.  Here's the link to the McClean store.  You will be going by it on way from bloomington to springfield

http://www.mcleandepot.com/

Bad news

my little 4 hour job, that I was paid 8 hours, @1.5

took over 9 hours

Started at 7is..elevators didn't come on til 8.

and things were not in order on termination block, so I had to tone every cable....

it was TEDIOUS, but on the bright side

it was BORING.

 

SO, no time for trains.

 

I tried to shop Springfield but no luck.

too far away from 55

 

o well

 

train show in St. Louis, in November

 

 

 

No, I did not
I didn't get to Schaumburg until 9ish

Does anyone know if Chuck's Depot is still open in down state Illinois? It was right off an exit on I-57 in an old RR station.