Update: We checked in on the HMRM on Sun. April 17th, 2011. The museum was closed but the hobby store was open with two pleasant ladies busy putting together a puzzle. Any kids who came to the store were warned to stay with their parents and signs around the store state "you break it, you buy it". Intimidating to say the least but then again the store is filled with very high end, expensive trains mostly from Germany (lots of Marklin and LGB).
You have to wonder how about the future of this hobby when everything is off limits to kids. I think a store like this one should have created an area where kids could touch stuff, maybe a big Thomas the Train layout. You'd think with all of the families who come to the North Conway area that they would sell a lot of that kind of stuff.
The store is huge yet it is mostly filled with train sets and not so much with buildings, kits or scratch building supplies. No surprise the majority of the items are HO. G scale is very well represented. One whole room has an amazing collection of G or Large Scale trains. There is also quite a bit for the N Scale modeler also.
Alas, O Scale is barely represented. There are the Lionel sets for the toy collectors but next to nothing for the O Scale modeler. I saw two On30 locomotives and that was it for On30. No O scale details parts.
I did manage to find some scratch building supplies and a Logging and Mining Annual in the book area.
Also they did have a big die cast car model selection and some hobby stuff like rockets. With all the space available I'd think they'd have a couple of trains set up for display like a G Scale train going around the room or something. I just get the impression that the owners are more into collecting stuff than modeling.
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Heading back to the Hartmann Model Railroad Museum after a few years. Last time time our son who was around six at the time seemed to make the owners nervous. Maybe we'll just hit the hobby store this time. They have a lot of European trains like the Fleismann one I had growing up. We'll see if they have good O scale parts.
http://www.hartmannrr.com/hartman3.htm
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