Chicago Hobby Shop - Model Railroader Magazine
Hi, I've visited the Chicago area several times while on business trips over the past few years, here's some notes on what I've found. Not necessarily in recommendation order, but fairly close, I had just a few minutes to cut/paste the info here. Hope this helps, make sure you call ahead as things may have changed since I was last there.
I'm sure the local Chicago people can add much more.
Hope you find what you want!
1. Ram Hobbies on Higgins, not far from O'Hare - it's worth the
visit. ***, the owner, has got tons of stuff normally long sold out at other shops. Owner has asthma real bad, so don't wear any perfumes, it causes the owner literally to have a 'breathing' attack. I model in N, so I don't remember the HO stock as well, but I found several treasures
there the 2 times that I've visited. Ram Train and Hobby is on Higgins, which parallels the Kennedy Expy.
It'd be really simple to head east on the Kennedy Expwy
from O'Hare, exit at Harlem, and
go straight at the Harlem traffic light. The Kennedy literally dumps
you onto Higgins, and ***'s store is about a mile on the right, the
store is on a corner with a traffic light - you can't miss it.
A friendly word of warning - *** has asthma pretty bad, and
scents will wreck him, so don't wear anything strong.....
Ram Train & Hobby
6603 W Higgins Rd.
Chicago, IL 60656
(773) 775-3382
Sat 9-5, Sun 11-230, closed on Tuesdays, open M,Th,F from 10-730, Wed 10-6 (this info from 2002)
Proprietor: Richard A. Manyik
All that said, I think he's got one of the best stock anywhere in the
Chicago area. The depth is incredible! And you'll typically find
a lot of items unavailable anywhere else. Make sure you check out
the back room where he keeps all the details. And make sure your
credit card is healthy!
2. Des Plaines Hobbies in Des Plains, close to O'Hare, is always good, however, as was stated above, everything's basically MSRP.
3. Lombard Hobbies - is actually worth the visit, as the locomotive stock is
pretty good, including a decent selection of older hard to find stock with a little bit of discount off of MSRP. Lombard Hobbies is right off the old C&NW in (you guessed it) Lombard.
Lombard Hobbies
524 E St. Charles Pl #A
Lombard, ILL 60148
630-620-1084
Open during week (call for hours)
Sat 10-5, closed Sun
4. I've visited Hill's Hobbies in 2003 - it is not great. It does have a display case of HO brass that is nice.
5. In Aug 03, I visited Ron's Mundelein Hobbies in Mundelein, IL, about 24 miles north from Ram Hobbies. If that's in your direction, take I-294 / I-94 north, exit IL 176, go west, at Lake St,
go left (south), it's at 431 N. Lake St in Mundelein. Ron (owner) has
a nicely detailed HO layout in the store, he's been working on it for
20 years (I think that's how long his store has been there).
Ron's got a decent (but not huge) selection of everything, N, HO, Lionel, G.
Nice man.
Highlight: it's worth stopping in to see the layout. He'll probably turn it on and run it for you if you ask.
6. About 4 miles away from Ron's Mundelein Hobbies is Destination Hobby Center in Libertyville (this is the new location of
the same owner of shop of same name used to be in Kansas City).
Has a great N scale layout right in the store, it models
Tehachapi Loop, Caliente, and Bakersfield. This layout was in MR June 2000 issue.
Also DHC has decently good stock.
Highlight: Worth seeing the N scale layout.
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Another thought:
If you are ending up near downtown, you can visit Chicago Museum of Science and Industry it has a new very large HO layout, showing Chicago to Seattle. Layout is big, has some good modeling (especially the big cities)..... and at the same time it's geared for the average museum goer, not the model railroader.
Entry fee was $9, and it cost $8 to park in their garage. Location is 7 miles south of downtown.
Also at same museum is the original Pioneer Zephyr - that's good to see.
Highlight: You'll want to visit this museum at least once for it's HO layout
and see the Pioneer Zephyr display.
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Not open on the weekends, however, Kato USA showroom is quite nice
Located in Schaumberg, ILL (which is roughly 30 mins northwest
of downtown, just west of O'Hare airport)
Take I-90 West
Exit on Rochelle Rd, go south (left)
go about 3 or 4 stoplights
go left (east) on Remington
it's about 1/4 mile down on your left
Highlight: Kato USA has a small showroom which has a lot of Kato's models displayed, both
past and present, both N and HO.
It's worth going there to see the USA home of this manufacturer.
During the week, you can also purchase Kato parts right over the counter there if you
want to.
Kato USA
100 Remington Rd
Schaumberg, ILL
847-781-9500
Showroom is open till 5pm on weekdays
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Another cut/paste:
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1) Grayland Station 5514 W. Devon (corner of Lehigh and
Devon) Chicago 773-594-1906
It's a very small store specializing in Airline and Train memorabiliaa and
he also has a huge selection
of N scale stuff. The only thing is that you have to dig through box lids
to find things. He takes
most of the stuff to the Great America Train show every month at DuPage
county fairgrounds so it isn't
easily displayed, but his prices are the same at the show or in the shop,
very good. Plan on spending
about an hour to look through all of the boxes. That's what I did last
Saturday to look in every one.
Ended up spending about $200.
2) Des Plaines Hobbies, 1468 Lee St, Des Plaines, IL 847-297-2118, it's not to far from O'Hare.
nice large hobby shop with a lot of everything. Big selection of Atlas and
Kato locomotives,
list price on everything.
3) Lombard Hobbies, 524 E. St. Charles Road, Lombard, IL 630-620-1084.
Usually very good prices on
Kato and Atlas locomotives and usually a pretty decent selection of these.
4) Ram Hobby Shop, 6603 W. Higgins, Chicago, IL 773-775-3382. It has been
several years since I have
been here but have seen other people recommend it periodically too. Small
room in back crammed with
all sorts of old stock. List price on everything but if there is an older
release of something you are
looking for you might find it here.
I think all N scalers probably miss End of Tracks Hobbies in Franklin Park,
had one of the best selections
of N scale in the country, but alas they have retired now.
Stores 1,2,4 are reasonably close together (Chicago Distances) and you could
stop by all in
a 4 hour period including looking in each.
Hills Hobbies in Park Ridge, not much of an N Scale selection but I do like
looking at the
brass (HO and O) in the cases. Chicagoland is always an interesting stop
(OK N scale) to look
at the latest O Gauge Hi rail locomotives. You could also hit these too as
they are not that
much farther away from Grayland Station.
I will be interested to see if anyone else has recommendations for good
selections of
N scale and pricing in the Chicago area. I do feel lucky living here for
the selection of Hobby shops
we have. In most cities I have visited and looked for Hobby shops, the
pickings can be pretty slim.
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RAILFANNING
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In Chicago you DEFINITELY want to stay at the Holiday Inn at the Apparel Mart (across the street from the Merchandise Mart). It sits atop a 10-12 story building. You'll want a WEST facing room. You will be on the Chicago River at a place formerly know as Wolf's Point. Looking west you will see two different C&NW three track lines coming out of Northwestern Station and two different two track mainlines (former Milwaukee Road lines to Savanna and Milwaukee) coming out of Union Station. You'll also see alot of CTA action. There really isn't any freight traffic of note in downtown Chicago but you'll be close to the Metra Stations and could take a run out to Franklin Park (among others) for some non-stop action.
If you have time to rent a car, take a run out to Rochelle (about 90 minutes west) to see 100+ trains a day at the UP/BNSF crossing. Kalmbach helped fund a very nice train watching pavillion there.
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Hope all this helps the research get started!
